I Have Seen the Future

(My Love Story continued.) After our first meeting, David and I spent the next year developing a friendship. I was running hard after God, trying to make up for lost time and past mistakes. He was trying to juggle work, family, and leading a bunch of students to a deeper relationship with Christ. I appreciated that last part immensely. I was so hungry for more, more, more of God. He had all of these wonderful concepts to share like motives, resisting temptation, and real time alone with God. His college brain full of ideas and truths learned at Campus Outreach and Dauphin Way amazed me. "Wow, God! You actually made men like this? There are men out there who love you and desire to follow you?"

I dated very little during this time. I spent several weekend nights at home alone with an old black & white classic, warm under my blanket. When I did venture out in the social realm with a guy, I found that I often compared him to what I saw in David. God had given me a glimpse of the kind of man I wanted to marry. I could not go back now! The prospects were too good. God had good planned for my future; I would not settle for anything less.

At the same time, David spent some of his weekends trying to create opportunities for the students at our church to learn the true meaning of Christian fellowship. We did the normal stuff: movies, eating out, concerts. The crowd, large at first, began to dwindle. Toward the end of his tenure as our student minister, it was down to about 3 or 4 of us. David became one of my closest friends. I was going through so much at home: dealing with the war between my parents, being an older sister, needing to be responsible and be a kid at the same time. Then there was the normal teenage angst of social pressures, juggling classes, deciding where to go to college, how to pay for it. He encouraged me toward faith and faithfulness through all of that.

The time came for my dear friend to return to Mobile to finish school. By this time, my heart was his, although he didn't know it. He did a great job of being responsible with his position as interim minister. He never stepped over the line or did anything questionable. Even still, I had fallen in love with my best friend. He left; I cried. We kept up with phone calls and letters over the next six months. When he came home for a visit, he usually made time for a reunion of our fellowship group. And sometimes it was just me, David, coffee, and good conversation. I looked forward to those visits more than anything.

I remember one of those nights in particular. I had just gotten the Friends haircut, made popular in the late 90's by Jennifer Anniston and Courtney Cox. I dressed up for the Athletic Banquet. I felt good (a stretch for me, as I had NO style in high school--still don't!). We met afterward for coffee and conversation. That was the first time I saw a hint of something in his eye. I had lived in hope for almost a year. My hope grew that night. Maybe this man is what God had for my future. We talked into the wee hours (thanks to the cappicino!) sitting in his car in my driveway. It was blissful!

My prayers changed after that night. My whole outlook on relationships changed. I didn't want anyone else but him.