My Favorite Romantic Post – March – May 2011

Shannon here: Sorry I’m so behind on the countdown of my favorite romantic posts and readers’ favorite romantic posts. But I have a good excuse: a book deadline. I’m playing catch up now. I’ll post reader’s favorite posts on Saturdays. Once I finish this quarter, I’ll post my favorites and reader picks for the first year of my blog. Any comments on this post will go in the drawing for a digital copy of Lynn Gentry’s Reinventing Leona. Deadline: August 20th, 11:59 pm central time. Hope you enjoy this post as much as I did. I love the Bible in the middle of things. Here’s historical romance author, Elaine Cooper: 

Our First Meeting – First Date – Boo Radley and the Bible By Elaine Marie Cooper

    Who would have thought that a discussion of a character from “To Kill a Mockingbird” would be the start of a romance?
   But there I was, immersed in a conversation at the home of the youth pastor, discussing my roommate Cindy’s cat named “Boo.” Out of the blue, I heard a male voice ask, “Boo Radley?”
   I peered over the sea of teens and young adults to see a long-haired, bespeckled man with a moustache and an impish grin. I returned the smile.
   “You know Boo Radley?” I asked in surprise. Here was someone who knew the full name of one of my favorite characters in my all-time favorite movie. Who was this guy?
   This guy named, Steve, quickly grabbed the opportunity to engage in further conversation.  A reporter for the local newspaper, Steve was witty, funny, and nothing like other guys I’d known or dated before. He was also a brand-new Christian. I was less than a year old in my walk with the Lord. We were babies in our spiritual growth but I had already learned enough from Bible studies and sermons to know that Christians did not act like unbelievers. We were supposed to have standards of behavior.
   So when Steve asked me out to dinner soon after our meeting, I was both thrilled and scared to death.
   How are Christians supposed to act on a date? I pondered this with a certain amount of fear and trembling. Brushing my waist-length hair in preparation for our first time out, I remembered guys from my pre-Christian walk. It was the 1970’s and social mores had “freed” many from the traditional constraints that God-fearing individuals knew were nothing less than sin. And the Bible says that sin makes you a slave, not free. My new freedom in Christ meant that I was no longer “free” to sin.
   But how to keep things restrained in our new freedom in Christ?
   I’ll bring my Bible, I thought. I was impressed with my brilliant solution!
   Steve looked at me curiously as I picked up my Bible and carried it out to his little turquoise Honda. Slinking into the small car, I set King James in between us, right on the console. He never complained about difficulty using the stick shift, but I’m certain it was a little awkward. He never balked once about the Word of God sitting there between us.
   Our dinner was wonderful. And there were many more dates after that, although I relaxed enough to trust Steve’s intentions without the Bible set between us. That date was the start of our long and fruitful romance.
   A couple of years later, our good friend Lloyd Simpkins laughed when we told him about that first dinner together. By now we were married and we visited with Lloyd and Emma Simpkins regularly. They were a wonderful couple from church that opened up their house for a home-cooked meal every Sunday.
   Lloyd giggled as he rocked our firstborn son, Benjamin, on a Sunday afternoon a year after we married. Our chubby newborn was resting comfortably on Lloyd’s soft tummy, content in the large man’s loving embrace.
   “Well Steve,” he said to my husband after hearing the account of that first date, “I guess she figured you’d have to jump over Matthew, Mark, Luke, AND John to bother her on that date!”
   It was an unforgettable date that led to the marriage of two Christians committed to the Lord and to each other.
   Our dear friend Lloyd is now with the Lord in heaven and “little” Benjamin is now 6’1” and a Navy Lieutenant. But Steve and I still carry the Word of God with us—literally and in our hearts.
   The Bible and Boo Radley—an unlikely pairing that started our romance 37 years ago.
About Elaine:  Elaine Marie Cooper grew up in Massachusetts but now lives in the Midwest with her husband Steve, her three dogs and one huge cat. She has two married sons and triplet grandbabies, who are often referred to (by her) as “the most beautiful grandbabies in the world.” Elaine’s only daughter, Bethany, passed away in 2003 from a brain tumor.
A retired registered nurse, Elaine has been a magazine freelance writer for many years, and is a regular contributor to a blog on the Midwest called The Barn Door (www.thebarndoor.net) She is also the author of her debut novel called “The Road to Deer Run” and is currently writing the sequel. Elaine Cooper can be reached on FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000997223171. Visit her website at: http://www.DeerRunBooks.com.
Elaine is Clash of the Titles champion. I appreciate Jennifer Slatterly for sending her my way. Check out the clash,  where books clash and readers are introduced to new authors: http://www.clashofthetitles.com/
Come back August 21st for the countdown of reader’s top posts from March – May.