A Wildwood Love Story

Summer of 2011 in Wildwood, N.J. ~ Tim Cummings with his 5 children, (L-R) Maria, Jude, John, Anna & Elizabeth.	Tim & Renee

It was the summer of 1994, and we were young. Renee and I had met a few years earlier at Bible camp, and during high school had written letters to each other (the ancient type, that you had to lick and seal, before the days of e-mail!) I had graduated from high school, and Renee had finished her junior year. We had both been accepted as staff members at the Boardwalk Chapel, a storefront ministry down near the Convention Center, and next to Angelo’s Pizza. That summer something happened. There were long talks. We sang together. We worked together at the summer staff residence, the “Dunn House” (named after Boardwalk Chapel founder, Pastor Leslie Dunn of Calvary Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 119 E. Rio Grande Ave.). I suppose you could call it “puppy love,” but it was very significant to us! We went to college, and talked about marriage, and then had a serious falling out. We hardly talked for years. God had to work on both of us.

Then, slowly, the ice on our hearts started to melt. We started to write (still with stamps!), and then to talk. Then my paths led me back down to Wildwood, to the Boardwalk Chapel. After a program one evening, Jon Stevenson, the Chapel director, took me “out back” for a man-to-man chat. He knew that my relationship with Renee was blossoming again, and gave me a little kick in the pants to help me accelerate things.

On my way home (Salem County, NJ), I remember passing my familiar sights like Menz’s Restaurant and thinking something like, “Yeah, why not pop the question now?” So I found a ring and asked her the next week. That was July of 2001.

Six years later, in the summer of 2007, my mother had passed away. Renee and I, now married with three children, were looking to relocate to New Jersey. I spoke to Pastor Jim Zozzaro, who had been my youth group leader back in high school, and to the elders at Calvary Church, who opened a staff position at the church for me. We moved to the Dunn House, where our romance had blossomed back in 1994, with our children, and then to a rental near the church building. We had another child while living here, and our fifth came this summer. We are planning to move to Trinidad this September for mission work. Our children now know Wildwood as “home,” know Calvary as their home church, and have enjoyed the ministry of the Boardwalk Chapel.

Some say our lives are like a tapestry, and God is the Artist. He weaves, and we often just see the back side of the work, crossed and knotted. But from time to time, I believe, with the eyes of faith, we catch a glimpse of the Master’s hand. And that is just what I believe we have seen in our Wildwood love story. Interestingly enough, we are now living a stone’s throw from where my great-grandparents once spent their summer vacations, and from where my great-uncle took a respite from missionary work in Korea. I am sure there is much more to the tapestry than meets even the eyes of faith! Because God causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him and follow Jesus (Romans 8:28).