Job Security - NYT Weddings & Celebrations

This week also proves to be relatively snark-free, but they can stand a little poking . . and yeah, I'm a day behind. I went to Disneyland yesterday instead of blogging. So sue me.

Christie Love and J. Lee Hill Jr.

First of all, I have to say it: Get Christie Love! I wonder if this woman knows she is named after a great "tough chick cop" 70's TV show? Or does anyone remember? Never mind . . .

Anyway, this week - Preacher Man takes a Wife!

IT was Valentine’s Day 2007, and the Rev. J. Lee Hill Jr. was battling a snowstorm that slowed his progress to Lower Manhattan for a community forum on troubled children. The Baptist minister skulked in 45 minutes late and was ready to bury his head in embarrassment when Christie Nicole Love, a tall, brown-eyed woman across the table, caught his eye.

For those who wonder how strict is the social protocol of New York City, arriving 45 minutes late because there's a friggin' blizzard going on is an excusable offense. Hold that head up high, Reverend.

He would later learn that Ms. Love, a Columbia-educated staff lawyer at Advocates for Children of New York, was steps ahead of him. Before inviting him to the event, she had checked out Mr. Hill’s biography on the Web site for Riverside Church in New York, where he is the youth pastor for the 3,000-member congregation. Based on his smiling online photo, she deemed him to be “goofy.” But in person, “he was a lot cuter,” she said.

In some instances, this might be akin to stalking, but here we will later learn that Ms. Love (a) is 29 and (b) keeps getting pressure from her family as to when she's gonna have a man. So let's use the verb scouting instead.

“One of the things about being a pastor is that your work just really never ends,” he said. Services on Friday nights and Sunday mornings made it tough to go out on the weekends. And then there was the whole minister thing.

With previous first dates, “I’d not been all that forward in saying I’m a pastor here in the city,” he said, concerned that his calling might bring on a cascade of questions: “How conservative or liberal is this guy? Is he this crazy Holy Roller, or can he be just down to earth or cool and still love the Lord in this way?”

Red flag, red flag, red flag! "And then there was the whole minister thing?" See, I'm thinking that when you are an ordained minister, it is more than simply a job, but a vocation. And a pretty damn important one at that - so why wouldn't that be said, right up front? Because if the Preacher Man is asked, "What do you do for a living?" and he says, "Pharmaceutical sales," isn't that lyin'?

Ms. Love had just returned to New York from a job in Washington, alone. Along the way she had picked up kickboxing, tennis and a love for “Sex and the City.” But as the first person in her family to leave home for college, her work ethic meant a subdued social life. “I’d ask her, ‘When you going to get married?’ ” said her mother, Pearl Love of San Diego. The answer: “When the time comes, I’ll call you.”

Okay, maybe if I'm a minister, I'm not really looking for someone with a fondness fof "Sex and the City," a show that pretty much glorified sluts. Well-dressed, over-cinsumptive, whining sluts at that. Oh, and Jimmy Choo shoes.

Meanwhile, back home, Mother Pearl keeps asking her minister if her 29-year-old daughter is gonna stay a spinster or is gay.

Still, “I didn’t see myself becoming a preacher’s wife,” said Ms. Love, who initially hesitated to attend his sermons. Religion was important to Ms. Love, but she was unsure of the spotlight the role could require.

Lady, the guy is a preacher. Minister. One might think religion plays a fairly significant role in his life. But then, he admittedly had not been all that forward in saying that . . .