Catalyst

Two mornings ago I had breakfast with my old youth pastor and his wife. We talked some about houseboats and they’re excited for this summer. It’s good to talk about the camp from the church side and hear more about each student’s journey before, during, and after their week on the water. Rob is pushing to get two boats (his dream is to be able to do a side-tie) and I am excited for them- which I expressed. I did, however, refrain from telling them how stoked I am about the new assistant director they’ll be working with up at Shasta. They’ll have to figure that one out on their own.

The conversation turned gradually toward plans for the future. Rob has a passion for and is really excited about creative ministries. He’s helping plant a new church downtown and it’s great to hear what God’s doing in the San Diego area and church community. I shared my plans which was more about sharing my passions than any actual plans. I told them about the coffee shop dream and was excited by their response. Rob believes that the church is moving in the direction of relational ministry. Reid has talked before about a body of believers that act and live out their faith proportionally more outside a church building than they do within and at breakfast Rob talked about the large number of people who are going through seminary school to become pastors in their work place. I’m paraphrasing a lot and insinuating some, but that’s the gist of it.

Rob and Nikki are excited for us and want to help us. They have impacted my life in so many ways and I love them both, yet still I was surprised by their genuine interest in supporting us. I’m getting choked up right now trying to express in words what our conversation was like. I know they don’t have much, but their joy in wanting to give whatever they can to help us affected my heart. They don’t know what they can do, but they want us to know that they’re here for us. Rob is currently looking up literature to send on who knows what, and I’m excited to receive it. They’re interested in any updates we get a long the way and want to support us in prayer as we progress. Also, they would love to help put us in touch with their contacts if there are people we want to talk to, or ways to help us raise money. Lastly, there’s a conference that Rob is in love with. I think I’ve heard of it before, it’s called Catalyst and is in Irvine. Rob described it as a conference that energizes those currently involved in ministries, mostly people under the age of 35. He said it’s a lot of young pastors, youth leaders, and people pursuing any sort of long-term ministry project. It’s a time to come together, collaborate, and share in the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t know how relevant that is to us, but Rob and Nikki want to send us three to it if we are interested. They said to not worry about the money, but to look into going. It's held March 2-4, which is a Wednesday through Friday and would be hard to swing. The website is here and if we can’t make it this year, he said to consider it for next.

(PSnow, doesn't Rob resemble Jessie a little? Every now and then it weirds me out.)

Our lives have been touched and changed. We have met the living God in such a way that forever our lives will be radically centered around him. That used to only mean picking a career of ‘going into the church’, and while that’s something I’m still considering, I’ve also come to believe in this coffee shop as a little church we are hoping to plant. I don’t say that lightly and it scares me a little. Just as a pastor should be qualified to open and shepherd a church, our current venture encourages me everyday to dig deeper and further into the richness of our Lord. I feel so far from qualified for any of this and am blessed beyond measure by knowing that our dreams are possible because of the greatness of our Lord.

Road Trip to Indiana?

No but seriously.

(I feel like I keep spamming this thing, but there's just a ton of cool news!)

So I got to talk to Shmanny last night about the coffee shop where she works at Purdue, called Greyhouse Coffee (http://www.greyhousecoffee.com). Man guys, God is a funny one. Basically I just explained to her (or tried anyway) what we summed up in our vision posts/business meeting and then asked her what her shop is like. And she basically said that everything I just described is what their shop is. So I mean, regardless of the fact that it would be awesome to go there, and we can't, what a cool affirmation that something like what we want is out there, and it's working!

Greyhouse is kind of like Red Rock in that it's owned and run by a church, but with the added twist that they're focused on college ministry like we might want to be. Just like downtown Davis would be, they're not on campus, but just a few blocks away, making them a really convenient hub for students to go hang out.

