The Day Everything Changed

January 19 - Part 1

When I woke up the next morning after seeing Geraldo for the second time at the coffee shop, I continued with life as normal. It was Sunday, so I went to the 9:30 service at my church, as always. I sat in the same spot, as always. I saw Geraldo talking to someone in the foyer, but I made my way to my Sunday school class (Catalyst), as always.

I was early to Catalyst, so I picked a seat between two girls to talk with them before the class started. Suddenly, my phone rang. It was Geraldo. I almost didn't answer my phone. I didn't want to. I don't know what compelled me to do it, but I answered.

"Where are you?" he asked. 

"In Catalyst," I replied.

"Is that the class that guy invited me to?"
"Yes,"

"I don't know where that is," he said, but I could hear it in his voice. He wanted to come, he wanted to see me, but he didn't know where the classroom was.

I closed my eyes and sighed, "It's okay," I said, more to myself than to him, "I'll come and get you. Meet me by the church cafe."

As I walked out of the Catalyst room, though, I realized how awkward it would be to walk back in with him, and I started stressing out. When I saw Sarah walking down the hallway toward me, I grabbed her hand and said, "Walk with me." 

She turned and kept pace, asking, "Why, what's up?"

"I can't walk back into that room with Geraldo by myself!" I told her. She knew exactly what I meant. Catalyst is unofficially the singles group. If I showed up with him, everyone would be wondering if we were dating. As soon as I said that to Sarah, we turned the corner, and there he was. My heart beat faster, worried that he had overheard my comment. His face, though, lit up the moment he saw me without showing signs of having heard my comment.

I awkwardly introduced Geraldo and Sarah, and we all walked back into the Catalyst room right before the class started. Geraldo said hi to the other guys. Sarah and I went to sit down in a new circle of chairs so he could join if he wanted. Unfortunately, all the other girls moved from their seats to join us, leaving no chair open for Geraldo. I didn't know what to do. "It's okay," Sarah whispered, "I've got you," and she went and got another chair to put next to me. I sat rigid, wondering what was happening. I heard the guys invite Geraldo to sit with them and heard him say, "Thanks, but I'm going to go sit with Rachel." My heart skipped a beat. What was he doing? Did he have to make it so obvious!? What must everyone be thinking?!

I felt the eyes of several people in the class staring at me, wondering who this man was sitting next to me. I stared straight ahead, pretending to listen to the teacher as he started the next lesson in the book of Acts. In my head, though, I was freaking out! He'd better say something by the end of the day, I thought, or I'm asking him what's going on. Geraldo leaned over to whisper that he'd just realized he was the only guy in our circle of girls. I gave an almost imperceptible nod of acknowledgement and kept staring at the teacher.

Geraldo leaned over again when the teacher was talking about a map of Paul's journeys.

"Have you ever been to Crete?" he asked.

"No, but I'm going to Greece this year for a conference." I saw him do a double-take out of the corner of my eye.

"What!?" he whispered back in disbelief and astonishment. "When were you going to tell me?" 

"We'll talk about it later," I whispered through gritted teeth. We weren't going to have a private conversation in the middle of class! I knew he grew up in Greece, but it's not like I had withheld the information; it just hadn't come up in conversation before.

After Catalyst was finished, some of the guys invited Geraldo to go out for lunch with them, like they always do.

"Rachel, are you going?" he turned and asked me. 

I started mumbling something about not usually going when Sarah leaned over and said, "Yes, she's going." Thanks Sarah. Happy, Geraldo asked if I wanted to ride with him or separately.

"I don't care," I said. My brain was having a hard time figuring out what was going on. I couldn't make a decision. He said I should ride with him, so I did.

In the car, he asked, "So, when were you going to tell me about Greece?"

"I don't know," I replied, "It just didn't come up in conversation yet. It's not till October anyway, so I'm not really thinking about it yet."

"What city will your conference be in?" he pressed. Turns out my conference will be in the same city where he grew up and where his parents still live. 

When we got to the restaurant, Geraldo wanted to share meals, but I hesitated to agree around the other Catalyst people. I still had no idea what was going on and what everyone else thought of it.

In the middle of lunch, Geraldo looked at me and said, "I read your blog."

"Which one?" I asked. He gave me a look as if I should know. "Do you know how many blogs I've written?!" I asked him. "How am I supposed to know which blog you're talking about?" 

"I'll tell you in the car," he replied. Great, I thought. And if he hasn't said something about his intentions by the time he drops me off at my car, I'm going to ask him.

We chatted with everyone else at lunch, but as soon as we were back in the car, he said, "I said I would tell you which blog I read." 

"Oh, yes!" I replied and shifted in my seat, curious to know which one.

"The one about your ring," he said.

I knew exactly which blog he was referring to. I had written this blog: My First Love, about my purity ring and the symbol it represents of my love for God. But I also knew that in the blog I had written about my desire to be married someday. He finally had the answer he'd been fishing for at the coffee shop the previous day, so I said, "Well, then, you know everything."

Geraldo then started talking about how beautiful my heart is. Said heart immediately started melting. I've always wanted to be liked more for my heart than for external reasons. He asked how someone could get to know my heart more. To which I replied, "Just ask." He went around the bush again, saying a few more things about my beautiful heart and how it should be protected, and asked again how someone could get to know my heart better. "You just have to ask!" I said again, a bit stronger this time.

Then he asked, "Have you ever been in a relationship before?"

"Nope," I replied.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because no one has ever asked me," I said. It's true, I've never officially been in a relationship before, though I might have been close a few times.

My mind must have wandered for a few seconds, but it snapped to attention when I heard him say the words, "Life is too short... when you know you've found what you're looking for... I know I've found what I'm looking for. What about you?"

I panicked. Mind scrambling. Had he just said life is too short, and he knew he had found what he was looking for. Was he referring to me? He sounded serious. Without thinking, I blurted out, "I don't know."

He hadn't said any of the words I expected to hear. He hadn't said, "Do you want to be my girlfriend?" or "Do you want to try dating each other?" Nothing of that sort. Stalling for time, I threw up my question about his theology. Where did he stand regarding the prosperity gospel? He seemed confused. I tried explaining the word prosperity gospel, but to no avail. Finally, I said, "The first or second week I saw you in Small Group back in October, you said something about Benny Hinn."

He, in complete shock, immediately said, "No, not Benny Hinn, I said Billy Graham." 

"No, you said Benny Hinn," I repeated.

"No, Billy Graham," he said again. We looked at each other. I remembered, then, that when he had made that comment months ago, he had struggled to come up with the name he was trying to say. Several of us in the group had tried guessing, and I think I'm the one who asked, "Benny Hinn?" he had said yes, and the conversation moved on. 

Well, I thought, apparently I wrote this guy off over a simple English miscommunication.

Having that cleared up, he said, "Do you want to start something new with me? If we see that it doesn't continue, we will remain friends. Because I know your heart is too precious to play games with."

The remainder of my heart melted completely away as I said, "I'm willing to give it a try." 

Then I realized what time it was and that I had told a refugee I would visit her that afternoon before a certain time. I needed to go. But as I got out and walked to my car, I was grinning from ear to ear. I couldn't believe how happy I felt.

"Wait, what just happened?" I wondered as I drove away. "Am I actually in a relationship? God, are you answering my years of prayers?" I was elated, floating on clouds, yet I didn't know that the true shock of the day was still to come.