Disclaimer:  I know you don't all like coffee.  So for those of you that are not coffee drinkers, think about what I am writing in light of any hot beverage or soup that you may enjoy. 

So, coffee is my beverage of choice when I wake up in the morning (right after I drink a large glass of water).  I like it hot and fresh, though I have been known to re-heat a cup from the coffee pot left over from the day before. And I like it black and strong.  My parents drank coffee, but I didn't like it when I was a young man.  In fact I couldn't drink it before I became a Christian without some horrible side effects.  So, a few weeks into my salvation experience, at a church breakfast, where bacon and eggs and sausage and coffee were being served up, I decided to try some of all above.  You need to know that I hadn't eaten meat of any kind for over two years, so this was a sort of rebirth for me.  I ate and I drank and I enjoyed and I have been doing it ever since.  So after 40 years of coffee drinking I have had a couple of cups this morning before I started this blog.

For me, the best coffee is hot, steaming coffee, that warms the hands as well as the insides.  The problem with this, is that if I don't drink it within an appropriate amount of time, it cools down past the enjoyable temperature.  Sometimes I will drink it anyway like that, but it is only because I am busy and don't want to heat it up or exchange it for some hot coffee.

Sometimes our lives can be like this cup of coffee.  We cool down, and need heated back up again.  We grow stale, and need to exchange the stale for the fresh.  We can take to long to respond to the value of what is fresh and hot, and it no longer serves the purpose that it was intended. Here are some more observations about a good cup of coffee.  The key here, is that these things also apply to our faith and walk in Christ Jesus.

1. It is best hot and fresh
2. It needs to be updated to keep it that way
3. It can lukewarm to the point that we don't want to drink it any more
4. There is no substitute for coffee when coffee is what you want
5. Bigger cups last longer 
6. Many coffee drinkers have strong opinions about the kind of coffee they drink and what they put in it.
7. Can't live on coffee, but have a hard time living without it when we like it

So, I think I will go warm my coffee up now, because it cooled down while I was blogging away today.