The Catch of a Lifetime

There was a bible study at the church I grew up in called Lighthouse Worship Center in New Berlin, PA. The pastor, Myron Yoder, and his wife, Trudy asked me to join multiple times, but I was resistant due to my stubbornness and busy work schedule which was also when I was working a lot of overtime at the hospital during COVID-19. They told me this guy who is about your age knows the bible very well, and also is very good looking comes to bible study. Then I asked, “What is his name?” so… they told me his name was Cody Stine and that he works at Zartman’s with Myron. I searched him on Facebook right then and there and said, “He’s good looking but that’s okay I’m still not coming to bible study.” At the time, I wanted to be in a relationship, but I also really enjoyed my singleness. I really just thought they were using this guy as a way to lure me into coming to bible study, but I said it wasn’t going to work. As months passed, the name Cody Stine was stuck in the back of my mind. I looked him up on Facebook occasionally, then maybe about once a month which then turned into once a week then more frequently and the attraction grew. From his profile I gathered that he was a very handsome young man who has a nephew and loves kids…and has nice muscles! One Saturday evening in May, I went on a walk with my family friend, Jenni Auker, and when we got back, I was talking to Jenni and her husband, Terry, about Cody. I said, “Myron told me about this guy who went to their bible study and says he is close to my age, knows a lot about the bible, drives a nice truck …and I think he is really cute.” Jenny and Terry said with smirks on their faces “Uhmm okay, we will have to mention that to Myron.”

Wednesday May 18th, Myron Yoder arrived at the shop to pick up some supplies for the jobsite that he was working on, “Good Morning Myron” I said, “Good Morning” Myron replied. I walked up to him out by his truck just for a little chat as normal and the very first thing out of the blue “Hey Cody, may I have your permission to give your number to a girl and that girls number to you?” “she’s a little cutie” star struck and unsuspectedly that was the last thing I had imagined for him to say, it had caught me by surprise. Myron proceeded to tell me that this girl was tired of trying to find a good Christian guy and that she needed a good guy, and with knowing me and that I was a Christian man to see if I would be interested. I told Myron “If this is a door that the Lord is opening up, then who am I to shut it” Wednesday evening consisted of grass cutting and bible study at church and when I got home that night, I was exhausted I just went to sleep. The next day, Myron was at the shop again, and asked to see if I had reached out to Lillie. I didn’t get the chance to, and I explained why, then Myron preceded to let me in on a few more details on describing Lillie and how she was brought up, and her life. As we departed, I told Myron that I’ll be reaching out to her. Throughout that day and leading on into that afternoon I could not think of exactly what to say to her, I felt bad because from what I knew she had been expecting to hear from me and I didn’t want to let her down or have her loose interest in me but this was a first this has happened to me and to top it off I haven’t had a girlfriend in six years! So that night I still could not put the words to say together, and getting up Friday morning before work I took a deep breath and thought well here we go, and thought to myself “just keep it simple”.