Coffee Shop Journal

Totally off-topic unless we’re talking about the technicalities of blogging, but go look at this. I think we ALL need this! That means you, Ragamuffin Soul, you, Big John Scott, Jenni Catron, Pete Wilson, Duncan (who rarely uses pictures!). Think how uncomplicated life could be! What do you think? Has anyone used this?

Once more the guys over at Third Place Consulting have posted a great shot of one of their jobs. I loved this picture of their cafe in California. It seems warm, inviting, and has a great street presence. So many times churches bury their cafe’s in their lobby, which means there is virtually no chance of street traffic. At Christ Fellowship’s Royal Palm Campus there is an Applebee’s in the parking lot (we took over an old Target building, so there is retail all around). Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a true, first-class coffee shop in the parking lot instead? Just doing a little day-dreaming…

Go check out the blog at Third Place if you are interested!

Recently I read a post on Ron Martoia’s blog about the rhythm of his life, and how he recognizes which activities are crucial for him on a daily basis. His post got me thinking about the rhythm of my own life, and over the past week I’ve been casually noting how I react to the ins and outs of my day. I don’t know if any of this will interest you — surely everyone has their own rhythm — but I found some interesting recurring themes in my week.

• When home gets too noisy, or life gets too overwhelming, I need to leave. That is when I hit the Third Place for some comforting white noise, anonymity and a few shots of espresso.
• If I really need to think, I leave. While I am sitting at home my visual sight lines always include chores that need to be done. I can’t truly engage in a deep thought process when I am at home, unless I am on my back porch.
• After I have been out of the house for awhile, I need to come home! I love the ebb and flow of life that way. My own espresso/coffee maker comforts me. My dog loves me. My wireless waits for me.
• I need to read every day. If you prevent me from reading, I get as cranky as I get when I am on a diet. Fortunately, no one feels the need to restrict my reading intake! I also need to read from a rotating cast of books: business, church, future, fiction. If I spend too long in one genre, I stagnate. Another interesting character flaw of mine: I can’t stand to hear about a good book and not find a way to read it. So I suppose if you really wanted to frustrate me you could mention a really good out-of-print book that I couldn’t get my hands on!
• If I have been interacting in the community, I tend to be withdrawn at home. If I have been anonymous out in my third place all day, I tend to stir up activity at home.
• My life is full of dominoes. Push one over and they all topple. Right now the toppled domino is exercise. But last night I spent a few minutes on this thing… and today my muscles actually ache like I had a full workout. Seems crazy, but it’s true!

Finally, my porch is my third place at home, so to speak. I adore taking my cup of coffee and a book or laptop and perching under the umbrella. It’s lit, so I can sit there at night as well. The sounds of the peacocks roaming the neighborhood, the pool fountain splashing and the absence of the household sounds make this my favorite spot.

I know this is kind of off topic (!!!) But I can’t resist. We were sitting around talking with one of th

e Student Ministries guys tonight at 12:45 am when the peacocks in the neighborhood started hollering and we heard fireworks. Turns out a house on the next street, S. Elizabeth, was going up in flames. My mom lives next door to that house, so we went running. You can see the video here. It turned into quite a neighborhood event, actually. We saw people we haven’t seen in a long time. Now that’s pitiful. For the record, Mom’s house is fine. Our neighbor’s house? Not so much.

We are on our first lunch break from Q and already the conference has been worth the trip. Gotham Hall, where it is located,is very cool and very funky. In the center hall there is a circular area FULL of circular tables, where we are seated. In an interesting side note, the Q organizers intentionally put members of the same party at different tables, to promote interaction. If I were to pick one highlight so far, it would actually be meeting the people from all over the country at my table. Ironically, John Stalls from Grace Fellowship in Atlanta is at my table, along with a Northpoint College ministries guy named Joel. I loved meeting everyone.

Sessions so far: Jon Tyson gave great presentation on God’s call for us to return to the cities, where culture is formed and celebrated and influenced. Bill McKibben spoke on Deep Economy and our need to evaluate our stewardship of the earth, and Francis Collins spoke about the Human Genome Project.

I think for indepth analysis we have to wait until tonight!!!