How Beautiful...

It was June of 2000.  

Returning to Caswell to work on Summer Staff wasn't my first choice.  Three years was long enough for me already, but circumstances left me with little option for employment and living.  Down in the dumps and feeling as worthless as a I could possibly feel, I besought Brian Hemphill for an opportunity to work that summer.  He needed someone.  I agreed to come and serve, yet again.  The first few days were nice.  Catching up with old friends and making new ones begun to heal a vacant place in my heart. 

Then I met her.  She was young.  Very young.  But she left an impression on me so incredible, I found myself wondering "what if."  Guys will talk of good-looking girls with words like "hot", "beautiful", "gorgeous", or some other overwhelming term.  Though those words are also true of her, that isn't the term that best describes my impression of her:  She burned beyond her looks.  Her personality glowed, her character beamed, and her kindness transcended.  I was hooked and didn't even know it.

It was January of 2001.

I was driving to Thomasville, North Carolina to take this young lady out for a first date.  We didn't date or even express our real interests during the summer before, but now those interests couldn't be withheld any longer.  I was not sure how this was going to play out.   Friends would joke about her age, but they didn't know the years of maturity she displayed in her conduct.  I was fortunate.  I knew what they couldn't see.  

I pulled into 667 Lee Rd on a Friday afternoon only to be greeted by a long haired smiling woman who was beside herself with joy at my arrival.  It only took one look that afternoon and I was certain.  This was going to be unlike any experience of my life.  (...and it still is)

It was March of 2001.

She had been nervous about asking me the question.  It had been on her mind for days, but she was so scared about asking.  Finally as we sat in the quietness of her parent's living room, she asked, "How did your mother pass away?"

I spent the next 30 minutes telling her my surreal story of the best-worst summer of my life.  I talked about my love for my mom.  I told her how that single moment forever changed my future.  I wasn't the same person and I was glad I wasn't.   I was glad that God was working me into something... better.  Someone she would be proud of.

She wept for so long after that.  She wept because she knew she'd never had the fortune of meeting her and enjoying long talks about life over a cup of coffee.   She knew that this relationship was worth investing in.  A key component of me was not accessible to her.  And so she wept because her heart was making room to invite me in very soon.

It was July of 2003.

She had no clue.  She knew she could never foresee my surprises coming and this one was no exception.  Several post-midnight hours were logged as my creative side's "life's work" was in production.   I have the best friends anyone could ask for.  Selflessly they stayed with me as I created my gift for her.  

She came into the multi-purpose building at Rich Fork with no clue as to what lay in waiting for her.  She always asked me to take her sailing, which I vowed to do that first summer at Caswell.  Now I was going to make good on that promise.  She climbed into her make-shift sail boat of cardboard and Christmas lights with this look only akin to seeing a 6 year olds face as they enter Disney World for the first time.  

Her voyage took her through the past.  She watched images unfold of our childhoods apart and then our recent years together.  She smiled, she laughed, she cried, ... she radiated.   Then she radiated brighter than ever as she squeaked out an emotional "yes."

It was January of 2007. 

Her heart was sensing God leading her into more.  Nursing had been a wonderful experience on so many levels for her.  She grew in her confidence of herself.  She also grew close to several young women who sharpened her faith as she did theirs.   It was in one of these relationships she learned about suffering peoples around the world.  She would hear stories of pain and sorrow in Africa.  Her heart burned for this mysterious place and this odd connection to a people she had never met.

She sat in bed one night and poured out her built-up heart's burden to me.  I resisted the notion of my wife going to a dangerous place to do something she had never done before.  She stood up to me.  I was more impressed than ever by her faith and desire to listen to God.

It was this key night that we still look to as a monumental moment in our process of coming to missions.  And God spoke to her first!

Its November 3, 2008.

I have been privileged with the most incredible woman on earth for the past eight years.  She has done more in her 26 years than the majority of the world will do in their entire lifetime.   And I am her number 1 fan.

She still has me hooked and I want her to know it.   Lindy Rollins Thompson, you are the brightest part of the tangible evidence of God in my life.  And everyday you gain radiance.  Happy Birthday!

 

Most of you are like me.  You know how special she is to each you.  Care to tell her?

Lindy Rollins Thompson 

November 3, 1982