I tried to explain the whole customers:campers::staff:staff::community:dock hands metaphor, and she said that's pretty much their goal too. She doesn't know how they do it without being discriminatory or even asking really, but all the staff are Christians and ministry to customers is part of their training, à la SupesUlt. First they learn about making drinks and all the machinery, and then they talk about having conversations with customers, being intentional with regulars, etc. It sounds like pretty much all their staff are Purdue students too, which is really cool. It sounds like they have a LOT of staff, so they can work around people's school schedules pretty easily, something which probably won't be in our future, at least for a while, but is good to note.

And as for the quality issue that Barlow mentioned, Greyhouse is definitely all over that. They're fair trade, and really legit about the quality of their coffee and drinks. They use Intelligentsia Coffee (http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/), which doesn't really mean anything to any of us at the moment, but I'm researching it. Apparently they're really good. She also she she could find out who their suppliers are for other things and let me know.

Oh, and ALL their coffee is french pressed. I knew I liked these guys.

Another thing that makes them distinctive (and we should probably think of something along these lines) is that they also have crepes and gelato. Granted, crepes isn't going to set us apart much in Davis, but it would be really good to have a little something else besides coffee and pastries, so maybe we can brainstorm that one.

The one thing I don't necessarily like about Greyhouse is that they're open on Sundays. They're really good about switching schedules around so employees only have to miss church about once a month, but I'm pretty adamant about being closed on Sundays. I think that intentional example is a really important part about ministry to the community.

And in her personal opinion, we should have one exposed brick wall because it makes any coffee shop that much cooler. Hahah.

And one final side note: the wedding is either going to be in August if the BF graduates on time or December if he doesn't. If you wanted to know. :)

______________________________________________

And now two unrelated things:

One is this link: Mistakes to Avoid in Setting Up Your Church Coffee Shop

And two is that I forgot to mention that Mike O and I talked a lot about membership stuff in the car as well. I know we've talked a little bit about having "regular mugs" like they have at the little ice cream place in Walnut Grove, so Mike and I talked about the actual practicality of making that happen, how much the initial cost would be, the question of free refills. Again, I wish I had more constructive things to post about it, but I wanted to at least make a note of it here as something to think about.

That's all, folks! Love you both. Talk to you soon.

Oh boy! This is a big post!

So stick with me here, I apologize for long-windedness, I really do.

First and foremost, here's a nice little bazinga from my quiet-time this morning:

"Though the fig tree should not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines [...] yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord YHWH is my strength." (Zechariah 3:17-19)

Friends, even if we fall flat on our faces... Glory be to God.

Thing two: my visit to the Red Rock Cafe!

The Red Rock Cafe is the coffee shop that Mike's church owns/runs in Mountain View, and when Mike (O'Brien) and I went down to visit today, we got to go there!

It was actually really cool - I mean, yeah, I expected it to be - but still, REALLY cool! He said it actually used to be an independently owned business that was going under and then his church took it over. Their church offices are on the third floor of the building (and have been since before they ownedthe cafe), but once the shop started going under, they decided they should buy it out, and now here they are!

The downstairs is were the register/espresso bar is, along with a decent amount of seating, and then upstairs is even more seating, with a nice little view of the downtown area. Mike said they sometimes rent out the upstairs area if people want to use it for social functions and stuff like that - cool idea!

We sat upstairs for the LONGEST time just

talking, and Mike (O'Brien) and I got into some really good talking about just business stuff in general. I hope we didn't bore Mike (Corsetto) too much, although I think maybe we did. But he had some really good points and some really good concerns that I hadn't thought of before. And now, of course, as I sit here thinking I can't remember nearly as much of it as I'd like too, but I'm going to try my best.

(1) Multiple branches? I had never really thought of the idea before, and to be honest I don't really like the idea, but Mike brought up the good point that maybe one branch can't support all three of us. Or maybe it can; I really don't know. The point is, it's something to think about.

