Tag: coffee

Happy To Report-My Coffee Shop Is Still Open

~ jesusluvsall ~ 20 Comments

Yesterday was eventful. A momentous occasion took place. Your coffee purist stopped by his favorite coffee shop and discovered it is has not closed in his absence.

It was a day of getting things done as in run errands, so I did not have time to hang out in my beloved coffee shop, but I did stop in the get a cup to go. There were some gluten free chocolate cupcakes and considering all I have been through, it seemed appropriate to buy one as well. 🙂

The baristas were blessed and grateful to hear some of my jokes or at least that’s what I tell myself.

Hopefully there will be time for a hangout at my coffee shop, or as David of davidsdailydose.org calls it-my office- this weekend.

This semi-retirement thing of not teaching in the mornings has yet to prove to me it is worth it. My thoughts were to spend more time writing and hanging out at the coffee shop, but my body has had different ideas forcing me to spend more time at home recovering from things like minor heart procedures, pericarditis and pneumonia. But there is still time to realize the vision. 🙂

The vision for the future is to continue to share Jesus and his love with people through writing, teaching, and hopefully speaking. Of course coffee shop hangouts are part of the deal too. 🙂

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

On The Mend-Coffee Time

~ jesusluvsall ~ 30 Comments

Can you guess where I am now? If you said the coffee shop, you would be correct. I made it out for a while after being cooped up for most of the week I am finally on the mend and have a it of energy. But I am so behind on my blog and fellow bloggers after a week of mostly only laying in bed. It is time to catch up.

This week will be warmer in my area. I know that others in my state like Alicia of forhispurpose.blog have a lot of snow that needs to melt away, but not in my city. It will be in the 50f/10c most of the week or a bit warmer. That amounts to a heat wave in these parts. Brenda of becominghistapestry.com is loving the winter weather in her area. How is winter in your area? I hesitate to ask because I know that Gary of garyfultz.com thrives on winter, ice fishing, etc. Then there is David of davidsadailydose.org who lives in southern climate and misses out on all of the fun. He is probably enjoying a picnic today. 🙂

Just giving shout outs to a few friends.

Back to my coffee outing. I must still be a bit spacey because guess who forgot to bring his wallet? Yes I did. I must have something like frequent flyer miles because the barista told me not to worry and let me have a cup with a refill free of charge saying that I am in here a lot.

I was thinking today about memories. We all have those memories we beat ourselves up with of past failures and sins. There are two verses that come to mind that I think should shape how we talk to ourselves.

Hebrews 8:12 says:


“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

If God does not remember our sins against us, why beat ourselves up for past failures. Learn from them yes, but let the memories of them drag us down, NO.

Hebrews 6:10 says:

 “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”

What God does remember are the work we do and love we show in his name towards others. This shows me what we should focus on-the here and now and living for Jesus letting God take care of those memories.

It feels good to be at my coffee shop and to have the tangible reminder about memory. Maybe it is a good thing that I forgot my wallet. 🙂

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

Coffee Time-Helping A Woman In Trouble

~ jesusluvsall ~ 23 Comments

Yesterday evening after my Friday English class at the Ukrainian church, I was joined for coffee by my friends Alex, Ruslana and their daughter Ester at a coffee shop in my city called Telegraph Mill. The barista who helped us was kind to my friends, so I shared with her that they are from Ukraine. I found out she is an education major currently student teaching at a school that has a few Ukrainian children.

Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Pexels.com

While I was enjoying coffee with my friends, the barista came to our table to ask if I speak Spanish. A woman in the coffee shop needed help. I went over the her table and spoke with her in Spanish. The poor woman did not know her address or a phone number to call for family. She seemed confused. My suggestion was to call the police hoping an officer who speaks Spanish would come.

Two officers came but they did not speak Spanish, They asked me to translate. The poor woman had a difficult time tracking with any conversation. They asked me to ask her if they could take her to our People’s City Mission. She agreed. It was a relief she agreed because the People’s City Mission will know how to help her.

