Silence Continues:
At the end of my last post, Elizabeth and I were not communicating. The exception was that she called to see if I survived Hurricane Ivan in September 2004. This next year would be important for both of us. It was our time to separately make plans for the future. We both really wanted to be married and have children some day, so we both went looking for Mr. Right and Mrs. Right.
I have heard many Bible lessons and sermons in my life--probably several thousand. I can recall less than 1% of them, and that's normal in any learning process. During this year, I heard one particular set of sermons that stuck with me. The sermons were from Jim Schettler. Google him if you're not familiar--fantastic man! They were about preparing yourself to be the husband or wife that you ought to be. His repeated quote was, "Don't look for the right one. BE the right one." Most people focus on finding the perfect person without putting much emphasis on becoming the person God intends them to be. I decided to heed his advice and put first things first.


The summer of 2005 began with me working, as usual, and also spending a good deal of time with a girl. She was an old friend from Minnesota. We had known each other for years, since childhood in fact, but now we started getting interested in each other. We dated that summer. She was a nice girl--smart, funny, etc. We dated the whole summer and had plans to continue our relationship into the college semester, even though I was leaving Minnesota to go to Florida. Our reasoning was, "This is my last year of college, and if we're serious, we can make it one year of long distance."
As I already mentioned, my college was only 45 minutes from where Elizabeth's parents lived. I decided to contact her parents and ask if I could spend the night at their house on my way down to college. It was a long drive from Minneapolis to Pensacola, and having somewhere to sleep on the way was nice. I planned to stay one night with them. This might seem strange to you, but like I said, I had come to know them and respect them--so it wasn't uncomfortable. After spending the night with them I headed back to college the next morning. I only mention this because I learned later that my stay there sent a message to them--a message that I had not completely given up on a future with Elizabeth. That wasn't really what I was intending since I was dating another girl at the time I stayed there, but nevertheless, it was the message they received.
My summer romance didn't last very long during after the semester began. We talked for a few weeks, but it was very difficult to orchestrate our busy schedules. She was in nursing school and working, and I was a senior premed major 1500 miles away. More importantly, we both felt things fizzling. Sadly, my grandfather passed away in October of 2005, so I flew home to Minnesota to be at his funeral. I was only in town for a couple days, but I didn't even see this girl that was supposed to be my girlfriend. That demonstrated to me that we were going nowhere together. Shortly after that we had "the breakup call", and neither one of us were very emotional. It happened naturally--no hard feelings. She got married a few years ago, and I'm happy for them.
That year I had a fantastic roommate, who is now Pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in North Carolina (@TabernacleNC); but at the time he was helping me. He was one of the few roommates I had in college that went to for advice. I told him about Elizabeth and everything that happened. I didn't talk much about that story, mostly because I just wanted to forget about her. Talking about things reinforces memory retention, so I blocked it out. I remember telling my roommate that I had forgiven Elizabeth for what she did. I wasn't harboring anger any more. And I even remember telling him, "Whoever marries her will be a lucky man." I'm serious. I said that, and I believed it. Sure, she did something stupid--really stupid. But haven't we all?
Another New Beginning?


Keep reading in Part 5 (click link).
Image credits:
Focus image from http://www.zachandjody.com/blog/tuesday-photography-tips-tricks-back-button-focusing/15588/
Bored man image from http://www.thesinglemotherdiaries.com/2012/08/01/67-dating-rejection/
Phone image from http://washingtonnote.com/to_all_those_wa/
Chained heart image from http://worthyofagape.com/2012/09/12/guard-your-heart/
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