This Wondrous Love - Chapter One

A Story of God's Love and Grace -


Happy Anniversary, Sheryl and Skip!

Thirty-two years ago today, on November 10, 1979, my dear college friend, Sheryl Hall, married Skip Ragan.  Now, you might notice that her maiden name is my last name.  It's because the night of Sheryl's wedding, I fell in love with her brother...

Tim and I were asked to take the wedding gifts to the home where Skip and Sheryl would be living after they returned from their honeymoon.  I had met Tim a year and a half earlier, over Biola's spring break, in 1978.  Sheryl and I became good friends in the early part of 1978.  I was in my second year at Biola.  She worked at Biola and was a part time student.  We were also in the college Sunday School class together at church.   Sheryl's family lived in the Bay Area, an eight hour drive north of Biola, and LA.  She was going to go see them over spring break and she invited me to tag along.  She had told me she had a brother but she didn't think I would be interested in him.  Tim and I met on that trip and I thought he was nice, but she was right, I wasn't interested.  Then, Tim came down in the late spring to visit Sheryl.  We saw each other again, but it was just a nice visit.  That summer I was going to be working at a camp.  Tim came down again for another visit and he and Sheryl drove up to the camp to visit me on one of my weekends off.  By this time we were friends but I still wasn't interested in dating.  I did get his address and sent him a post card while at camp - and then a letter, later in the summer, after camp, while I was on a road trip to Alaska with some of my family.

I began my third year at Biola in the fall of 1978.  Tim and I saw each other once or twice when he came down to visit Sheryl, but we just remained friends.  Sheryl became engaged in early 1979 and would be married in November.  That summer, I worked on campus in dorm maintenance and dated a guy that was on the work crew.  I took a week off and went on a trip up to the Bay Area with Sheryl.  We did some camping with her family.  Tim was there.  He took me out for a ride around the lake in his canoe, but it was just a fun time, nothing more.

The fall brought my fourth and final year at Biola.  I had lived at home the first three years but decided to live on campus, even though it was just twelve miles from home.  I wanted more independence and the experience of campus life.  Truth be told, I was tired of school at this point.  I had never settled down into one major.  I changed my major six times!  All I really wanted to do was get married and have a family.  I skipped a lot of my classes right from the start of the year.  I did love my Bible classes however, and made it to most of them, but the rest - attendance was sporadic to nil and I spent very little time studying.

Sheryl's wedding was coming up just a few months into the school year.  I knew Tim was going to be a groomsman in the wedding and I was somewhat excited about seeing him.  I thought it would be fun if we could be paired up together.  It didn't work out, but we did end up taking all the gifts to the house.  For fun, the wedding party decided to go to the Seal Beach pier after the reception.  We would meet up with them after we dropped the gifts off.  We had a really good time together and did a lot of talking as we drove to the house and piled all the gifts up in the corner of the living room and then drove the half hour to the pier.

It was evening by the time we got to the pier.  It was just natural to take Tim's arm as we walked.  We fell behind the rest of the group.  It was a cool evening, he gave me his coat, I was falling in love...