The Suitor Finds A Way

See the beginning of the story HERE

Jake is five years older than me. It isn’t an issue for us now. It was when we wanted to start dating, though. Not an issue for us, per se, but an issue for people around us. I was 18, but technically still a high schooler. Jake, since moving back home after college, was very involved in student ministry at church. The rule was that students and staff couldn’t date. Hmmm...

Probably pondering his future with me

That didn't deter him too much. He planned a bbq for friends at the lake. He offered to come check my car while I was at work. I planned a movie night at my house. I also started going to the college Bible study he had been going to for years. Someone very wise once told me "Don't chase guys...but don't be afraid to get in their way." Yes, I started going to this particular Bible study because Jake was there. And I'm not ashamed to say so.

 So now it's the middle of April. One Sunday after church I mentioned to Jake in passing that I was going to take Jackie to the lake. It was a gorgeous day and she really needed a bath.

He showed up. We sat on the shore and talked all afternoon. We talked about everything and nothing. That night we continued the conversation at the college Bible study I was attending because he was there. Late that night on the drive home I noticed my gas light was on and needed to get gas before I went home. He followed me to the gas station and pumped my gas for me. As I drove away from the gas station, watching him watch me drive away in my rearview mirror, I had a revelation: I liked him. I went home and cried at my mom. This wasn't supposed to happen. I wasn't supposed to fall for Jake. I was actually a little pissed about it.

He called me the next day. Apparently we were both thinking the same thing: enough tip toeing...we needed to talk about this. He called to ask if I would be interested in going to get dessert with him. He wanted to talk with me about "some stuff." Before I even had a chance to answer he asked me what my dad's cell number was because he wanted to ask him if it was ok if we went out. Sweet right? My dad must have said yes because I met Jake at the diner that night for milkshakes.

I drank mine in about a minute.

He didn't take a single sip of his.

Finally we got around to talking. Jake, with much trepidation, told me that he liked me and that he wanted to court me. He was completely honest and told me that he was looking for a woman who was marriage material. He explained that he didn't want to just date me...he was very interested in finding out if I was the woman who would become his wife.

Luckily for him I liked him too and wasn't interested in just dating either. We talked about the fact that I was still in high school. (Except that I really wasn’t. I’d finished all my high school requirements. I just was waiting for the end of the school year to get my diploma.) Jake had made an actual verbal promise to the youth pastor that he wouldn’t date a student. I guess that they had noticed out Facebook conversations as well. No worries though, he was more than willing to wait until I was officially graduated to be my boyfriend. We would continue to hang out in groups until then. Great, that was out of the way. But there still was one slight downside to that plan. I was supposed to graduate on May 15^th. Then, on May 18^th I was leaving the country for two and a half months. But Jake insisted that we would be able to work with the long distance thing.

Blissfully unaware that my life was going to change forever

While we were sitting in the diner, my mom happened to be pulling some strings behind the scenes and long story short, she ended up calling me and telling me that I actually would graduate May 1st. That was *counting fingers* only a week away! That also meant that we'd get to actually go on a date or two before I was out of the country for what would feel like forever.

As soon as Jake got to his car after dessert he called my dad again and set up “The Meeting.” You Sonlight laides likely remember that dinner. My dad asked Jake every question under the sun. Finances, faith, past relationships, education, plans for the future, plans for me, ideals…I think the only thing they didn’t talk about was politics, believe it or not. The two days prior to their evening Dad spent lots of time interviewing people he trusted who knew Jake. Luckily Jake had been working in youth ministry for so long that the youth pastors at both churches knew him well, as did their wives, as well as the senior pastors. Even before the dinner Dad knew that Jake was a pretty great guy.

So did Jake past the test and make it through the parental interrogation?