The boy I sat next to on the bus

It all started with a ride on the bus to school. I was in high school and I rode the bus. Since I was at the very last stop, there were never any empty seats, so I ended up sitting with anyone who would let me sit in their seat. Months passed and I always tried to sit with this one guy. He was cute! I thought he was dreamy. He was quiet, shy, and wore a big puffy coat in the winter. I was not shy. I was loud, obnoxious and wild. One day, after sitting with this guy for several days, we finally began to have small conversations. And that was all it took. I was smitten. We began to talk more and more one day on the way home he asked if I would be his girlfriend. Of course I said yes, and then he kissed me. I liked him. A lot.

The boy on the bus!

He was such a good high school boyfriend. He walked me to my classes and even carried my books. Then he asked me to the prom!! Oh my goodness. A junior asking me, a sophomore, to the prom! I was so flattered, but I knew that my mom would never let me go. I was so excited that I told him yes, even though I knew there was no way I was going to talk my mom into this one. So, I did the only thing a girl can do...I blew him off . I liked him. I loved hanging out with him. But I stopped. Dumb, dumb me. So, he broke up with me. I was crushed. My little 15 year old heart was broken.

We still sat together on the bus, and we were still friends. One day he told me that his dad, who was in the military, was being relocated, and that he and his family were moving away. I was so sad. This boy who had once been my boyfriend, who was now my good friend, was leaving. We exchanged addresses, promising to write and the last day of school that year he told me good-bye. He hugged me and he kissed me one last time. 

That summer he and I exchanged a few polite letters. The letters were friendly, and each time we would promise to keep in touch. Well, that didn't last too long. Our lives were busy. I attended a missions trip that summer with my youth group and I got saved. I started praying for my unsaved friends, including him.

The next years passed, and I was heading to college. He and I still managed to write a letter or two, and we were able to stay in touch with each other. I continued to pray for my unsaved friends, including him. I remember emailing him a time or two during college and getting friendly replies. They always went like this. "How have you been? What is new with you? Let's try to stay in contact." Each time we would reconnect, we would talk about old times, discover what was new in each others lives, and promise to continue to write.

The years continued to pass and I dated several different guys. They just weren't the one that God had for me. All the while, in the back of my mind, I remembered that guy from the bus. I continued to pray for him. After I graduated from college and began teaching, I had pretty much given up hope on several things. I had decided that I probably would never get married, and that he would never get saved. I had prayed and prayed for him.

Then after a few more on-again-off-again attempts to stay connected, I was looking through my email contacts, and there he was. It had been 12 or 13 years since we had seen each other and years since we last talked. I decided to send out a short, friendly email. I expected to hear that he was married and had children. I half expected to find out that this was no longer his email address. But, miracle of miracles, he responded! And he was single. Single!

We began to write back and forth and developed a much deeper friendship than before. He saw that I was MUCH different than I was in high school and we talked about my salvation. He was not at all open to hear about salvation. I still prayed for him. Through our friendship, I was able to answer many questions about salvation and shared the gospel with him on many occasions. I realized that I had real feelings for this man who was so far away, and I realized that I had no future with him unless he was a Christian. I was torn.

After many months of friendship, he got saved! I still get tearful thinking back to that Sunday night as we talked on the phone. As we hung up the phone that evening, I cried myself to sleep as I praised God for answering the prayer that I had prayed for so many years. Things moved very quickly from here. We had met each others families and we fell in love. Real love. L-O-V-E. Love like I have never known before.



He and his family invited me to go to Disney World with them for the week of New Years. I was so excited, but I was so afraid that he was going to propose to me, that I specifically asked him not to. I wasn't ready. I knew that if I married him, one of us had to move. I wasn't ready. As the clock struck midnight on New Years, we were standing on a beach, surrounded by his family, watching fireworks. (He later told me that he would have proposed to me that night!) The day before we left Disney, we were watching a parade as the park closed, and he went to get me some popcorn and a diet Coke. As he was walking away and I was sitting with his parents, I started to cry. I knew I couldn't live without him. I didn't want to live without him.

Us at Disney

He came to see me for Valentine's Day, took me to a great restaurant, and after dessert, he popped the question. I have never been so happy. I knew that this was the start of a wonderful journey.

Five short months later, that same boy who let me sit with him on the bus, was standing at the end of the aisle in my church waiting for me. God gave me the man of my dreams. He gave me a man who loves me, who prays for me and with me, who leads our devotions in the evening, who encourages me. He gave me someone to love, to share everything with, to grow with.

We have been married for over a year, but sometimes I look over at him and say, "Can you believe we are married?" It is still so new, so exciting, and while it hasn't all been sunshine, roses, and lollipops, the good outweighs the bad. He is the man of my dreams.