A Happy Coffee Spill

 I don’t usually take my coffee into church,

But last Sunday I did.

I had a meeting after church that day and knew that I’d need the coffee to push me through,

So I took it in and placed it under the pew in front of me.

Somehow, and I still don’t know how,

I kicked my coffee cup and turned it on its side.

The lid fell off and the coffee spilled everywhere.

 

Thankfully, I sit on the second row,

So the coffee didn’t bother anyone else.

Thankfully, the day’s assisting minister saw the coffee spill,

So she went to get me some rags.

And thankfully, this event occurred during a particularly long time of announcements,

So I was able to clean up the mess without disrupting too much of the service.

But I was still embarrassed,

And I still had to walk out of the sanctuary carrying my coffee cup, trash, and rags…

And this is when the whole event turned serendipitous.

 

When I got to the fellowship hall with my coffee mess,

I noticed my friends Sherrie and Heidi each setting up their own stuff.

Sherrie was preparing materials for a church-wide mission project and

Heidi was preparing food to feed the people who stayed for said church-wide project.

Already out of the worship service,

I decided to ask if they needed help.

Sherrie did.

So I started setting up materials for the church-wide mission project, too.

I did this, alongside Sherrie, until it was time for the choir to sing.

If I hadn’t been there to help, then everything wouldn’t have been set up for the project,

And the project wouldn’t have gone as successfully as it did.

 

So…I guess you can say that my coffee-spill turned out for the best.

Whether God orchestrated the whole event or

God worked through the event brought on by clumsy feet

Is up for theological debate.

 

All I know is that something embarrassing turned into something good,

And for that…

I am grateful.

 

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose.”  Romans 8:28

 

Amen.

Buy One, Get One

Sometimes I’m lazy. Sometimes I’m spoiled. Sometimes I’m both. On Thursday afternoon, I was both…and so I found myself waiting for coffee at Starbucks for no less than 30 minutes—and I’d even placed a mobile order and driven for 7 minutes after placing the order.

The wait was quite ridiculous, really. But I suppose it was for a reason: It was “buy one get one free” day…

Except I wasn’t getting buy one get one free. I was just getting one for the next morning.

I drink my coffee cold. I was out of coffee at the house. I thought it would be quick and easy to get a coffee from Starbucks on my way home. I told you. Sometimes I’m lazy.

I was wrong.

After about twenty minutes, I thought about leaving without my coffee, but I’d already spent over $5 on it, and I’d already invested a good chunk of life in it, so I decided to stick it out. I told you. Sometimes I’m spoiled.

And so I sat and waited. And waited. And waited. Less patiently than I would have liked. And waited. Until finally they called my name. And I took my coffee. For Friday morning. And went home.

As I sat there waiting, I began to think: Wouldn’t it be nice if the many people who cared so much about getting “buy one, get one free” at Starbucks also cared about children in our schools—or about persons starving in third world countries—or about missions efforts in our churches—or about social justice in general—or about simply slowing down and waiting to hear God’s voice…and the thoughts went on.

Unfortunately, I think, we have begun to value the wrong things in this society of plenty...

God, forgive our laziness—our greed—our misplaced time, energy, and money—and begin to transform us…transform me…one cup of coffee at a time. Amen.

An Odd Spring Break Adventure

It didn’t occur to me that I could have gone out of town for Spring Break until it was too late to make proper plans. So. I’ve spent the week at home.

I rested Monday.
I took an adventure on Tuesday.
I saw a friend and babysat my boy and girl yesterday. We watched “Big Hero Six.” It was very good.
Today I saw two other friends, visited Massage Envy for a massage, and got stranded in Target during a flash flood warning.
And tomorrow I will…I don’t know what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll do a bit of nothing. [Update: I stayed home all day and cleaned a bit while watching a “Cold Case” marathon. I also finished a puzzle with my mom.]

It’s been a good week. Nothing overly abnormal except for Tuesday’s adventure…which was, hands down, my memorable Spring Break experience.

Those of you who know me well know that leg-shaving is not at the top of my priority list. The way I see it, there are much more important things that I could do with my time. Even reading these sentences, some of you are probably cringing at the thought of hairy legs. Non-hairy legs are the cultural norm for women; it’s what we are expected to show the world. But, truthfully, it doesn’t bother me not to have clean-shaven legs. I’ve even gotten used to the looks that I so often get—the up and down glances and looks of confusion as to why a female would not have clean-shaven legs.

But here’s the deal: it bothers me knowing that my natural legs bother some of the people whom I love.

And so, on Tuesday morning, as I sat in the pedicure chair of my local nail salon, I looked at my natural legs and wondered: Do they wax legs here? It turns out they do.

