I think many of you know that Stephen (aka Rex) and I met on eHarmony. Oh the wonders of the internet! :) I'd actually kinda given up on it, and honestly, I wasn't looking at the moment, too many tings going on with family and work. Just hadn't cancelled my subscription. It was the best thing my laziness has ever done for me. :)

Just helping a friend set up her own profile (she had way better chances of finding someone than I thought I'd had - my childhood and family life hadn't really set me up to be successful in relationships), and I'd logged on to my own profile to show her how I'd set up mine...and there he was.

Stephen.

Of course, the only thing you see at first is a picture, age, and general location...and I thought, "This one's cute...where was he when I was looking before?" I clicked on his profile just to see, ready to be like, "Nah...not this one either. All the cute ones are just not deep enough..."

The first thing I saw was that he was articulate and liked to read (I write, and it's alwys been important to me that I find someone who would be interested in my passion), and I was like, "He's smart, and he reads good books. Ok...that's definitely a good sign. But I don't know. I'll probably send him a smile, and he won't respond. That's just the way it works. I'm kinda weird...didn't hide that on my profile...Sure he labeld himself a 'nerd" on his own profile, but there are nerds and then there are nerds..." (You don't really know the difference unless you are one...)

But still...sending a smile and chancing not having it responded to...I was going through a lot at the time. I didn't want to add feelings of rejection to the stress.

And then I saw it. He runs. He loves running, like...a lot. But he wasn't doing it for himself. He had given this passion to God and was letting Him use it to save children who had no other hope on this earth than other people hearing the heart of God and reaching out to give them a hand. There are times in your life when you realize that potential for joy is worth the probability of pain. And this man was definitely worth me risking rejection.

I sent him a smile.

And he's given me a reason to keep smiling every day after that.

Photos