Deep Java 2

Andree also loves coffee. The following year, Andree Gates from Louisiana, enchanted the hearts of many would-be pulpiteers and seminarians. When you attend a school where men are trying to fit in a world where their trade is rapidly losing admiration, the love and respect of a desirable woman becomes a very hot commodity. It was a small school where the ratio of men to women was depressing.

As a result, I heard about Andree long before I ever saw her. Men ran into doors—walked upright into fountains—fell into ditches trying to behold her. They blubbered and stuttered through a simple “Hello.” I listened to these stories of shock and awe with constant amusement. We finally met in the laundry/exercise room of Lincoln Hall—an old YWCA converted into a male dorm. The rustic exercise room and laundry were combined, and women students could use the facilities as well as men. I was trying to wash 5 cubic feet of bedspread in 3 cubic feet of washing machine. My language was not appropriate but it caught Andree’s attention. She was attempting to lift dumb-bells—and I felt like the largest one!

Weeks went by until I finally got the nerve to ask her out. “Whadya wanna do?”, I asked. “Let’s go for coffee”, she said. We went to a French bakery sort of establishment with several choices of coffee. Much fancier than what I grown accustomed to with Tim. We sat in wooden chairs at a small farm table and we talked. We talked a lot. And we went back again and again. It felt like the first time in my adult life that I truly had a friend who was a woman. We talked about absolute truth, and our callings to ministry. She was on her way to France to be a missionary, and she deeply loved Paris. I wanted to go back to Kentucky and pastor a rural church, maybe help other pastors. The soul stuff that I had learned to exchange with my buddy Tim was now being communicated to a woman. Was it the coffee?

We would laugh too. A couple of times I remember even crying with her. We’d sip coffee out of fine china cups, and spread marmalade onto French bread. I learned what a baguette was, and the simple delicacy of fresh butter. I learned that coffee and cocoa beans are closely related—and should be kept so!! My life was enriched, and my soul expanded, from those dates inside a Paris brasserie ala’ Texas.

I hear that Andree still enjoys coffee very much. She should anyway—for several years now I have made it for her every morning at 7:00. A couple of times a week our four children even let us drink a cup…….. before it gets cold. Just the other day, our 12-year old decided to have his first cup. This sacred ritual between husband and wife has now been compromised!