Love Story Part 4

Two weeks had past since Todd came home from Costa Rica. He was different. He obviously cared for me and tried to spend as much time as he could in my presence. Our time together was very limited, however. We were both youth leaders and these two weeks happened to be the busiest of the whole summer. We had a to plan for, shop for and put on a youth trip. We also attended a 3 day leadership conference with other people from church. We seemed to be always together, yet we never really had a private moment. I had no doubt he had feelings for me, but my own anxiousness was beginning to grow.

I was beginning to feel very sad and down about the whole situation. One night while we were with a group of youth I could not hide my sadness. I was not crying, but I was definitely not myself. One of the senior guys came to me. I had not told him any of my feelings or what was going on between Todd and I, but when he approached me he said, "Why don't you just tell him how you feel." At that moment I was a little perplexed. He was visiting from out of town and had only been a part of the youth group for a couple weeks. I had not told him and I was sure Todd had not, but he seemed to know. My reply was, "I can't. Isn't the guy supposed to approach the girl?" He said, "Well, sometimes the guy needs a little help." At that moment I knew God was telling me to approach him again. That night as I was leaving I asked Todd if he would walk me to my car. Once outside I asked him when could we talk about us. He told me he was so sorry. He knew we needed to talk, but he had been so busy and had not made time. I asked if he had any time soon and he said, "No, but I will make time." The next evening we had a friend's birthday party to attend, but we made plans to get together after the party.

August 22, 2002 I went to the party filled with anxiety and joy. After the birthday party we drove together to a park by the water. We went first to a coffee shop, but when we went in we saw too many familiar faces to talk privately. So, instead, we took a walk down by the water. While we walked I remember him telling me how much he admired me and how I possessed all of the qualities he had been seeking in a wife. We walked around and around the little pathway. We talked and talked and towards the end I remember asking him, "So, are you asking me to be your girlfriend?" His reply was absolutely so telling of his character. He said, "not exactly." Todd wanted so desperately for us to do this the right way and at first he was apprehensive of calling us "boyfriend, girlfriend." Not because he did not want to date, but because he wanted to date differently. The way people usually do "dating" can lack purpose and intentionality. He wanted us to spend time together dating to see if God wanted us to be husband and wife. I remember while we were walking around the park a group of teenagers teased us saying, "Why don't you hold her hand?" He told me as we continued to talk that he wanted me to know that he genuinely wanted to hold my hand, but he wanted everything within our relationship to be special and to have purpose. He wanted us to pursue purity with everything we had and pursue Jesus even harder. Todd pursued me with such purity and he protected my heart and body for my future husband.

For the story of the first day he held my hand stay tuned...