Lisa Barry: So far this week on Gateway to Joy, Elisabeth Elliot has been visiting with her daughter, Valerie Shepard, on a number of different topics. But today we?re going to add one more to the conversation, because Walt Shepard is in the studio. Walt is Valerie?s husband, and they?re going to talk about how they happened to meet. Since I adore a good love story, I know this is going to be a real treat. Now here is Elisabeth to get us started.

Elisabeth Elliot: "You are loved with an everlasting love." That?s what the Bible says. "And underneath are the everlasting arms." This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot, delighted to be talking today with my son-in-law, Walt. Walt Shepard is pastor of a church in South Carolina. And my daughter, Valerie. So actually, they will be talking together.

Valerie Shepard: Walt, why don?t you and I tell the story of how you met my mother and how I met you and how my mother has influenced our lives.

Walt Shepard: Well, Val, maybe you don?t even know this, but before we were ever an item, I was in a friend of mine?s living room looking at a book called THE SAVAGE, MY KINSMAN. I was looking at some pictures. These little pictures of a blonde-haired little girl were just striking to me.

The hostess?I didn?t realize she was trying to get me interested in seriously pursuing marriage?she said, "What did you think of that book?" I said, "Well, I like the book very much." She said, "No. What did you think of her?" I said, "Her?" She said, "Yes. The little girl there?Valerie." I said, "You mean that blonde-haired little girl?" She said, "Yes, Walt What did you think?" I said, "I thought she was terrific. But where are you going with this?" She said, "Well, where do you think she is now?" I said, "Well, probably married to Billy Graham?s son."

She laughed and said, "No. She is right down the street." I said, "You?re kidding." She said, "Yes. She lives at the home of one of the professors, Dr. Addison Leitch. Dr. Leitch married Elisabeth Elliot, and Valerie is their daughter there." So I thought, "Wow! Isn?t that interesting?" But I didn?t do anything about it or really get any hopes up or anything.

But it was later on in that semester that I heard your mother speak at Gordon Conwell at the seminary. They had invited a fellow to talk about missions, who really didn?t know what he was talking about. On the end of his week, they invited Elisabeth Elliot to make some kind of presentation. It turned out to be almost a refutation of what the man said. It was really good. It was solid. It was biblical. It really gave you hope. I knew something about missions. I knew a little bit, but not a whole lot. But I could tell your mom had just waxed this poor guy.

Well, anyway, we were all impressed. I guess I was just with a bunch of seminary students, just standing there speechless after it was over with. But I couldn?t stand it. I went up to her and I said, "Ma?am, I?ve never heard a presentation like that. I just wish I could hug you." Then I realized what I was saying. I thought, "You fool! Shut up!" I turned and ran from the auditorium.

Valerie Shepard: Literally ran?

Walt Shepard: Yes. Now I was a character. I got outside to the parking lot, realizing what in the world I must have looked like. I was a good bit bigger than I am now. Isn?t that hard to imagine? I had lots more hair. I had hair growing all over my face. Probably had my usual standard uniform of the day, which was a blue jeans shirt and blue jeans, period. So I probably didn?t strike an exciting pose.

But I didn?t think any more about it, until it was later the next year. I was looking for a house. I needed a place to live in. I was staying, if you remember, with a couple. One of my best friends had offered his couch in his living room. They had a one-bedroom apartment. This couch was made for half of me. But that?s where I was sleeping. And I was eating there, and they were being very gracious, very hospitable, but they were also looking madly for a place for me to go.

The dean of students had talked to your mom about the possibility of a live-in student to help her care for your stepdaddy, who was dying of cancer. You remember all this. So your mom asked him for a reference. He gave her my name.

One day I answered my buddy?s phone. It was ringing there in the living room. I picked it up and it was this voice. It was The Voice of your mom. I thought, "I?ve never heard anything like this." My voice caught. I?m sure I gasped for breath. She said, "Is Walter Shepard there?" I stammered something like, "I?m it" or whatever.

It was so funny. She said, "I would like to talk to you." I thought, "What have I done now? I am in deep trouble." She said, "I would like to interview you. Could you make arrangements to come to my house at such and such a time and day?" I said, "Yes." I really wasn?t sure what was going on. Later my buddy told me, "She wants to interview you for lodging there. She?s got a place for you to live."

So I wound up at your house one evening with my buddy. We were in your living room. I remember those red walls, that red wallpaper. I remember the blue sofa, the blue couch. And this pretty, pretty, stunning?let?s say?young lady in a blue dress, sitting there on the sofa. I was sitting in a rocker across the room. There was your mom. She was just?she was working hard on this interview. She had notes in front of her. My life flashed before me several times.

I?ll never forget one of those questions. One of the questions was, "Now I?m a meticulous housekeeper. Does that pose any problem?" Well, I don?t know. Do you remember that night as clearly as I remember it?

Valerie Shepard: I remember you sitting across the living room. I thought, "There is a handsome young man over there." But I wasn?t paying much attention to my mother?s questions.

