The Story of John and Jen, Part 3

(See Part 1 and Part 2)

Friday, November 6, 1998

Kim helped me get ready for my first date with John. Red sweater, black slacks, makeup done perfectly. I wasn't all that interested in this guy, but I wanted to look good nonetheless. We were slated to meet at 10 pm at Bennigans, and though John's roommate Jeff had told him NOT to be late, he kept me waiting till about 10:10.

We ordered dessert and I encouraged John to order a beer if he wanted to. He jokes now that I tricked him into dating me by getting him drunk. (I kinda doubt that one Corona would have done that.) I will say that I was very impressed with his ability to flip a Corona upside down with one hand to make the lime float to the bottom of the bottle. I still can't do that.

Several hours later, we were kicked out of the restaurant when it closed. Time had flown by, and I remember being stunned that I felt like I was seeing into the heart of this man I had only known casually. After we left, we sat in my car and kept talking. I was having a great time.

And then I began to panic.

What was I doing spending all these hours with a guy I wasn't interested in? Was I simply rebounding from a guy who had broken my heart a few months before? Would I hurt John by leading him on? And I started spurting out warnings to John: "There are warning lights all over me. Be careful."

And suddenly what had seemed like a wonderful evening to him got very confusing. We parted ways and went home to our respective families.

John told his family he had met a girl and they all rejoiced. He tried to make sense of my confusing mixed messages.

I told my family and they were excited too, but the most important message I got was in prayer. As I prayed about the situation, I felt the Lord's peace come over me and an assurance that I was to trust God and walk forward carefully.

Sunday evening I met up with John at our church's evening service. After the service, I walked him out to his car and gave him a bag of homemade cookies. I told him he could pursue me.

Turns out, the pursuit was already over. We mark November 6, 1998 as the day we began dating.