It is done....Now it's time for the next season.

I previously wrote about my absence here and in general. The building of a coffee shop became a bit more time consuming than I would have guessed it to be. I have joked about not having a life and others of joked with me about the same but having crossed the finish line I can honestly say without a shadow of a doubt that I am so very full of life. This isn't just that euphoric victory dance type of feeling (that is there as well) but a true feeling of being full of life. I'm amazed at the life this place has breathed into me. I have grown so very close to some amazing servants of God.

I feel so honored to be in the above picture with Pastor Mike, his wonderful bride Nancy, and my new boss and dear friend Natalie. We have all seen weakness, strength, challenges, success and love in each other. There have been many others that we had the great honor of working with through out this project. I don't want to throw out names because I know that I will miss so many of them but I am so grateful for their help and community in this. It's amazing how spending that time working together has built up so many relationships. We haven't even
opened yet and we have built up strong relationships with each other and in our downtown community. Natalie and I have already had one of our neighbors in tears as she told us about

some of her internal struggles with life and the loss of family. We've had everybody from bank robbers to doctors walking through our doors and we haven't even opened yet. I feel so undeserving and privileged to be a part of this little slice of the kingdom of God.

It's been interesting looking at this shop as a business because it isn't a business that is focused on the financial gain, it's focus is on the relationship gain. We do have to be a responsible business and we have to do well but the focus is on each other and every single customer who walks through the door. How many jobs have you worked at where the focus is on loving every single person coming through that door, even the complainers......especially the complainers! This is the type of place that you just feel Gods presence and it is amazing!

Well readers, I look forward to watching you walk through the doors of our little shop. I thank you for being patient with me and showing me grace. I pray that this finds you smiling and well. With that I guess I should close this with thanks to our Father who made this blessed life of mine possible.

Father I thank you for opening the hearts of Mike and Nancy to me and giving me the chance to be a part of this amazing kingdom of yours. I pray that we get to reach out into many lives through this little coffee shop. I pray that we grow in our relationships with you in a mighty way. Father I pray that our strength, wisdom,integrity and love always come from you and that we never look to ourselves for those things because we always come up lacking. Father thank you so much for life that you have given me. Thank you for all of the people that you have put into my life. I pray that you show me how to work into their lives in the way that you have made me to. AMEN!!!

Check out pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/fireoshe

It Has ALL Changed!!!

My good friend Steve called me up yesterday to

see if I wanted to go wakeboarding with him today. Naturally I couldn't decline such an invite. Steve and I have spent many days on the lake wakeboarding. Please don't let me mislead you here at all. I'm no good at wakeboarding but I sure do have a good time out there on the lake. Something was different this time. It was a first time thing for me. When Steve called me yesterday it was about 100 out and the lake was so refreshing to jump into when I went windsurfing with Jim and Natalie....today it was about 73 when I got to the lake......there was thunder snapping and rolling off of the mountains around the lake.....the rain was coming and going......what happened here? So going out to the lake seemed like a stupid thing to do...it made no sense to go out on the water but then again......it could be some good wakeboarding. So we set off. We got out into the main channel of the lake and it was looking great. The water was smooth and there was no wind on it at all.

I hopped in the water and it was even slightly colder than outside. Rain was coming down around me and I couldn't figure out why I was in the water freezing and trying to talk in a much more manly voice than what came out. While I was there I looked around and took just a second to take in where I was. I was there with Him. He is always there with me. That makes it all change. I was still freezing, it was still raining, there was still lightning all around but it was so beautiful!!! It was great to look around and just be right there and in that moment. I gave the go ahead and the motor roared to life.

It's amazing when your swimming in the water or just floating there....it's so forgiving and smooth. When that boat starts pulling it's like you're pushing that board against a ton of sand and then you stand up out of the water. The board gets up on a plane and just glides along the water. It's amazing how the board can stay up on what was once forgiving and smooth like it is almost a solid substance. I'm getting side tracked here. It's amazing what it feels like to be gliding across the water....to carve down low and drag your fingers through the glassy water. It's an amazing feeling that I lack the literary prowess to describe to you....please refer to http://lattesandrainydays.blogspot.com/ for literary prowess. It is an amazing experience but it has gone to a whole new level now.