Walt Shepard: Well, I don?t remember much either, except I do remember several pointed questions, like the one I just mentioned. I think I got a "yes/no"?something that was confused and ambiguous.

Valerie Shepard: Did you know what meticulous meant?

Walt Shepard: I thought I had some idea, but it didn?t quite fit the caricature of me. But we wound up with her agreeing that, yes, I would do, somehow. That?s how really I came to your house.

The day I moved in was the day your stepfather died.

Valerie Shepard: But you were moving in actually before he died, so you didn?t know that he actually would die that night. But he was close to death. Three days before that, I had said goodbye to my stepfather, believing that he would be healed. Cheerfully saying goodbye, thinking that the next time I would see my daddy, he?ll be just perfectly fine. But he had said to me, "I don?t think I will see you again." So you moved in that day?

Walt Shepard: Now you had gone to Wheaton. Right? You had gone to Wheaton College.

Valerie Shepard: I had left for Wheaton the weekend before. I?m not sure I knew that you were actually moving in. But it was that night after you?d moved in that he died.

Walt Shepard: Right. I thought, "Oh, this is time for me to move." Now I didn?t have a lot to move. I think it was two pair of blue jeans, two jean shirts, a winter coat of some sort. I think it was that leather?that thing that could stand up by itself, if you let it. Maybe one pair of shoes?one that had those outrageous heels, enormous high risers.

Valerie Shepard: 1969-type shoes.

Walt Shepard: Yeah. The colorful variety. So it wasn?t a whole lot to unpack and move out. As I was starting to leave, your mom said, "Where are you going? Would you mind staying to help me with some company that is going to be coming in?" So I was kind of a house boy at that point, just helping folks get arranged. You had some guests spending the night there.

Valerie Shepard: So you had decided that you were going to leave when you discovered that he might be dying.

Walt Shepard: I thought that was the appropriate thing to do.

Valerie Shepard: But you hadn?t told her that you were not going to move in.

Walt Shepard: No. I didn?t know what view to take. I was a little nervous about everything. I didn?t want to get in anybody?s way. It turned out that she had a big dinner for people who were coming from out of town. So I was a little help there.

It was so funny. Your Aunt Van, who is one of your mom?s best friends, came in and really said, "You?re going to be needed here, so stick around and see what you can do to help." So that?s what happened.

Then a week and two weeks. Your mom said, "How about being a renter, a lodger?" That?s how I worked out a deal where I got to meet you later when you came back from college.

Valerie Shepard: Well, on my end, I got wonderful letters from my mother anyway while I was at college. She began to mention this young man, Walt Shepard, that was living as a lodger. She told me in one of her letters that he was like an angel to her, because you helped her so much. You were such a kind gentleman. She loved your southern ways with treating her as a lady. You always said, "Yes, Ma?am" and "No, Ma?am," and she loved that. So you charmed her socks off, we might say.

Walt Shepard: Well, that certainly wasn?t something I was aware of. I did know that it was such an honor being in her home. Your mom was a legend on campus. One of my best buddies used to say, "Listen. That?s a wonderful lady, but beware of her icy, cold stare." He referred to it as a Belgian stare. I said, "Where did you get that?" He said, "She was in Belgium." But it was all a joke. This buddy of mine was crazy about her. His name was Ron.

It was just the fun I had of being in that house and getting to talk with her. I?d bring home notes from classes which didn?t make any sense to me. She?d help me see the practical side of all of that theology.

Valerie Shepard: You would actually go into her study and sit down after you got back from your classes and say, "Teach me something." Or you?d ask her questions, and she loved being able to talk to you. She couldn?t believe that you had such an open and hungry ear for what she had to teach.

Walt Shepard: And on my part, I couldn?t understand why she was so patient and had so much time for me to ask these rather dumb questions that kept coming up.

Valerie Shepard: I?m sure they weren?t dumb. But as I was at the beginning of my sophomore year at Wheaton and through that fall, I had received these letters from my mama, saying that you were such a wonderful help to her, I began to be slightly interested in who this might be. Since I had met you, I knew you were handsome, but I didn?t know anything else about you.

I came home for my Christmas break and you were there for one week before you had to go home for your Christmas break. So we got to know each other just a little bit. There was one night when I ironed and you polished shoes in the kitchen. We stayed there and talked.

Walt Shepard: I ran out of shoes to polish, so I started polishing them over.

Valerie Shepard: We are thankful for what God did in bringing us together.

Lisa Barry: What a great story, and it just goes to show how well God does at bringing couples together in His own time and in His own way. If you?d like to purchase a copy of this series, the title to ask for is FAMILY ALBUM. The cost is $5.

You can send that, along with your request, to Gateway to Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501. Or call toll-free: 1-800-759-4JOY. Don?t forget to visit our Web site at gatewaytojoy.org. Gateway to Joy is a listener-supported ministry of Back to the Bible.

We?ll finish up this series tomorrow with one more visit from Walt and Val. That?s next time on Gateway to Joy.