Coffee Shop Journal

For those of you who don’t click through to my personal blog, for the last two months I’ve been half-heartedly taking part in Carlos Whittaker’s ragamuffin top challenge: an online weightloss support blog carnival. How’s that for a description? Every week we have to post a picture of ourselves and update the group on how well or how poorly we’ve been doing toward our goal. I haven’t really been working at the challenge..I’ve been busy playing on the lake. Although I did find that playing on the lake works a little bit towards weight loss! Since I rarely get personal on this blog (in a sense), I thought I’d let you all see this week’s picture for the challenge. Plus I apparently have nothing to say at this particular moment! Maybe it’s time to actually work at this challenge thing. I’ve got the eating down, but it’s time to move the backside — and not on a jet ski.

Flying home from Boston yesterday I was reading Love Over Scotland by Alexander McCall Smith. Having just typed that, the book sounds so “paperback romance”! It’s not…Alexander McCall Smith has written lots of great contemporary Scotland-based fiction. My favorite is Espresso Tales.  Anyway, I came across this little passage that sums up my passion for community and the possibilities of connecting in third places like coffee shops.

Matthew was crossing Dundas Street to that side of the road where Big Lou kept her coffee bar, at basement level, in the transformed premises of an old book shop. The Morning After Coffee Bar was different from the mass-produced coffee bars that had mushroomed on every street almost everywhere, a development which presaged the flattening effects of globalization; the spreading, under a cheerful banner, of a sameness that threatened to weaken and destroy all sense of place. And while it would be possible, by walking into Stockbridge to get the authentic globalized experience, none of Big Lou’s customers would have dreamed of being that oxymoronic. One feature of the chain coffee shops was the absence of conversation between staff and customer, and indeed between customer and customer. Nobody spoke in such places; the staff said nothing because they had nothing to say; the customers because they felt inhibited from talking in such standardised surroundings. There was something about plastic surroundings that subdued the spirits, that cudgelled one into silence.

Big Lou, of course, would speak to anybody who came into her coffee bar; indeed, she thought it would be rude not to do so. Conversation was a recognition of the other, the equivalent of the friendly greetings that people would give one another in the street, back in Arbroath. And people generally responded well to Big Lou’s remarks, unburdening themselves of the sort of things that people unburden themselves of in the hairdresser’s salon or indeed the dentist’s chair in those precious few moments before the dentist’s probing fingers make two-sided conversation impossible.

I found the perspective offered from this Scottish writer to be very interesting. I don’t know that I agree with all his assessments of the impossibility of feeling at home in a “chain coffee shop”, but his words are cautionary tales for us to make sure that we continue to be human and warm in our interactions no matter where we find ourselves sitting with our coffee cups and computers!

I know everyone has had the link to Wordle on their sites, but I did a wordle of all the words in Coffee Shop Journal and it made me so happy I had to share it! You know what makes me so happy? That the words Wordle picked to highlight are exactly the words that I would want to represent Coffee Shop Journal. So amazing.

Oh the joy and delight to walk into the Lexington Center Starbucks this morning and discover a new smoothie product! Yes…Vivanno Nourishing Blends! You know I can’t be happy with a standard offering. I chose the chocolate banana Vivanno with a shot of espresso and energy powder. It was delicious! I had a grande, and it served very nicely as a brunch. I like the nutritional breakdown, too.

270 calories

21 grams of protein

6 grams of fiber

5 grams of fat

No artificial sweeteners

Yes, this is a shot of emotional espresso in my happy, happy day. For once I agree with their marketing slogan: A proposal for a well-lived day. Well lived indeed. Signing off in my caffeinated bliss…

Last night David and I were driving down from New Hampshire to Boston, and were listening to Michael Savage, a conservative talk show host. His show is not something we usually listen to, but there were limited options last night! One of his spur-of-the-moment topics caught my attention. He described a park that he bikes through near his home. In the park there is a thriving hispanic community, and he sees them there playing soccer each week. The families all come to watch and cook out on the park grills, with the kids running around and the gramma’s watching from the sidelines. Savage went on to discuss how this community in this lower-income neighborhood all knows each other, supports each other and builds a community identity. It was, he said, a beautiful example of interconnectedness.

Then Savage went on to discuss the changes that occur in a cultural community like the hispanic one he described when the first generation of “Americans” grow up. These new Americans tend to take on more American characteristics, including the value of independence. They move out of the old neighborhood because they have worked hard and prospered. But in doing so, they usually sign a death warrant for the type of close-knit community they previously enjoyed. Within a generation they are living isolated from each other in suburbs, living the American life.

Later on the same drive, I heard John Tesh cite a statistic that most people only have one or two close friends, while a full 25% say they have no friends at all.

America is hungry for true community, and they don’t even know it. I believe that this hunger is the window of opportunity for Jesus Followers to step into. We have an opportunity to intentionally become the glue that holds communities and people together. There are more ways to do this than we can imagine…we just have to step out and pick one! For me, community is developed in two places: home, and the coffee shops around town. Others choose to work through small groups, or community activities. Some work through the church and some choose to work outside the church. But in every case I believe that Christians have the answer for the feeling of disconnectedness that plagues America. God says that he “sets the lonely in families.” I want to be that family.

This is my entry into Watercooler Wednesday at Ethos - a Cultural Watercooler!

I couldn’t resist this fun link. Come on David Helbig…I want to see your score!

