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Our story
It all began my senior year in high school, and her junior year.
I had anxiously awaited my visit to Fa-Ho-Lo, an Assemblies of God
youth camp, that July. I had
prayed that, since this would be my last year at camp as a camper, that
God would use me in a new way. I
felt I was ready.
Monday
morning came and Truston and I jumped in his parents van and off we went.
It was a week for us to fire up for Christ since the Flint Outreach
was right around the corner. We
arrived in Jackson and there were a ton of high schoolers there.
Rock on! After our
initial meeting as a camp, we all broke off into our ten ready-to-win
teams. We were on the green
team. We all sat in a circle
and introduced ourselves and, to be honest, I wasn’t really paying that
much attention. Then this
girl Kari introduced herself and, although I couldn’t tell you a thing
about anyone else on the team, I noticed her and listened intently to
everything she said. Wow!
What a cool girl, I thought. But
as soon as I thought this, the idea that I was off to college in less than
a month flooded everything out.
The week went on with me glancing at her
once in a while, but I really tried hard to maintain my focus on the One
to whom I came to grow closer. It
was a great week. On Wednesday night, after the incredible service, I
really felt compelled to give Kari a word of encouragement.
“Hey! Can I talk to
you for a minute?” I inquired. “Sure.”
She smiled. I shared
with her that God had a plan for her and to be prepared to fight for that.
“See,” I said, “in every situation, there will be someone
that poses opposition to what God wants you to do.
No matter what, don’t let anyone
ever talk you out of God’s plan for your life.”
That was it. That was
the extent of our conversation that summer.
We exchanged addresses and phone numbers and went our separate
ways.
The
rest of the summer came and went and I was a freshman at Evangel
University in Springfield, Missouri.
I went home in March for Spring break to visit before I left for
the Bahamas. I reached into a
drawer in my bed to get my passport and I saw a torn piece of notebook
paper with a name, address, and phone number on it written in black pilot
pen ink. I had no idea who
this ‘Kari’ was, since her address was in a pile of all my camp
friends’ addresses. I threw
them all away but for some reason, I put hers in my Bible.
Spring came and then I was home for the
summer. Truston and I decided
to go back to Fa-Ho-Lo this year as staff.
We were pumped. We
were there a day early for orientation and setup.
Monday morning came and here came the influx of high school
students. I was walking down
the sidewalk and I saw this girl bent over tying her shoe.
When she looked up at me, our conversation and her name immediately
came back to me. “Kari!”
I exclaimed. “Holy cow!
How are you?”
“I’m
great,” she said. “We
need to talk when you get a chance.”
After a few minutes, I went and found her again
and asked her what was going on. She
told me that the summer before, she was really battling with what she
wanted to do in life. She
knew that what she wanted wasn’t what God wanted.
Then she said that she wants to go into youth and missions and that
she would be attending Central Bible College in the fall.
Ecstatically, I told her that she would be very
close to where I go to school and gladly gave her my e-mail address.
I volunteered to take her to church and show her around the town
when she got down there.
As
the week continued, I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
I thought maybe it was my emotions playing tricks on me, so I
really began to pray diligently about it.
Lord,
if this isn’t of you, please take these feelings away from me.
I don’t want to share the focus that I have on you right now with
anyone else.
The feelings never ceased. We
continued to exchange eye contact, smiles, and she even made me a
bracelet. For some reason,
though, she gave Truston his first. What
in the world?! Anyway, I
decided that I would talk to her again, so I approached her and asked her
for a few minutes. I shared
my heart with her. (Well, at least as much as I could with someone I
hardly knew.) I encouraged
her by telling her that I was very impressed with the love she had for
God. That’s not something
most girls my age have. But
with her, she was just lost in His arms that week.
I loved that!
I
was saddened at the end of the week.
I wouldn’t get her number because of that understood barrier
between a camper and a staff member.
I didn’t know if she would e-mail me.
I wondered if our feelings were mutual, or if she had any at all
for me.
When
I got home the next day, I checked my e-mail and sure enough, she hadn’t
written me. I
knew it wasn’t what I thought it was.
I knew I misunderstood the situation!
That’s when I e-mailed her.
I even went so far as to look her phone number up on the internet.
I didn’t know where she lived or her dad’s name, so how in the
world was I going to get a hold of her.
Lord, in a minute or
two here, I’m going to make a total fool of myself.
Please help me!
I asked that He would guide my steps in trying to find this girl
that I was so interested in. I
found a name and city that looked all right, I guess, so I picked up the
phone and dialed. When the
other end answered, I somehow muttled out, “Uh…um…er…I um…I have
no idea if I’ve got the uh…right number or anything, but…uh…I’m
looking for someone named Kari.”
“Is
this Jono?” she asked. And
that’s when it all started. From
that point on, we began to genuinely learn more about each other.
We started getting to know each other.
One thing led to another, and here we are.
We’re standing at the door of the rest of our lives, and we’re
standing together…her hand in mine…
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