A Time That God Helped Me Early In My Life

The following is an interesting story that I enjoy telling others concerning my competition for the top spot in my class with a girl named Kathy Peterson:

From first grade on, it was obvious to everyone in my class that Kathy and I were the top two students in our class, so much so, that it even intimidated me greatly to talk to her (believe it or not, Dianne, I was an extremely shy person throughout my life until I met Mernell). All during grade school, junior high, and our first two years of high school, it was neck-and-neck between Kathy and me-----and I wanted that valedictorian honor SO badly!!!!

And then, during the summer between our sophomore and junior years, there was a 'divine intervention': Kathy got pregnant and dropped out of school and the last two years of high school were 'Easy Street' for me and I got that valedictorian spot out of a class of 18 students.

Several years ago, I told my best friend in high school, Larry Barton, that my mother had actually considered enrolling me at Paris to get a 'better education'. I told him, "You know, Larry, if I had gone to Paris, I would have had to of worked harder."

Larry replied, rather loudly, "No, if you had gone to Paris, you would have had to of WORKED!" causing me to laugh because that would have been true.

A Special Young Woman Who I Met At My Son's Navy Boot Camp Graduation

On a cold November, 1999 morning in Great Lakes, IL (just north of Chicago), I was standing on a sidewalk waiting for permission to cross the street to attend my son's, Johnathan's, Boot Camp graduation ceremony for the Navy. Standing nearby was a young woman, Megan, an attractive 19-year-old woman, who was there to see her fiance' graduate. After Megan asked me for the time, we struck up a lively and fun-filled conversation as if we had known each other for years.

At one point, I told Megan, "I have this flaw."

Megan burst out laughing, leading me to tell her, "I haven't even told you what my flaw is yet."

Megan told me that she has never met anyone who admitted that they had a flaw, especially so soon after meeting them.

I explained that my 'flaw' is that I only consider attractive women to spend my quality time with.

I gave Megan a Matthew 24:29-30a prophecy card and I quickly explained it to her.

I then told Megan about Denise who was in dire need of a heart-lung transplant when I met her and how I fell head-over-heels in love with her. And, I continued, after Denise did get her heart-lung transplant only three weeks after meeting her, I constantly wrote her and called her and visited her during her recovery and Denise and her family thought that I was a real hero to just magically come into their lives by simply reading about her plight through a newspaper article.

And then it turned out that Denise's great religiosity led to our breakup as she insisted on marrying a man of her denomination. About six months after I met Denise, I told Megan, Denise met a young man named Eddie who was smart enough to quickly join Denise's church and Denise and Eddie became committed to each other only about two weeks after she rejected me on August 11, 1989.

At this point in my story, we all were given permission to cross the street to go to the Boot Camp ceremony and I told Megan as we were walking, "What really bothers me the most about Denise choosing Eddie over me isn't the fact that I did so much for Denise during the most critical part of her life while Eddie actually did not even know her at that time. Or the fact that I had a prophecy to share with Denise after we committed to each other---but we never committed to each other so I never shared it with her. What really bothers me the most is the fact that I was much......better......looking than Eddie."

Of course, I watched for Megan's reaction and after what I had said sank into her mind, she slowly looked up at me as if to wonder, "Who is this guy?"

I gave Megan my e-mail address and she had been so good at corresponding with me since then that I gave her a special mention four years later at the end of my 2003 Christmas letter.