Good People times Great People

Happy 3^rd Anniversary Jane and Dane!!

About 11 years ago I started working for a decent-sized California summer ministry called Sonshine. While I was there I met a girl named Jane who had carrot-colored hair and was into things like social justice, recycling, swimming and running. We became instant friends (even though I wasn't into ANY of those things, but her name was Jane and there was a Dave Matthew's Band song called, "the song that Jane likes". So that pretty much guaranteed that we'd get along). We stayed friends, and eventually Jane moved to Vancouver to go to Regent College. Then eventually I moved to Vancouver to go to Regent College. When I got there Jane was all excited to have me meet this boy named Dane who she was dating. She was really excited about him, and he was really excited about, well, ninja turtles. Seriously, he even had tattoos of ninja turtles. He also liked Rocky a little bit.

As they welcomed me to Vancouver we did fun stuff together, including a weekend trip to Victoria where our friend Jess caught on fire. I played the piano and went shopping for movies, nearly crashing Jane's car off of a slippery road, but somehow I recovered and there was no crash, so they don't know about that even to this day. We drove to California and went a little crazy in the car.

One day Jane called me and said, we need to have a chat. For absolutely no reason I panicked, thinking something was wrong. Maybe something had gone down with Dane? Maybe Jane was pregnant? That was it for sure. I was sure she was pregnant!

It turns out that she and Dane had decided to get married and I'm waaaay too dramatic.

I rejoiced in my heart at the news. Jane was one of my best friends and Dane was good. I knew she had the right guy.

They had a wedding officiated by the best preacher in the known universe and a really handsome guy sang a worship song with his guitar. Also, it was the one day that summer that it didn't rain, I think. It was kind of cool, because I told God, "listen, if it rains on Jane and Dane's wedding, you and I are going to have problems."

Just writing that last sentence makes me feel like a dufus. I'm sorry God. But I did say that.

Then they were married and we stayed close. I got to become better friends with Dane, and it turns out not only does he like ninja turtles, but he's one of the deepest, most caring guys around. And for reasons that go beyond comprehension, he even volunteered – of his own accord – to go rollerblading with me every now and then.

That's a real man in my book. Real men cry, and real men aren't afraid to be seen in rollerblades.

A little while later Jane got pregnant and had Ben. So now Jane and Dane and Ben are three of my favorite people.

And Jane and Dane and Ben are good people. And I don't throw that term around lightly. It's not appropriate for me to go into detail here about why they are good people, but let me just say that they are people of Character. They are true followers of Christ and I've been blessed by their friendship, care, and love over these last three years. They even had me for dinner two nights ago, which was a great pick-me-up in light of the crappy-week-ness (read: week 2 continues to be crappy, but I think things are picking up).

They are some of the most others centred people I know. They are the kind of people who influence everyone around them for the better. These days, I'm greatly concerned about things like social-justice, care for the environment, and I even spend a fair amount of time swimming and running (not so much Dave Matthews). Jane is even going to be my triathlon coach in the future here if I can convince her to let me do it with and ipod. Dane is my rollerblading "coach" and he teaches me the things about Bible that Regent forgets. He can do that because he's a high-school Bible teacher.

Thanks you guys, for continued friendship. And sorry about making your anniversary card public, but hey these are the times we live in. May your next year (and years) be blessed like never before.

- Dan

p.s. Jane and Dane would love for you to head over to their blog read all about Ben, and leave a comment wishing them a happy anniversary. Worth the price of admission.

Here are more photos I stole from their facebook page.

two things you will always see in close proximity to Jane: Ben and a Diet Coke

no caption can do this picture justice

the word "meat" comes to mind.