What Happened Next - 25th Anniversary Recollections

Cindy: I struggled with my singleness but I accepted it as God's design. I knew that when it came to relationships with men that I couldn't trust that they would be stable and secure or that sin wouldn't mar it.

It happened one weekend, as spring break was just ending, that I went with Christy, Rob and someone else to pick up trucks for Rob's U-Haul business. Somehow I ended up riding with Rob. He scared me to death when the first thing he asked me was "what I looked for in a husband." I quickly said that I didn't -- that I felt as if my singleness was a permanent proposition. He just as quickly told me that he didn't believe our pastor, Bill Woods would agree. In fact, he was quite sure that Bill would say no one in our church had the gift of celibacy. That hit me pretty hard because I was pretty keen on being under the pastoral leaderships' authority. So that night I cried out to God about whether I was wrong, asking "was I protecting myself from rejection, betrayal and insecurity?"

John: Rob started talking about his conversation with Cindy when he got home that Friday night. I told him -- with uncharacteristic bravado -- that I believed Cindy and I were meant to be together and I believed we would be married. His reply was that it would be some sort of miracle because Cindy had told him in no uncertain terms that she would not marry. I countered with the promise that if we were not engaged by the time Sunday ended, I would just drop the issue. Well, I'm not sure how I thought that would happen, but Sunday night came and I was not engaged. I dejectedly said I would keep my word and just let it drop. The next week would be a very down week for me -- sort of trying to "soldier on" disappointedly. Every time I thought about Cindy -- and that was often -- I reminded myself that I was dropping it.