I could tell he wanted to kiss me, and the feeling was mutual. We couldn’t wait till we reached the car. Our first kiss happened in the elevator as soon as we left the restaurant.
This date was much shorter than our first date since we both had commitments the next day. But as we said good night we both admitted that we could hardly wait for the long weekend to be over so we could see each other again.
Our conversation that evening revealed another layer of my handsome date. Besides our shared goals and beliefs, I discovered another trait that I respected and admired. Kim held tightly to his Christian standards. He had not compromised his faith and his values despite the many temptations of his sports world and the influences of his teammates.
Could it be that he is the answer to my prayers?
Your Story:
Infatuation and Love
Thinking Back
• Who was the first person that you fell in love with? What attracted you to this person initially?
• What circumstances led to your first encounter with each other?
Thinking Inward
• What feelings or emotions did you experience as you got to know this special person?
• What aspects of their personality did you admire the most? What made these traits appealing to you?
Thinking Outward
• Before you met each other, did you have an idea in mind of the type of person you were hoping to find? Did anyone or any couples influence your view of a desired relationship?
• Did family members or friends comment on your relationship or your compatibility?
Thinking Forward
• What have you learned from your past romantic relationship(s) that influences the person you are today and how you view the future?
• What are the hopes and dreams you have for your relationship(s) of the future?
Write a Prayer: Tell God your thoughts and questions about the relationships in your life. Commit your heart’s desire to Him.
Dear Heavenly Father,
You created us with the desire to be loved. Many of us enjoy watching a story of romance where two people who were meant to be together find each other. I pray Your blessing on the relationship desires of my readers, Lord, and ask that You would protect and guide each union that exists. And, dear Lord, You are aware of readers who have not experienced true love or have lost the one whom they love. I pray that You would comfort them, as only You can, and fill the void in their lives with Your love.
In Your name, amen.
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”
1 John 4:16
Chapter 4
Accused
It was a crucial time in our relationship. Kim and I had been seeing each other for seven months, and we both wanted to see if our romance was going to move forward. We reached a fork in the road as my third year of university ended and decisions about how we would spend our summer had to be made.
Kim’s location for the summer was already determined. He needed to return home to southeast Saskatchewan and help plant the crop on the family grain farm. His career plan as a farmer was already in place. I only had one year of education studies left, and then I could begin my career as a teacher. I had worked in Saskatoon the previous summer and knew that jobs would be available to me in my university city, but staying in Saskatoon for the summer meant Kim and I would be a five-hour drive from each other.
Should I stay here, or should I chance it in southeast Saskatchewan? If I can find a job there, we could have a romantic summer together.
It was a difficult choice, but with my heart leading my head, I began the search for a summer job in the town near Kim’s family farm.
My resumé was impressive, listing the many jobs I had tackled since the age of 15. I had a continuous record of employment, often working more than one part-time job at a time. My experiences ranged from ice cream shops to high-end restaurants, shoe stores to clothing outlets, small business offices to government agencies. Two previous summer jobs had been spent as a clerk at Saskatchewan Government Insurance. That was the job my dad wanted me to keep long-term.
Estevan was a small city, but I remained hopeful I’d be able to find a job there. The options were few, but one posting for a teller at a local bank caught my eye right away. It wasn’t advertised as a summer job, but the idea of this position appealed to me. Even though I had nothing like this work on my resumé, I applied for the position and managed to get an interview. I was hired immediately.
I passed the on-the-job training in record speed. Learning how to handle all types of bank transactions seemed straightforward and easy to master. I relished the chance to be a fully qualified teller, open my own station, and greet the customers.
As tellers, we were not allowed to open our individual stations until we had balanced all transactions from the day before. It took me a bit longer than the other tellers to balance, but I was usually up and running with my station soon after the experienced tellers.
One morning, a few weeks after I completed my training, I couldn’t get my transactions to balance. I went over the statements repeatedly, but something was causing an error. My station remained closed as my supervisor scoured my transactions. No errors could be found. In total frustration, she finally let me open my station to keep up with the customers of the day despite the incomplete balancing requirement.
The same problem happened the next day. And the day after, it happened again, and again. Day after day, I could not balance. Each time, my supervisor had to set aside the demands of her regular work to comb through all my statements, trying to find an error. She couldn’t find one. Her frustration with me turned to anger. She blamed me and accused me of hiding something. I was baffled by her accusations.
Why does this keep happening? Why can’t I balance? I’m doing everything just as I was trained to do. In all the jobs I’ve worked, I’ve never caused anyone to be so angry.
The problem kept happening. I could not figure out how to balance. In exasperation, my supervisor discussed the issue with the bank manager. She filed a report about me that contained the only theory they could muster as to why I couldn’t balance. From their perspective, I was stealing from the bank. My inability to balance each day indicated small amounts of missing funds. I would have to be watched with “high alert” to avoid further theft.
The report drafted about me was devastating. It was kept on file and had the potential to scar my employment record permanently.
The last thing I wanted Kim to hear about me was that I was deceitful or distrustful. I had moved to his corner of the province for the summer so that we could continue getting to know each other and our relationship could blossom. This job was not working in my favour.
How will I tell him about these work issues and this disastrous report? Does he know me well enough to realize these accusations are not true?
To my relief at the time, Kim was distracted and didn’t realize the seriousness of my job trauma. Besides the long hours of farm work, he played fastball in a competitive league. A travelling baseball performance team arrived in Estevan and was practising with Kim’s team for a high-action