In the light of the events of the last few weeks, I thought I’d share something a little on the lighter side, and let’s be clear from the start: the word “catastrophe” might be just a shade extreme as I look back on the morning. Oh, but in the moment…

I was gathering my things to leave my prayer room and get ready for work. With both hands full I was forced into a balancing act to be able to turn the door handle and exit the room.

My coffee cup, still about a quarter full, was balanced precariously on top of my iPad (I can hear the collective “GASP!” even as I type this) along with a book, leaving my right hand free to grasp the door handle for the 0.8 seconds it would take to flip the lever down and open the door.  

That 0.8 seconds passed in excruciatingly slow motion as my left hand quivered ever so slightly, upsetting the delicate balance I’d created and sending my coffee cup spilling over the side and downward.

The crash was deafening, not to my ears – they don’t work so well anymore – but to my psyche. You see, that cup had been my coffee companion for years! It was the perfect shape, slightly wider at the bottom than at the top, thereby making it harder to knock over and spill. It had the perfect capacity: LOTS of coffee. It had the perfect message: “I need a day between Saturday and Sunday.” And now it was gone, broken in a way that could not be fixed.

For a moment, I stood transfixed by the sight before me and somehow feeling strangely lost. What was I going to do? What would I drink out of? What other cup could possibly take its place?

Now if you’re not a coffee drinker, this sounds to you like so much melodrama. Just take out another cup and drink your coffee out of that, you say. Coffee drinkers, let’s all say it together:  “Another cup? Have you lost your mind???”

We coffee drinkers are creatures of habit – we want things to stay the same: the same cup, the same time, in the same place. It’s what gives us a feeling of stability in our lives; and I suspect that desire for stability isn’t limited to coffee drinkers. We all want to feel that way, but…

Life on the side streets can be a lot like that morning for us. Sometimes our stable world just gets disrupted. The rhythm of life – our “coffee cup” – gets broken and we feel a little lost.

We start asking questions: “What will I do? Where will I go? How can I face the next morning?” It seems like our whole world is upside-down, but there’s good news.

I’ll tell you my secret from The Coffee Cup Disaster:  I prayed. I know it sounds silly, but I did! I prayed that God would help me find a new coffee cup – and not just something to hold my coffee, but the perfect cup for me, and because the God we serve loves us and cares about the smallest details of our lives, He did exactly what I prayed He would.

Two hours later, I walked out of Walmart with my new coffee companion: a little wider at the bottom than the top, capacity for lots of coffee, and a new, even more perfect message:  “Fueled by Jesus and coffee.”

How about you? Do you have a favorite coffee cup? What would you do if it was broken? Even better, has God taken broken pieces in your life and ended up giving you something better? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Until the next turn,

Gordon