After reading all of my babble, I hope two things are made very obvious to all of you: I love Jesus more than anything and I love everything about coffee. Since I have an obsession with coffee(keep reading for insight into my love for Jesus), I own a coffee club card to every coffee shop I have ever been to, I get e-mail/Facebook updates daily, I receive coupons in the mail, and I subscribe to free samples randomly to assess different blends and roasts. When it comes to coffee, the perfect cup is freshly ground 8 O’clock Columbian roast with the just enough half and half to make it a golden caramel color. (Dunkin Doughnuts is a close second) But when it comes to lattes, Starbucks Raspberry latte (extra hot with skim milk) takes top prize every time. And today I gave into my addiction (I give into my addiction everyday) and had my second raspberry latte of the week. I don’t have the power to turn down coffee with friends on a normal basis and today my inability to say no was made worse because in one on my many updates; I found out Starbucks was changing their logo. And what better time to check out the new logo than today. Unfortunately, WV hasn’t received the new logo merchandise yet so my cup still had the same logo. (But the deliciousness inside made me forget about the logo) I didn’t get to check out the new logo but I did get to read the back of my cup. (My all time favorite part about Starbucks). And today my cup read the following: “I have shared everything over coffee but once I shared coffee with a complete stranger. After two hours, we weren’t strangers anymore.” This verse made an evening coffee conversation much better.
I share coffee with someone on a weekly basis and occasionally, I make friends with those sitting around me so I appreciated the words on the back of my cup more than most. But it wasn’t my love for coffee that made me appreciate the words inscribed on my cup; it was my love for Jesus. I have shared my deepest secrets, fears, dreams, and insecurities over coffee but how many times have I shared Jesus? How many times have I listened to someone I love pour out their heart over coffee and never once included Jesus? How many times have you? To so many people Jesus is a stranger. People we encounter everyday are searching for something more and despite their best efforts they can’t seem to figure out what is missing. Jesus can’t be completely understood or experienced in two hours but in two hours we can make others familiar to Jesus. We can explain His love for them, we can share our testimony, and we can leave them wanting to learn more about the purest truth we have ever experienced. We can brighten days by sharing the gift of Jesus. We can renew hope by bringing a once stranger to life. We can let our friends and family members, or complete strangers know that we care about their eternal soul. We can make an evening coffee conversation much better.
Not all of my conversations over coffee are deep or profound (in the morning I usually speak very little until my second cup) but they are all meaningful. By including my love for coffee into my daily schedule, I have sipped on coffee and watched as friendships were made stronger, relationships were restored, hearts were mended, and fears released. Regardless of how well I knew the person sharing coffee with me; I left the conversation (and empty cups) feeling more connected to them than before. By including my love for Jesus into my conversations with those who are strangers to Him; I will watch as He works within their hearts. I will lead them to the only one who can restore relationships, mend broken hearts, and release their fears. And after hours, days, weeks, or years they will walk away knowing Jesus Christ and I will continue my daily coffee consumption, looking for a stranger to befriend; a stranger who needs to accept Jesus into their heart.
Verse to remember: Hebrews 13: 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
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