I admit. This is a strange title. It come from an ice-breaker game my high school youth group did on Wednesday evenings. We would sit in two lines of chairs and play Speed Friendship, which was like Speed Dating, except without the dating part. Though, instead of mindless and random conversations, my youth pastor would ask us questions. Sometimes they were "Would you rather" questions, but the ones I always remember are the "The person you are dating is perfect in every way except" questions. As you can now see, that is where the book gets its name. The ending of that sentence in the youth room was always something silly, like a third nostril, or a butt that glowed cherry red whenever they gassed. Always silly, always random, never serious. In all the games I played of Speed Friendship, my youth pastor never asked, "The person you are dating is perfect in every way except that they aren't a Christian." Maybe it was because we were supposed to be good little church kids who knew that we weren't supposed to date, let alone marry, a non-Christian. And I never questioned that that question never came up. That is, until I dreamt one night and struggled with the very question that was never asked: The person you are dating is perfect in every way except they aren't a Christian. What do you do? This book was born out of me trying to find the answer to that question. Some may disagree with the ending, with how I solve the problem in the book. To those I say that my answer is always changing, always growing, as any answer to a difficult question will. Come find me in 10 years or so and see how my answer has changed. Some will question my question- they don't understand why I even bother to pursue the answer. To them I answer, go live and fall in love with someone, and them ask them the religion question. What do you do now? That's the dilemma I faced in my dream and in the book. To those others still who want more, I can only say to wait. Maybe more will come, but I still don't know the ending myself. All in all, I hope you enjoy the book, enjoy the answer I give, and think about the answer yourself. I know that Rachael in the book makes mistakes. Do you agree with her? Did she do the right things? Make the right decisions? Is there another way besides not going at all? Ponder these as you read and answer the question yourself: What do you do when the person you are dating is perfect in every way except that they don't share your same foundational beliefs?
