place of nathan.

So this weekend, i was sharing my lessons learned from flavored coffee at (Quest), the monthly gathering of 18-29 year olds on a journey to encounter God. Anyway, after i had shared the first two lessons i learned from coffee, my friend Ayron Reeves (no relation to Christopher) noted another great observation from flavored coffee.

Ayron noted that just because i really liked a good, strong and bold cup of java, someone who is just starting out drinking coffee isn’t going to like that same coffee. it’s too much for them, and they will be overwhelmed. it’s not so much that they don’t like coffee, but they are not ready for the strong coffee. they can’t handle the really good stuff.

I remember once several years ago i was at my in-laws–actually, at that time, they weren’t yet my in-laws–i was maybe just dating their wonderful daughter at that time. but anyway, it was near the time i was a new coffee drinker, and i was used to drinking flavored, weak coffee and i didn’t mind it at all. So they asked me if i would like some coffee and i said, ‘Sure, i’ll take a glass’ (when you call a cup of coffee a ‘glass’, it’s a sure sign you’re a novice…) Now, you have to understand…this family drinks coffee like no other i’ve ever seen. They argue over who is going to make the pot of coffee, and finally someone says, ‘i’ll go make it.’ and then once it’s brewed, it’s gone in literally 60 seconds and everyone says, ‘boy, someone should really make some more coffee’ and they say, ‘jon, why don’t you make some coffee.’ and he says, ‘i just did! Why don’t you make it?’ yeah, it’s a riot. (i keep my mouth shut through all this, because i figure if i don’t ask anyone to make coffee, i won’t ever get stuck doing the work–so far, my plan has worked out and someone else always makes my coffee for me there. )But boy…they make good coffee. So anyway, back when i got my ‘glass’ of coffee, i took one sip and i thought to myself ‘o my goodness…this is way too strong!’ i did not enjoy that cup of coffee–it overwhelmed me, and i thought my in-laws liked coffee too much on the strong side.

What’s really funny is now, two years later, I can’t get my coffee strong enough. my in-laws don’t make it too strong any more. starbucks doesn’t make it too strong any more…pretty much, strong coffee is the only way!

now, that said, my point is that a novice coffee drinker needs a weak coffee, and that’s okay–they’ll move up to the strong coffee in time.
i suggest that likewise, someone new in their faith as a Christian needs the things we consider ‘weak’ spiritually. perhaps just spending 15 seconds in prayer or reading 1 verse of scripture is all a new Christian could handle. That’s okay…they’ll move up to the strong spiritual disciplines in time.

3 Comments »

Trackback This Post | Subscribe to the comments through RSS Feed