Lydia's Version

Jack and I first met on our 6th grade quiz bowl team. I had always known of Jack, but all I knew about him was that he was rough around the edges. Fast forward many years, he came in very late to the first day of classes Junior year, and had no choice but to sit by me. From there we started talking, and I grew very fond of him, but I knew he wasn't someone I could ever be with. I began to witness to him, because I saw his life was so desperately broken and that he had no hope. I invited him to church one afternoon, and he came, but only so he could see me more. At church, our pastor spoke on grace and forgiveness and that's when Jack came face to face with Jesus. After a few months he got saved, and a year later asked me to be his girlfriend. From there, Jack surrendered to preach and was called to the mission field - wherever that might be. Throughout my time of meeting Jack, I fell in love with something I didn't understand. I couldn't explain how I knew the Lord would change him, or why I felt justified in going against all my upbringing had taught me, but now I can. The Lord was transforming me in a different yet paralleled way as Jack. I was able to see the compassion that God has for the lost, and recognize my own faults. While I knew from the beginning that this was something special, I could have never dreamed that in just a few years I would be marrying a preacher who shared the same desire I have to carry the Gospel to every corner of the world.

Jack's Version

I’ll never forget the day I really met Lydia. I had known of her for a few years, I even had several conversations with her, but I always thought of her as a “Jesus freak” and kept my distance. Until the beginning of junior year of high school. To make a long story short, I had spent most of the day arguing in the office about what I deemed an unsatisfactory schedule until finally I was told to just show up to class. And when I finally did show up it was so late into the class that there was only one spot left. And that spot was next to Lydia. I’ll never forget walking in that room, noticing the one vacant seat, and thinking to myself “man I’ve never noticed how beautiful she is”. And after sitting down and beginning to talk with her I realized she was beautiful in more ways than the eyes could see. Her intelligence and corny humor was a combination too good to resist and I found myself always looking forward to our conversations. We quickly became good friends, which made no sense to anyone. After all, she was the nicest girl in school and I was the kid that everybody was scared of. But that’s just the thing, she wasn’t scared of me, or at least she hid it well. And she never judged me either, even though I gave her more than enough reasons to. It got to the point that every day all I would look forward to is seeing Lydia. I fell in love with her far before I ever knew it. And little did I know, she was witnessing to me the whole time I was attempting to flirt with her. And everything was remaining steady until one day Lydia looked at me with a sad look on her face and said “You’re broken.” And those two words hit me like a bullet. She single-handedly saw through the cocky facade that fooled everyone else. And for the first time since I was little I almost cried in public. Initially I was defensive, and I said mean words to cover up the pain that she saw. And I stormed off as soon as I could. But those words haunted me all night, and even into the next day after I went to work at our local grocery store. And I’ll never forget that day, because it changed my life dramatically. I was on aisle 2 stocking baked beans on the top shelf on a ladder, and Lydia walked up to me in a big blue hoodie and pink shorts, with a big chocolate bar in her hand and said “Hey, do you want to come to church with me tomorrow?” And she told me what time service was after I managed to stammer out a yes. And initially I went because I wanted her to be my girlfriend. But I kept going because of the message that the pastor preached that fateful Sunday morning. It was on grace. All about the man who took the worst punishment imaginable to pay for the things I had willingly done to betray Him. And the pastor said that no matter what I had done, that man had forgiven me on the cross. And that man’s name was Jesus. And as someone who couldn’t even forgive myself, that love changed my life immediately. I quickly got saved after that, and I began to grow rapidly in the Lord due to being poured into by all those around me. Most especially Lydia. And after a year, and a very awkward conversation with her parents, I asked her to be my girlfriend. Not too long after that, I felt my call to ministry and surrendered to it six months later. Almost two years, four mission trips, and too many sermons to count later I have grown very close to the Lord, and Lydia has been there the whole time to support me and encourage me when I feel unworthy. We’ve laughed together more than just about anyone else, we’ve grown so close that we can almost tell you what the other one is thinking, and more than anything else we’ve helped each other grow closer to the Lord. Lydia is my rock and my greatest supporter, she pointed me to the Cross, and I love her more than the breath in my lungs. And all of it started because of that one open spot in class that day.