Jonathan Golden's Blog: Inklings, Coffee, Redemption.

Thanksgiving

This evening my family and I had 2 World War II Veterans and their spouses over for dinner.  We were also privileged to have our friend "Granny", who is 90 join us.

 

The WWII Vets are my dad who is 85 and Jim a friend from church who is 88.   These two men sacrificed for our freedom.  They gave their courage, their strength and their youth for you and me.  They stood up, signed up and made a difference.  Granny sacrificed too.  Her husband died of a war related illness shortly after returning home.

 

Our veterans from World War II are dying at the rate of about 1,000 per day.  Take some time and ask a veteran in your area about his life while you still can.  Ask what they did during the war, what it was like and how they are now.  Thank them and listen!

 

Jim was a gunner on board a ship and was one of the first to find that the Japanese Kamikaze pilots had armored planes.  How did he find out?  Every 7^th bullet had a tracer.  He noticed that the tracers were bouncing off the airplanes.  An important discovery for the United States.

 

My Dad was an engineer in the army.  Providing the British troops with needed supplies, weapons and support and to defend the free world.

 

Pretty important stuff protecting us and making a stand against the terrors of Nazism.

 

There are a lot of older people around who have done important, life changing, world changing things which you and I should be thankful for.

 

Take time today to recognize and respect someone over 70, over 80, over 90.  Ask them a question.

 

In fact buy them a cup of coffee.

 

Jonathan

Don't Worry

 “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.” —Corrie Ten Boom

Sometimes we think that by worrying we will be able to control or change a situation. All that worry does, though, is deplete us of our strength. If we are fearful about something, then we can muster up the courage to face it. Courage is demonstrated by facing our fears and choosing positive action.

Yet if we are anxious or worried about something, no amount of courage will change it. Rather than worry, act and decide. If you cannot act or decide, then put the situation out of your mind, pray, trust and face the circumstance with courage when it is called for.   

 A good cup of coffee will of course help too!

Drink Coffee. Do Good.

Jonathan

Margin

With out it we can become very reactionary.  Stress produces stereotypical thinking and reduces creative thinking.

 

When we are stressed or experiencing a busy time at work and home it is all the more important to think creatively.

 

These are the times though when we become reactionary and tend to not take time to rest, think and pray.  Carving out time for margin to allow your self to rest, think and pray will allow you to discover a solution, to work smarter and more creatively.

 

Margin, take time today.

 

Drink Coffee. Do Good.

 

J

Doing Much

 “So little done-so much to do.”

—Cecil Rhodes (Last Words)

 

It would be a sad thing to think at the end of your life that you had much to do but accomplished very little. The question, though, is this: Have what we’ve done and what we are doing been on purpose? We want to know that our actions fit with our Lifeswork and that we are investing in those people, places, and projects that are important to us. Too often, we get distracted and spend time and energy in things that in the end just don’t matter. How much better to instead invest in what counts. Then, at the end of our lives, we can say that we made a difference and that we succeeded in doing much. 

What really matters to you?

1.

2.

3.

 

How will you invest in these priorities today?

1.

2.

3.

 

At the end of your life, what do you want to be able to say “I did it!” about?

 

Drink Coffee. Do Good

Jonathan

Stay Faithful

This evening my family and I drove back from Savannah where we watched my oldest son, Jonathan’s soccer game.  Jonathan is not the fastest guy on his team, he’s not the most aggressive and he’s not the biggest.  He is skilled though, he is strategic and he is faithful.  He can play any offensive position and he plays his position well. 

 

Today’s game was a tough one and well into the second half we were losing 1-0.  Then we scored on a penalty kick.  With less than eight minutes to go a teammate of Jonathan’s attempted a shot, Jonathan was in his position, rebounded the shot and with a sideways volley (a move that requires extending your left leg out like a frog and kicking with the side of your foot) he scored!

 

I’ll never forget the look of sure, secure, pride and confidence on his face after he made the winning goal and was met with high fives by his teammates.

 

Until that point in the game Jonathan had been playing his position, had done well but hadn’t had any real noticeable impact nor action.  He kept playing consistently though and at the right time who he was, where he was and what he was able to do all came together.