(2) Along the lines of multiple branches and just making ends meet, another point was something we kind of touched on in the "business meeting", and that's how much each of us work. We had talked about maybe having just one of us working full time at the shop to start while the other two hold outside jobs. But then, I mean, say you two have full time jobs elsewhere, then we just need to hire more people to work with me, so it's kind of really a trade off. Anyway, that's going to be a hard balance to find.

(3) LOCATION. Eric, we talked a lot about Yellow Wood and about why it went under, and we decided that probably a lot of it is due to location. I think we all already know that location's important, but I'm just kind of regurgitating everything I can think of here.

(4) We were talking about the "tour" and at looking at other succes

sful businesses, and Mike was suggesting that we look at other "genres" of business as well. AKA We could look at In-n-Out for example, as a business that provides a very different service, but does a lot of the things we want to do: fast service, quality product, vaguely faith-based (bear with me on that one). And when it comes to big companies like that, I'm sure there's literature where we can actually read up on what their business plan looked like when they got started and how they got their kick-start.

Whew. So that's all for Red Rock. It was really fun, to say the least. Also, as a side note, we went to Erik's Deli Cafe, but NONE of us got Sea Dogs after we realized they're tuna salad, and we didn't really want tuna at all. I thought that was hilarious.

And now for two things that I've told both of you individually, but I want to put here just for the record:

Thing one is that Shmann works at a faith-based coffee shop at Purdue. I am definitley giving her a call soon.

Thing two is that Berkeley could definitely be a good location for us. Still a college town, still an area we're relatively familiar with (I know that's a stretch, but it's not like we're moving to Utah), still could support about a million coffee shops, still has a good down-town type area. But here's my thing: it's urban, and I really like that. And I have to say that the city isn't exactly my "thing", and I think you both know that, but I feel increasingly called to an urban environment, and I think it's more than young-adult idealism.

The main reason is from a talk that Stanford Gibson gave at College Life last year that I'm sure Alyssa remembers about how the church should be more present in urban environments. Rather than talk about it, I'm just going to post a few quotes from him, along with the link to the full transcript and let that speak for itself. (The text, by the way, is Acts 11 & 13)

One of the most obvious but least frequently observed features of the early church is that it was primarily an urban movement. Early Christianity thrived on the density, desperation, depravity and diversity of the great urban centers of the Roman empire.

Isn’t essentially a historical curiosity. It is important to recognize because the urban nature of the early church was fundamental to its growth and effectiveness. The early church grew because it was a fundamentally urban movement. It grew because it came to love people and found them easiest to love in their densest, most diverse and most desperate state.

But somehow, contemporary evangelical Christianity has become one of the most anti-urban demographics of the American population. With the notable exceptions of the Black Church and the Catholic Church, modern American Christianity has gravitated to the suburbs. And, modern missiologists argue, this is sidelining us culturally. We are underrepresented in the city. And this is problematic in two ways. First, Christians should be wherever there are people and should be particularly attracted to the social ills that cities generate. But it is also a problem because culturally, Cities are upstream. As the city goes, so goes the culture.

Cities are not more important but they are more strategic. If we were going to be underrepresented somewhere, it should be anywhere but our nation and world’s urban centers.

OK! That's finally all I've got. I hope you waded through all that and managed to find something interesting/relevant/worthwhile. Let me know what you think.

Vision Casting

When I picture opening a coffee shop with my friends, I don't see a business. The building could contain anything- it doesn't need to be a cafe, it could be a restaurant, a vacuum store, a verizon outlet, a bike repair shop- we just happen to really love coffee. I see a place that starts with three people who are passionately in love with Jesus. We have oriented ourselves toward him and as Darrell said "Jesus has oriented himself toward the father... His passion is to reveal His Father. His joy is in HIM. He loves Him. Getting to know Jesus is getting to know this passion." Entering into this relationship has caused us to also enter into his passionate love for the world and for communities- to be compelled by his desire to practically serve and reach out to all who come into contact with him through us. This upwelling of passion is what drives us to open a coffee shop.

