Bagel Boy Update
Oh wow. If you don’t think God is funny, think again.
Remember how I said I had never Googled Bagel Boy until yesterday?
And how I found nothing?
It has been nearly 20 years since this incident and it honestly never occurred to me until yesterday to even do a simple name search for him.
Just never crossed my mind.
But I did it for the first time and after a brief scroll, nothing popped up and I closed my laptop.
Then today, as I’m driving to pick up my daughter, it hits me… I Googled the fake name he gave me!
I had forgotten his real name…until sitting in my car today. It just came to me.
Where in the recess of my mind is that kind of information hanging out? I wonder what else is back there!
So while waiting for my daughter, I decided for kicks and giggles to search his real name.
No expectations.
And boom.
There he was…
Bagel Boy teaching theology
First of many results.
President of a small Methodist college.
Father or four.
Long list of publications and positions.
Seems to have done well for himself.
I’m not going to lie, this was not what I expected to find.
It is hard to see someone so well respected in their field when you know a dark secret about them, especially for a person working in christian education.
But…God is not just a God of Justice, He is a God of mercy.
He has forgiven and redeemed me time and time again, why should the same not be extended to Bagel Boy?
Is he not one of God’s children?
Isn’t God capable of working in his life and redeeming him?
I do not know what has transpired in the years since, but I pray that Bagel Boy has asked for forgiveness and has repented of his past ways. I pray he has a solid group of men around him who give him guidance and hold him accountable. I pray his wife and children are loved and cherished by him. I pray God has entered his life in such a profound way that I would not even recognize the person he has become.
And I trust that God has done a mighty work and knows Bagel Boy’s heart.
There is nothing more to do or say other than to let God handle it.
On a funnier note, Justin has this guy to thank for me asking to see his drivers license on our first date!
Justin wasn’t quite sure what to make of it when I asked, but given that I was meeting him at a freshman dorm and that he and Bagel Boy were both students of Duke Divinity school (Bagel Boy having graduated a few years prior), I didn’t want to take any chances.
Without doubt, I was hesitant.
I needed to make sure the names matched and that I was not about to go on a date with a college freshman!
Fortunately, we were good on both counts. The name he gave matched his id and he lived in a dorm all by himself as the Graduate Resident.
No wife. No kids. 28 years old.
What a relief!
And I absolutely married the right Duke Divinity grad. No doubts about that one.
One thing I know for sure, things always work out just as they are supposed to and I am grateful I gave this Duke MDiv student a chance. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Cathleen and Justin at a Duke basketball game 2010.