Such moments of interaction, of showing a bit of kindness, are part of why I am so grateful Jesus has led me to my ministry and work. It is also why I am grateful he led me to study Spanish thirteen years ago.

Jesus knows our future and how it all fits together. He knows how we are wired. When he prompts us to do something, there might not be immediately visible reasons, but we trust in him remembering the truth of Ephesians 2:10:

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

Her First Friday in America

~ jesusluvsall ~ 11 Comments

Yesterday afternoon in my English class in the Ukrainian church, we had a new person join our class. She is a twenty three year old woman who arrived less than a week ago. She is living with her aunt who has been here for a while. She was already in the room because her aunt is the one who opens the door to the church for us.

Photo by Mathias Reding on Pexels.com

After class, some of us went out for coffee and she joined us. We talked about the class and how she felt. She shared that she felt shy and nervous at first. One of the things I do in class to make it fun is to throw Hershey’s kisses to them. She shared that helped her to relax.

Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Pexels.com

Ester, the young woman who received the violin a few months ago, sat next to our new person during class. Ester and her parents joined us at the coffee shop and talked a lot with our new person. A new friendship was formed.

Our new person smiled and laughed with us at the coffee shop. Less than a week ago, she was in the refugee camp in Poland. Some months ago, she fled the war in Ukraine. Now she is living with her aunt in my city and has already made new friends.

At the end of class, I asked my friend Alex, who is a pastor from Ukraine, to pray for her. She knows Jesus and he is helping her with her new life in America.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

A No Alarm Clock Day :)

~ jesusluvsall ~ 28 Comments

It is Tuesday evening and both the school system for elementary to high school in my city and the college I teach at have announced classes canceled for Wednesday due to a winter storm coming. That means no morning, afternoon or evening classes for me to teach and Wednesday will be a No Alarm Clock Day. 🙂

Photo by Acharaporn Kamornboonyarush on Pexels.com

What are my plans for such a momentous occasion you might ask? Good question.

After waking up whatever time that happens, first things first coffee time at home. Coffee time at home means listening to worship music while spending time with Jesus and enjoying a few cups of coffee.

Then it will be time to catch up on blogging. I am regretfully behind. I look forward to catching up with my fellow bloggers.

As if coffee time with Jesus and blogging are not enough of a whirlwind of a day, I have a feeling it will be time to visit Middle Earth again. Yes, that means watching Lord of the Rings. I have the extended release ones for each of the three movies, so that will give me over ten hours of Tolkien entertainment.

That’s my agenda for this Wednesday. What are your plans?

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

Jesus Means Everything to Me

~ jesusluvsall ~ 32 Comments

Waking up in the morning means breathing the air that Jesus created for us to breathe. Drinking coffee in the morning means using water that Jesus created for us to make the coffee. Waking up in pain means another day to share the love of Jesus in this life even though eternity in heaven sounds much better with the whole no more pain thing. Having the ability to teach means connecting with people from all over the world and opportunities to share Jesus.

Even the laptop I use to write my blog posts I have because of Jesus. A Christian man I know in my city receives laptops donated by people, refreshes them, spiffs them up, and gives them to ministries. The laptops are usually about two years old when donated.

Everything I have, abilities, opportunities, employment, the very air I breathe, I have because of Jesus.

With all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I do not want to lose sight of this wonderful truth that everything I have is because of Jesus. My afternoon and evening classes finished for the semester yesterday, so I will have something called free time for a few weeks. My desire is to spend that time wisely and finish my book while being grateful for what Jesus has given me and done for me.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

Turning Over A New Leaf?

~ jesusluvsall ~ 16 Comments

At my coffee shop they gave me a mug with leaves on it, which might indicate turning over a new leaf. When it comes to coffee, may it never be. I remain your coffee purist only drinking my coffee black. None of the fancy repurposed soda, aka latter, frappes etc, for me.

However, with only two months left in the year, I am amazed by the new things Jesus has brought into my life this year. He has brought new Hispanic friends into my life and into my Sunday morning group. One year ago, I had no idea I would meet some wonderful Ukrainian friends. I love being at my new school in the mornings.Also thanks to generous people, I have a new car.