First we individually seek God and enter into the co-lover relationship established within the trinity. Next we minister to each other by building each other up in love and by pushing each other toward Christ. A lot of what this would practically look like stems from the stuff in the supes-ult. It's similar to what we've become familiar with within Sonshine. It's the ways we seek balanced lives, and the ways we discipline ourselves in the word as a group, regularly affirm each other, rely and trust on the ways each other are being guided by Christ, and keep each other accountable through truth and love. THEN we invite others into this relationship. We invite our friends and staff to experience and understand what's at the heart of our ministry. By practicing this lifestyle and modeling staff conduct after it, our coffee shop will be founded on something greater than ourselves.

If we are admin, staff are drivers, and customers are campers, then our surrounding business community is the Paradise Point staff. We will seek to be aware of the knowledge that not everyone will be able to personally experience the atmosphere we are seeking to develop behind the counter of the coffee shop- just as the Paradise staff do not experience the magic of going out on the water for a week, those in the business community will not directly experience or understand how our day-to-day business is run. Therefore we are very intentional in how our business is run and how we interact with our ‘neighbors’.

In the same way, what our business stands for is no secret. I don’t have much to say about this right now that hasn’t already been said, but yeah. We live our lives openly… we make public our failures, our struggles, and most of all the hope that we have.

This last point is open to be contested, but I want us to get really, really good at making coffee. I want us to become systematic and professional- to be a flourishing business, not a life-sucking enterprise. This will not happen overnight and we will always be relying on the help of others. It’s not a pride thing and I’m struggling expressing it in words, so as much as I shouldn’t, I’m going to utilize another Sonshine reference. I want to tap into the same desires that Reid has for us to be really good drivers. I’ve seen the desire in each of us, and I know we have each individually experienced the ministry that can blossom under a well oiled, well timed houseboat schedule or well executed ski-run. Our coffee should be tasty and enjoyed just as campers should have a good banana boat run.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I'm working on not feeling constrained by what I write here. Our vision for this coffee shop is adaptive. I have weird insecurities about putting into words something that will change over time and insecurities about realizing that I cannot fully describe the vision we have for what this coffee shop would be and stand for. I feel weird reiterating what you two have already so beautifully written- about restating things that are familiar, or that people already know. I KNOW these are the same insecurities I have about preaching or speaking. I recognize how ridiculous that is and the understanding of my ridiculousness hasn't caused the insecurities to disappear, but saying it aloud releases a lot of the power they have over me.

I just want to finish by saying I truly love you both. I’m so overwhelmed by love right now and I don’t know what’s going to come of this enterprise, but to some extent- whatever. THIS is what this is about- the process, the risk, the growth, the journey. Anything that comes of this is His fruit, but the fruit that is already growing is enough to satisfy for a lifetime. I have so much respect and love for you both and selfishly I think I’m the luckiest person to have such devoted, and also gifted friends. You are constantly teaching me new things and showing me new sides of our Father. Praise be to God. Praise YHWH. Hallelujah.

Mission/Vision

I envision God reaching three (kinda four) distinct people groups through His coffee shop, the surrounding community, the patrons/customers, and the staff (and business/church partners).

I envision touching the community first by being a quality business that has outstanding business practices. I also see opportunities for outreach through a bike ministry, opening up our retail space for functions such as small groups/bible studies and worship/open-mic nights, and generally providing open doors and arms for people in need. I also, having had huge heart growth for the homeless over the last several years, see real opportunities to reach out to the homeless in practical ways such as providing hot chocolate/coffee, meals, and other essentials.

