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Dear Saints:                                                                                                          August, 2001

I’ll take my coffee black.  I was drinking my coffee this morning when the thought came to me that what I was tasting was an acquired taste.  Many people put so much cream and sugar in their coffee that the taste of the coffee is lost.  In fact, Starbucks and other coffee shops sell so much knock-off coffee (cappuccino, frapuccino, espresso, café au lait,) that it is hard to find a person behind the counter that doesn’t get all nervous and ask for the manager when you place an order for a cup of standard black coffee.  Yet, I will admit that you have to acquire the taste for black coffee.   It is a taste that when first tried doesn’t strike joy in the taste buds of most people.  But after having acquired the taste for black coffee there is nothing like it! !  

This whole coffee thing reminds me of what a Christian must do in his or her life.  The Bible says in Romans 3:11 “There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God.”  In other words there is no one that thirsts after God, there is no one hungering after God.  No one is born with a natural tendency to sacrifice their own flesh to seek after God.  Similarly, I believe no one is born with the desire to drink their coffee black, but have to take steps to acquire the taste.  None of us are born with a desire to thirst after God and God alone.   Throughout our lives we’re presented with all kinds of substitutes for God and all kinds of versions of God. But like black coffee drinkers we have to acquire a taste for the true God and His presence.  When we accept his gift of salvation by grace, I believe that we are given a new appetite for the things of God and more important, a desire to know Him.   So that every day our thirst for Him and Him alone can deepen and develop.  In other words, we will take our God with nothing added.  Not modern day religious philosophies, we will take Him as He is, our loving heavenly Father! !   Like coffee, there is something addictive about God - an element of joy in His presence that makes spending time with Him something you’ll begin to crave!  As the psalmists says in Chapter 16:11  “In his presence is fullness of joy.”  I am addicted to Jesus! ! ! !   And now that I know Him as well as I do, I want to know Him even more. I’ll take my coffee black and I’ll take my relationship with God simple and straightforward - nothing added please! !

Please keep all the children in your prayers as they return to school.  Also keep the radio station in your prayers as we wait for the FCC to accept our application.  God is doing great things in our services!!  I can’t wait to worship with you again in His house.  Love your neighbors and share your faith with those you meet.  If you would care to come to the Sunday morning service a little early (anytime after 10:15 a.m.) we generally meet downstairs in the kitchen.  Of course, the coffeepot is always on.

In His service,