Java for the Spirit: Fueled by Faith, Fitness and Coffee Grounds

“ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of  things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 ESV Read Also: Proverbs 16:9; Isaiah 55:6-13 Fifteen years ago today, my world was turned upside down in a single day. That’s because fifteen years ago today, I left everything, and everyone, I had ever known in urban Colorado, and moved to rural Kansas. I knew nothing about the area, except that it was, at the time, the last place on earth I thought I wanted to be. I did not know anyone. All of my family and friends were 400 miles or more away. At a tender 22 years of age, I may as well have moved to a foreign country. That’s how out of place I felt when I moved to the state I now call home. I did not know what God was doing with my life then. To be honest, as I look back, I spent a lot of time in the wilderness wandering, and I definitely messed a lot of things up along the way. But I can also reflect on the last decade and a half and know that even when I did not know wh...

Read: Romans 8:31-39   " When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:   'Death is swallowed up in victory.'   ' O death, where is your victory?        O death, where is your sting? ' "  1  Cornthians  15:54-55 ESV   A local  14 year old  young man passed away a couple days ago  of cancer, and I am sitting here at 5:30 in the morning just trying to figure out how to process it.   Right now, there's a million thoughts going through my mind all at once. The young man had battled the disease for somewhere around nine years, or the bulk of his young life.  I did not really know this young man personally, but I have a lot of friends who did. His inspirational fight with cancer over a period of years had touched countless hearts locally, mine included. As a parent, I cannot fathom the heartbreak of ha...

NEVER DISQUALIFIED Read: Exodus 3 “ But he said to me, “My  grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV Voltaire once said, “Perfect is the enemy of good.” A recent email conversation with my old youth pastor brought to mind this famous utterance, because it is so applicable to an issue I – and I have to imagine many others – struggle with often. Since I was a teenager, I felt drawn into a ministerial role, something which I have already spent time in these pages writing about. However, I never really heeded or explored the call much, and spent a lot of my 20’s as a wanderer, a “prodigal” if you will. I took many wrong turns, and made several grievous mistakes I have spent a lot of the last years trying to reconcile in my own heart. As I got into my mid-thirties and started to feel that pull to mi...