I envision touching the patrons/customers by being a constant part of their lives. I envision a warm and inviting location where customers can come and enjoy quality coffee and conversation. I don't at all see customers as dollar signs, but as God's beautiful creation. I would want customers to leave thinking that our staff was "so stinking relational" (Pearl)

I envision a staff community that is about training Christian leaders and stirring up a passion for God's Holy Name. (After asking for Sonshine's permission, of course,) I envision a staff that is about befriending, encouraging, modeling, and challenging one another, the customers, and the community. I even envision something that resembles a Super Ultra Packet that teaches/instructs/hones things such as staff characteristics/special topics/living a balanced life/situational leadership as well as logistical/safety training. I envision potential outreach in staffing to include (but not be limited by) graduated foster youth, students studying abroad, and summer project workers.

I also see opportunities for outreach as we relate to the business world (i.e. growers & wholesalers) as a Christian business. I also see opportunities to partner with local/global churches in a symbiotic relationship (potentially sending out staff on missions?)



Most of all I envision this venture as an opportunity to put it at the foot of the Cross, acknowledging that ultimately this is not our business and that we are part of God's greater economy. I see it as a living, breathing, thing that exists outside of our involvement. It is bigger than us because it is not of us.

At the same time I recognize that unmet expectations lead to anger and frustration and that God cares more about and people are more affected by character and maturity than skill or ability. I expect God to glorify his Holy Name, bring His Kingdom, and have His perfect Will be done. And gosh darn it, I believe in a big God who can do Big things when people present themselves as living sacrifices for Him, not of their own doing so that no one may boast.

The Fig Tree

The main one is Zechariah 3:

1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.

2 The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.

4The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”

5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by.

6 The angel of the LORD gave this charge to Joshua:

7 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.

8 “‘Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.

9 See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.

10 “‘In that day each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”

And then here are a few others:

"So Judah and Israel lived in safety, every man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon." (1 Kings 4:25)

~<>~

"And each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, with no one to make them afraid, for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. [...] 'In that day,' declares the LORD, 'I will assemble the lame, and gather the outcasts, even those whom I have afflicted.'" (Micah 4:4, 6)

~<>~

"Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, 'Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!' Nathanael said to him, 'How do You know me?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.'

"Nathanael answered and said to Him, 'Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.' Jesus answered and said to Him, 'Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these.'" (John 1:47-50)

~<>~

There's a couple other references, but they're not as relevant to the whole protection-under-the-tree thing. But they're here if you want:

Genesis 3:7, Matthew 7:16, Matthew 21:9, Luke 6:44, James 3:12

I really like the one in John though, about Jesus picking the disciples. It reminds me a lot of the whole Revelation 2-4 "I know your deeds" thing.

Vision

So I thought maybe we could all post up a written, more thought-through version of the vision we talked about during the business meeting. Just to have it all down to remember (and partly because I'm kind of bored). And THEN, maybe we could combine them all together and try to make something like a concise mission statement? What do you think?

So here's what I've got.

On the most basic level, I envision a place of community that can be a positive environment for members of the greater Davis community to come and spend time. On the next most basic level, it's a business, deeply rooted in Christianity and in integrity. Fair business practices, upfront about everything, fair trade, the works.

On a deeper level, it's a church. It's a church committed to ministry to both customers and staff. In the way that Sonshine is partly about short-term ministry to campers, but also deeply committed to long-term ministry to staff, I want to be all about ministry to staff. And in another form of long-term ministry, I want to put down roots in whatever community we're a part of - both the town and the church. I want to support the church and partner in their ministry, as well as allow them to support us.

It's a business that's rooted and grounded in the Word and in genuine pursuit of the person of Christ and in bringing His kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.

No big deal, right? :]

I feel like that's about it for me. Hope you both are doing well. Talk to you soon.

Seating

Bitter Brew

I opened a charming neighborhood coffee shop. Then it destroyed my life.

By Michael Idov
You know that charming little cafe on New York's Lower East Side that just closed after a mere six months in business—where coffee was served on silver trays with a glass of water and a little chocolate cookie? The one that, as you calmly and correctly observed, was doomed from its inception because it was too precious and too offbeat? The one you still kind of fell for, the way one falls for a tubercular maiden? Yeah, that one was mine.

