All For Love

 

When I was a young man, I was searching for a partner that would love me in return. It so happened that I corresponded with a young lady who lived far away in the country. We didn’t have mobile phones then and she never sent me a photograph of herself, so I had no idea of what she looked like.

Because I didn’t own a car, I decided to hitch-hike the distance of 960 km (596.516 miles) to her home. That was a crazy idea and a first for me, but love showed no boundaries since I was determined to get to her. Fortunately, the journey went well, and I arrived at her home without any problems.

She turned out to be quite pretty and I felt a wonderful connection with her. It looked like we loved one another, and we enjoyed the time together. I helped her with her daily chores on the small farm where she stayed and even milked a goat. We swam in the Orange River and picked ripe tomatoes for supper. In the evenings we prepared all the beds outside round about the house because that is where everyone slept during summer. The time there was very enjoyable. Afterwards, I hitch-hiked back home, so the total distance I had travelled was 1920 km (1193 miles).

The following year I wrote to her and told her of my plans to repeat the journey to her home. So, I hitch-hiked again. Love made me do it. The second time I was in for a big surprise. She told me that she had found someone else. She could have just written to me to call off our relationship. Needless to say, I was very disappointed.

A few years later, I met someone else. I had just been transferred to a town called Dunnottar after completing my military service. The young lady right next door to where I boarded seemed to really love me a lot. At least I didn’t have to hitch-hike long distances to visit her.

Soon after I had settled into my new job, I was transferred to our head office in Johannesburg. Without being able to say goodbye, I left for the big city. When I went back to visit her, she told me that she had a new boyfriend and gave me the cold shoulder.

Twice I had been rejected by women I thought had loved me only to be disappointed. Those were very unpleasant experiences.

After she gave me that bad news I walked to the front gate as it was getting dark and stared at the night lights of towns in the distance. I was thinking to myself, “Why is this happening to me?”

Suddenly, a voice said, “Go and tell those people that I love them.” I looked around but there wasn’t anyone that I could see. The only explanation that made sense to me was that it was Jesus speaking to me.

But why would he ignore my question by giving me that assignment instead and couldn’t He feel the pain inside me? After all, I was hurting at that moment. How could I go and tell people that He loved them when I was feeling rejected? At that moment I couldn’t understand that.

Little did I know that He knew my future. He used that moment of loss to tell me His message because it would stick in my memory forever.

That incident started a new lifelong journey greater than the total of 3840 km (2386 miles) I had hitch-hiked to be with someone that didn’t really love me. So, started part one of my love story. It continues, but I don’t want to make this part too long for my blog so I will do a follow-up to tell of what happened after that. I hope you will return to read further.