I had a crazy yet Joy-ful week. For the story to make sense I will have to give you some history:Creagon: Last fall I was trying to remember the names of the 50+ students that showed up for the Discipleship Training School at YWAM Orlando. One day at dinner I saw a smile that was very inviting so I sat next to her. I quickly realized she was something special. After introductions she said "So, you are Creagon! You have got to tell me more about this mobilization & communications thing you do for YWAM." Now this is not a typical pickup line, even in YWAM, but it worked for me! Interested, I found out that she has a degree in communications and has worked as a graphic artist for multiple ministries. Perfect right- cute girl, common interests, same place for the next three months - how simple could this get? But there was a problem .... YWAM Orlando asks all new students to hold off on starting new "romantic" relationships for six months. This avoids many headaches as many of our students are teens. Joy (I remember her name by now) was not a teen but willing to follow the rules during her initial training. On my part, lets just say that I followed the rules completely... but found lots of "work related excuses" to be near her. After spending twelve weeks in Orlando, Joy spent the first two months of 2011 in South Africa with her YWAM -DTS outreach. I was very curious to hear what her plans were when she got back.
"So I'll see you in a few weeks!" those were the words that put a smile on my face. Joy would be retuning for a program that when completed could lead to a long term staff position with YWAM Orlando. It also meant that there were no rules preventing our relationship from progressing. On her way back to Orlando I asked her if she would want to go to a church service with me....and meet my parents who were about to leave town. Looking back I will call that the first of our sixteen non-official dates. It was two months later when I officially asked her to be my girlfriend. Since then we don’t keep count of the dates, we just try to spend as much time together as possible. Last week this was easy as I was teaching about finding a financial sponsorship team in a course for future full time ministers - she was one of the students. (Insert your own teachers pet joke or song here).
Once the teaching was over, I took her out for a lazy Saturday at a book store and shopping. We finished the evening with sunset near a local lake. I dropped her off at her house and then started driving home. This is the last thing I remember before waking up in a hospital over two hours later.
Joy: 12:02am, Sunday, June 12, I received the scariest call of my life. My boyfriend, Creagon, had been involved in a serious car accident and was being rushed to the hospital. My heart stopped.Creagon and I have only been officially dating for 2 weeks at the time of the crash, but I’ve been his for much longer than that. I met Creagon nearly 9 months ago, at the very beginning of my first training school with YWAM Orlando. He was on staff, and I was one of the many new students that invades the campus every 3 months. While sharing about my life, my passions, and plans for my future with my small group leader, she suggested that I talk to Creagon, as many of our interests were quite similar. Then one night at dinner, I find him conveniently beside me. I began talking to him about what he did at YWAM Orlando, involving marketing, communication, recruiting and fundraising. I’m caught up in his passion for mobilizing the next generation into missions and can’t stop staring at his gorgeous blue eyes. I knew I was in trouble. See, YWAM Orlando has a policy for all new students to not start any new romantic relationships while in their first school. And, I already had my life all planned out. It didn’t include staying in Orlando and finding a boyfriend. After sharing with Creagon my plans for the future, he says to me “OK, I know I have a deep voice and all, but I’m not God, so check with Him first, but you should really consider doing a secondary school and coming on staff here.” I laughed it off. Little did I know then those were in fact God’s plans for me.
I found myself wanting to be around Creagon more and more during this first school, but knowing that nothing could or should happen. Heck, I didn’t even know if he was interested in me! Most days, I thought I was crazy because I’d read into the way he looked at me, how often he touched my arm, and the time he spent with me. It wasn’t until after I got back from my 2 month outreach to South Africa, and was about to begin my second school at YWAM Orlando when I discovered that, in fact, I was not crazy. Creagon calls me and invites me to hang out with him and his parents, and immediately i knew this was different. From that point on, we began hanging out intentionally and consistently, until just a few short weeks ago, he asked me to be his girlfriend. My heart soared.
I was trying to wrap my brain around the details of the crash that Creagon’s parents were giving me on the phone while frantically trying to find my keys, shoes, and directions to the hospital. All I knew was that he had been hit, found unconscious in his car, and was now being rushed to the hospital downtown in seemingly stable condition. My roommate drove me [quickly] to be my his side, and on the way I passed his car...and I lost it. The damage was so severe I found myself wondering how he could ever walk away from it. We get to the ER and another phone call from his parents confirm that he is awake, alert and stable and I begin to breathe sighs of relief. It was still almost an hour before I could see him. I finally get to see him and I was relieved to see his handsome face looking up at me. He was pretty out of it, blanking on details, and repeating himself and I suspected he had a concussion.
From more phone calls with his parents and Creagon’s fragmented memory, we began to piece together what happened that night. Creagon dropped me off at 11:15pm and began his drive home. Not even 10 minutes later, he was stopped at a red-light behind two other cars when another vehicle ran right into the back of him, and left the scene. The driver of the first vehicle saw what had happened, and immediately called 911. He went to Creagon’s car and found him unconscious. Unsuccessful in opening the driver’s side door, he went around to the passenger side to help Creagon out of the car, who had now woken up. Creagon was able to remember and recite his parent’s Michigan phone number, which the “guardian angel” was able to contact. Creagon’s parents began calling people at YWAM Orlando once they learned how serious the accident was. I was woken up from my sleep with this terrifying news. Creagon was taken away in an ambulance, still in and out of consciousness, then transferred to a helicopter and rushed downtown.
After talking to doctors and nurses, we discovered that he did have a severe concussion as well as seatbelt bruising. As scary as that sounded, what “could have been” was much scarier. He was released at 6:00am, and I was able to finally take him home. The next few days were a blur. I became something of a nurse/girlfriend. In between making sure he slept, he ate, took medicine when he hurt, went to the doctor’s appointments, I was helping him filter emails, find his car and get his belongings out of it, answer work texts & calls, and track down his missing driver’s license. Hence the blur.
The fog has finally lifted, and his recovery is becoming more and more manageable. His symptoms, while still present, are not as severe and we’re just preparing for however long this process will take. I’m just so grateful that he’s still with me. My heart rests.
Creagon: Thanks for all your prayers and encouraging comments!
