Rich and I just returned from an awesome evening out with one of our favorite couples in the world. Kenny and Christi are true friends and we love them. Whenever we spend time with them, we are reminded of just how much God has blessed us.
Our lives have intersected in several ways, and we are so thankful for each avenue that God has opened for us to know them. I knew who Kenny and Christi were while living in Fort Lauderdale, but it’s easy to know “of someone” and not to know them well when you are part of a huge church like Calvary Fort Lauderdale. When the Engels decided to move to Chattanooga, I was excited for the opportunity to get to know them better.
Once in Chattanooga, Kenny began the youth program at our (still relatively new) church of Calvary Chattanooga, and Rich and I began serving as volunteer youth leaders. We were only dating at the time, and proceeded to get engaged while working under Kenny with the students. When it came time to decide who we wanted to marry us, we both felt overwhelmingly that it would be the most precious possible day if Kenny would officiate.
And officiate he did. He blew us away with the most personal, intimate, meaningful wedding ceremony we could have imagined. He blessed us that day, and he and Christi have continued to bless us each day we’ve spent with them since.
As newlyweds, we decided to get involved with a home group at church, knowing we wanted the true fellowship and growth that happens in that environment. We decided to drive the 45 minutes to Signal Mountain to join the Engels home group on Monday nights. It’s been an incredibly fulfilling, wonderful period of time with them as our small group leaders. Worth far more than the long Monday night drive time.
When we are with Kenny and Christi, we are with friends who genuinely care about us. We can talk about anything. We laugh hysterically. We sometimes cry. We grow and change and become more of who God made us to be. We are encouraged and affirmed. We worship. We chat and reminisce. We tell funny stories and make fun of ourselves. We learn about what godly parenting looks like and store their insights away for future reference! And we see a tangible example of what it looks like to walk through a trial with grace and strength.
It is God alone who is the author of this kind of friendship. We are in true community and are so in awe of all that God has done!
Here we are with Kenny and Christi after a delicious evening at Tony’s Pasta and then on to Rembrandt’s for coffee and dessert. Thanks for an incredible time, Kenny and Christi. We love you guys, and are blessed beyond words to know you!
Um…ya. What were we saying about that laughing hysterically part? Kenny is definitely smooching Rich 
What a blessing! You all look great:)
I love this post especially because you have just described our very dear and close friends here in Chattanooga (who we need to blog about as well!) Friends who we have had for more than a decade and have the same description of your relationship with Kenny and Christi
We thank God everyday for sending them to us and we are truly blessed knowing them. I am going to call and tell them now! Thanks for this, you guys are wonderful!
Joy
Wow! So cool! We really need to go out - all six of us!