The Pacynskis: No Weakness Allowed
The sickness that struck Greg and Kara Pacynski at the very beginning of their marriage was not enough to devastate in itself; a two-week hospital stay, and Kara's kidney infection was under control. But the baggage both husband and wife brought along turned the situation into a major blow.
They had met during Bible college days in Dallas, drawn to each other initially by their common interest in foreign missions. Greg was volunteering his time, however, with the youth group at a nearby church, and after graduation, a staff position was offered. He stayed on, waiting until Kara would finish school the next year.
The longer they dated, the more Kara learned about this handsome young man's past. His father, a former pastor in Idaho, had left church ministry when Greg's mother, a schizophrenic, finally had to be institutionalized. Greg was ten years old at the time, and there were two younger brothers and a three-year-old sister. Their father had since served as a missions board representative for the Mountain States. Greg says:
Basically, I was raised in a home without women. My mother never really functioned as a mother to us; I didn't have any role model of a wife.
I told Kara once that I didn't feel I knew how to love, because I'd never seen it in my parents' relationship. We almost broke up over that remark!
I wasn't a feeling-oriented person at all. Just the facts.
Greg's father, a man of principle and ambition, was most pleased that his oldest son was following his steps into the ministry. In some ways, he saw in Greg the replacement of his own work cut short. When Greg began edging toward the choice of a life's mate, his father was eager to size her up.
He found in Kara a goodhearted young woman who would do well in the ...
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