Heavenly Brew

It all started with four girlfriends and my 1st trip to Pittsburgh for a Benny Hinn crusade. One of the girls was a good friend who had just found out that she had breast cancer. It was after the birth of her third daughter just a few weeks after my own daughter was born. She was told that the cancer was really bad and that she’d have to do chemo and stop nursing her 4 month old or so daughter.

We spent the night in a really nice hotel which had a Starbucks in the lobby. I had never been to Starbucks and was not going to get anything when this friend of mine suggested I get what she was going to order…..a white chocolate mocha latte. I ordered one and took my first sip. It wasn’t too bad. It had a bit of a strong coffee taste but not too bad.

These same girlfriends of mine decided to have a girls night about once a month. These were awesome girls night. We would carpool together and go out to eat, then we’d catch a movie, then we’d go to Starbucks. In Indianapolis, Starbucks was open until midnight or 1:00 am. We would stay until they closed. Then we’d all head over to the driveway of whoever was going to be dropped off 1st and talk for a couple more hours in the car together. They were nights you always wanted….friends who couldn’t get enough of each other.

I kept purchasing these white chocolate mocha’s but figured out that I could ask for only one pump of espresso instead of two which made it taste less of coffee and more of milk.

After Terry and I moved back here to Goshen in 2003, I continued going to Starbucks every now and then. I didn’t have any girlfriends to go out with and I didn’t have a coffee maker at home. I’d get an occasional Starbucks treat when I would travel with my family down to Indianapolis to visit my Grandma.

After we started hosting people in our home for Bible studies, I realized my need for a coffee maker. My 1st one was a $4.00 white one from Target. It worked well for a time. I made many friends with this coffee maker and offering coffee in my home. When you don’t drink coffee, you don’t realize that a whole new world is out there. People love to gather around and drink coffee. It is amazing stuff. It brings people together. It was my best bargain ever to have friends…..$4.00. Who says you can’t buy friendships with money??

Are you bored yet with my story? NO? Good! I will continue……

I started purchasing flavored coffee…usually hazelnut. Then someone gave me a coffee grinder and I found that fresh ground hazelnut coffee was the best thing. I started buying coffee creamer and real half and half cream. That added even more flavor and people really liked the choices.

Someone in our Bible study rebelled against what I called, “girl coffee” (the flavored kind) and started bringing some robust Gevalia coffee that was non-flavored. One day I went to a home that offered this “man coffee” and was amazed at the flavor.

Now I serve “man coffee”. I buy my coffee at Aldi’s. It’s a whole bean, Jamaiican Blue Mountain blend, 12 ounces for $3.99.

I had two carafe’s which I would fill for each Bible study. One holds about 8 cups and the other, 12 cups. The 12 cup carafe broke at church. The 8 cup carafe has a cracked seal. I’ve gotten tired of scrambling to make pot after pot of coffee. So I found a 30 cup coffee maker. It actually makes 12-30 cups which is great. Our Bible study alone can go through at least 30 cups when everyone shows up. It will save me so much time and then I can take the new added time to use in talking to everyone and welcoming all our newcomers. Yeah!

If you don’t drink coffee and need more friends…..coffee may be your answer. I wouldn’t pray that God gives you a liking for coffee, but if you buy a coffee maker, let people know you will have coffee and buy some yummy creamers along with some half and half, (I use the Meijer’s organic French Vanilla and Hazelnut. Or the Coffee Mate flavor Cinnamon Bun.) you never know who may show up. The Bible says “some have entertained angels unaware.” I am waiting for that moment. I’d love to entertain an angel. I wonder if they like coffee?

Our family enjoyed a long two hour walk along the shores of Siesta Key this afternoon. After eating our big Christmas late lunch, we felt the need to go out and walk off the effects of the tryptophan one gets after eating delicious turkey. The rains that had taken over the morning hours had abated leaving the air moist and warm, the sun fanning its rays of warmth across the beach almost as if it needed to stretch its arms. Like one awakening from a long sleep.

I was pleasantly surprised to see many out enjoying this sunny warmth. The waves were decently large compared to this past week and came crashing in to shore leaving long trails as they were pulled back into the sea. The sand bore its carvings and left deep, smooth and rippled ruts, almost like miniature dunes.

