Coffee beans love to hang out  in a cool  place.  The people who know about important stuff like this say it makes a big difference when it comes to making your Java. They say it keeps them "fresh" - which we all know is really another word for "cool."




I've always enjoyed hanging out in "cool" places. I'm into what my surroundings look like and how they make me feel. I think where a person hangs out not only says something about them, it also shapes who they are as a person.  I guess logic would say, if you want to be cool, you should hang out in cool places. The problem with that logic is that I've encountered some very uncool people in some pretty cool venues.

I’ve met some really cool people in my life – not cool in the “hip, goovy, boss, keen, far-out” sense, (sorry, just had a 60's flashback)  but cool in that they really seem to get what life is all about cool. They have a peace about them that you just sense is real. They are genuine. They understand that cool is not defined by what they wear, what music they listen to, or even what kind of coffee they drink (I know I’m really on the edge on that one).  They believe in being kind, caring about what others think, valuing every individual because they are a child of God, and helping someone out when they’ve got the resources to do something about it. They believe that caring for people is really the coolest thing anyone can do in this life - and its evident they do it with joy. 

In my book, that’s true cool. 

Where I grew up there was a town not too far from us that had a lot of sulfur in the water. We hated it when we played sports on their turf because the water from their fountains tasted awful – like rotten eggs. Eventually the coaches caught on to the fact that we weren’t drinking water during the games like we should and brought large quantities of good hometown water with us so we wouldn’t all dehydrate and die on the playing field. We also refused to shower in their locker room before we got on the bus to travel home. We figured our sweat and mud soaked bodies actually smelled better than a bus full of rotten eggs. 

Can you imagine making coffee with sulfur water? It would basically produce a cup of stinking yuck. Think about it – coffee is actually mostly water. So, whatever the water tastes like is going to be a big part of the finished product. That’s why I always use filtered, pure as you can get it water to brew the brew. I’m sure that’s part of the reason some of my coffee drinking while out and about has been sabotaged – bad water. 

The summer before my wife and I got married we worked as recreation directors in a pretty rough housing development. One of the highlights for the kids each week was the day we got to swim in the community pool. Unfortunately, almost every time we got to go swimming, about an hour into the fun someone would yell, “Bubba pooped in the pool! Bubba pooped in the pool!” The poor little kid was having so much fun that he didn’t know when to get out and do his business in the bathroom. The long and short of it is that we had to evacuate everyone from the pool and notify the pool people about the “accident.”  They had to clean and super-chlorinate the pool water for two days before they’d let anyone in again. What’s amazing is that it wasn’t that much poop. But, evidently, just a little poop goes a long way.

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t even consider lapping up a latte’ that was flavored with a pinch of puppy poop. I guess the bottom line is (I know it’s a terrible pun, but I couldn’t pass it up) it doesn’t take much of some things to ruin the taste of something that could be really good.

I think I remember learning in Jr. High that the body is made up of about 60-70% water. So, I figure if I don’t want a life that stinks I better make sure that the water is pure. And, since there are lots of things that can pollute the pool, so to speak,  I think I’ll concentrate on watching what I allow to be a part of my life.

A pretty smart guy named Paul who lived a long time ago said it pretty well; “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” 

Besides being pretty wise, I bet the guy made a good cuppa coffee too.

I can’t help but imagine that God must have taken a coffee break while creating the universe. Why else would he have created coffee?  I’m pretty sure that the coffee plant was not the tree of the knowledge good and evil that man wasn’t supposed to eat from.  (Coffee does have some special properties that help clear the mind and enhance our ability to think, but I don’t think it has the good and evil thing embedded in its chemistry.) Anyway,  once man did eat from the forbidden tree, you can bet that they had an “aha” moment when it was affirmed in their brains that coffee was on the good team, not the evil one.  The first thing Eve probably said to Adam over their morning coffee the day after they messed up was “What were we thinking?” To which Adam probably replied, “I told you we should have had another cup of coffee before we went to work! You never start thinking straight until you’ve had a second cup.”   Maybe God knew they would mess up and would need coffee to help them think clearly and sort things out. Mmmm....Drink more coffee - think more clearly. Thanks God…coffee is good!

Part of the fun of meeting people is hearing how God has wired them with unique gifts, passions, and ideas. You've got to check out a great imaginator's vision by visiting globalneed.org   One of the highlights of my time at the Q conference was about 2 hours (late) talking with Armando Fullwood. This guy knows what it means to be a real imaginator - clearly able to imagine a better future for mankind, willing to listen and calloborate with even the least of these (that would be me), and full of the drive to create something truly amazing that will impact the world for the common good - and specifically present Christ to a world of people who desperately need Him.  


This Java Art was inspired by that conversation. 

I just got back from a conference called "Q". Talk about imaginating...it was all about the collaboration of creative people and ideas for the common good of others. We were challenged to look at what is and inspired to dream about what could be. We were stretched to explore the possibility of what we could do for others in the context of our channels of influence. We were reminded of the value of collaboration and the power of the ought. We were prodded to be God's creative force for good  in a world that needs to experience the power of a loving God to bring healing and justice to a broken world. 


I met some amazing people who are leveraging all their resources to serve others. Hope you take some time to imagine what you can do for someone else today. Get creative!

Talk about imaginating - this guy is the quintessential imaginator. I want to look like him when I grow up. Hope you enjoy my cartoon.