I came across an article tonight: “Love More: The Story of Linden and Bri”

Linden was/is a mission pilot in the south pacific, and while there an American girl came to visit.  The article captures the story of how they got to know each other and fall in love.

But there’s a twist.  He was severally burned in an explosion while working on an airplane before they were married, and the story captures how they dealt with the twist in circumstances.

Here is a teaser from the article to make you want to read it:

“Linden was really smug when he finally woke up and I told him that he had sent me flowers on Valentines even though he was in a coma,” laughs Bri. “I don’t think many guys can top that!”

“But didn’t she think twice about marrying Linden after the tragedy? “Not once. True love is a choice. You stick by the person you love. You want to spend every day with them. They become your best friend. Being married is fantastic. Our relationship just keeps on getting better, the more we’ve chosen to commit. If we’d known how good it would be, we would have gotten married earlier! I signed up to live my entire life with my best friend and ironically, this has been the best year for us—I’ve finally gotten to spend as much time with Linden as I want. He’s stuck with me and I’m taking full advantage of it! Life is what you make it. Linden’s first thought was that it was a terrible way to start our life together, but I told him ‘It can’t get worse than this, so it’s all up from here!’ And it is. It gets better every day,” Bri says, as she lightly touches Linden’s arm.”

Love is a fickle creature these days.  It can seen so hard to find and so easy to lose.  Two things stood out to me in the lives of these individuals pertaining to love.  That, while we each have an active role to play, God does lead and direct people.  The second thing is the strength that love has.  So much of what is called love lacks backbone, that when someone like Bri makes a determination to stick with the relationship in difficult circumstances that the contrast becomes stark.

The story also points out that tragedy is endemic to this world, and that no one is exempt.  This couple’s attitude toward their own tragedy is courageous.  We all know that it must be hard, but they are making the most of the situation that they find themselves in.

This story leaves us with an interesting mixed emotions.  While we don’t envy them, we envy them, don’t we?