After my first run I just lay there in the water with my arms outstretched thanking our Father for giving me this moment that I did nothing to deserve. Now that I reflect on it I can feel His warm smile upon me as I lay there. He's especialy fond of me you know. The moments of my life have changed in the past year in such a magnificent way. He is there in every moment and I forget that way to often. Sometimes He has to paint a brilliant sunset or a full moon from the end of a dock to give me that quick reminder that He loves me and is here for me. I am ashamed that I need that and so thankful for it at the same time. My days have changed, my focus has changed, my love has changed, my eyes have changed, my faith has changed and my hopes and dreams have changed. I pray that my life reflects that in a huge way. Take this moment to turn away from your screen and thank Him for this moment. Don't just keep reading or say to yourself that you'll do it later. Just do it. I'll do it with you from my living room floor bowed down in front of Him honoring Him and His love for me and for you.

It's so wonderful to reflect on my life and how it has been the way that it had to be to bring me to Him now just like this. It amazing to look at the things that I used to do and compare them to what it is like to do them now in His Grace. I pray that there is at least one person reading this right now who doesn't know His love. I would urge you to get ahold of me so that we can talk about it or even better.....I would pray that you spread out your arms and cry out to our Father to enter your heart, to forgive you for your sins, for His unfathomable love. I would then urge you to PASSIONATLY pursue Him.

Father I pray that your holy spirit would just fall upon everybody who reads this. I pray that they would have an unquenchable thirst for you. Father I thank you so very much for this life that you have given me and for all of the moments that you have blessed me with. Father thank you for not striking me with lightning today and bringing me home this early in the game. Father I pray that you guide me in speaking to others about your kingdom. I feel so unqualified and inexperienced. Thank you for your love for me Father. Amen

Sorry for the absence

I'm sorry for my abscence my friends. Pastor Mike, Natalie and I have been putting in some long hours at the new shop so I just come home to sleep and am right back there in the morning. Thank you for your patience. Please feel free to drop me some lines to let me know how you are doing and what He is doing in your life. Be blessed.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

So here we go on the second paragraph in 1 Corinthians 13. This used to be the paragraph that I focused on the most but that was more of a worldly focus for me than a Godly focus.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand it’s own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

This is such a wonderful description of Love to me. It is also a very humbling and convicting description. I especially enjoy the last line. His Love never gave up on me, never lost faith and was always hopeful. Never and always are such powerful words …..concepts. They are even more powerful when they are inspired by our Father because that is how it is. There is no debating or changing what He has said, He will not falter in this love for us. He, and His Son are the perfect example of this Love and it is manifested daily in our lives. How many of these manifestations do we just blow off or miss completely? I know that I do all of the time.

Father thank you for loving us and for giving us the perfect example of Love. Thank you Father for never losing faith, never giving up and for always being hopeful. Thank you for sending your Son to be the beacon of light in our search for Love, Faith, and Hope. Thank you Father. Amen.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Wuv, twue wuv.... Just kidding. I hope that at least most of you got that. Lately I've been visiting and revisiting 1 Corinthians 13 and I haven't been able to get enough of it. Every time I look at it there is something more. So here it is for you to enjoy. As you read it please think about His love for YOU, your love for Him, your love for others and His love for others.

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others , I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy , and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything that I have to the poor and even sacrificied my body, I could boast about it, but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing.

This has such an obvious message to me. Love!!! It is the center of it all. "All you need is Love". I always feel like I need to capitalize Love due to the value of the word. He Loved us so much that He sent His son to Love on us....to be with us.....to teach us....to be one of us.....to be betrayed by one of us.....to be tortured and murdered for us....for you and me. We never did any thing to deserve this. He just Loves us. We are so blessed by His grace and Love. How do we repay this? I'm not looking for some negative answer here. This is a real question. I look forward to you your thoughts on this and I urge you to make them prayerfully considered answers.

Father I thank you for Loving me and forgiving me for not knowing how to Love you tha same way. I thank you for growing the Love inside of me more and more every day. Father I thank you for you grace and the relationships that I have in my life that allow me to practice your Love. I pray that my Love continues to grow with no end in sight. Thank you Father. Amen