Another one of those days. When our country is shaken by the shock and grief - and stories - of a single violent act. The barrage of deadly shots at the Tucson, Arizona supermarket lasted only seconds. The damage done will last for lifetimes.
I don't need to try to pile more words on the endless commentary you can find on TV right now. We grieve the lives lost...we pray for all the survivors and their families...and we celebrate the heroes that rise up in the darkest of times.
For me, Dorwin Stoddard was one. His name will probably be pretty much a footnote in a story that affected much more public figures. But the little we know about what he did right now has touched me. For just a moment, we need to pull him out of the shadows of this story and into the light. He showed me something very important.
As of now, we don't know if Dorwin and his wife Mavy were at that Safeway store to shop or meet their congresswoman. But when the bullets started flying, Dorwin threw himself on top of his wife to protect her. She's wounded, but she's alive. Dorwin died saving her.
Dorwin and his wife have been described as the "life-blood" of their church. He was the life-saver for his wife. He would have known what the Bible says: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:25). Dorwin Stoddard died doing for his wife what Jesus did for us.
Would I do that? Isn't there in this husband's sacrifice something for every husband to consider? Would I - with no time to think about it - instinctively give up my life to save the life of the woman I love? I believe I would.
But there's an even harder self-exam question for us husbands. Do I, on a daily basis, put my wife's life ahead of mine? In some ways, it's easier to lay down your life for the woman you love in one final hail of bullets than it is in the endless choices of our everyday life. Do I "lay down my life" by sacrificing what I want to do to listen when she needs to be heard? Do I lighten her load by stepping up to help when I just want to rest? Do I put her needs and preferences ahead of mine? Am I living by the three words of marriage counseling given to me by the pastor on the night of our wedding - "Put her first"?
My hunch is that the decision to sacrifice yourself for your wife is not a sudden impulse in a moment of crisis. It's an instinct learned through a thousand little sacrifices made throughout your life together.
Any man who does that is a hero. Maybe not in the news. But for sure to the woman he loves. And to the God who hung on a cross.