The scary part is that you think you can do better.
I never realized how ubiquitous the dream of opening a small coffeehouse was until I fell under its spell myself. Friends' eyes misted over when my wife and I would excitedly recite our concept ("Vienna roast from Vienna! It's lighter and sweeter than bitter Italian espresso—no need to drown it in milk!"). It seemed that just about every boho-professional couple had indulged in this fantasy at some point or another.

The dream of running a small cafe has nothing to do with the excitement of entrepreneurship or the joys of being one's own boss—none of us would ever consider opening a Laundromat or a stationery store, and even the most delusional can see that an independent bookshop is a bad idea these days. The small cafe connects to the fantasy of throwing a perpetual dinner party, and it cuts deeper—all the way to Barbie tea sets—than any other capitalist urge. To a couple in the throes of the cafe dream, money is almost an afterthought. Which is good, because they're going to lose a lot of it.

The failure of a small cafe is not a question of competence. It is a sad given. The logistics of a food establishment that seats between 20 and 25 people (which roughly corresponds to the definition of "cozy") are such that the place will stay afloat—barely—as long as its owners spend all of their time on the job. There is a golden rule, long cherished by restaurateurs, for determining whether a business is viable. Rent should take up no more than 25 percent of your revenue, another 25 percent should go toward payroll, and 35 percent should go toward the product. The remaining 15 percent is what you take home. There's an even more elegant version of that rule: Make your rent in four days to be profitable, a week to break even. If you haven't hit the latter mark in a month, close.

A place that seats 25 will have to employ at least two people for every shift: someone to work the front and someone for the kitchen (assuming you find a guy who will both uncomplainingly wash dishes and reliably whip up pretty crepes; if you've found that guy, you're already in better shape than most NYC restaurateurs. You're also, most likely, already in trouble with immigration services). Budgeting $15 for the payroll for every hour your charming cafe is open (let's say 10 hours a day) relieves you of $4,500 a month. That gives you another $4,500 a month for rent and $6,300 to stock up on product. It also means that to come up with the total needed $18K of revenue per month, you will need to sell that product at an average of a 300 percent markup.

Pastries, for instance, are a monetary black hole unless you bake them yourself. We started out by engaging a pedigreed gentleman baker with Le Bernardin on his résumé. Hercule, as I'll call him, embodied every French stereotype in existence: He was jovial, enthusiastic, rude, snooty, manic-depressive, brilliant, and utterly unreliable. His croissants were buttery, flaky, not too big, and $1.25 wholesale. We sold them for $2 and threw away roughly 50 percent—in other words, we were making a negative quarter on each croissant. After a couple of months of this, we downgraded to a more Americanized version of the croissant (vast and pillowy). The new croissants ran 90 cents each and made us feel vaguely dirty. We sold them for the same $2. Ironically, their elephantine size meant that every time someone ordered a croissant with cheese, we had to load it up with twice as much Gruyère.

Coffee was a different story—thanks to the trail blazed by Starbucks, the world of coffee retail is now a rogue's playground of jaw-dropping markups. An espresso that required about 18 cents worth of beans (and we used very good beans) was sold for $2.50 with nary an eyebrow raised on either side of the counter. A dab of milk froth or a splash of hot water transformed the drink into a macchiato or an Americano, respectively, and raised the price to $3. The house brew too cold to be sold for $1 a cup was chilled further and reborn at $2.50 a cup as iced coffee, a drink whose appeal I do not even pretend to grasp.

