The Weird Girlfriend

June 1971

She was annoying and bothered a lot of people. She demanded a lot of attention and seemed to cry out, "Look at me everybody!" I've met so many like her since then, they're usually wounded from childhood and attention starved. She was not only attention starved but she was super hyper. She was a disaster and yet...she was very cute.

I asked her out on a date and took her to a Christian concert. It was nothing great, we had fun and when the night was over she took me inside her house to meet her parents and then into her bedroom where she showed me pictures of herself in a bikini. I had a strange feeling she was trying to let me know she wanted to go bed with me. Fortunately I didn't feel tempted whatsoever.

On the way home that night I decided I would continue to go out with her, but only for the sake of discipling her - she needed spiritual direction / help. I actually felt it was my Christian responsibility to help her. I believed she needed me to help her spiritually.

I took her to another AG church the following Sunday because I was too embarrassed to take her to South Side Assembly where people knew me. After the service I hung around and met a guy who was in the Navy, who immediately after introductions started talking to me about his tour of duty in Honolulu.

He told me that in Hawaii he was going out with a girl for the sole purpose of discipling her. He told me he had the best intentions and had no interest in her sexually, but as he discipled her things went wrong and he fell into sexual affair with her and backslid.

I took my date home that night and never saw her again. And as for my responsibility to help her out in the faith, I decided to put her in God's hands.

I never saw the Navy man again because I never went back to that church again. But I think I should have told him that night that his story was straight from heaven - he saved me from a crud load of trouble.