Hope you all had a great weekend!  Mine was a busy one … no snow, though … but the craft show was good, and we were blessed!  Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers on that!  After that long day, hubby headed over to a friend’s house to see him again before he leaves to go to Africa for a three year missionary trip.  They’ve become very close, and I know he’s going to miss him very much.  As for me … I headed home to get off my weary feet!  Sunday after church we went to dinner together at one of our favorite restaurants, The House of Tokyo … they have great lunch prices, and they cook it right in front of you.  We had not been there in quite sometime, and we were glad we went.  After that, we went to the apple orchard, to get our favorite apples before they were gone, since the season is winding down now.  It was a cold, gray day, and we did see some snow then!  We also got a tip on how they keep those apples fresh longer ….

… when you put them in your crisper drawer in the fridge, cover them with a sopping wet towel … yes, sopping wet!  When it starts to dry out, sop it again, and lay it over them, that is if you haven’t already eaten them!  They will stay crisp and fresh for quite awhile!  They actually keep the apples that have been picked, in the big refrigerators, and in tubs of water … pretty interesting information for us apple lovers!  After the trip to the orchard, we went to my sisters and spent a couple of hours before calling it a day.  Yesterday, I wasn’t feeling too well … and I wondered if it was the food I had eaten the day before.  I tried to get out of bed, and was extremely dizzy … couldn’t really stand to get my bearings.  Not sure where that came from, but the whole day, I was very dizzy!  I also had to get Lewis packed to head out of town for a job this week, so needless to say, my being dizzy made for a pretty trying day!  I’d so appreciate your prayers!  I’m still feeling that way, and I’m hoping this goes away soon! 

Also, unfortunately, my husband has misplaced his driver’s license, and some other important cards that were in a little holder of sorts.  We’ve looked everywhere, but haven’t found it yet.  He thinks it could be on one of his jobs from last week.  Please pray that no one else has it, and he finds it soon!  I’m concerned about identity theft these days!  He put it in a heavy quilted shirt jacket, and can’t remember exactly where he left that at!  He will be leaving early this morning, around 5:00AM, so if you would pray for a safe trip for him as well.  And now, he’s traveling without a driver’s license, out of town … he really has no choice at this point!  Your prayers are so appreciated! 

Pookie is doing great, and staying very close, so far!  Although the other night, I looked out and saw another cat on the porch!  Whatever am I getting myself into!  I haven’t seen the other one since then, and when Lewis gets home later this week, we’re going to take her in to the vet, then she’ll be in the house!  It’s so cold out tonight … 20-something, and I’m a bit concerned for her.  She’s staying in her warm box though … smart kitty!  I hope you all have a great day, and stay warm, too … I’ll be visting around and checking in with the rest of you, today … in the meantime there’s a devotion that I read yesterday, that might encourage you as well!

Blessings & hugs,
   ~ Deborah  <><     

A Bad Cup Of Coffee
 ~ Julia Bettencourt

“…Be ye holy; for I am holy” 1 Peter 1:16

I think everyone disagrees on what makes a good cup of coffee. With today’s hot coffee trend, we try all kinds of flavorings and different ways of experiencing coffee. It used to be basically served black or with cream and sugar. There wasn’t much variety.

Nowadays, people like coffee served and brewed a lot of different ways. We tend to disagree on what’s good. What we usually agree on is the basics on what makes a bad cup of coffee. It can be weak, bitter, stale, cold, or soured by something we put in it and we’d probably all agree that it tastes bad. Face it. No one likes to drink a bad cup of coffee.

I don’t suppose people like those bad tasting Christians they come across either. I wonder what type of coffee we’d be.

Weak.
When we are weak Christians, we don’t have much faith. Sometimes when we are weak we don’t know God’s Word enough to know what we stand on. The way to remedy our weakness is to add some grounds.  Dig into God’s Word and get grounded on the principles found in the bible. Study the attributes of God. Learn what you believe concerning doctrine and bone up on the basics of living the Christian life. Enrich yourself with a vibrant prayer life and rely on God’s strength and not your own.

Bitter.
I’ve known my share of bitter Christians and I’ve been there at a few points in my own life but if bitterness isn’t dealt with, it starts growing and eating up your life. Bitterness doesn’t leave a pleasant aroma. You can’t do much with a bitter cup of coffee. No matter how much cream or sugar, or even how much whip cream you want to plop on top, the bitter taste is still there. You have to dump it out and refill the cup with a new fresh brewed pot of coffee.

Isn’t that just so like in the Christian life? No matter how much we add to our Christian lives, no matter how many good deeds we do, how many church programs we become involved with, if our bitterness is still there, we are still bitter and it hinders us in our Christian walk. What we need to do is empty all our bitterness and ourselves of self and then allow the filling of the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives.

Stale.
The dictionary describes, stale as “tasteless or unpalatable from age”. Do you ever get complacent about your Christianity? Just have lost that first love? It’s easy to do, especially for those of us who’ve known the Lord for a very long time. We kind of get weary in well doing.

I know we don’t want to just sit as Christians and not do anything but we do. “Unpalatable” doesn’t go far enough to describe us sometimes. I guess we need to freshen up. There’s a worship chorus that says, “Holy Spirit fall fresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.” I think that’s what we all need so that we will get busy for the Lord. We don’t want to be Christians that just sit and get stale and tasteless.

Cold.
You may have brought a cup of coffee to your lips that you hadn’t realized had gotten cold. You think it’s going to be warm and good and then you realize that it’s cold. We get that way in our desire to serve Christ. We grow cold as a Christian. There are probably a lot of reasons. We get away from Christ, slow down in our bible reading and prayer life, stop going to church and pretty soon we are cold.

What do you do to a cold cup of coffee? Most of us just add a little bit of hot stuff from the coffee pot. We go to the source of the heat. That’s how we should do as Christians. Go to the Source. Get on our knees and talk to the Lord. Draw closer to Him and then we’ll get warmed up in our Christian walk.

Sour.
Have you ever tried something new in your coffee? With all those new flavorings and things out there, I’m sure some have. Ever tried something in your coffee that just left a sour taste in your mouth and that didn’t agree with you? Or maybe you’ve put some cream that had gone bad into your coffee. That’s a sure fire way to ruin a perfectly good cup of coffee.

It’s the same thing when we allow worldly and ungodly things into our lives as Christians. It doesn’t agree with us because we are in the world but not of it. As Christians, those things sour us and basically make us rotten. We become ineffective in our Christian lives when we allow the things of the world to come spilling in.

Conclusion:
I hope I don’t prove to be a bad cup of coffee. This past Sunday our pastor spoke about being in the presence of the Lord. He used the verse, “…Be ye holy; for I am holy“, 1 Peter 1:16 and was talking about how spending time with the Lord brings that sweet aroma. I think that’s what this is all about. In order to avoid being weak, bitter, stale, cold, and sour as Christians, we have to learn to be in the presence of God more.

Spending time with the Lord through prayer, bible reading and study is what’s going to make us into those strong cups of coffee. It will allow us to let the Holy Spirit stir us. I know I need to work on spending more time with Christ. I think we sometimes take our time with the Lord lightly. I know perhaps I do. We think of it as just a devotional time or bible reading time but when we realize that we are spending time in the “presence of the Lord” it really puts things into perspective. He’s a great and holy God and we have the opportunity to spend time with Him each day. He’ll blend us to perfection if we’ll just spend time with Him.

So, what type of coffee are you?