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Being completely transparent with you, I’ve been on a difficult journey the last few days. Read this post for a little background, but sometimes it just seems like God has me swamped in minute issues that don’t seem to count for much in the big picture of the kingdom. I don’t know whether he is troubling my perceptions of the world in order to prepare me for new challenges ahead, or whether I’m just being whiny and dissatisfied in the relationships of each day. Either way, he has me pondering the nature of obedience, love and kingdom values. So many times I long to live up to the words of Robbie Seay Band’s song, “Rise, rise people of love,” and then I blow it with the people nearest and dearest to me.

This morning I was reading a little bit in the book Metamorpha, by Kyle Strobel. This book has challenged me for months, as I read it a little bit at a time. It is the kind of book that requires digesting, thought and prayer. The passage that spoke to me today was this:

We do not have eyes to see in our natural condition. We journey trusting God’s Word about the nature of the kingdom, and the Spirit and the community work in our hearts mirroring back to us the reality of who we are that we may be inwardly empowered to follow God. As has been wisely said, “Those who walk by sight eventually learn that seeing may be misleading.” we must utilize a kingdom type of sight that depends on God’s way of seeing instead of our own.

Somehow that put things in perspective for me today. It’s sometimes easier for me to be faithful in the big crisis of life, but apparently it is in the details of life that God wants to work. I just don’t have the eyes to see right now what it is he is accomplishing. For me, this week, the theme has been to trust God for the journey and begin to see through his eyes.

I’m continuing my reading in Javatrekker, by Dean Cycon. It is a very powerful book of his experiences in the coffee lands, and I am amazed at the complexity of the world swirling in my coffee cup. Cycon’s heart is truly to help the farmers create sustainable lives for themselves, and it is interesting to read how he thinks through the best way to help them. His thought process is a good model for really interacting with the people we are trying to help, rather than just throw money at what seems to be an obvious solution. I guess it is easy as Americans to assume that money is the answer, when often it is dignity that is the answer. Throughout the course of the book I have read stories of indigenous people who often have dreams that would provide them a better life, if only someone would listen. In one case, Cycon’s organization worked with other organizations to set up a woman named Maria with a small store in the front of her home. This helped Maria, a double amputee from a train accident as she tried to journey to North America, reunite with her young sons and maintain an independent lifestyle. This way of working with people requires that we see them as unique individuals, a skill that we could really use here in the United States as well.

Javatrekker has been enlightening, albeit disturbing, to me. It is sometimes discouraging when you realize the scope of the needs and the limits of our one life. Duncan was writing something similar in the midst of his recent trip to India. I remind myself, as several people reminded him, that coming to the end of our own abilities is where God takes over. All he requires is that we do the next thing.

I know this is a little tacky sounding, but I learned something about life on a jet-ski today. We’ve been playing with two waverunners on the lake, taking turns flying around the islands and negotiating boat wakes. I enjoy driving them, but I’m having a hard time learning to be a passenger. This afternoon we set out from our dock with me riding on the back of David’s waverunner. For the first 15 minutes I squealed at every wave and gripped the seat as tightly as I could. Fresh in my memory was my ride from a few days ago, when I snapped one of my nails off I was gripping so tightly. For you guys out there who may not know, that’s a painful experience.

After awhile, in the normal course of time, my muscles got tired of gripping so tightly and I just gave up. I stopped fighting every wave, and just sat there. To my surprise, I didn’t fall off the back. In fact, I discovered that I stayed on equally as well if I had the seat in a death grip or if I was wiping water out of my eyes and not holding on at all. I realized that I just needed to stay on the waverunner long enough to trust the machine and its driver. After that the ride was pure adventure and fun.

So isn’t that kind of like life? This faith journey that we are all on is very similar to hanging on to the back of a waverunner on the middle of an unknown lake. Intellectually we know that God is in control and we are not going to fall off. We know that we are called to impact this world, and that if he calls us we can trust him. But the waves of life look awfully big even so. I think the secret might be to hang on. Step out in faith on the first part of the journey and hang on. Wait until your “muscles” tire out, and you trust God because that’s all you can do anyway. Once you’ve developed your ability to trust, the waves are irrelevant.

Out in the middle of the lake today I realized that I need to stop wondering what the whole journey is going to look like. It’s not my call to make, it’s God’s. I just want to let go a little bit and see if the ride is as thrilling as I think.

We spent another great day wandering downtown Boston with the family today. Boston has enjoyed a string of beautiful — albeit hot — days, and today we capitalized on that. David and I started off at a Starbucks on Boylston Street for a business meeting this morning. While the physical layout of the Sbux was good, the service was hectic. On the other hand, we got to sit in the sidewalk cafe and drink a cup of coffee while we conducted our meeting, and pretty much everything feels right when you are watching the world go by. I have noticed, by the way, that there are not too many independent coffee shops hanging around downtown, which surprised me.

Later, we picked up the family and headed back downtown for another trip to the aquarium, Quincy Market, and best of all, a sunset cruise around Boston Harbor. It was amazingly beautiful. We closed the cruise over at the USS Constitution watching their sunset canon shot at the close of day. I was reminded of a little-known aspect of the Boston Tea Party. Did you know that after the colonists dumped the tea into the harbor they subsequently boycotted all future tea. In the taverns around town, if you ordered tea you were a traitor, and if you ordered coffee you were considered a patriot. John Rowe, one of the leading colonists, is quoted as saying “Who knows how tea will mix with salt water?” Coffee became the drink of choice in America, the champion of our liberty.