“Jesus said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.”—John 21:6
I met my wife at a hospital.
I wasn’t a patient, but was taking a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education in Phoenix. The first week, our team of chaplains selected the units, called pods, where we would visit regularly. One unit that I randomly (and providentially) picked turned out to be the one where Lori was the nurse manager. On my initial visit, I introduced myself to her. I was wearing a button-down dress shirt and striped tie–standard work attire to me–but there was a more casual dress code in Arizona, even in 1985. Before I spoke Lori wondered if I was a stock broker. Upon learning the truth she hid her disappointment well!
For the first couple of weeks, we would speak briefly whenever I was on the unit and get her advice on which patients might be open to a visit. Soon, my patient contact on the unit began to diminish as I decided the nurse manager needed more attention. We chaplains are trained to sense such things! We would talk for long stretches and while wanting to ask her out I hesitated. Part of my delay came from the fact that I was only to be in the Valley of the Sun until Labor Day. Yet the bigger reason was that I had always been deliberate–some might call in slow–in matters of the heart.
One day, her unit was temporarily closed due to a low patient census. As I entered the pod and saw that it was empty I almost left, but then thought “I bet Lori is in her office.” As I knocked on the door, she set aside paperwork and invited me to have a seat. Once again, we had a great visit, but after about an hour I was still trying to figure out how to ask her out when Lori made it easy: “So, what are we going to do?” Even I realized she was saying “Are we ever going to go out or not?” and so we made plans right then for a day trip the following Saturday. It went so well that we went out every night of the next week, too, and by August were engaged. Looking back now after 36 years of marriage, I’m confident that eventually I would have asked her out that summer, yet clearly it happened sooner due to her help!
Certainly not all of the readers of this blog are married, but I suspect that each of you has been blessed, too, by key individuals who encouraged you in some big or small way to act. Maybe, it was the friend who suggested you audition for the community play or apply to a college you thought was out of reach. It could have been the one who urged you to make one final sales call or put your name into the mix for a leadership position or in some other way encouraged, maybe even pushed you to act. In so doing, you then found a love, a kind of passion, that had not previously existed.
The resurrected Christ urged some weary fishermen to try once again by casting their net on the other side of the boat. Reluctant as they must have been, they did as he suggested and their lives were forever changed. On this day, I encourage you to remember and give thanks for the other ones God also sent who did the same for you.
Divine Initiator, we love because you first loved us. May we reflect that truth still as we help others discover the kind of life you have always intended. Amen.
I LOVE this story! I’d heard it before, but I love it every time I hear it. And for some reason, this is the first time I realized that Krista and I met in a hospital, too. We were both volunteering for the summer. Many years later, Lauren was born at the same hospital. And years after that, Evan. I’ve often thought that the 3 most important lives in MY life–my marriage, my daughter’s, and my son’s–all began in the same building! God amazes in so many wonderful ways. Here’s to hospital-born lives of all forms!
I have heard this love story before but each time, I thank God this meeting took place. The joy this couple express when in their presence is a gift. And yes-our fifty years of marriage happened because I was urged. Thanks for reminding us that the beginning of “just what we need” is a blessing from God.
Sweet story about you John!
Dave and I met when I went to a little theater group in a church in Wyncote…..I was living with my aunt in Jenkintown almost 60 years ago. I had done little theater in Macon before moving to Jenkintown. When I walked up the outside stairs to the church, two young men opened the church door for me….I turned on my Georgia accent and introduced myself to the young man on the left. That young man said hello and commented that he wanted to introduce me to his wife…wife…wife…..wife…..I looked to the right and David Wolff said hello……..At the end of that evening’s play practice, Dave was picking me up for each rehearsal going forward! Married three years later, December 10, 1966.
Looking back, I now see how the older participants in the group were smiling between each other because they recognized where Dave’s and my “friendship” was going…..hahahaha!
God has a plan always!
Grateful for Lori and her little nudge, as it was the beginning of a really strong and unbreakable team. And if memory serves me correctly, you continued to need nudges along the way.
Bettie W.
February 12, 2024
I, too, can claim membership in the “just what we need” club. For at the lowest point in my life, I was blessed with the love
of a man I hardly knew at the time. Crises have a way of making us anxious, confused, and vulnerable, and for some of us, we
are met, rescued, by “just what we need”.
John and Lori’s union of love is an excellent example of such “miracles”……….God’s miraculous blessing, that is.
Thanks for your reminder of such grace in my own life.
I absolutely love this story!!! So sweet!! I can just see it too!! 🙂 Wishing you many more sweet stories together!
I’ve heard this love story before and smile hearing it again. Grateful for that nudge. We’ve received the benefits of these two amazing people meant for each other. God is good.