 

Too often in our work and life we get impatient with who we are, with the skills we have and the responsibilities we fulfill.  I sometimes want to play other positions, I want to break set and find the action.  If you and I though stay faithful to our gifts, to our roles and our calling, there will come a time when we are needed just as we are. It will feel great and we will make a great difference.

 

Drink Coffee. Do Good. Stay Faithful.

 

Jonathan

Redemption and fire in the Roaster

Things will break; at times you will feel disappointment and coffee roasters will catch fire.  What matters is what you choose to do during these times of fracture.  What will those around you do?  How will redemption be engaged?

 

Tonight our 45 lb coffee roaster had a drumfire.  Daniel, our Roast Master kept a cool head, he quickly closed the drum door, turned off the blower to prevent the fire from being drawn up the chimney and onto the roof and then grabbed the fire extinguisher.  In the midst of the smoke he calmly put out the fire.

 

Quickly, several members of our team came to the Coffee House to make sure everything was OK as customers had to vacate and Fireman inspected the premises.  Some of our employees were off the clock and they didn’t have to come in but they wanted to help.

 

Shawn, a friend who works for another coffee company stopped in.  His family called him at work to say they saw fire trucks at Land of a Thousand Hills.  He wanted to make sure everything was OK and then kindly offered to help us out tomorrow by roasting some of our orders at his company.

 

Redemption is the good stuff that happens not in spite of brokenness and failure but after it.  When bad things happen good people step up and help to redeem the situation.

 

Drink Coffee.  Do Good

 

J 

The Journey of the Bean

Recently, friend of mine, Jon Acuff (author of the blog Stuff Christian's Like) wrote a bag label for the coffee company. It depicts the journey of the bean--the real road of forgiveness. Although you'll soon find it on the back of some of our coffee bags, here's a sneak peak:

The coffee beans in this bag traveled more than 8,000 miles just to make it into your cup. Each one was hand picked on a Rwandan farm, tenderly cared for along a journey down a bumpy dirt road on a coffee bicycle, and eventually traveled across the whitecaps of the Atlantic Ocean to make it to Roswell, Georgia, where they are roasted in small batches by an Artisan roaster for what will undoubtedly be one of the best cups of coffee you ever taste. But the geographic distance is not what makes this coffee amazing. The longitude and latitude, although exotic, are not where the miracle lies.

The true distance of these beans, the real journey, is that they traveled a road of forgiveness. These beans represent reconciliation. These beans represent grace and hope for a people torn apart by violence. In the same way you come together with friends over a cup of coffee, farmers torn apart by genocide in Rwanda are coming together in their coffee-growing community.  Great healing is taking place. For Hutus and Tutsis, orphans and mothers, reconciliation is becoming 3D. Grace is alive.

And with these beans, with each bag, up to $3 travels back into the Rwandan economy providing a just, Living Wage for each farmer. That is the distance these beans traveled to make it here. From hurt to hope. From loss to life. From Rwanda to you.

For more about the journey, visit www.DrinkCoffeeDoGood.com

We invite you to Drink Coffee. Do Good. 

Local

The word "local" used to be an adjective you heard a lot.  Your local church, the local Pastor, the local pub, your local hardware store, and your local coffee house. 

Local means “pertaining to, characteristic of, or restricted to a particular place or position.”  It also means “the center or source.” The people who frequent these “local” places restrict themselves to and invest their lives in the establishment. This means that when I stop by my local hardware store--Roswell Hardware--I see Frank and Jay. When I go to my local pub--the Harp--I see Ray, Mary, Jackie, and Willy. And when I go to my local church--St Peter’s Place--I see my friends that that have become family after worshiping together for years. 

Local places frame my life and it is the people in these places that make them my place.  The thing is, the people that run and work and worship in these local establishments commit and restrict their lives in some fashion to provide and serve, and I am thankful for them. 

If you have local people and places in your life, thank them. Thank them for showing up day after day, year after year, to serve you and to frame your life. 

Local places are far and few between with larger and larger churches, stores, and restrurants.  Being local still has a niche, though. They are there for people that want real relationships with real people. 

Drink Coffee. Do Good.  Live Local.

J