Mr. Pete and I recently watched Fireproof, starring Kirk Cameron as fire chief Caleb Holt. This old married couple of almost 30 years give it two thumbs up!

The story centers around a small town Fire Chief Holt and his wife, Catherine, who have just drifted away from each other. He is use to the excitement and respect that he gets from his job and is frustrated when that doesn’t cross over into his marriage. Catherine feels unloved and unappreciated. As a result, they retreat from each other. He develops an internet porn addiction and pursues selfish hobbies that do not include his wife. She starts up a flirtaceous relationship with another man at work.

Mr. Pete and I touch on this during our Pre-Cana talk – if God isn’t the center of a marriage, a void can quickly develop. Men and women will do anything to fill that emptiness from hobbies, activities, addictions to outside affairs. This movie painfully illustrates that point.

When divorce seems eminent, Caleb’s father asks him to hold off on it for 40 days. He sends his son a simple book with written directions for each day, supported with a verse from scripture. These are simple things like make your spouse coffee, or call them during the day to see how they are doing. Caleb goes through the motions of these actions at first and Catherine is recalcitrant to accept any of his gestures. It takes some encouragement from one of Caleb’s fireman friends to not just go through the motions but give 100% to each action, that finally starts turning Caleb’s heart around back to is wife.

The movie does have a strong Christian theme of accepting the love of Jesus and recognizing his sacrifice, but it’s not preachy. Because the protagonist is a fireman, the film has several very high paced and exciting rescue scenes. In fact if a wife wanted to try to get her husband to watch this with her, she could easily call it an action/ adventure story and it would fit that bill too.

Mr. Pete and I really think this would be a great movie to include in Pre-Cana packets for young couples starting out. But it would also be a wonderful church event for old-married folks too!

There was a pleasant surprise at the end of the film. Caleb’s dad had offered this book to his son because it had helped him in his own marriage to Caleb’s mother. Throughout the film we thought that it was all Dad’s idea! But in the end, it turns out that it was mom’s idea in the first place; dad simply copied it over in his own handwriting because he knew Caleb would accept it better from him than from his mom. There is a special scene where Caleb apologizes and opens his arms and his heart to his mother, who has stood by and loved him all of these years. As a mom with four sons, that was one of my favorite parts of the movie!

Mr. Pete and I will be celebrating 30 years of marriage this summer. And we certainly have gone through our own fires.  Sometimes it feels like everything around us is set on a low sizzle!!   But I am ordering this book for us to work through – it never hurts to do something a little nice for your spouse!

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