Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Stash (01/09/25)
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TITLE: Real Treasure | Previous Challenge Entry
By Rick Gregory
01/11/25 -
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I was eighteen years old when I talked Sherry into running away with me and marrying me! My 18-year-old ego knew no bounds, and I had a fresh $100 bill stuck in the hidden part of my wallet. That hundred bucks was a gift from my grandmother a few months earlier, “just in case you need it.”
At 18, there were only two states in the US where I could legally marry without parental consent: Kentucky and Washington. We didn’t think we had enough money to get to Kentucky and back, so we headed to Washington. You’re probably wondering where this little journey started, right?
Sherry and I both grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, attended Arcadia and El Monte public elementary schools, and then attended Arroyo High School in El Monte. And yes, we were indeed high school sweethearts. If it wasn’t dumb enough to run away at 18, we actually got engaged at 17, just before graduating in 1971.
Through a series of events far too complicated for this little story, we broke up in July after graduation and reconnected over the Christmas break. I had gone to Pocatello, Idaho, to Idaho State University, at my parents' STRONG “prompting” (they basically forced me). I was miserable, got into way too much trouble, and desperately missed Sherry. I found out later that she’d gone to stay for a time with her dad’s sister in Maryland but, like me, was home for Christmas.
I’d hurt her deeply and was terrified I would be unable to restore our relationship. She was the one person in my life I knew I couldn’t live without. As was and still is her nature, she was kind and gracious, even though a bit hesitant.
We dated again through the vacation, and as it came to an end, I invited her to visit me in Pocatello once I returned to school. She managed to arrive in Idaho around the 12th of February. After a few days and hours upon hours of discussion about what the future might look like, we decided to run away together so we could escape my parents’ interference. I withdrew from University, taking all the refund money my grandma had paid for my tuition, and we headed to Spokane, WA. Three days later (2/17/72), we were pronounced husband and wife before a Justice of the Peace, with his wife and the Court Clerk as witnesses.
Now dead broke (though I still had that $100 hidden away), we began navigating life together. It wasn’t nearly as romantic as we’d imagined. We struggled financially and relationally. I found work at a K-Mart garden shop and returned home to my new bride every day smelling like the manure I loaded into cars and trucks all day.
We managed to put together enough money to come back to San Diego in Southern CA, which was far enough away from my family’s direct interference. It was there we met Jesus. In a little church pastored by Tim LaHaye (of the Left Behind series fame), I heard a guest preacher (Kenny Poure) explaining that God not only loved me but wanted me in a relationship with Him. At Kenny’s invitation that Sunday morning on April Fool’s Day, 1973, I grabbed Sherry’s hand, and we walked the aisle and gave our lives to Him.
Nearly 52 years ago now, my little $100 stash was replaced with a different currency. Since then we’ve been investing in the Kingdom, storing up treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.
Do you have a story like this?
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