A Ring and a Prayer
Vonette Bright
The trim brunette's eyes flashed as she said good-bye to her closest friend. "Either Bill will give up this fanaticism or I will come back without a ring. Wish me luck."
With that, the young woman was off to Los Angeles for a showdown with her fiancé.
Vonette Zachary and Bill Bright had known each other since their elementary school days in Oklahoma. A small girl with an iron will, Vonette had admired Bill as an outstanding student and a gifted debater. She thought him so brilliant that he could one day be President and hoped that the man she married might be as outstanding.
Bill went on to college. By the time Vonette was a freshman at Texas State College for Women, he had graduated and was in business. She thought of him occasionally, but in no special way.
At the time she was wrestling with doubts about childhood beliefs. She had been active in church during high school, but now attendance at church services seemed meaningless.
The summer following her first year, an unexpected letter came from Bill. The letterhead proclaiming "Bright's California Confections" looked impressive.
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He wrote about visiting the Coconut Grove and seeing a film star who reminded him of Vonette. He wished her a nice summer and said he would be thinking of her.
Vonette showed the letter to her father, who said, "Well, he's made good, and now he'll be coming home for his bride." The remark piqued her pride, and she decided to ignore the letter.
But back in college that fall, she came across the letter in a desk drawer and mentioned it to her roommate. "He sounds too good to pass up," her roommate advised. "Better write him."
She wrote ten pages that night.
That started the romance. Air mail special delivery letters began arriving, then flowers, candy, telegrams, telephone calls. Vonette's debonair and charming boyfriend became the talk of the campus. Even before Bill visited the campus the following March, she was ready to say yes.
They were engaged for the rest of her time in college. However, her happiness was clouded by Bill's fervent religious faith. He suggested passages of Scripture for her to read and presented requests for prayer. Vonette finally concluded that her businessman beau was a religious fanatic who needed cooling off.
In turn, Bill began to suspect that Vonette was not really a Christian. He loved her, yet he felt they should not marry unless she changed. Shortly before her scheduled graduation, he invited her to California for a college conference.
She came equally determined that Bill must change or else.
The conference was held at Forest Home, a Christian
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retreat center in California. Here she met attractive, dynamic young people who were just as strong in their beliefs as Bill. Despite her prejudices, she had to admire them for the happiness and purpose in life they seemed to share.
One evening when she and Bill were discussing what made these friends so different from other young adults, she realized that their beliefs were right for them and him. Religion had not helped her, so she felt it best to slip out of Bill's life. At the end of the week she would give back the ring and return home.
"I'd like you to talk to Henrietta Mears," Bill said. "She has helped more young people than anybody I know."
Vonette could not see any harm in this, so she agreed.
The remarkable Christian educator who had built a Sunday school to six thousand members in Hollywood showed Vonette from the Bible how to know God for certain. She described the plan and purpose which God had for Vonette's life. She helped Vonette see that all had sinned and fallen short of God's perfection. Vonette had desperately tried to be good, and had even kept lists of areas in her life to be improved. Miss Mears explained that Christ had died for her sins and offered the gift of eternal life if she would accept it.
Finally Vonette bowed her head and asked Christ to come into her life. At the time, she saw herself standing in darkness on the edge of a diving board and jumping into the unknown. The image was striking because she could not swim.
She discovered the secret of the joy in the lives of her fiancé and the other young people. The Bible became
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her guide, and day by day she became more aware of Christ's living presence in her life.
Bill and Vonette began the great adventure of life together on December 30, 1948. Bill felt God wanted him in a special ministry, so he enrolled in nearby Fuller Seminary. Three years later, he and Vonette felt drawn toward student work, and they moved near the campus of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).
Bill recruited a gospel team to visit the fraternities, sororities, and other student groups at UCLA. That first year they saw about two hundred and fifty students become Christians. By the following year five young men had joined the staff of the newly established Campus Crusade for Christ.
In the years since, Campus Crusade under the leadership of Bill Bright has expanded to blanket the free world. It was perhaps the major catalyst to the Jesus Movement of the late sixties and early seventies. No other evangelistic movement in modern times has equaled its outreach.
The Brights live frugally on missionary salaries. Their deepening love for eachother is obvious to the thousands of students who visit Crusade headquarters at Arrowhead Springs, California. When Vonette speaks, she usually relates their courtship experiences. "I'm grateful for a husband who walks close to God," she says. "When I don't agree with him, I pray, 'Lord give me the heart to respond.' God has given Bill the vision to lead and me the heart to follow."