One thing I started the other day with a bible verse that was the verse of the day on Bible Gateway, is letting Jesus show me a writing prompt. I don’t know how long I will do it, but it feels fun. That post was- True Lasting Legacy. So while it lasts, the time I post will vary, I will wait for the prompt. Today it was the coffee mug. 🙂

Why am I doing this? I do not want to become stale in life. I want to keep looking for newness that God brings to us. As Isaiah 43:19 says:


See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

God can do a new thing in our lives no matter what our circumstances are. Even the most desolate lives, he can bring newness and restoration. We can look to him in every situation.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

A Coffee Shop Kind of Day

~ jesusluvsall ~ 19 Comments

It’s a coffee shop day and I am looking forward to meeting a few people. It will start off with Todd my friend from childhood. Then my friend Lina from Mexico will meet me to help me practice Spanish. My third appointment will be with the teen boy who I will be tutoring this school year. I shared about him in Another God Appointment in the Coffee Shop.

Fortunately the bus that stops a few blocks from my home has a bus stop one block from my coffee shop. Otherwise there would be no coffee shop day.

I am going to set up a Go Fund Me to try to raise money to help me to purchase a different vehicle. That is one of my projects for the day after my appointments at the coffee shop. The other is to finalize my two books or should I say begin to finalize. I hope to publish them within a month.

The reason for setting up a Go Fund Me is due to living with chronic illnesses medical expenses take up a chunk of my monthly budget especially the first five or so months of the year due to deductibles. Well that and the fact that my two teaching positions are part-time, Those and my home missionary position support combined come out to less than $2,000 a month.

I am grateful to be called to what Jesus has me doing because it has allowed me to share Jesus with people from all over the world. My city is home to refugees/immigrants from many countries. That is why the title of one of my books is Lifted Out of the Pit/Called to the Nations.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

The Messages on My Laptop

~ jesusluvsall ~ 18 Comments

I have noticed many young people use stickers to decorate their laptops and the stickers usually mean something to them, so since I am an honorary young person, I decided to do the same. I believe the stickers I chose exemplify me. So let’s do a tour. 🙂

On one side are two Lord of the Rings stickers. Lord of the Rings the best movies ever and the books even better. If there is a snow day and no school, I watch the three movies extended release for about 12 hours of enthralling entertainment,

On the other side are stickers about two things I love, coffee and teaching. I like the on at the top- coffee, teach, repeat. 🙂

In the middle are stickers about my faith. One says faith forming the cross with the words. The other two say God in the middle with the message being God is greater than the ups and downs of life.

Of course if students get a bit restless, I can always point the one that says- Don’t Make Me Use My Teacher Voice. 🙂

Tattoos are a common form of expressing oneself these days, but they are not for me. I am not anti tattoo. I just think doctors stick me with needles enough and also with psoriasis it isn’t a good idea.

What do you think of my laptop stickers?

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

Chess and Jesus

~ jesusluvsall ~ 14 Comments

In the days of my summer break winding down, God has blessed me by bringing a fifteen year old boy into my life, He is the one I shared about in Another God Appointment at the Coffee Shop. I saw him again yesterday,

We played chess with him using some of his Marvel figurines as pawns again. He comes from a background with a lot of brokenness. Both of his parents died by the time he was in Kindergarten, so his grandmother took him in. While we were playing chess, we talked about Jesus too.

We talked about Romans 8:28:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

I shared with him that God can take all of the things we experience in this life and work it for our good including the sad times, the bad things, our mistakes, and work them for our good. Then I gave him a homework assignment. His homework was to pray to Jesus and ask Jesus to show him Jesus is for real.

I spoke with his grandmother on the phone last night and set up a time to meet with her and my young friend Friday afternoon. My thought is to meet with him once or twice a week during the school year.

God is always at work even during a teacher’s summer break. 🙂

Thank you for reading. God Bless.