How the Coach Won My Heart - Part Three

Somehow I can't seem to make the rest of life slow down so that I have TIME to write! I've been reading my old journals at night - when I should be sleeping. And this week as I was reading I found myself thinking, "I'll just read to when we start courting." - like I didn't know when that happened! I'm getting lost in the story!



Shortly after my dad heard back from the Coach that he felt the Lord was directing him to pursue getting to know me, my daddy and I had lunch. We had been having lunch together almost weekly - a habit that I loved and had started when I was in elementary school. (One that still continues today! Except that it's lunch with grandmother and granddad and a troop of kids!) Dad gave me three options. 1) He could "blow the Coach off", which we laughed about. 2) He could invite the Coach to spend time with our family (the thought of which made me a little uncomfortable), or 3) He could meet with him a few times to see if he had "potential". We agreed on the third option.

At the time, even though I didn't know the Coach, I was strangely drawn to him. My dad once told me that there is often a second best before God sends His very best. Something in me sensed that this was what I should have been waiting for.

Before long, the weekly lunch turned to breakfast (Dad and the Coach). It continued for about 7 months! During that time, Dad said very little to me about the Coach. Or what they talked about, or what he was like. A sentence now and then was about it. Most weeks I didn't even know when they had gone.

Now, this was all part of God's plan. I had a lot of healing, growing, submitting to do. And during those months (some of the hardest in my life), the Lord began to soften me, show me that I could trust Him, and restore the relationship with my parents. One of the things I wrote in my journal during that time, "I'm far too independent. I love to be in charge, have my act together, I even love time alone. I'm so used to going where I want to, when I want to. Spending what I need to (or want to) - generally not very good marriage material." I realized that I was a long ways from where I needed to be at that time. But on the other hand, the Lord began to give me a desire to experience the blessings of marriage. Sharing my life with someone.

During these months, we had a few brief conversations at church. Neither of us were very out-going, so it was a funny sort of thing. The planets all had to align for us to make the effort to talk! We both knew that he was meeting with my dad, but he thought I knew more than I did, and I thought he knew more than he did. It's humorous looking back! All God's protection. We had two blessings in the communication area. One was his older sister, who was expecting her 8th child and homeschooling three or four of her kids at the time (HOW did she have the time to talk to me, I want to know?). She helped me think through a lot, as she knew the Coach well, and wanted to protect him, but also was supportive of our relationship. The other was a friend of the Coach's sister and mine. Another link in the "lack of communication" chain. They both gave me a sounding board and kept up with what was going on. And I gleaned a lot of wisdom from them in the process.

Once, I got word that the Coach's little sister (who was 10 at the time) couldn't remember my name and said, "You, now, that girl that the Coach goes out to breakfast with her dad all the time." On another occasion, I met his parents when they came to our church for a special service. Awkward, of course. I hadn't even really talked to the Coach!

I wrote this sometime in June (they had been meeting for almost seven months). "I've felt a squeeze in my heart when Daddy talks about how wonderful the Coach is. And I don't know him at all. Yet, when I observe the respect that my father has for him, I find myself having the same respect. And I've realized that I trust my father. If he thinks the Coach is wonderful, than I know he is."

There were a lot of questions. But I trusted God to show me His will (and the Coach, first) and even though I didn't know much about him (not the typical "dating" things, anyway), I knew what mattered. I knew his character. It means something when every person you mention someone's name to says, "Oh. He's a great guy." And it started happening a lot!

I began to have to field a lot of questions when word began to get out that he was meeting with my dad. It was easy, for awhile, because the Coach and I talked so little and so seldom saw each other. But anyone who knew my dad, knew that if he was meeting with a guy it meant something. Once we began to talk a bit at church (I detailed each and every conversation - there weren't many - in my journals), I began to tell people, "We are just friends". One very perceptive friend from church said, "You will be 'just friends' until you are married!".

Over all of these months, I had a growing desire to be with a get to know the Coach. Everyone I talked to had such respect for him. He was obviously persistent and determined. And to last as long as he had, there was something in him that my dad must have respected a great deal. But I felt out of the loop. I couldn't help but start to wonder when my turn would come.

I didn't know it was right around the corner!