Part IV - They Meet

So now it's mid January, and it's been 3 solid weeks of talking online and the phone for Blake and Sarah and school has resumed. They have really enjoyed getting to know each other and are both glad they have a new friendship. Sarah confided to Blake that she and some of her other friends had recently been praying for fellowship with Christian guys, since the group they went to is more than 80 percent female. Blake was delighted to hear that and his heart warmed at the thought of being Sarah's friend and brother in Christ. Since they were both in Greensboro now, Sarah said she would look to see if she could spot Blake at the campus fellowship's next meeting. Blake was commuting back and forth from his parent's house in Chapel Hill at this time, because back in December he had moved out of the party house he lived in with those stoners. Blake just packed and left that house half-way through his lease, and was very lucky indeed when another guy moved in to replace him and pay his rent. Anyway, Blake said he would love to see Sarah at the meeting on Thursday night if he was able to come. Thursday came, and after a long day of classes, Blake was planning on going to the meeting when he got a call from his good brother Mark from church. A large party was happening in celebration of Mark's 21st birthday at a local downtown pub. The whole church was coming (thank the Lord for Presbyterians) and Blake didn't want to miss out on fellowship with his church, and since he wouldn't technically be breaking a promise to Sarah, he bought a gift for Mark at an outdoor store and went over to have a few drinks and dinner in fellowship. At the end of the night, Blake was just about drive all the way back to Chapel Hill when Nate offered to let him sleep on his couch. Blake did so, then woke up the next day and showered at the school rec center because Nate had to leave for work at 7:30 and Blake didn't want to get up before that, but that's another story. If he had only known the beauty and royalty of this princess Sarah he would have gone to see her even if it meant not getting home at all and sleeping in his car (which he did end up doing later at her request this summer while in Austin, but that's another story)!

The next day on the phone Sarah told Blake that she had looked for him at the meeting. Blake was so sorry he didn't tell her that he was going to the party and was so sorry this poor girl expected him there and he wasn't there, that he decided to make it up to her the very next week and meet her at the UNCG men's basketball game. Blake was busy over that weekend, because he signed a lease with Phil, a really good brother, to live in a stylish appartment in the exclusive boho student quarter on the good side of campus. When the day came to meet, they had talked on the phone earlier and Blake had tried his best to ease Sarah's nerves about meeting him and told her it was all just friendly and how it would be fun to see the person they had been talking to so much for the past few weeks, but Sarah was more nervous than even Blake could have guessed. The plan was to just meet inside the rec building at the beginning of the game. Something came up that was going to make Blake late, and about 20 minutes before the game was to start, Blake pulled out his phone to call Sarah--not realizing he was calling the wrong Sarah! He heard a voicemail from Sarah C, a girl counselor at Blake's camp he worked at in New Hampshire, and not really listening to the voicemail greeting, left a message for the wrong Sarah, telling her he would be late!

Blake rode his bike up to the outside of the recreation building and jumped off, about halfway through the first half. As he was walking through the doors, he called Sarah (the right one) to see where she was. Sarah had almost given up expecting Blake to come and even felt like he was standing her up and he was a big loser! She told him where she was sitting though, and he tried to find her in the crowd, but she saw him before he saw her and told him to walk down the steps. He sat down, said hi, and smiled. Sarah was wearing jeans and a navy tshirt, with a yellow ribbon in her hair. She looked beautiful.

They spent the game watching and talking a little, and after the game Blake walked her over to her dorm just a short stroll away. They said goodbye and that was pretty much it--never did Blake feel he was putting anything on or trying to impress. Everything was so natural!

Part II - Reformed Believers and Phone Calls

So now, Sarah knew about this weird Blake guy but had no desire whatsoever to get to know him more. Blake had no idea who this shy wallflower Sarah was, but would have given anything to meet someone as amazing as her! He got (took) his chance during the slow weeks of Winter Holiday, 2005.

Blake had started a group on a college website in hopes to connect with the other Reformed believers on his campus. Much could be said about the struggles Blake has had over the years in finding good, perfect fellowship with Reformed believers. To him, it's a rare and precious thing to find a brother or sister who share his Biblical view of God as sovereign and Christ as supreme over all things. Unfortunately, when Blake began this group, only 6 or 7 students in the whole of UNCG joined, and Blake pretty much knew most of them already. So, in the slow weeks of December during Winter Holiday, Blake took a great joyful notice when a girl named Sarah joined his group! He sent her a welcome note by email and well, was just so impatient to talk to her and so bored with being at home on break that he called her up using the number she had posted on that same website. Blake thought he was just extending a friendly, warm welcome to the group and introducing himself to a new friend, but Sarah thought a little differently...

Part I - The Initial Encounter

The year was 2005. Sarah actually knew who Blake was a couple months ahead of when Blake figured out who she was! This kind of thing is pretty normal for Blake though, who is probably one of the best known students at UNCG. Sarah and Blake had both been attending the same fellowship meeting on Thursday nights. Actually, Blake had been a part of that fellowship for 2 years, but had his various issues with the fellowship and their ministry all along. Still, Blake considered everyone his brother and sister, and signed up to be in the group's Halloween 'Talent Night/Coffee House' and perform. His talent? Storytelling. Meanwhile, Sarah, only a freshman at the time, had been coming to the fellowship group since August in her own, coy way. She only had 5 or 6 girls that she knew and went with and didn't attempt too hard to meet more people. Anyone who knows Sarah knows she likes to be as inconspicuous as possible, like in our music appreciation class we are taking together! Good NIGHT she is terrified that the professor will single her out!! but that's another story...

It was a clear Fall night when everyone arrived, some dressed in costume, others in Fall collegiate clothing (i.e. hooded sweatshirts and jeans). Blake had driven from the house he was living in on Friendly Ave, the one with three guys who were always either high on drugs, stealing something, making a mess of what Blake had so recently cleaned, or throwing a huge party (Blake found it as one of the last possible, cheapest places he could live when he got back from New Hampshire that Summer), and parked near the Associated Campus Ministries building, where the event was scheduled to take place in the second floor salon. Even though Blake had decided not to participate in Halloween festivities since they are satanic, he decided to wear a black silk jacket in Chinese Tang Dynasty style that he had taylored for him back in Zhengzhou. Nobody understood the outfit until the very end of the Talent Night when Blake took the stage to tell the true adventure story he has come to term "My Last Night in China". It was the first time Sarah got an idea of who this guy named Blake was.

Following the event, many people decided to go to Joel's house for an after-party. Sarah and Blake both went, but neither of them remember seeing the other there. Blake did, however, have an extended conversation with Karen, the leader of that same fellowship group, on his disapproval of dating and his general displeasure of romantic subjects. Little did he know what was in store for him in God's plan with a beautiful girl at that very party! The rest is history, and will be related in this 72-part series.

Blake and Sarah's Newest Website!

You have found Blake and Sarah's new website. Shortly, there will be stories, pictures and information on Blake and Sarah's friendship, courtship, engagement and their wedding and marriage in the future. Please be patient and we will have a first class site running pretty soon, with *maybe* a video from our weekend in Boone coming up. Lots more to come soon!

Love you all,
Blake and Sarah