The Great Engagement Ring-Around-the-Rosie

 

To them who by patient continuance

in well doing

seek for glory and honour and immortality,

(God will give) eternal life. . . .

— Romans 2:7

 

You already know it's not your typical engagement story: he asked her dad for her hand at "King Kong Gyros."

 

Then he found the perfect ring, but when he came back with the money, it had been sold to someone else.

 

He found another one with an even bigger stone and better clarity for only $30 more. He ordered it.

 

But there was a snafu with his credit, he couldn't get a hold of the salesperson, and the order was delayed.

 

They had to fly in the setting from California, set the stone, and overnight-deliver it to him so that he could propose on the day he had planned.

 

But Rodney and Alisha are college students, working in Colorado this summer, without a mailing address. The store won't mail to a post-office box.

 

Sooooo . . . Rodney, who works for the local police department, asked the wife of another officer to receive his ring at her house.

 

But the store, trying to be helpful, sent it a day EARLY. So she missed it.

 

The Fed Ex doortag said they'd be back at 4:30 p.m. the NEXT day . . . too late for Rodney's plan to propose on a mountaintop, like a line in a song they loved by Christian singer Bebo Norman, "A Page Is Turned."

 

He HAD to get that ring. He searched frantically for the Fed Ex phone number. No luck.

 

A fellow officer said police dispatch had access to numbers not available to the public. Great! But wait: Alisha works in that office!

 

Rodney snuck in. Alisha's computer and the other dispatcher's are back to back. Alisha didn't see him. He presented a note to the other dispatcher. She located the number of the Fed Ex manager who would be called if the store were burglarized.

 

Based on the tracking number off the doortag, he told Rodney the truck would be at a store in the next town, seven miles away, in a half-hour.

 

His sergeant gave him time off to fetch the ring. Unable to take a patrol car because it was out of the jurisdiction, he biked home, got in his truck, and rushed over there.

 

The Fed Ex manager said the store was on the right, so his eyes were glued there. Suddenly, though, he saw the Fed Ex truck coming TOWARD him.

 

Screech! He cut people off, made an illegal U-turn, got the bird from a passing car . . . realizing too late he was still in his police uniform . . . but caught up with the truck at the store a distance back, on the OTHER side of the road.

 

He ran in, exclaiming: "You have what I need!"

 

Everyone stared . . .

 

. . . but the deliveryman said, "You must be the one looking for me. What is it you can't wait for?"

 

"My engagement ring!"

 

Everyone cheered. He handed it over. Rodney peeked. Yes, it was amazing . . . perfect.

 

Next afternoon was dark and stormy, but Rodney and Alisha set off on their hike, 2½ hours to the top. The 360-degree views were incredible.

 

The couple, both devout Christians, sat on a log. Rodney read a Bible passage about the Last Supper. They shared bread and grape juice, and prayed.

 

Rodney had Alisha stand, and gave her a card.  While she read it, he pulled out the ring and knelt.

 

"Alisha, will you be my Queen?" 

 

The answer was a resounding yes.

 

After all that . . . it had BETTER be! Talk about irresistible.

 

Rodney says that, since they took communion and invited God to be with them, the skies above them opened to a crystal blue and the sun shown right on top of them, all the way back down the mountain.

 

May their whole marriage be like that.

 

Because boy, does that bridegroom deserve to live happily ever after. †