But First.... Coffee!!!

   I will never change my mind that God has a sense of humor, and He doesn't hesitate to use it. And I imagine that I gave Him a good laugh this morning!

   This weekend my CSBS school had Weekend Warriors. Translation: You're responsible for breakfast, lunch, and dinner this weekend. I like to sign up for the Saturday shift and get it over with. Well, this morning was a little chaotic. As usual, we prepare 'cold breakfast' for the base (Cereal, Yogurt, and Fruit). But the base is also hosting a Christmas Breakfast for a large group of pastors. Very sweet! 

    They get hot breakfast.

    When I have breakfast duty I usually make the coffee. And in my [limited] 32 years of church knowledge, pastors like to drink their coffee too! So, I set out to make two full batches. That's approximately 200 cups of coffee. Plenty for pastors and people on base to get their morning wake up brew. 

    Now, I don't claim to be the best coffee brewer in the world, but I do like to consider myself rather good at my job. From (when  I was 16) working in a small country cafe where Texan's make a fuss about their morning coffee, to years in restaurants and offices, to learning how to operate the huge coffee maker here on base, I do a pretty good job. I'm sure not every single person agrees with this, but you can't please everyone!

    I'm also particular about cleaning out the coffee maker before I make it. (For those of you who think I have just admitted to committing a sacrilegious act, please know that the coffee machine here is never switched off, and any coffee from the previous day becomes tar. Therefore, I am not taking away the 'seasoning' that so many people, who never wash their coffee pots, hold in great esteem. I remove 'burnt' coffee.)

    It is so nice when I hear people walk away saying, 'Coffee's good this morning.' It feels my heart with satisfaction, and I have found that I take pride in this little task. I love to make others happy, and my ability to make good coffee does this. Unfortunately, when we have hosted groups on base they usually assign someone to come in just to make coffee. (Probably because they want to make sure it's done right.) So, I often miss out on this. But this morning, Andy asked me if I knew how to make coffee. 'Of course I do!' I replied happy to oblige.

    And now we pick back up where we left off making two full batches.

    I had completed my task of breakfast prep for a bit and decided to get my own cup of coffee. I pour my milk in the cup, and then hold my cup under the nozzle to receive the delicious brew. I am relishing the aroma of morning coffee, revealing in my self-satisfaction of how good I am at my job (no pride there), ...when suddenly... a clump of grounds goes into my cup! 

    'Naturally!' I think. 'If there is one cup in this whole base that's going to get grounds it would be mine! Oh, well. At least it was mine and not one of the pastors.' I dump it and proceed to fill another cup. 

    Another clump.

    I believe my first reaction was, 'You gotta be kidding me!' I then lift off the top, grab a chair to stand on (because I'm too short to see over the top without it), and look into the coffee maker. Hundreds of grounds are floating in the brew. And I, with absolute disgust, go to the kitchen to grab a bucket in order to drain 100 cups of freshly brewed coffee so I can make another batch. This took a while and required additional minds for strategy since the spout clogged up a couple of times with grounds, but eventually it did get drained. 

    Upon examining the filter I had determined that either it must have broke somewhere or was too small. Because I could not have possibly messed up THAT badly. I was even trained at Starbucks how to ensure coffee grounds do not pour over while making coffee. I know how to do my job!!! But to stay on the safe side I decide to do a half batch this time. And when I have completed the task, and the second batch is brewing again, Tiffany approaches me.

    'I'm sorry. I saw you working on the coffee maker.. but my cup filled with grounds.' 

    You know that feeling you get when you're changing a light fixture in your ceiling and you're hoping you turned the right breaker switch off so you don't get electrocuted? (Well, I do.) And that's kinda what I was feeling at that moment. 'Do you mean the right or the left side?' I asked. In my mind I was hoping it was a cup from the previous batch on the left. She answered, 'The right side.'

    Wrong breaker switch.

