A Formule 1 hotel, a carpark, and a garbage bin...

Exactly 10 days, 16 hours and 30 minutes ago, I was lying on the top bed of a Melbourne Formule 1 hotel bunkbed staring at the ceiling having just woken up. Checking the clock on my phone, I found the time to be 5.30am in the morning - I had at least another two and a half hours until I had to wake up for our trip to the Great Ocean Road. Ordinarily, for me that would be plenty of time to go back to sleep. And yet, lying there staring at the ceiling with thoughts buzzing around my head, I knew I wouldn't be able to...

I was thinking about a girl. A girl from church who I'd only gotten to know better over the last 6 weeks or so. We'd been chatting heaps on MSN and had gone on a couple of late night bike rides together that I've previously written about. And yet I still didn't know the answer to the question that bugged me - did she like me??? You might think a girl who agrees to go bike riding at night with you would most likely be interested in you too but I was really finding it difficult to get any vibes from her! She's normally pretty outgoing and spontaneous and well maybe she just does these kinds of things with all her friends!

And so I lay there in bed wondering as I had been alot over the last few weeks or so, should I ask her out?? Is now a right time?? What if she says no?? How will I ask her out?? Will our friendship be ruined if she says no or things don't work out down the track??

And then, a most wonderful realisation dawned on me! One that would liberate me from the what ifs and all those heart aching deliberations I had had! I remembered that God has a plan for each and every one of us. And all I had to do was to trust His plan! That's it! It was so simple! I had known it all along but had got caught up with the silly ways of worldly dating. All I had to do was ask her out and leave the outcome to God's plan for her and myself! I was so excited and thrilled and relieved I was pumping my fists in the air as I lay in bed! When I fully trusted God in that moment I knew I would be able to happily accept whatever answer she gave me. I knew then, that day would be the day I asked her out...

About 3 hours later, I was standing in the carpark of that Formule 1 hotel, packing bags into the car, which happened to be parked next to a huge garbage bin. I couldn't help smiling! I wanted to leap in the air and do the Toyota ad star jump! As God would have it, Di just happened to be with me at the same time packing the car. And that's when I shared my realisation with her and asked her out!

And her answer - "How can I say no!"