A Redeeming Love - Chapter 10

A summer romance series, chronicling my love story

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapters 8&9

Summer is coming to a close…. How am I going to wrap this up?!!

 As our dating relationship ended, I continued to volunteer in the college ministry, so I still spent a lot of time with Roger.  We were still very close friends, there simply were no more dates or romance.  It was confusing to me – I thought we were so great together.

 With change in the air, I sat down and did some soul searching to find that my true passion was college ministry and I was ready to pursue it full time.  I had been in a long term temp position at a beautiful hotel on the beach and knew it was time to say goodbye and pursue my passion.  Shortly after I decided this, a new position at my church opened up.  The college ministry had been steadily growing and Roger felt that he needed another full time staff member to assist him.  Being a single man in college ministry, he was growing increasingly uncomfortable with counseling college women, so he specifically was looking for a woman to partner with him in ministry.  Now that our dating relationship was over and I was determined to go into full time college ministry, this opportunity seemed perfect.  I told Roger that I was going to apply for the job.  He made it very clear that if I were to get it, we could never date while working together.  I in turn made it clear that if I got the job and he decided that he wanted to date me again, he’d have to quit because I was confident that college ministry was where I was supposed to be!

A few month later I was hired.  I absolutely loved everything about this job.  As new opportunities came up, I discovered different parts of myself and gifts God had given me that I knew nothing about.  I remember the first night I got to speak to the college students at our weekly service.  I had grown up singing solos in church, doing musical theater and dancing, so I was comfortable on stage.  But getting to speak and share my heart was new to me and quickly became one of my most favorite things. 

It wasn’t awkward working with Roger as some thought it might be.  We didn’t have a messy breakup and truly, we worked very well together.  We were both very different in our personalities, approach to ministry and gifting, so together we made a great team.  But that team wouldn’t last long.

Towards the end of the school year Roger announced that he would be leaving Malibu Presbyterian Church to pursue a chaplaincy with the California Highway Patrol.  I knew this meant he would be going away to the academy for training and then perhaps be working in a different part of the state.  I was excited for him and for the opportunities that might come with his leaving.  Shortly after his resignation, I was hired as the interim Director of University Ministries.  Later that position would be permanent.  I was over the moon.  I was madly in love with college students and although my dream man was moving away, I had something to pour all my time and passion into.

I kept in close contact with Roger throughout his time at the academy and was very excited to travel up to Sacramento with some friends to celebrate his graduation the following year.  I also was thrilled to find out that he would return to Southern California to work and live.  It wasn’t long before we were once again dating.  It was about 2 years after our first time dating.  October 26^th, 2001, our second, first date was back at the Happiest Place on Earth – Disneyland!