{i am a bean-what to do when you are already coffee}

_News: Book review with Princess Faith is up, see it here._

Ladies Gents and Germs, I have a confession to make. I, Nikmacpattywak, am a fan of coffee. I know, shocking. I love coffee. I love drinking it,  I love pictures of it, I love pictures of me drinking it. Also, coffee has very little to do with this post.

So, in church we're going over Philippians and how to be a "cool christian", or how to be one that's grounded, and one of the first things that my pastor went over is how to deal with difficult situations. He described it as this, when you are in hot water, be a coffee bean. Most of the time when something is placed in hot water it either dissolves or hardens but coffee changes the water while remaining the same. As followers of Christ, we should be the same, tough situations don't have the power to break us but in our faith and with help from Christ we can change the situation, no matter what it is. It was a really good metaphor, I wish I had come up with it.

But here's the thing, what happens when the coffee is already coffee?

I think a common problem in a seasoned Christian's life is what to do when life is normal. God calls us to devote every second of our lives to him, but we're not spending all those seconds on mountains screaming His name. Sometimes, we're just sitting there drinking the coffee we worked so hard to make. It's okay to admit it guys, life is boring sometimes.

Boredom has a tendency to disconnect me from God.

It's hard to think of waking up in the morning and going to work and eating Cheerios as acts of service to God and when I feel like I'm not serving God I feel empty. Like, that's what I was put on earth to do, to love and serve God, and it's SO easy to do that when you're at Jesus camp or Feed My Starving Children or Sunday morning. Heck, it's easy to feel that way when you bring God into a conversation with your not-yet-Christian friends. But when I'm sitting on my couch with Mo's butt in my face trying to watch Arrested Development, how is that serving?

Here's the thing that I'm realizing as I write this, that's service in the way of investment, like reading your bible. Sure, you're getting spiritually fed, but you're also storing knowledge for later, knowledge God will for sure be taking advantage of. It's the same when you're quell. When you eat, you build energy and maintain your body. When you watch TV or are working, you are adding to experience to your database. All things that God intends to make good on later. Still service, just passive. Prep work.

I guess that still leaves the issue of feeling connected to God. To that I say endure. We're all going to hit empty points, we can't be full throttle all the time. And if you're really a seasoned Christian then God's always going to be in the back of your mind, you'll always be aware he's there. That's a good as it gets sometimes, and still leagues better then being without. Just remember that there'll be another day where you make coffee again, when you'll feel Him there in your bones.

That's what I've got. 'Til next time nerds.