Sharon had decided to try CC after some personal recommendations: “I had two friends who had met their spouses on Christian connection, who both encouraged me to give it a go. I thought that would be the probably the only way that I was going to be able to find somebody. At church can be quite complicated and difficult.”

They were both clear about how to approach dating. Sharon says, “I think the most important thing for me was around being honest and being transparent. There was no point having a false sense of who I was, and I wanted it to reflect me the best that it could.” She also got some help with her profile! “My daughter took out about two thirds of the words and simplify that, which was probably a good idea.”

Andrew also took a practical approach: “I used my photos to indicate the types of things I like to do in life – doing DIY work around the house, dressed up a little bit more formal, and doing some snowboarding. So you get an understanding about who the person is in different situations.”

This approach caught Sharon’s eye! “I did notice all of his action shots,” she remembers, “And that his primary photo was warm and relaxed. He was very honest about what he was looking for, and what he didn’t want. There was no ambiguity. I got a very strong sense with Andrew about what he was looking for, who he was, and what he wasn’t looking for.”

Andrew was similarly impressed by Sharon’s profile: “You could actually understand what Sharon felt was important to her. I remember going through the whole profile and ticking the boxes…there was a lot of a lot of potential for a good connection between us.”

After reading Andrew’s profile, Sharon decided to make contact. “I waved at Andrew,” she says, “And then I got absolutely no response. For a good couple of weeks, and I couldn’t quite understand why there was no response whatsoever. What I then discovered was that he was overseas and hadn’t been checking in on his Christian Connection!”

Once Andrew responded, their connection developed. “We spent three weeks talking to each other online, which I think was really valuable,” says Sharon, “We asked a lot of questions around my kids, his kids, our previous relationships, our families of origin, our interests, our passions, we talked about church, we talked about our relationship with God, we talked about likes and dislikes, what we did for work. And then I thought that I should probably then communicate about the fact that I thought we should try and meet up.”

The first date

Andrew made plans. “I organised a dinner date,” he remembers. “It was at a wine bar. I was going to get the early but Sharon beat me there… I came to the wine bar, and there was Sharon and we had a great time. We spent probably a good three hours talking to each other until the wine bar closed and the staff said, ‘Could you please leave?’ A pretty good sign of a first date! We really connected almost instantaneously.”

“I was incredibly nervous,” recalls Sharon. “I did not want to make eye contact. He had said in the conversation that he had made decisions previously on other dates very quickly, within about 10 minutes. So I was waiting for that 10 minute mark, and to see whether we got over that, and whether he was staying. But he ordered the second glass of wine, and we had some food. And I thought, ‘No, this was going really well.’”

“I think you know, pretty early if you have a connection,” says Andrew. “You very quickly understand whether you’ve got that sort of that magical connection. And like we had it instantaneously where, yes, you really, really love each other’s company, and we were quite attracted to each other straightaway.”

Next steps…

Sharon describes how things developed: “Three weeks in after our initial date, we had gone down to the Mornington Peninsula. There’s lovely wineries, beautiful cafes, for a long weekend. And we spent that time really talking to each other about what we wanted in life, what we were looking for. We were both pretty honest about the fact we were looking for a very committed relationship. And we spoke about those things very openly over that weekend. And I think we both at that point knew that this was…

“A relationship that we could actually continue to build,” continues Andrew. “We spend a lot of time talking about values and life goals. By that stage, we found this natural synergy between the two of us…this natural sort of way that we could just connected straightaway. And we felt very, very comfortable with each other without much effort at all.”

The proposal – and the wedding!

“We were starting to have discussions about, you know, where is the relationship going? How would that work? And both of us really felt like, you know, this was this was the right thing for us,” says Andrew. “We started talking about marriage and what that meant and wasn’t too much longer before. I proposed the Sharon in a hotel…”

“The wedding was held in the same hotel that we got engaged in,” says Sharon. “It was a Rolls Royce factory back in the early 1900s in Melbourne. So incredibly beautiful, sort of 1920s Glamour… It was lovely to be able to just to pick those people that had done the journey with both of us when we were singles… Because we were getting married as older people, it was very much what we picked how we wanted it.”

“It really beautiful… a lovely day. We were absolutely thrilled and we couldn’t have asked for anything better,” says Andrew. “For me, and standout moment was actually completing our wedding dance. I’m not great at dancing so we got a professional to teach us, and we spent a lot of time practising. So, that was a lot of fun. It was awesome.”

Andrew and Sharon’s advice for single Christians who want to meet someone?

“Give it a go,” says Sharon. “Pray about it. But then step out in faith and give it a go and trust your instincts. Go with your gut. Believe in your capacity to find the right person for yourself and enjoy the process.”

“You’ve got to put yourself out there and be vulnerable,” says Andrew. “And you’ve got to be patient as well because it can take time. And for me it was a long time. But I think the other thing is just to be curious. You’ve got to actually open up a little bit be vulnerable and then see how it goes…”

WATCH Andrew and Sharon talk about their meeting story, wedding and life together since here:

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