Choosing to SEE - Mary Beth Chapman [11]
I told my mom that I had a plan, and I certainly wasn’t going to do some crazy thing like fall in love, get married, and drop out.
But sometimes God’s plans are a little – or a lot – different from ours.
4
Tarzan and Jane
Deep in the jungle up in the trees in Indiana, 1983
Living on pizza and too little sleep
Just me and my animal friends
Then in the distance I saw through the leaves
A creature of beauty like none I had ever seen
The trouble started when you smiled at me
And our two worlds came crashing together
And a true love story began
I am Tarzan you are Jane
I am night and you are the day
We’re like sunshine and rain
We’re so different from each other
You are woman, I am man
You are the sea and I am the land
And I would not be who I am if I didn’t have you
“We Belong Together (Tarzan and Jane)”
Words and music by Steven Curtis Chapman
As I started college at Anderson, I was pretty disillusioned about a lot of things. I felt lonely and unworthy of God’s love. I wanted so badly to trust Jesus, but trust had been stolen from me. So I desperately needed a fresh start as I turned a new page in my school calendar and in my spiritual life.
The great thing was that I would be rooming with a good friend, Dondeena, and we were both excited about the Christian community on campus. In spite of my disillusionment, I really did want a fresh beginning. I rededicated my life to Christ, and something down deep felt it was different this time, as opposed to my annual rededications when I was growing up. Back then my relationship with God was fear and performance driven. But now I was longing for an authentic closeness with Jesus.
I would find out much later that what I was hungry for was grace. But I didn’t even have a word for it when I was starting college.
Dondeena and I both prayed and asked Jesus to walk with us and to breathe fresh life into our souls. Then, before classes started, we decided to go to the annual freshman orientation concert. The band was this guy named Steve Chapman, his brother Herbie, and a friend, Brent Henderson. They played contemporary Christian music with a definite country twang.
Steve did most of the talking – later this would come as no surprise to me – and was obviously the leader of the band. He had a perfect mullet (business in the front, party in the back), a big smile, cowboy boots, and a green guitar. Since I was from Ohio, anyone from south of there was considered a hillbilly, and this mullet guy, who went by Steve back then, seemed to fit the bill. But Steve had written most of the music, and it was really good. And he was pretty amazing on the guitar. I didn’t register his last name. Dondeena and I giggled our way through the concert, making jokes about the country boys.
A few days later I was checking my mail, and there was a letter in the box for Steve Chapman. Then it clicked . . . Oh yeah, I thought, isn’t that funny? That mullet guy with the band must bemy mailbox buddy since we have the same last name. I didn’t give it much thought.
Classes started, and one day I was walking toward the main campus when Steve and his friend Greg, who I had met earlier at a freshman orientation event, came walking toward me. I had my tan and my white teeth and my Farrah Fawcett hair, and I guess I was looking cute in my denim jacket all decked out with Precious Moments pins. Steve nudged Greg to introduce us.
Greg wanted to ask me out himself, so he told Steve, “Oh, uh, you wouldn’t be interested in her, ew, she’s a big partier!”
But Steve wasn’t put off by Greg’s sneaky little lie. A few days later, I was walking past Steve