I’m sitting in a coffee shop right now. That sounds like a pretty normal thing to say. But, this one is different. In this moment, it is the most special coffee shop I can be in.
I discovered this local place about two months ago. Only a block from the office, I began making occasional trips before work or during my lunch break. Fast forward to today, and I find myself coming almost daily, spending my hour lunch here.
My routine is always the same. I walk in the door, order their famous nitro coffee (which is the best coffee in the world), sit in one of my two favorite spots, and relax with a book in one hand, a peanut-butter sandwich in the other, and music in my ears. I’ve become such a regular that the manager will usually come chat with me for a few minutes. As a fellow believer, we’ll discuss life, work, and God.
A side note: I’ve become such a regular that when I finally ordered a drink other than my usual, the baristas were in shock!
This sounds like a pretty normal place and way for someone to spend their lunch breaks. What is so special about this shop? Why do I go every day? Why am I even telling you about this?
You see, this little shop has become a refuge for me. With the daily demands and uncertainty of work and life, I can always depend on my hour in this shop as one of consistency, stability and peace. There is a beauty in this. Drinking the same coffee, seeing the same views, saying “hi” to the same baristas and talking Christian literature with the same owner all serve as an important constant each and every day of my work week.
It’s beautiful moments like this that make me feel that is was gifted to me by God. He knows my struggles and stresses in work and life. He could have easily blessed me with that hour to rejuvenate, reflect, and refocus on Him. Refocus I have. Some of my greatest moments of spiritual growth these past months have been in that shop, spreading like a powerful medicine into other facets of my life.
Yet, every time I look at that very familiar view during lunch, I know it is one moment less before I leave something so stable and constant in my life.
This coffee shop is merely a symbol of everything I find comfort, stability, and peace in.
In four months, I am not only leaving a view at a store, but also my family, closest friends, my beloved home, a great job, and many other important parts of my life. I am giving up any type of stability. Even on the World Race, we move to another country and ministry every month, meaning I will never get truly comfortable.
I am abandoning all comfort, security, stability, and constants in my life.
But you know what? That is okay. Actually, this is more than okay, this is tremendous!
There needs to be a change of vocabulary. Look a line up where I wrote “abandoning”. Swap out that word for “surrendering”. You see, I am not abandoning anything. Rather, I am choosing to surrender every aspect of my life to God.
When we decide to surrender every part of our lives to Christ, He transforms us into individuals truly dependent on Him. Only then can we completely live out the purpose He has planned for us.
A couple days ago, I was going for a run when a tremendous song came on my Spotify. A certain portion of its lyrics impacted me:
“Oh the joy I’ve found
Surrendering my crowns
At the feet of the King
Who surrendered everything”
I believe this is what life is about. Our God, the One who created galaxies, insects, oxygen, and especially coffee, loves us, imperfect as we are. In fact, He loves us so much that He sent His Son down to die for every sin we have done and will ever do.
If the omnipotent and omnipresent One would surrender everything for us, then let us joyfully surrender every part of our lives to Him.
We can surrender everything, even our favorite view at our favorite coffee shop, because what a radical life following Christ offers is more fulfilling, more transforming, and ultimately more rewarding.
Here’s to living out Psalm 46:10-
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth”.
Eventually, you have to leave that coffee shop and go exalt His name to the nations.
