Where in the Java - Episode 5

OK, since no one has won this week for "Where in the Java" I'm going to leave this one up for another week! Next week we'll be posting new episode. If you haven't guessed this shop by then, we may give you the name and location of this shop. But we may not either, just in case we want to use it in a future episode! Once, again, good luck and may your day be caffeinated!

The Seventh Hole.

Oh golf, what can I say, between holes 1 & 3, all seems right about the sport. But somewhere around holes 4-6, the game turns at least for me, to a game of frustration. I start to get tired (I know, pretty sad when I’m tired after only 3 holes of golf…hey it is a sport), and so when I get tired like most golfers I begin to lose my focus and patience and begin to hack away at the ball. This leads me on an inevitable journey through the woods to look for another lost golfball. Now it’s here, somewhere between a thorn bush and endless weeds I begin to question why I’m out here? Why do I play golf? When is this thing ever going to end? And just when I want to call it quits and walk off the course comes hole #7. I can’t explain it, but almost everytime around the 7^th hole I get this second wind when it comes to golf. It’s weird but there’s this moment of realization that hits me around then, that no matter how bad or good I’m playing, the simple reality is… I’m playing golf. I could be at an office desk, I could be out having to do some house project…but instead I get to play golf…I get to play a game. I think if many of us were honest, we can see our lives a lot in that round of golf. As for many of us our lives feel stuck at hole #6 or hole #3…that point where we hack away at life through weariness, frustration, and questioning. For many of us we need a 7^th hole, a second wind in life and ministry. So how do we get there how do we tee up with a new vigor, energy, and joy? In a word, I think it happens when we’re willing to step onto the tee box of gratitude and thankfulness. It’s when we can get to that place where we can thank God for the simple blessing of being alive… as we stand looking out on the fairway of His plans and purposes for us. Recently in my life God has been speaking into my heart this simple truth…”My greatest challenge, and your greatest challenge is not what we don’t have in life, it’s a failure to see what we do have in life.” This life is so short, none of us have time to waste it simply hacking away at it…swinging wildly for more stuff, for more money, or for more recognition and approval. See I believe this if we’d start our days with less “to do lists” and few more “what’s been done lists” we’d find ourselves less on hole #4 and 5 and more on hole #7, that place of refreshment, renewal, and refocus. So let me ask you, what has God done in your life, how have you been blessed, and what do you have to be thankful for?

Memories of Justin

Celebrating the life of Justin Bacon.

When life is boring

Have you ever been in one of those strange reflective moods, but not know what to say? That's where I'm at right now. I've had an average week. Not good. Not bad. Nothing unexpected. It's almost... boring. You know what I'm talking about. Some of you are right there too. It always seems that when we lose that continuing drive to surrender to God that this happens. I know that's where I'm at. How about you? What is it that you need surrender? How do the people in your life need to challenge you, how do they need to push you so you can experience real life again?

Let me try and put this a different way if that's not tugging on your heartstrings. What season would you say is your favorite? Spring? Summer? Fall? Winter? Why? Now look at yourself. What characteristics of yours match your favorite season? For me, I'm a Fall guy. I like the wild unsettledness of the air. I love the trees bursting into color. I like the crisp, cold mornings with frost lightly lying over everything. That also describes how my life is when I let God take control. It's unsettled. It's feeling your heart sing praise. It's truly being alive.

It seems that when we fall into that rut, that boring life, that Satan has won. Our hearts become hardened. We stop listening to God. We stop surrendering. We stop living.

So how about you?
What is it you need to surrender?

God didn't create us to be boring.
He created us to live in Him.

Where in the Java - Episode 4

That's right folks, we're bringing you the fourth installment of our "Where in the Java" series! This week we're introducing a new host and coffee critic.

Will Work for Starbucks?

As many of you know one of the great joys of finally moving into a new home is that you have no money! And with no money comes household budget cuts. With budget cuts come the inevitable words I so dread to hear..."Seth, we've got to cut out the Starbucks fund." I know, inhumane you say, but cuts have to be made. Yep, no more hearing that warm greeting "Hey Seth, your usual," no more free samples of various mystery pastries, no more chasing down the New York Times Sports section. Yes, it was a sad but inevitable day. To Holli's credit she did make sure I had plenty of fresh Starbucks coffee in bulk to make at home. Now it's a funny thing about making your own coffee, while it's the same Starbucks coffee they use at my favorite coffee shop, isn't it amazing how it never seems to taste as good. No matter how many different ways I try to make it, no matter whether it's in my favorite travel mug, no matter how many times I filter the water...it's amazing to me how it never seems to be as good as when I get my morning cup at Starbucks. Now stay with me, because I think there is something to this. I mean let's be honest when you go into Starbucks to get your cup 'o' joe, really you get so much more than just coffee don't you? See at home it's just a cup of coffee but at Starbucks...it's a way of life, it's a mood, it's an experience. All of this got me thinking, I wonder if faith can be like that? A faith that when kept to ourselves, when lived out in the realm of myself does little more than help us to simply get by. But isn't it true that when our faith is lived out with others, lived out in a community of friends and believers that know us by name, our faith...like Starbucks...becomes so much more. It's in community that we find the faith that God has in each of us. It's in community we find the faith and courage to move on in life. It's in community we find our faith strengthened and stretched. One verse in particular that speaks of how community can stretch and strenghten our faith is James 5:16 "Confess your sins to another...that you may be healed." Now just a little side note when it comes to this word "confession," I think we tend to do this more than we think. See too often we hear that word confess and we think of it in such formal terms, something that is done simply within the context of church. Reality is, confessing one to another is just as likely to happen in a conversation with a good friend over coffee than in a pew on Sunday. That's what happened to me this past week, I was having coffee with a friend and without even realizing it started confessing and sharing some junk in relation to my attitude in recent days. And it's amazing to me that as I shared, and as I listened to my friends encouragement, I began to find healing. I saw some areas in my life I needed to surrender to God, mostly that of my tendency to wait for someday and miss the opportunity of today. Here's the point of all this, I could be content to live out my faith in the small box of myself and simply get by, or I can choose to get more out of my faith by living it out in the context of community. What will you choose?

" If we love each other God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us." -1 John 4:12

Wake Up Fisher's Landing - Promo 2

Yes, we are inching ever closer to our new blog format, "Wake Up Fisher's Landing!" Seth and Erik will be your hosts with occasional guest appearances and all new segments. Be on the lookout when we change over for our revamped "Were in the Java..." segment.