    I groaned inwardly. Rodolfo had overheard the conversation and offered to help me again. So, between the two of us we drained, cleaned, and started another batch. Again, a half batch, because I have reasoned out the problem in that the filters are, somehow, indeed smaller than usual. I have Rodolfo and Tiffany look at them. They agree, and Tiffany goes to ensure the right size are ordered. Good! Because there is no way I could mess up two batches of coffee that bad! I just couldn't! I'm too good at what I do! In fact, I made sure to emphasize this point to Rodolfo and Tiffany, and one other guy that was checking in to see if I needed any help. 

    Not only did I manage to produce 200 cups of ruined coffee, but there were multiple witnesses! Inside my mind I'm realizing my coffee-making pride has been wounded. Years of restaurant training and food cost awareness cringes at the sight of so much waste. I have spent the entire morning working on the blasted coffee while the others prepped and cleaned up the rest of breakfast! All because the filters were too small!!! It's so unfair! Waaaahhhhh!!!!

    'Okay Job. You can stop whining now.'

    I blink. 'What?' I asked the question in my mind.

    'Karen. You're having a Job moment. It's gonna be okay. It's just coffee.'

    At that point I realized the other voice was my own in my head and the absurdity of my own reaction to the coffee situation. I started chuckling to myself. Why? Because we had just finished reading the book of Job this week. In fact, I still have to finish my homework on it today. But it's actually funny. Job was so sure that he was blameless and didn't deserve to suffer like he was. His friends kept on insisting that he had to have done something for God to punish him. But Job wouldn't back down. He knew he was innocent and he wasn't going to let anyone else convince him otherwise.

    And I sounded just like him! I knew I hadn't messed up the coffee! The filters were too small! They hadn't been that small before. There had been an error in purchase. It wasn't my fault! I'm very careful to not let grounds pour over, and certainly not that much! I even clean out the maker every time! I make good coffee! It's not my fault!

    Wow! Talk about pride! Sure. I may not have said everything I was thinking, but I had emphasized enough to hearing ears that I made good coffee and the filters were too small. And I was determined to pass the blame because it couldn't possibly have been anything I did. So, I looked up at Rodolfo, who was draining the coffee brew and said, 'I think God's working on my pride.' He asks me what I meant, and I told him  I was having a Job moment. 'I know I'm in the right! It's not my fault this happened!' We both laugh a little over it.

    I should have known the week was too uneventful for reading Ecclesiastes and Job. Every other week either something emotional happens or an event occurs that somehow coincides with what I'm studying about in the Bible. I should have known that I wasn't going to finish this week without God teaching me some kind of lesson! And I bet He enjoyed it too! (In truth, so did I!)

    I've often heard it said that God stripping you of your pride can be painful. And I've had some pretty painful experiences in my life from it myself. But not all of it is. Sometimes He can do it in such a way that causes you to laugh at yourself. I didn't even realize how much I cared about making a batch of coffee. And I'm sure there's bound to be someone who can do it better! Well, that's another pride issue to include in my prayers, and to be aware of in my attitude. But I need to also consider that a lot of people work very hard on this base to keep it well stocked. Whether it was an order error or delivery error, I need to be considerate and appreciative of others efforts and not whine because my coffee grounds ran over. And if I really want to be honest, based on my years of coffee experience, I should have paid attention to the fact that the grounds were too high in the filter to begin with! So....who has an accountability here?

    Even more importantly, why I don't get that worked up over people going to hell? My passion for sharing the Gospel of Christ should be as strong, or even stronger, than my passion for making coffee correctly. A man's soul is far more important that grounds in coffee! It's definitely something to work on and pray about. Not that it's a bad thing that I enjoy making others happy with their coffee. It's good that I care about that. I just don't need to get all worked up about it.

    All in all, it has been a funny morning. And I'm also glad that I can take something from it. I'm glad the Lord's gifted me with the ability to laugh at myself! ...and to always be surrounded by friends who love me whether or not I get grounds in the coffee!

    "I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man."

                           -Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 (ESV)