Why the coffee bean?

Why a coffee bean?


I once heard a story:
A person put an egg, a carrot, and ground up coffee bean - each in a pot of water.  The water boiled.  The egg turned hard; the carrot got soft; but the coffee grounds, did something neither of the other did. It changed the water around it!

The world, like the water, heats up- it boils at times - testing and trying who we are.

I've been like the egg- hardened by the boil of life.  In an effort to protect my heart I've put up walls.  Unfortunately, those walls, left to hardened by anger or pain, ended up more like a prison, than protection. Like the egg I've let the trials of life boil my heart hard- and in the end, I'd changed- but the world is no better, for it.

Others become soft and broken by the world, like the carrot.  Bending and become pliable to the point of falling apart. We are spent and feel like mush.  The carrot reminds me of brokenness.  I've been there too. It was a place I needed to be after a hardened heart.  But it, too, was not ultimately what  I want to be.

I want to be is like the coffee bean. In the midst of the world and it's ups and downs (the boil of life), the coffee beans change the water! After spending time with the coffee bean, the water looks different, it tastes different, it wakes the world up!  In reality it's not sweet, but reflects the depth and flavor of the boil and the ground roasted bean.

But I've noticed a bit about the bean; however. It is only useful after being roasting and ground.  A fresh coffee bean (rather white/greenish!) is of no use in my coffee!  That roasting and grinding reminds me of James 1:2-4

" Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Perhaps our trials could be likened to the roasting and grinding of the bean.  It is carefully overseen by One who loves the bean.  Roasting and grinding only to the point so the best flavor will infuse with the water  around it! That's God, using the roasting and grinding trials of our lives to bring out the stedfastness & flavor in us.

p.s  I have been asked about creamer.. because I must admit, I love a healthy dose in my coffee.

           What is it????  
                      God's grace- the creamer that sweetens life in the grind!
                                     It's His abundant love and compassion poured into my life.

Chiastic Structure: X marks the spot!

I found one! A Chiastic Structure! (Just in my reading today.  If you're wondering- a chiastic structure (also called inverted parrellism) is a reference to the Beth Moore Bible Study "Esther."  

 ex- "Don't LIVE to EAT, EAT to LIVE. 

The main concepts of the sentence structure make an "X."

OK here's the one I read:

 "But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."  Gal 6:14

 So, it got me thinking, as I read. It has a chiastic structure in the second half. 

World has been crucified                                            to Me

Cross of Christ

I                                              crucified to the world

Think of that. Look at the center of the "X" - it's nothing WE did.  It's what He did.  But in Christ's crucifixion he severed the worlds ties to me and mine to the world.

That is a total "X" marks the spot on a Great Treasure!
It looks like a word picture, doesn't it?

       The World has been crucified to me;        X        So, now I am dead to the world 
         (Christ severed my identity with it)                    (I am no longer bound by its rule)


Paul summed it up in verse in  Gal 6:15

"Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation."

The treasure or boast of Christianity is not in religion or traditions, but that we have become New Creations through the cross of Christ. We are no longer bound by the world's curse!


So why doesn't it feel like it sometimes? Do you feel like a new creation- or more like the world?  
I think Paul gives us the answer in verse 16:

" And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. "

 Look- "to all who follow this rule" or "who live by this principle" (NLT). We have to choose whether or not we will believe this chiastic. Do we really believe that Jesus Christ's death has freed us from the rule and identification of this world. If so we can live in freedom! In hope.

Freedom not from the difficulties of life- but freedom from being ruled and bound by hopelessness. 

What do you boast in? What are you ruled by?  What do you really believe?  

When we choose to believe, as Paul said "walk by this rule..." peace and mercy become evident fruit that blossom from our lives.


We have to choose to believe this "X" (Chiastic) today.

       The World has been crucified to me,
                      through Christ
         ...so, now I am dead to the world.

       Therefore, I am a New Creation! Loved by the Father, ruled by His Peace and Mercy.

(That, my friends is is a peripty- "a sudden turn of events that reverses the expected or intended outcome", but I'll save that for another day!)

Thanks for joining me for my first blog entry!