My story continued . . . (part II)

The story of my journey of faith that is. . . I mean,  what else is there? Right? Is this thing on?

So anyhow, where did I leave off? Yes, Dianna. That beautiful soul, she introduced me to Doug. A couple of times in conversation she would stop mid-conversation and say "You need to meet Doug So-And-So .. ."  Um, okay. I would think. Not sure why I NEED to meet some guy but if you say so. She would just explain that we have the same heart; cut from the same block.  Hmm. What's that supposed to mean? So one day I was tidying up the Sunday School room where I had finished teaching some little ones. She almost literally dragged me upstairs to introduce me to Doug.

I'll take a brief interlude from my faith journey story to interject a few things. Just for fun. So I was a part of the church's "singles ministry." I was always turned off by this name at churches. Yikes! It sounded like a dating service or something. I almost didn't want to attend for that reason. But its how young, Christian 20-somethings hang out. A circle of friends with common interests. So I went along with it and loved it. I met tons of great friends. Funny thing is, this particular group did in fact, live up to the title as I saw it. Not purposefully. I never got the feeling it was just a dating group to find future spouses. But goodness, I don't even know how many marriages came out of  that group. More than a dozen.  So anyhow, it happened that although I never intended to join the singles group to meet a guy or get hitched, I did go out on several dates with various guys. I guess it just makes sense. People in their 20's are looking around for a mate. Different guys would ask me out and I would oblige. Most of the time I would think to myself Nope, not this one but would go anyhow and try to keep an open mind. During this time I noticed a couple guys who dressed very nicely. An attractive quality to some but for some reason not me. It didn't feel manly to me. I felt like the woman should be the one with fashion sense and the guy should have more masculine things to think about. So I guess I sort of put that on my list of what-to-look-in-a-husband qualities.  hahahah  Did God ever hear that silent prayer!!

So when I met Doug that day in church, I was amused. That day Doug was wearing faded blue jeans with huge holes in the knees.  He had a linen blazer on over a plain white t-shirt. The first thing I thought of Miami Vice. We awkwardly met and he suggested we get together to talk over refugee ministry sometime. Uh sure, okay.

We did meet to talk about refugee ministry. My paid job was working at a public facility for teaching English to adult immigrants and refugees. (how I LOVED that job!) Doug was moving back into town to work to do refugee ministry.  He thought I might be a good addition to the team. Well, we met at Denny's. His favorite place to eat; my least. He drove up in his big pink van and his 80's body builder-type sweatshirt. Ha! This guy cracks me up.  As we talked and I observed him, I thought to myself, Nope, not this one either. Never. He's INTENSE. But afterwards he asked me out on a date. As usual, I accepted with my open mind policy.  This time it was different, however. Things clicked with this one. I had a lot in common with this intense dude. Dianna was right.

Ironically, our first date was to see the move "Luther."  We loved it. Afterwards we went back the building where he lived and did ministry. We played ping pong and talked late into the night. We talked about the big picture in life. I don't know how we got that deep so quickly but I loved it. I craved it. This is what I was looking for in a friend, in a possible spouse. A person who wanted to really talk and ask the big questions. To THINK together. I so tired of surface-level conversation all the time. One of the big themes we talked about that first night was integrity: what it really means to live out what you believe. I think even from that first date, we were matched up. Like the game "Memory."  Turn this card over, nope. This card, nope. This card, nope. This one? Yes, yes, yes. It's a match! Anyhow, we had more (a few) dates and a few more Twilight Zone type of experiences that were too uncanny.  This is looking like the one.

Anyhow, I guess the "Meet Doug" post is turning into a long one. :)  Well, we dated briefly and were engaged briefly. Too brief to be comfortable, honestly. I was a little freaked out about that. AAaahh, the intensity of this man!  Thus, begins my life of stepping out in faith.  Really . . . stepping out.  "And Abraham went out not knowing where he was going."  More on that, probably, later.
I suppose the faith walk began much before then but it very much intensified with marriage.

So we got married. . . did refugee ministry together and began our newlywed life.

To be continued . . . soon.