TITLE: The Life Saving Coffee Maker By Pamela Reed 09/24/12 |
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The life saving coffee maker
Life is very busy when you are a business owner, but I know the value of attending a local church and how the messages and relationships can improve our lives and make us stronger. Our church is a large church with a congregation size that could make you feel very insignificant. That is why the pastor decided to start “life groups.” These were small groups of people who gathered together in the middle of the week for an hour or so and studied a particular topic of interest. In the process, we got to know each other. You can not get “lost” in a crowd when you are sitting in someone’s living room sharing and listening with a handful of interested people who you have something in common with. Our church set up many life groups with different topics – hopefully there would be a subject that each one of us would like to know more about.
My husband and I decided that a life group was valuable and opened up our home to hold an evening get together. I rushed home from work and proceeded to feed the kids quickly and make a dessert for the group. I put the coffee in the coffee maker, added water, and hit the start button. Proceeding into the living room, we set up extra chairs to make a complete circle which would hold the number of people who announced they were coming.
Alright, all is set for their arrival – we did it! But, walking back into the kitchen I realized that the coffee carafe was NOT full of black coffee. I was sure that I turned it on. Oh, no, it’s not working! Why now? I have a half an hour before they arrive and I do NOT have enough time to get to the store to buy a new one. I’m doing this for God, why would this have to break tonight?
I found neighbors at home and they gladly lent me their coffee maker for the evening. It’s not a problem, they assure me. I get the maker and make a fresh pot of coffee which is delicious and enjoyed by all that had a cup. The life group went well. The discussion was interesting and thought provoking. We had a lot of laughs and got to know each other better. With a closing prayer, hugs went around and we broke up for the evening. With a sigh of relief, I realized that all went well even with my almost coffeeless disaster! I washed the coffee maker to return it. Although it was late, I didn’t want our neighbors to be without their coffee before they left for work in the morning.
Walking up to the door with the coffee maker in hand and a smile on my face, ready to thank them for the loan, Tim answered the door. One look at his face and I knew there was something desperately wrong. I immediately asked “What is wrong? Why do you have that look on your face?”
He told me that his wife and children were in bed for the night and his life was not going well. He had been in the process of preparing to committing suicide when I knocked on his door. As I remember, I didn’t ASK to enter his house, I just slowly entered through his door as he moved aside, sat the coffee maker down and asked him to follow me into his family room which was opposite the bedrooms.
I asked Tim to explain what was upsetting him and he told me. I let him talk and talk until his whole story was explained to me. There were various family, health, and work related issues in his life which were wearing him down to the point where he felt that he couldn’t carry the burden any longer. He had decided that tonight was the night to exit all of his problems.
But when he finished explaining his situation, words started pouring out of my mouth. I know that they were God’s words, how would I know what to say? I started out by telling him about Jesus – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. “And by His stripes we are healed” Isa. 53:5. I let him know that Jesus was scourged so that we can have His precious healing in our bodies. Jesus died on the cross for the sins of each one of us. He will carry every single problem. It is not our job to carry the problems, it is His. But, we have to give them to Him. He will not grab them from us. He leaves it up to us to make the decision to turn them over to Him. I slowly took the time to explain with compassion and love.
Tim accepted Jesus into his heart that night. I prayed the prayer of acceptance and he repeated my words. Twelve years have passed since that night, and that neighboring family still has a husband and father in their home because of His healing touch. Tim brought Jesus into his heart because God used our life group, a broken coffee maker, and my willingness to speak God’s words to a wounded heart.
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