Fireproof

Someone from church told me today that a long-time friend had recently died.
His death was so quick no one saw it coming. He said goodbye to everyone at work one day and was gone from this earth the next.
John’s life story was illustrated into a brief synopsis of how either he or his wife Carla would sneak out of bed each morning to see who could pour the first cup of coffee as the other slept soundly in bed.
More often than not, Carla would beat John downstairs and let him sleep long enough to make a fresh pot of coffee.
Carla would then pour herself a cup, then sit on the table, banging her teaspoon against the side of her cup endlessly until John became so irritated that he had to get up to make her stop.

As I heard this story, I couldn’t have imagined putting up with the noise while trying to squeeze in a few more minutes of sleep before getting up for work.
My life has become so routine that it’s all my mind can handle to get up, force myself out of bed, get dressed, climb in my car, then get myself to work.

But John put up with it. Sometimes he got to be the first one up --- sometimes he got to be the one banging on the side of the coffee cup. I guess I can imagine it was Carla’s way of telling John how much she loved him.

Later that afternoon, I saw a movie with friends. The movie was titled “Fireproof”
The storyline was about a couple who were having so much marital issues that they were on the verge of divorce. The issues the couple faced paralleled those of the same issues I faced during my divorce that it was scary. The only difference was that they were able to save their marriage. I failed to save mine miserably.
…. Or was it that I didn’t try as hard as I should have?

I can’t imagine what Carla was feeling when she got up that one morning, pouring herself a cup of coffee, waiting for her beloved husband to come down the stairs knowing he was never going to appear.
… but every morning, she sat down and banged her teaspoon against that cup.


Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Ephesians 5:25