Along Came Earl

This will be the final blog post around my history in so much detail.  I will mention things as we move forward, but this will catch you up to speed for the most part as to where I am today.

We last left off with my sharing about what life was like after my divorce from my 2^nd husband.  Yes, I have been married and divorced twice, well, married three times, but divorced twice. (Read Confession Parts 1 & 2)  It isn’t nearly as “shaming” as it once felt, but that is because God has shown me that He loves me in spite of all my poor decisions.  That He can use me because of where I have come from.  I am so thankful that He loves me this way.  I am so blessed!

So, back to life after divorce #2.  I was attending every Sunday church service in the church I grew up in.  I was surrounded by family there and was getting what I needed at the time to come back to God.  I was at peace with my life in all aspects.  I hoped someday to meet a man who God had picked for me, but I wasn’t actively pursuing him at this point as I had quit dating.

Our pastor of our church had resigned his post in October of 2007 and therefore, we had been using area ministers from other churches and congregations to fill the pulpit of our country Southern Baptist Church.  One Sunday in November, we had a minister come that we had never had before.  We were beginning our Fall Revival that Sunday evening, but this new minister was going to be there that Sunday morning.  His name was Earl.  AND HE COULD PREACH!

He ministered in such a way that had me hooked into his sermons like I had never been hooked before.  I was learning so much from after just a few minutes into the message.  But then he switched directions smack dab in the middle of the thought almost.  I thought, “He will tie all this together and it will make sense.” I continued listening and I began to get enthralled in the message again even though it was a different direction than it seemed we had begun in.  Then he did it again!  He jumped to a different direction!  Once again, I thought that he would bring it all together and it would all make sense.  Guess what.  He didn’t.  He just closed it up and left me literally aggravated.  He had me so engrossed.  Learning so much, but instead of bringing it all home, he left me hanging.

Now, let’s be clear.  I was not some theologian, or even spiritually mature for that matter.  Let me give you an illustration as to what I am saying.  Picture yourself on a trip.  You are driving down a highway, moving along easily, making good time, no traffic in your way, it is a good trip.  Then you are immediately, without warning, told to detour down this other road that is not familiar and you are not sure it is going to get you where you are going.  But you go along for the ride, proceeding with caution at first, but then finding some great scenery along the way.  You are sure it will eventually lead you back to your original road.  But then, you are diverted yet again.  Just when you had hit your cruising speed, you are off in a new direction and it feels like your destination is further away now.  Again, you believe that this new road will bring you back around to the first road and have you at your destination in no time. Then all at once, you have hit a dead end.  There is no road to take you back or bring you around.  It just ends.  That is what I felt.  I was actually aggravated with the whole thing.

Now understand, I really received a lot from the message, but I needed some closure. I was impressed with his ability, but just felt like I was left hanging when the service was over.  We were having a potluck lunch after church (like we didn’t do that all the time) so I was hoping to corner this guy and get the gaps filled in, but he didn’t stay for the lunch.  As I spoke to my dad about it later, I told him that I was so aggravated by it that I didn’t want to hear him minister again, so if he was coming back to preach, I wasn’t going to be there.  (This was not some sort of a threat, it was just my way of expressing how I felt about that service.)  Now my dad on the other hand, loved the message and was looking forward to hearing him again.

The next Sunday, we had a different minister so I was safe to go to church.  On the next Wednesday, a week and a half after that annoying service, I was shopping in a store near where I lived.  I was just browsing along and I felt someone tap my elbow.  I turn around and there he was!  That dreaded minister! He asked me if I was the one that was at the service that Sunday as he had recognized me (possibly with a scowl on my face) and I told him I was.  He introduced himself to me and I told him who I was.  As soon as he heard my last name, he asked me if I was related to (fill in my 2^nd ex-husband’s name here).  I told him that I wasn’t any longer.  Turns out, he had gone to high school with him (small school district so he knew him well) and he was shocked that anyone married to my ex would ever attend church!  HA!  He really did know him!

We talked for a while and finally, I confessed that I had really struggled with his sermon on that Sunday.  In fact, my exact words were, “You drove me CRAZY!”  He laughed and said that he hated that service as much as I did.  He struggled to deliver the message and he really blamed it on the audience! In fact, he said that if he wasn’t already scheduled to go back for more Sunday’s, he wouldn’t go back at all!  I told him that I had already decided that if he was coming back, I wasn’t going to be there those Sundays.  We both laughed and agreed that I would give him another shot which was scheduled for the very next Sunday, so 4 days from that point.

I was glad I had run into him and I began to look forward to Sunday.  It was so strange to go from such a strong dislike for the message style to looking forward to hearing him again.  That next Sunday, before the service, I came up to him and told him I was looking forward to it since we had spoken on that Wednesday.  He did not fail.  He was excellent.  He was on point.  He delivered a message that was, without a doubt, anointed by God and he did it flawlessly (in my mind anyway).  Afterwards we talked as I gave him a tour of our church and he was happy with the sermon too.  I was impressed with his ministry and looked forward to the next 3 Sunday morning and evening services with him.

Once those final services were over, we had become friends and finally, the week of Christmas, he asked me out on an official date.  Two and a half years later, we were married and he is the man God had for me.  I know this because I let God lead our relationship so much so that God Himself told us to marry.  That is the kind of marriage proposal everyone should have.

Someday, I will share that story with you.

~Jennifer

Photo Credit:  Nichole Waters Photography