Many of you have noticed that my wife has not attended church lately. Before I explain why, I would like to share a bit about her background. Victoria Spottswood Spitzer, known as Vicki, was named after Virginia's first governor, reflecting her Wade family roots in Lexington, Virginia. She was born in Louisville, Kentucky, just like me, and lived across the street from my childhood home. Vicki is also the youngest sister of my best friend, Lawrence.

I first met Vicki, who would later become my wife, when she was just five days old. I met her while I was playing in her yard with her older brother, Lawrence, as her parents returned from the hospital. Vicki's mother recalled my childhood reaction upon learning she was a girl. "Oh, gross, a girl!" It gets even worse — I once told her mother, "I would never date or marry a girl!" And I ended up marrying her youngest daughter, literally the girl next door. God certainly has a sense of humor.

Vicki's family has always felt like my second family because we spent so much time together during my childhood. Vicki was an annoying little girl who tagged along with Lawrence and me, and we often asked her mother to tell Vicki to leave us alone. Being the youngest of four children in my own family, I eventually took on a big-brother role for Vicki and her sister, Beverly. I even went on outings and vacations with them.

After returning home from college and graduate school, I was delighted to see that this once-annoying girl had become a beautiful young woman. When her prom date canceled at the last minute, I took her to her senior prom, and we had a great time. Still, she was seven years younger than I, and she had to go to college while I was looking for a teaching job. She attended the University of Evansville in southern Indiana, while I secured a teaching position in Franklin, Louisiana. Then we realized we had begun to miss one another. She mailed me a letter expressing her feelings for me, and I responded with phone calls and letters of my own. We began to see each other whenever we had the chance.

Eventually, I switched jobs and moved back to Louisville, KY, to be closer to her while she finished her studies. On April 22, 1993, during her junior year, I proposed to Vicki during a horse-drawn carriage ride, recreating the scene of our first senior prom date. She said yes, and both sides of our families were ecstatic. Unfortunately, I had to move to Reston, VA, for my job while she completed her education degree and, with her mother's help, planned our wedding. In a whirlwind month, Vicki graduated, married, took a Caribbean honeymoon cruise, and then relocated to our condo in Sterling, Virginia.

We attended First Baptist Church, where we both sang in Melissa Fox's choir. Because Vicki had been baptized only as an infant in the Presbyterian church, she decided to be baptized again, so we spoke with Reverend Ray Spears about it. Her baptism became memorable when a malfunctioning sliding door delayed the ceremony. When it finally opened, a flustered Reverend Ray mistakenly called her "Valerie Richmond," but Vicki gently corrected him, saying, "My name is Victoria." He joked, "God knows who you are!" Everyone laughed, and the moment fostered a sense of warmth and community.

I am thankful to Reverend Ray for this experience, which underscores that we serve a God who knows each of us individually. We all worship a God who knew us from the very beginning. "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you" (Jer 1:5). This is not a distant God; this is a God who personally knows us, and we can know Him personally if we believe in Him. Christianity is not merely a religion; it is a relationship with the living God. Do you have that special personal connection with God?

Take care, and I will finish this story later.

Bill R.