"Grace makes beauty out of ugly things." - U2

That is one of my all time favorite lines from one of my all time favorite songs.  Truth be told, I'm not the world's biggest U2 fan, but I do enjoy their music.  Despite that honest admission of truth, the song "Grace" is one of those few songs that always stops me in my tracks and demands I listen to it in it's entirety.  The song has always captured my interest - but my interest in it grew exponentially when my then-wife and I were dreaming about starting a family.  In the throws of newlywed bliss, we talked about our future.  It was a future that optimistic - we’d own a house, have great friends, work jobs that we loved AND paid well, and start a beautiful family.  That family, we discussed, would include a daughter.  And maybe, just maybe, we'd name her Grace.  

Grace was a beautiful name, and it resonated with me immediately.  In a Scrubs-inspired "daydream moment" (admit it, you have them too), I imagined the photo montage of our baby daughter we'd create and send to our family.  With U2's "Grace" playing in the background, we'd highlight a series of photos of our journey through pregnancy, the birth of our daughter, and of course those precious first few days photos.  At the end of the slideshow, the photos would fade to black and the birth announcement would appear - "Welcome Grace to the world".

This newlywed dream remained just that.   After three short years, our marriage fell apart.  Two very long years later, our divorce was finalized.  There would be no perfect family, no happily ever after.  Just lots and lots of ugly things.  God must be a U2 fan though, because grace certainly was birthed out of those ugly things.  

So with that, I should probably say hello.  This is my first blog post - ever - and I’m super excited about joining the Conversant family.  I’m joining so I can share my story - it’s a story of two young Christians who married young and divorced young.  I’m sharing this story because I know I’m not the only one.  (Statistics say the divorce rate in the church is identical to the divorce out of the church.)  I’m sharing this story because I know there are others out there who’ve been where I’ve been.  I’m sharing this story because God shines through it from beginning to end. 

I’m also here on Conversant because my story doesn’t end with my divorce, it begins there.  Life moves on, friendships are made, adulthood perpetually looms, dates occur, and through it all - God’s grace shines through.  I look forward to you joining my journey.  

And just so you don’t think every blog post will be emotionally heavy, I want you to know we’ll talk about other things here, too.  We’ll talk about the joys and dangers of having your parents on Facebook (hi mom), my fan boy excitement for the 2009 Summer Movie season, Lost, Chipotle burritos, working for a 5 foot tall Mouse, and anything else interesting I stumble upon/interact with/find meaning in.  And if you think I can’t find meaning in Chipotle burritos, well, you’re in for a surprise!