How I Met My Wife

by Derek Hansen
(Post Falls,Idaho USA)

A Leap for Love

The year was 1997. I was coming back to refresher training to work as a USFS Smokejumper. The previous year I ran into trouble and was hoping to make things right. I had been dating but always seemed to be in a bad relationship. I was ready to take a leap for love. I invited myself to a church because of a fellow smokejumpers strong walk with the Lord. I came to church and gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ. I longed for this new life to be around fellow Christians.

It was so different than the path I lived before. I embraced this new life with open arms and a willingness to serve the Lord. But work continued on and I found myself helping the Winthrop jumper base out with their fires. The Missoula smokejumpers and the Winthrop jumpers were working side by side to control the increase in fire activity in August of 1997.

On one particular jump two jumpers were hurt from hard landings that they endured on the jump. The rest of us jumped out from a smokejumper plane to assist in what would become a rescue jump. One of the jumpers Lisa had fractured her pelvic bone and was in serious condition. When I first arrived on scene she was screaming from the pain and was unsure of the extent of her injuries. I recall looking at her before the accident and saying to myself had she been a Christian I would have liked to ask her out on a date.

Boyd and myself would oversee the medical assistance in getting these jumpers on a helicopter and back to the hospital. From there the doctors took over the treatment. Boyd and I would continue to jump fires in Winthrop before heading back to Missoula. I decided to write to everyone involved on that rescue jump that if they died that day on the jump would they have gone to heaven or hell.

I received one letter back, it was written by Lisa. We continued to correspond back and forth with letters. We decided to meet in San Diego and she told me she was searching for the Lord. I was still unsure if I should pursue a relationship as of yet. Not longer after she accepted Christ as she too was tired of what this old life had to offer. She continued to recover from her injuries and I took the leap for love and asked her hand in marriage. She accepted my proposal and also took the leap for love.