But how much of it could we sell? Discarding food as a self-canceling expense at best, the coffee needed to account for all of our profit. We needed to sell roughly $500 of it a day. This kind of money is only achievable through solid foot traffic, but, of course, our cafe was too cozy and charming to pop in for a cup to go. The average coffee-to-stay customer nursed his mocha (i.e., his $5 ticket) for upward of 30 minutes. Don't get me started on people with laptops.
There was, of course, one way to make the cafe viable: It was written into the Golden Rule itself. My wife Lily and I could work there, full-time, save on the payroll, and gerrymander the rest of the budget to allow for lower sales. Guess what, dear dreamers? The psychological gap between working in a cafe because it's fun and romantic and doing the exact same thing because you have to is enormous. Within weeks, Lily and I—previously ensconced in an enviably stress-free marriage—were at each other's throats. I hesitate to say which was worse: working the same shift or alternating. Each option presented its own small tortures. Two highly educated professionals with artistic aspirations have just put themselves—or, as we saw it, each other—on $8-per-hour jobs slinging coffee. After four more months, we grew suspicious of each other's motives, obsessively kept track of each other's contributions to the cause ("You worked three days last week!"), and generally waltzed on the edge of divorce. The marriage appears to have been saved by a well-timed bankruptcy.

Looking back, we (incredibly) should have heeded the advice of bad-boy chef Anthony Bourdain, who wrote our epitaph in Kitchen Confidential: "The most dangerous species of owner ... is the one who gets into the business for love."

This article makes the success of the shop all about seating. This would seem to be especially important in a town where our target market is loitering college students. Whereas before I was imagining a building that could double as a house and coffee shop, the more I read, the more intuitive it seems to use that space for seating/study area instead. When I coffee-shop study I love a place that I can hunker down in. Back corners are awesome and as many as possible should be utilized. Also, we should have outside seating. Yeah.

All the training we need.

My Phenomenological Reality

That's really too big of a word for me to use or even remember, but it stuck with me from one of my psych classes (I've taken two, but this is my first time using it). I looked it up just because: "Phenomenology studies structures of conscious experience as experienced from the first-person point of view, along with relevant conditions of experience"- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. And yes, "My Phenomenological" is a redundancy.

I spent the plane ride home feeling extremely blessed and the verse from Ecclesiastes about three strands was on my mind.

"Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." (Eccl 4:9-12)

So I spent the hour drawing a picture of a tree with three roots which were braided together to form the tree trunk. Veins run through each braid beginning in the soil and then pushing out of the branches becoming the crown of the tree on which leaves and figs and such grow.

Anyways that's not my point- that's just an illustration of how much I love you guys, Jesus, the trinity, and how blessed I feel by your deep roots in Him. I'm blessed by your diligence in seeking the Lord and the ways you both continue to grow in Him every year. Thank you for your wisdom. May He continue to guide our thoughts and studies.

OK. My point. I spent the car ride home catching up with my dad and we talked a lot about the coffee shop. About 5 minutes into the conversation his body language started to show that the realization of his daughter truly, really, actually pursuing the dream of opening a coffee shop with her friends was setting in. SO THEN we had a real conversation about opening a coffee shop. We talked about the reasons why we would open it and what it would be about. He knows that we wouldn't be in it to make money, but that I have two people in my life who I care about deeply and who care for me and we'd be in this thing together. We talked a lot about the reality of the situation. He didn't cringe too badly. In fact, considering he (mostly) knows the good, the bad, and the ugly, it went surprisingly well (the mostly being necessary because I don't even know the good, the bad, and the ugly). He still supports the dream, but now with the hesitancy and semblance of a father concerned for his daughter's well being, but he doesn't question our purpose in our dream or our intentions behind it. Neither does he question our faith in God being the director and guiding force behind our desires.

As I begin (barely) to grasp the reality of this dream I am in awe of our God. I am in awe at seeing our lives through my father's eyes. I never would have imagined choosing such a lifestyle, and yet now I can't imagine a life of anything but. No other life than one radically centered on the self-sacrificial love of our Lord could be satisfying. Who knows where we'll end up, but thank you for this morning.

Pastries.

I know it's too early to think about all this, and I swear I'm not going to spam this thing, but...

Can we have 7-grain bazinga bagels?

Welp.

Big gulps.