My Autobiography
Part Fourteen--New Beginnings

Also in the fall of that year, I began to feel led to pursue friendships with other women. Since I was much older than most people in the dorm and in my single’s group at church, I decided a much different route, the Internet. I placed an ad on Yahoo in detail what I was looking for. I was only looking for friendship, nothing more. A young lady responded to my ad whose name was Kandice. We began to email back and forth and soon talked on the phone. A month or so after that, we agreed to meet for lunch. I drove down to Lincoln Park, where she worked, and we had lunch at Big Apple Bagels. We admitted later that the reason we agreed for a lunch meeting was that if we didn’t like each other, we only had to spend an hour together. Well, we liked each other. After only a few short times together, I began to really fall for her. I talked much about my past and my struggles and she always responded with, “I’ll pray for you.”
At the end of the fall semester of 1999, I decided to leave the dorm. A friend of mine that I had class with, Tim Wilson, was graduating and getting married and mentioned that his parents house had a basement which may be for rent. It was located in Berkley. I went to check it out and agreed just before Christmas that I would move in upon my return from the holidays. Imagine my surprise when Kandice showed up at the door with everything from a bathmat to towels and washcloths for my new home!
I also began to look for a new job that would pay more money. I eventually decided to cut back on school to part-time and work full-time. I accepted a position as Assistant Manager at Franklin Covey at Briarwood Mall in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Because of my move, driving to Highland was just too far to go to church. I began to attend Warren Assembly of God in Warren, Michigan. Initially, the Arminian stance of Scripture bothered me, but I loved the teaching of the pastor. He spoke mostly of “kingdom issues” and the focus of most of his teaching was making the Christian life relevant for today. I attended for a year before I became a member at the beginning of 2001.