At the end of this post, I will be issuing a challenge to all of my friends who read this post.
There is a coffee shop by my apartment in Cedar Park, Tx. The coffee shop is a local spot that brews up some great coffee delights at a great price. The place is called Roasters. It’s a local legend. More legendary than the actual coffee, which roasted in-house and locally, there is this woman who starts almost every day as the first customer in line.
Sources within Roasters have told me this tale and if I had not experienced it, I would not believe it myself. It all starts as a woman is on her way to work. This woman, who is remaining nameless because I legitimately do not know her name, gets up and walks to her car. She starts the ignition and drives to get her morning pick-up at Roasters. Roasters has many items on the menu to choose from but as a veteran of the local joint, she knows her item of choice. Sources tell me that she then spends time in the coffee drive-through line waiting for the next patron. When the next patron pulls up, she pays for that person’s coffee as well as her own.
As the case goes with most coffee places, bright and early in the morning, there is no shortage of patrons craving that coffee roasted goodness. Lines can run from 6:00am well past lunch. This lady, however, starts a trend that seems to go as long as the flow of vehicles runs. You see, this lady pays for the next person’s coffee. The next person does something that is quite appropriate; pays for the next person’s coffee. The next person travels to the window only to find their coffee paid for and then waits to pay for the next person’s coffee. These streaks, sources tell me, can last well into the afternoon and they have also told me that many people will wait for the next person to come along.
So why do I say this? Why does this matter? First, this woman, whomever she is, is truly making the world a better place literally one cup of coffee at a time. I cannot express to you how nice it was to arrive and find my cup (which was actually a surprise for my wife as I do not drink coffee) of coffee paid for, no questions asked. I cannot express how easy it was to pay for the person behind me to keep the streak alive. Secondly, when you really dig into this scenario, there are some interesting Christian practices we can learn from this.
You see, Jesus paid the debt we owe. Do not get all uptight about this. No one could pay the debt back on their own. Then someone (Disciples and Paul) started talking about what they had seen and shared the Good News with someone else. Then that someone went out and shared it with someone else. They shared it again, and they shared it again. And in just a couple thousand years a bunch of Jesus followers and coffee drinkers and someones later, we are still talking about this gift that was paid for us.
So you have an option on this blog post, but it takes action. And yes I would really push to you to take up this challenge. It’s not hard and everyone should be able to do it. Especially you, Miss Reader, as I know you LOVE a good cup of joe. So I challenge you to do one of the following: 1. purchase the person behind you some coffee for no reason at all, or 2. tell someone about the Good News of Jesus.
Now before you decide which one at a whim, just let it develop for a couple of days. Some of those conversations could be had over that free cup of coffee you just purchased for that person. Point them back to my blog if you have to when they ask you why. Tell them some chick in Texas started it. I bet we could, like this mystery woman, start to impact this world for Christ one coffee at a time. I am not sure if that was her goal… but it sounds like a pretty good one to me. To lead the way, I will complete both of these challenges by next Saturday evening. Challenge accepted!
Leave a comment on either social media or my blog if you accepted the challenge!
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Food for thought: Don’t let $4.00ish hold you back from a chance to help me impact the world.
leadershape 