Sunday, November 02, 2008

OK, I can't cry over spilled milk but how about a broken coffee pot?

What an interesting day.
We got up relatively early and ate breakfast. Made it out of the house ahead of schedule and got down to the church. Then came running up to the building one of our Sunday School regulars shouting "Tio Daniel, Tia Ruth needs you at home right away. It's urgent!" Of course my mind was racing over what could have been the problem. Maybe one of the kids had fallen or maybe someone had called saying that a loved one had passed away. So I race home and do not detect any crying from the children. That was a good sign. I go in and call out my wife's name. "Ruth, what's going on?" She says, "I moved wrong and now I can't get up." Where is Dr. Shea (our chiropractic brother) when you need him?!? Eventually we get Ruth up and out of the bed to which she had crawled. Another 20 minutes pass by and we get her down to the church. By this time I am almost an hour late to pick up a family from the church. The time delay accompanied by some mechanical problems that I had with the truck make it impossible for me to bring them to church on this day. Not cool. Fortunately Ruth is able to help Tio Jorge and Tia Vivi finish up the Sunday School and get ready for our noontime adult worship gathering. The time with the adults was very edifying and we trust was well pleasing unto the Lord. We had some visitors to our gathering from Peru and the United States so we invited them over for lunch. My wife had prepared for lunch beforehand so all she had to do was heat it up. We sit down and eat and have some good fellowship over a great meal. (thanks Ruth!) "Hey, who wants some coffee?", I ask. Several respond to the affirmative. "Coming right up", says the barrista. (me) My coffee pot has this annoying thing where the coffee leaks out the side whenever it is being poured out. So in order to prevent this, I take off the plastic lid. No problem there. But when I go to put the plastic lid back on, I suppose that I did it a little too enthusiastically. The coffee pot, the glass part, cracked. Oops! Fortunately it was a clean break and no shards got into the coffee itself. Most of our guests enjoyed their coffee without knowing about the mishap. Tio Jorge heard about it and was worried about drinking glass. However his fears were relieved as I proved to him that the coffee was safe to drink by passing the "joe"first through a plastic/mesh strainer. "I will drink it now", he tells me. Ok. And he states resolutely, "I think that coffee caraffe has seen it's last action." I sadly agree with him. Throughout this time I have flashing in my mind the reaction of little Tabitha to her spilled milk several days ago. She was devestated. She wanted her milk. And now it was gone. My situation is similar to hers. I will want to drink coffee tomorrow. And now my coffee making ability is gone. But at least I am not devestated. I can live without coffee. If need be, I can buy another coffee pot. We can make so much out of the trivial things and lose sight of what truly is important. Instead of being upset about the coffee pot, I had reason to be thankful for my relationship with God, for His powerful hand upon Ruth's body (she was still able to minister in the church), for the rest of my family, and for the brothers and sisters in Christ who were here to fellowship with us. Why waste time, energy, and emotion crying over a broken coffee pot when there is so much to praise the Lord for? Besides maybe I should drink more milk. It is supposed to do the body good, isn't it? Yeah, as long as I don't spill it.

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