Waiting For A Sign

Yesterday I began sharing stories from the weekend that Justin and I met. The first one was much shorter than today's and read: 

A year ago today was the first time I ever saw Justin Dickey. We were about to have a counselor meeting for cyf midwinter and he was sitting on the stage in the chapel. Apparently he made some type of terrible joke because everyone groaned and Tiff said, "No. It's too late for me to deal with your humor." Upset that I had missed what could have been a very clever pun, I looked over to see who this mysterious pun maker was. The first thing I noticed were the tattoos on his feet and then his smile. Little did I know how big of a role this tattoo footed punster would soon play in my life. 😍

(Yes, prepare for lots of sappy posts between now and next weekend)

Here is the next story in the series that leads up to our first date.

DISCLAIMER: Midwinter was an awesome weekend of spiritual formation and fellowship. Please don't be fooled into thinking the only thing I got out of that weekend was meeting Justin because there definitely was a lot more. However, the purpose of this reflection is to focus on what lead to us meeting. God was very much present that weekend and I don't want to give off the impression that the only thing I walked away with was a meet-cute. 

At some point that morning, Bob had come up to me and said, "You really need to meet the youth minister from Wichita Falls... Apparently he really appreciates puns and told me they were making puns the whole drive down to camp." As I tried to play it cool, I went about my way to the girl's cabin for a very sacred time at camp - horizontal time. Before falling asleep for the allotted 53 minutes I had left, I texted Meredith to get his name because she had told me about the new youth minister at her church recently and figured that would be the easiest way to figure out his name without having to... You know... actually talk to him.

After lunch was free time and about halfway through a very intense game of scattergories with a large group of campers I saw HIM walking by and asked if he'd like to play with us. He laughed AND KEPT WALKING. To be fair, he later said he didn't hear me actually ask something and thought I was a camper... So there's that. 

Fast forward to later in the day during silent 15 - this is when it gets a little... heavier...

I had been anxiously awaiting silent 15 for one main reason - I wanted quiet time at my collumn. I wrote about how special this spot is to me here: ( http://pet116.blogspot.com/2015/02/sunday-is-coming.html ) in case you're curious or don't know the story. I wanted this spot so badly that I actually scoped it out beforehand and kinda claimed it by leaving my stuff there. In hindsight, I doubt anyone else would have really wanted that spot, but I wasn't going to risk it. I peaked into the chapel to tell everyone it was almost time for silent 15 and little did I know that HE was in there too. Knowing that my silent 15 may be more like "blubbering 15", I hoped that HE would clear out and be far, far away from me for the next 20 or so minutes. Thankfully, he went into the boy's cabin shortly after that and with about 2 minutes to spare.

When the bell rang and it was time for us to be still, I plopped down on the grass, closed my eyes, and leaned my head against the brick. The past month had been a nightmare. I wanted to hear Philip's voice again and I needed to know he was okay. As I sat there, the tears began to flow and I begged God to let me hear Philip's voice again. I begged Philip for a sign that he was okay and that he would always be with me. I closed my eyes so tightly that I could hear his voice of him telling me he was coming home for Thanksgiving. Over and over I plead, "Please Phil, I need to know you're okay. Talk to me Phil, I need to know you're here. C'mon Phil, anything, I need you back here." Over and over and over. 

Finally, I opened my eyes with hope that maybe, just maybe, Phil had sent me a sign. Through tears, I looked around me and who else do you think was in my direct line of vision other than HIM. It was at that point that I thought, "Craaaaaaaaaap.... I wanted to talk to him at some point but not right now. Please oh please don't turn around cute youth minister from Wichita Falls (whose name I totally know but sill refuse to acknowledge you by name)! Please oh please don't see me blubbering like an idiot...." And he didn't. For the remaining few minutes I started to calm down but wanted more time. As long as I sat in that spot, maybe Philip would know where to find me and send that sign. I kept waiting and waiting, looking around me and looking down at my watch. "C'mon Phil, we always have 2 minutes left... Now we have 45 seconds... 30 seconds... Where are you Phil? 5... 4... 3... 2..." DOONG DOONG DOONG. Time was up. 

Those 15 minutes were far too short. I wanted more time with Phil. I needed more time to know he was with me. I closed my eyes one last time and told him I would talk to him later and then went inside the chapel.

Later that night, we were standing in line for dinner and I saw the perfect opportunity to finally meet HIM and to make a good joke. He was sitting next to Bob and they had mashed potatoes on their plates. Knowing that he would hear me, I said, "Hey Bob... What are you eating?" Confused and slightly worried about what I was setting myself up for he said, "....mashed potatoes...." "Really? They look spud-tacular!" to which point he gave me the look I always get when I make a pun... It's a look that says, "Wow, I really appreciate your cunning charm and that incredibly well thought out play on words. I wish that I could bring joy to people's lives the same way you do through your magnificent sense of humor." Or maybe it's the "I really will hit you with this plate" look... Regardless it worked because HE whipped around and noticed me. Then I kept walking because well... those potatoes did look spud-tacular and I was really hungry. 

Fast forward again to worship and HE was playing drums and I thought that was just really cool. I made a mental note to look him up in Facebook later and learn more but for now, I really did need that worship time. 

The final chapter of this eventful day occurred when I did some investigative work with the assistance of Meredith and Mark Zuckerberg. I typed in his name and the picture that came up was him and a dog... "Hmmm person and dog usually means they're single but let's keep digging." I scrolled down a little and saw a picture he had posted from the previous weekend, aka Valentine's Day. It was his gps watch and running shoes with the caption "My Valentine." Yep. He was single. After looking at a few more pictures, I quickly learned that we had a huge thing in common: we were both really obsessed with our dogs. Hmmmm... Maybe I would have to actually talk to Justin before I left on Sunday morning. Justin. There. I used his name. It wasn't as scary as I thought...

I finally fell asleep and had sweet dreams of the delicious cinnamon rolls I would soon be eating.