Spring Break is a time when people tend to spend a lot of money doing things they ordinarily would not do—visit Disney, go on a cruise, rent a house in the mountains or at the shore, redecorate the house, buy a new car.

“I normally wouldn’t wax my legs,” I thought. “It’s nothing I’ve ever done, and it’s likely nothing I’ll do again. What the heck. Let’s do it.” So I did.

As I lay on the table in the little waxing room, feeling the warm wax being gently placed on my skin only to be coldly and harshly ripped away a few moments later, I thought to myself, “Ouch. This sort of hurts. But it’s not too bad.” As I continue to lay on the table in the little waxing room, I further thought to myself, “This is taking just as much time—if not more time—than shaving. Yet. I’m not doing the work. I’m just laying here. Laying here is nice. Except for the frequent hair-ripping that sort of hurts. But it’s not too bad. And my legs should stay non-hairy a bit longer than a regular shave. And that’s good.”

Well over two hours after my leg-waxing adventure began, I left the nail salon with lovely painted toes and hair-free legs. I was one of only two people in the salon when I adventurously agreed to go through with the crazy procedure, but when it came time to actually begin the process, the salon had filled up and the owner was running run back and forth between customers. Right front leg, knee down. Wait at least thirty minutes while the owner did other peoples’ nails. Left front leg, knee down. Right back leg, knee down. Wait at least thirty more minutes. Go buy coffee for me and the nail salon owner. Left back leg, knee down. Then knees. Then done. Thankfully, I had work to do while I waited. And thankfully, I was in a pleasant mood for my Spring Break adventure.

Sometimes life isn’t full of grand vacations to exotic locations. Sometimes work keeps us at home. Sometimes family. Sometimes finances. Sometimes health. But one thing I’ve learned this week is this: There are adventures around us waiting to be had. It could be in rescuing the dog from a thunderstorm at 5:30 in the morning or buying food for the family’s new pet or losing the Easter eggs that you hid in your own backyard or finding a note of encouragement at the bottom of a pile of papers in your really messy office. Whatever they are, there are adventures around us waiting to be had. And who knows…maybe your adventures—like mine—will result in things positive…like clean-shaven legs.

What adventures have you had this week?

Defining Moments: Coffee, Coffee, Coffee

Tonight after making a somewhat embarrassing attempt to lead the Vacation Bible School theme song, I sat down near Patrick for the rest of opening celebration. During the missions video, after an image of a cup of coffee appeared, this conversation occurred:

Me: “Oh that looks good. I just realized that I haven’t had any caffeine today.”
Patrick, laughing: “I drank an entire pot of coffee by myself this morning.”
Me, taking in that information: “Wait. I’ve actually only had water.”
Patrick: “Wow. That’s impressive.”
Me: “I didn’t mean to!”
And then we both laughed.

Growing up, I always wanted to drink coffee. Coffee commercials made coffee look so good, and the smell of coffee was so appealing. And yet, I just didn’t like it. Even after going to coffee shops with my big sister in college, I still hadn’t acquired a taste for sophisticated liquid energy. I always went for orange soda or hot chocolate while inwardly wishing that I liked coffee.

Then I met Kyle.

Kyle was one of my youth when I was a youth minister a decade ago. When he was in high school, Kyle had this dream of opening a coffee shop. While the details are hazy now, I remember him talking about his coffee shop a lot and I remember thinking that I hoped he accomplished his goal because I could tell it would make him happy.

The second summer I took my youth to summer camp, Kyle couldn’t attend with us because he was North Carolina Governor’s School East. During free time one day, in Kyle’s honor, I decided to buy myself a frozen coffee drink at the coffee shop at Ridgecrest. Much to my surprise, I liked it.

And therein started my beginning in the delightful world of coffee.

Very slowly, I have moved from frozen coffee drinks to iced coffee to hot coffee—from drinks with only a hint of coffee to straight up coffee with only cream and sugar—I’m still not able to do black. Today, mostly because I’m very bad at drinking hot beverages—almost as bad as I am at leading choreography—I still prefer iced or frozen coffee—I don’t have to worry about burning my tongue—but I can drink light, medium, or dark roasts with or without flavoring.

I can now see coffee commercials and smell coffee brewing and sit with friends at coffee shops and be fully content. In fact, I cannot count the number of times that I have shared coffee with friends and family members since the day that I took that leap of coffee faith in honor of Kyle. Had I not chosen to try that drink that day, then I may have missed some of the best conversations of my life.

Thanks, Kyle, for being an all around great person and coffee ambassador. And thank you for unknowingly giving me one of the defining moments of my life.