Siesta Key doesn’t seem to have as many sea shells as Lido Key, its Northern barrier Key neighbor. My forever desire to find treasure did not leave me disappointed. Not far down the beach, looking among the shells, I found a blackened dime, it’s perfect roundness giving it away. I was delighted. I showed it to my husband and put it in my pocket. This left me dreaming of finding a spanish galleon gold coin, washed up from an era long ago. I made sure the family knew of this opportunity of finding a gold coin. Now mind you, it probably wouldn’t be perfectly round. It might even be covered with tiny barnacles and layers of some kind of blackened substance. Training my eyes to see only what I wanted to find amongst the little bits of shell, seaweed plants, sponge remains and sea gull deposits, I continued looking for more treasure.

Well, sure enough, another round object was tumbling in the surf. Darker in color and blackened, but just as recognizable. A penny this time. I was a little disappointed that it was of lesser value than my 1st find and it joined the dime in my pocket.

Now you know me by now. Every opportunity, every experience are times to enjoy my Lord Jesus Christ. My love. Singing to Him, skipping along the waves, laughing with the kids who were making little round guys out of sand, putting silly faces on them, telling me stories that made them crack up. Thinking of Jesus and the scripture ” in Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” He could wash up a gold coin just for me. I trully believed it. But more importantly, more than these coins He allowed me to find, is finding Him. Enjoying Jesus. Worshipping Him.

Later on I found a nice shiny nickel. Happy to find a coin value more than a penny. We had walked a long distance down the beach and a home jutted out into the Gulf of Mexico, stopping the beach walkers who went up and touched it’s seawall and turned back. I touched it too. If it was good enough for the natives, I figured it was a good thing to do in this instance. The seawall was handpainted.

So back North we all turned, the sun still shining it’s warm rays. Only this time on the left side of me instead of the right. My daughter was very tired and she rode piggyback with me as long as I could stand. You might laugh at my thoughts but I was still thinking of finding this gold coin. Partly thinking of Jesus words when he said, “if someone asks you to go one mile, go two.” Could I have carried a pack for a Roman soldier as heavy as my daughter and offered to go another mile for him? Hmmmm. I would definitely have needed God’s strength. Confident He would have given it!

Well, I spotted it. A very black larger round coin. Perfectly round so I knew it couldn’t be my spanish galleon coin, but not sure what it was, I rubbed off a section of blackness to find that it was a quarter. “Shucks,” I mentioned to my son Nate who was beside me. “Not my gold coin.” We both laughed. He just shook his head. This was a 2003 quarter.

We made it back to the main beach. I was 41 cents richer. Who says it doesn’t pay to work off a turkey dinner? This was a walk filled with family memories, fellowship with Jesus and fun and I wouldn’t trade it for any amount of money.

I have been thinking about the verse in Joel where God says He will pour out His Spirit on all flesh. I’ve been thinking about that verse because I have begun to notice that God is doing that in the life of all my friends and family. I have been reading some of the notes written on Facebook and seeing a glimpse of the heart of my fellow church family members. I am telling you it is such a beautiful thing.  The world out there is getting tired of the emptiness that there is. They are looking for people who know God, who love righteousness, who are willing to share their lives and hearts with them. I love that we can cry out to God together and find Him.  I love praying with people. I have to say I absolutely LOVE it. I can’t help it. There is nothing more fulfilling in the whole world as to grab someone’s hand and cry out for them to God…and visa versa. It is the most intimate thing. It knits hearts and it brings hope. Our Father does that. He is such a giving God. He gives of Himself. His most precious giving was that of His son Jesus.  Jesus came and showed us the Father. Jesus was so practical. He walked with people all day long, everyday. There was not a day he decided that He didn’t want to be around people. He ate with them, talked with them, took time with them. He didn’t care who it was. Everyone needs love. God IS love. God our Father doesn’t just have love and every now and then gives us some. He IS love. He cannot reveal it any other way. His love drives us to obey Him.  My first note on Facebook was about trying to figure God out. Since then I realized how simple it is to get to know Him. Luke 10:27 “Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your strength and with ALL your mind; and, Love you neighbor as yourself.” I just pray that I will love Him with ALL of myself and not hold anything back. I especially like the last part of that verse. Loving isn’t what we think it is. It’s God’s love through us. That will bring the change in ourselves and others.  Have a great weekend and Enjoy God. I pray everyone will be poor in Spirit, mourning, meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers and persecuted for righteousness sake. The last one is the last one spoken in Matthew 5 in the Beattitudes. I have never seen this until I just wrote it in the above but it is almost a progression. It starts with poor in Spirit and ends with persecuted for righteousness sake. Wow. The bible is so cool! You gain a new treasure of truth every time you read it.