In my last post, I mentioned a guy named Jake. I go to church with him at Eastside, and I mainly see him on Wednesday nights when we have young adults called Ethos. I have been attending Eastside since September, and In the middle of March is when I’ve finally had the chance to have a conversation with him.
Prior to this actual conversation, the most we ever said to each other was probably, “Hey, what’s up?” To be quite honest, I didn’t really think we would ever really talk other than the occasional “hello,” but that definitely changed on Friday afternoon.
Every Friday, I attend the high school leader meeting, but no one informed me that this particular meeting was cancelled. So I show up, and they tell me that I didn’t have to be there. What did I decide to do? I stayed. I did not want to sit in traffic for a hour/hour and a half. I started to take care of some stuff for school, when I found myself procrastinating and saying hello to Charles and Jake.
Charles invited me to hang out with them and help out with some stuff, and I agreed because I really did not want to do any financial aid work. After helping out Charles with a fun reading task, he stepped away leaving Jake and me in the cubicle.
I began to read Lead Small (great book for small group leaders!) when Jake made a comment about my writing. I didn’t hear him though, and I’m sure he thought that I was a smidge rude, but that was the beginning of the conversation.
We began to talk about the guy issues in my life. Well, not so much issues, but the lack of insight that I have with the male gender. Jake began to share some of his experiences with girls, and I thoroughly appreciated it.
While he gave me super rad advice about giving a certain guy a chance, I began to think about how often I don’t really give guys romantic chances even though I trust people the moment I meet them.
I have been burned by guys a handful of times, and I guess I just don’t really see guys as “dates” until I’m sure that they see me that way too. There isn’t necessarily wrong with that, but I could also be missing out on a great guy too. Jake showed me that.
“[A guy] can do everything he can to ‘woo’ you, but you are a strong, level-headed girl.”
That has to be one of the nicest things someone that I never really talked to has said to me.
I took Jake’s advice about giving that guy a chance, only to learn that I wasn’t as important to him as either of us thought. But even in being blown off, I found encouragement in Jake’s words, and I hope that this will be the beginning of a fun friendship!
Lots of love & hugs,
Becky
Another Season, Another Year 