From Coke to Coffee

I can’t wait to be a house owner. I really don’t need a big or fancy house, but you better believe I’m going to have something unique. I want to take a collection of ideas I’ve gathered from all the cool coffee shops I’ve been to and just make my own creation. I’m not talking about this fake/corporate coffee shop look, but something truly unique.

Is it sad that I’ve become such a coffee shop junkie that I basically want to create one to live in? Don’t tell me what you think… I just wanted to throw that out there.

Anyways, one thing that I have to have to complete my awesome future home is a huge front porch. I want a great backyard too… but the front porch is going to complete it.

I can’t wait to get up at 6a.m. and fix a pot of coffee (dark roast), walk out of my coffee shop haven looking home to my front porch, and just sip the morning away.

Later in life I am completely fine with my neighbors saying there are three things that are certain in life, “Death, taxes, and old man Martin hanging out on the front porch.” How cool would that be?

Sadly our societies are moving away from front porches. People get up, get into their car, open the garage, commute to work, come home, pull back into their garage, close the door, and go about their individualistic lives.

We have become so impersonal… yet we’ve mastered the cheap, meaningless, shallow “hey how are ya’s.”

“Hey, how’s it going?”… “Oh, things are going well.”… “Awesome! Well we need to catch up soon.”… “Sounds great!”… Done.

We need to transition from coke to coffee.

What I mean is that coke is fast… it’s a cool refreshing quick fix. Let’s face it, sometimes you just need a coke (and I mean coke in the southern since… sprite, root beer, mountain dew… all equal “coke”). But like I said, it goes quickly. You load your fountain drink down with ice because you want the thing borderline freezing, only to get frustrated with how quickly you hear that annoying “straw sucking at the bottom of an almost dry cup” sound. Sonic is a catch 22 for me.

Coffee, however, is something that you drink slowly. It starts out way too hot, and you just sip on it until it gets to the right temperature. But you can’t be careless here, because if you wait too long it gets nasty cold… so you have to be thoughtful in your approach to drinking a great cup of coffee. Coffee is something you sit down over and talk about life.

We have to move from quick shallow hellos to deep meaningful conversations.

How many people truly know you? And I don’t mean they know what you drive and where you’re from… but truly know the depths of your heart?

How many people do you truly know?

As glorified as the self made man is in our society, and as tempting as it is to want to just withdraw from this consumeristic/entertainment driven world we live in… we were not created to live alone. Community has been perfectly modeled for us in the Trinity; and community is actually necessary for us to live within God’s intended created order.

I want to encourage everyone to sit down over coffee with someone this week and to have a deep meaningful conversation. Start a true relationship with someone that you can truly know and that they can truly know you. Be vulnerable and honest, and see where the conversation leads.

If you are living life by yourself and not sharing the depths of your hearts with others then you are merely existing… but if you are openly bearing witness to what God is doing in your life with others then you are tasting more and more what it means to truly live life, and to live it well.