Believing the Dream: The Beginning of A Beautiful Love Story
He didn’t want to wake up. It was the best dream ever.
Was he crazy believing the dream?
His pastor thought he shouldn’t put too much faith in it.
And then he found out he could.
This post is one in our monthly series
Love’s True Story
Believing the dream? Was he crazy?
Introspective, intelligent, creating a new life after a dysfunctional childhood, the young man tried to plan his future.
He knew he wanted more than his parents had. Not only financially, but also emotionally. He wanted a happy home when he married. But who would marry a man like him? A man with nothing to offer, whose family didn’t invite trust. His prospects seemed gloomy.
Then one night he had a dream.
He met a girl in this dream. The girl didn’t have a name, but he would never forget her face. He’d never forget the love he felt from her. The acceptance of him as a person. Her complete confidence in his ability to be a good man.
He woke up enervated. God had someone for him! He could have a good life.
Now he needed to find the girl.
Life went on.
He found a new job in a new location to get away from the caustic childhood home influence. Became involved in a church with a mission atmosphere.
Every summer this church conducted Vacation Bible School, bringing children from several poor communities. The Bible School was large, and invited teachers to volunteer their time.
And that’s when he saw the girl from his dream. One of the volunteers!
The two weeks of VBS flew by. And then,
the volunteers were going home.
And he hadn’t said anything to the special girl.
What could he do? He felt desperate, yet so incredibly afraid.
He had to talk to her before she left for home.
Grabbing courage by the horns, he called the home where the girls stayed during the two weeks of VBS.
“No,” said Judy, “The girls are gone. Norman just left to take them to the bus depot.”
Now what? He would call the bus depot. This girl could not just walk out of his life.
He pulled all the change out of his pockets, but didn’t find a quarter for the payphone.
“No way, kid,” said the man in the gas station. “Our change is for our customers.” And shoved the boy’s dollar back at him.
Glancing hurriedly around, his eyes fell on a soda pop machine. Quickly he slipped in his dollar, and cha-ching, out came a coke and some precious change.
He heard the phone ringing at the bus depot. And ringing. Then…
“Hello,….”
“Hello, sir. May I page…?”
The huge bus growled at the curb waiting for passengers.
The girl carried her handbag over her shoulder, walking to the bus under the diesel saturated canopy of the station.
Wait. Was that… her name? on the loudspeaker?
Her heart lurched. What had happened? And to whom? She had never been paged before. She rushed to the telephone at the station desk.
“Hello?”
She heard the boy’s voice. Somehow, she wasn’t altogether surprised.
“Will you write me?” he blurted.
Coy now, she said, “If you write me first.”
And he did.
All summer, letters flew back and forth. Then one letter scared him. She was thinking about moving. Across the country. She had been asked to serve in a Christian school 2000 miles away!
There was only one thing to do.
He grasped all the faith in his good God,
and believing the dream,
he proposed.
It was the beginning of a beautiful story.
