Welcome to Grab A Cup

Let’s just get this out on the table…I don’t know everything.  My children, who are 14, 18 and 21 years old would be happy to back me up on this statement.  Hundreds of customers whom I have served in 25 years of retail probably have something to say about it as well, as would the college professors from my incomplete degree program.  Some might even go so far as to say that I don’t know anything.  But before you tune me out completely, let me share a few things I do know after over 40 years of life on planet Earth.

People want to be connected to each other, even if they won’t admit it to ANYONE.  Why else would we have country clubs, comic book conventions, sports bars, social media (in multiple flavors) and coffee shops?

People want to be significant.  Sometimes we want to be a star – you know, win the Super Bowl, the Nobel Peace Prize, an Oscar.  Sometimes we want to inspire someone else to succeed.  Sometimes we want simply to be missed when we’re gone.

People want to know they are where they belong.  If we didn’t, would divorce, birth parent searches, mid-life job changes or cross-country moves even exist? How about the teen and young adult years?  You might wonder how I define “belonging”.  I mean that all people are driven by a need to understand how they fit into the world in which they live, how they feel about and impact that world, and whether or not they should change that world around them.

God loves all people.  Before you start arguing the point with me in your head, I want you to notice that I didn’t say everyone loves God.  Nor did I say that God approves of everyone’s attitudes or actions.  God’s love does not depend on reciprocity, rather it creates it.  WE love because He first loves us.  His love forgives our sins, but does not ignore them.  There are still consequences we must face.

My own journey through these statements has taken me far longer than I would have liked.  I’ve only been able to accept that God loves me “just as I am” in the past 2 years.  Five percent of my entire time on this planet!!!  Until I grasped the love, though, I couldn’t find belonging, connection, or significance -   at least not for very long.  And yet, each time I belonged, each time I felt significant, each time I connected with another human being led me closer to that moment when I finally felt LOVED BY GOD.  Not the good things that I did, not the half-assed obedience to His laws that I managed to pull off, not the image of myself that I wore like armor.  ME.  That moment was complete and utter bliss.

My husband experienced a similar moment in his life.  We can’t (and won’t) go back to the way things were.  So we have spent the past four years in intensive ministry preparation in tandem with barista, coffee roasting and bookkeeping/management experience, (and helping our two older daughters start their college lives) because we believe that coffee shops are a universal bridge builder.  Isn’t it a cliché - strangers in a diner, cowboys around a campfire, romantic couples at a trattoria, Turks in the marketplace - all grab a cup, and talk.  We hope you’ll do the same.  Grab your favorite cup, put something delicious in it, and see how we connect with people, where we belong, that we are significant to others as they are significant to us, and try to find ways to show how much God loves people as we seek business and ministry opportunities this year and into the future!