Did I Take This Man?
Two hours before our wedding, Steve, my husband-to-be, was frantically tearing through stacks of boxes in our new home, searching for hunting permit applications he had to turn in that day. "This is important!" Steve said to me over the phone. I was at the church, my wedding dress half over my head. As my mother held the phone to my ear through all the layers of lace and organza, I reminded him the photographer was taking pictures before the ceremony.
"I'll be there," he promised. "Just tell me where you put my box of hunting stuff!"
After that episode, it should have come as no surprise my beloved and I had different interpretations of the vows we exchanged that day. I took his promise to love only me to mean exactly that. Steve, however, thought the promise referred to forsaking other women—not hunting.
As a new wife, I was determined to share Steve's passion for hunting. So when he invited me to go elk hunting not long after our wedding, I was euphoric. I was sure whatever made him happy would make me happy. After loading our jeep, we drove for six hours, every mile taking us farther from civilization. He really wants to be alone with me! I thought happily.
Two hours later, my pleasure dimmed. We'd left pavement long ago and the road was growing less and less discernible. Finally Steve pulled the jeep into a small clearing and turned off the engine. "Come on! Let's set up the tent!" His voice rang with a happy anticipation I couldn't fathom. "Uh, oh!" he sang out cheerily as he unloaded our jeep. "I seem to have forgotten the tent poles! Oh well. We'll sleep under the jeep for tonight."
This can't be happening, I thought in despair. He seemed perfectly normal during the year we dated!
The next morning, I found myself utterly alone. The man who'd vowed to "cleave only unto me" was gone. I was attempting to tie the tent up between two trees when Steve came running out of the woods.
"Quick! I just spotted a huge herd of elk! You gotta see this!" He grabbed my hand and we raced off in pursuit. I'd never seen elk before and didn't know whether to be excited or fearful. I asked Steve to describe them but he shushed me to silence.
After a mile of hard uphill climbing, we came to a meadow. He motioned for me to stay put while he circled around to the other side. Too frightened to move, I stayed rooted to the exact spot where Steve left me. Suddenly, a noise on my left jerked me around. There, not twenty feet away, stood the most massive creature I'd ever seen outside a zoo. In horror, I realized this monstrous beast had to be an elk.
Not knowing what else to do, I screamed. The sound echoed back from the mountain with such force it sounded like there were a thousand of me.
Magically my protector appeared—screaming also—at me! I had scared away the trophy elk he'd been stalking. Steve didn't speak to me until we were back in camp, and then it was only to tell me he couldn't build a fire because he'd forgotten matches as well as the tent poles.
Originally published in: Today's Christian Woman, 1996, September/October, Vol. 18, Issue 5, Page 88
Related Topics:
Commitment, Love, Marriage
More from Mayo Mathers :
Kyria.com | Books
Join the Kyria.com Community!
Become a member to have access to the following:
- Full access to hundreds of other articles for thoughtful, influential women
- The monthly Kyria digizine, each issue focusing on a spiritual discipline or theme
- 20 percent discount on all of the downloadable resources in the Kyria Store
downloadable guides
Prayer and Meditation
Cultivating a deeper relationship with God.
Ministering to Working Women
How your women's ministry can better meet the needs of women who work outside the home.Browse More Guides
back to top
Average User Rating:
Displaying 1–5 of 7 comments.
See all comments
Faith
encouraging testimony of a godly marriage as God intended it. spouses in relationship with God first are able to see each other through His eyes and to correctly interpret their purpose in God and to one another. Steve & Mayo you prove marriage is great, fulfilling and necessary but only when God is at its center. Wish you many more happy years.
christie
this is a wonderful, true life, and practical story. it is my prayer to have such a testimony or even greater. thank you for sharing, it did shed light on a number of issues.may God grant you both many more wonderful moments for us to learn and for your kids to emulate.
Denise
This past week our teens were in Chicago for a service and learning trip with thier youth group. We started out the week with my husband saying "honeymoon" and me saying "projects" and we laughed and loved our way through the week. We've been married 21 years and God has blessed me with an amazing,faith-filled and stable husband and father to our awesome teens. As our daughter leaves for college and our son is a Jr. in High School...All I can say is "Empty nest? Bring it on!"
Jacqueline
Its very encouraging to those who are newly married. Christian couples must always adopt to the teaching of Christ through Bible to substain their marrige. Excellent encoragement from a dear sister in Christ.
temi
funny but real.appreciate it.met someone four months ago and all he wnated to do was be with me and then things got really tied and complicated at work- one issue after teh other such then even when i was available he wasnt and i resented it.I became cold and withdrawn but civil after tolerating me for a week- he talked about how my attitude didnt show i was in love and if i kept it long enough it would destroy what we had.To summarize it - its a tight learning rope and we are going through it but i am glad we can now talk and still connect despite all the issues surrounding us as indivdiuals and a couple
Rate & Comment on this article *