Coffee Experiment Comes to an End

Well, my 21 days of a cup of coffee have come to an end. Here it is now day 22 since this experiment began and, well, I still am not a big coffee fan. However, I do no longer find it to be completely repulsive. I can drink a cup. I can even enjoy a cup to a certain extent. More importantly, this experiment has given me the opportunity each day to have a moment to remember the over 14o million orphans that are in the world today. With each cup of coffee, as that first sip would hit my tongue, I would have a moment of, "Why am I doing this?" The answer would then hit me hard and I would pause to do the greatest thing that I could do for the orphaned. I would pray. I have tried, in talking about this experiment to others, to stress this time of prayer and reflection that came with each cup. I have tried to stress this aspect because so many would get lost in the details of the experiment with thoughts of, "Can't you just give money?" "Can't you just buy something else?" "Why does it have to be coffee?" To answer these questions I would point you to the discipline of fasting. In fasting one "suffers" the consequences of not eating in order to use this time to pray and to reflect on God. In fasting one learns to use the hunger pains as a call to go to God for the nourishment that the body seeks. In many ways this experiment has been a fast in reverse. Here I actually ingested something that was not particularly pleasant to me and in so doing I would be called into prayer. The practical benefits of drinking fair trade coffee that supported farmers and buying coffee that had proceeds going to orphan care became secondary items to the greater impact of daily spending time with the Heavenly Father to ask for His care of the fatherless.

Now, here I sit, with a cup of coffee. I'm preparing to watch a simulcast with my family for Orphan Sunday. I encourage you to have a cup and to pray for the orphans.