What happened was that during the summer of 1978 Karen went to Israel on an archeological dig. I toured much of Western Europe in conjunction with attending a conference in Augsburg, Germany. Before we went on our ways, we said, "See you at the end of the summer." While it appeared on the surface to be nothing more than a casual remark, there seemed to be some ring of expectation to it. At the end of the summer, we did indeed see one another. Karen was taking graduate classes in the fine arts department at the University so I suggested that we meet for lunch. We agreed to meet in front of the Art/Sociology Building one day. She was 20 minutes late and I would have left had it not been for an encounter with one of the members of the cult "The Way." As we were disagreeing about the claims of Christ and the personhood of the Holy Spirit, Karen finally arrived. She explained that she had to get to class. It was informal and that I should sit in and we could eat our bag lunches there.
After that I decided to not to repeat the event with Karen. But some weeks later it was as if the Holy Spirit told me that I was neglecting my social duties and that I should take Karen out to dinner before the fellowship on Friday night. I did and we went to a restaurant called "The Fireside." As we sat waiting to order, the fire of the Holy Spirit warmed my heart with compassion and respect for Karen. In the candle light of the restaurant, she seemed quite different and quite lovely.
From that day on I had to see Karen. She was scheduled to go to New York to visit an art gallery with one of her classes. I suggested that I drive her up and back and join the tour. During the drive we shared our life stories and how we came to a saving faith in Christ. After the visit to the gallery, we strolled through Central Park and spoke of our hopes for the future. As we walked down 5th Avenue to a restaurant for dinner, I asked her this question, "Karen, if I asked your father to give me your hand in marriage and he said 'yes' what would be your answer to me?" In milliseconds before what I would have thought that it would have taken someone to parse and comprehend the question, she said, "Yes." There it was, we were engaged within two weeks of that first dinner. Several days later Karen's father did agree to give me her hand in marriage and six months later we were married at Halpine Baptist Church by Pastor Richard Kline.