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Coffee Break – 02.02.2015

Today is Groundhog Day! This is perhaps one of my more favorite holidays, outside of the Big Three (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter). My plan is to watch the movie, Groundhog Day, with my family this evening.

Coffee Break

The Popper Crop – Interested in roasting your own coffee? Here is a good rundown on how to do so using an air popcorn popper. However, the ultimate guide comes from Sweet Maria’s.

R2-D2 Bird – As a Star Wars fan, I really want this bird. This is awesome!

Solar Flare Timelapse – My boys received a starter telescope for Christmas. As a result, we have been checking out the stars and the moon in more detail. Along with watching the night sky, we’ve also been watching YouTube. This timelapse of our Sun is pretty amazing.

How Did Hitler’s Scar-Faced Henchman Become An Irish Farmer? – History intrigues me. Especially bits of history like this that never make it into the history textbooks. I found this to be very interesting.

Why The Church Needs Intergenerational Friendships – This article hits the truth about the generation gap pretty hard. I firmly believe that the church cannot be the church when it is segregated into age-based “cliques.” The need to branch out intergenerationally is critical.

One Indispensable Rule – When it comes to deriving interpretation and application of a Bible passage for our lives today, it is helpful to remember a few principles. Here is a brief explanation of one indispensable rule.

It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you. – Tim Keller

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Memorize Scripture: Titus 3:8

Over the previous few verses, Paul has presented a very brief, yet extremely encouraging synopsis of the gospel message. With this verse, he concludes that thought, before moving on to some final instructions to Titus.

You can find this passage in Titus 3:8:

Titus- 3:8

This marks the fifth occurrence of a “trustworthy saying” in Paul’s three Pastoral Epistles. The other four are found in Paul’s letters to Timothy: 1 Timothy 1:15, 3:1, 4:9, and 2 Timothy 2:11. In this instance, Paul is stating that the previous statements concerning God’s grace are reliable and trustworthy. As a result, those who believe, both on Crete and for us today, must live accordingly.

Also, Paul intends for Titus to “stress these things.” Again, this most definitely refers to the previous thoughts concerning God’s saving work, but may also be broad enough to include all of the instructions that Paul has given Titus to pass on to the believers on Crete.

Because of this, this passage may very well be a summary statement of the entire letter to Titus. And Paul’s verb usage here is emphatic. Titus’ job is to stress these things, and to do so with the urgency necessary for people to understand this saving grace of God as quickly as possible.

The result of all of this is that the people who have turned to God will display their faith in the things that they do. And they will be a benefit to everyone.

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Making The Perfect Cup Of Coffee – Water Quality

Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of making a great cup of coffee is the quality of your water. Simply put, your coffee will only be as good as the water that you use.

Making the Perfect Cup of Coffee - Water Quality

Most people tend to easily overlook this critical aspect to making the perfect cup of coffee. It’s true: the quality of your coffee depends heavily on the quality of the water that you use.

Coffee is 99 percent water, so the quality of the water you use will have a significant impact on the taste of your brew. A good rule of thumb to remember is to only use water that tastes good enough to drink plain. If the water tastes bad by itself, it will taste bad when brewed, too.

Because of this, the best coffee is created using water that has been filtered or purified. While most of the coffee shops worth their weight will have a filtration system built into their facility, the average coffee drinker does not have access to such resources at home. (And if your coffee shop does not filter their water, stop going there immediately.)

However, there is an easy fix to this. Many refrigerators have built in filters now, so water from that source should be pretty good. The drawback to this is that many people don’t remember to change those filters. A better option, and a cheaper one, is to use a filter pitcher, such as the Brita or Pur. These easily and quickly filter enough water for your needs, and can provide cleaner water for drinking as well.

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Finding Peace In The Middle Of Busyness

Have you ever just wished you could walk away from it all? I mean, just get up and walk away?

Man At Peace

I do this every single day. Literally. I get up and walk away.

As a minister, I stay pretty busy. And sometimes, all the things that I have going on in my life, in my family, and in my church seems to bear down and weighs heavily on me.

At times like that, I have a choice. I can either try to keep going, and allow the stress to build. Or I can get up and walk away.

I choose to walk away. At least for a few moments.

In our church, we have a lot of stained glass windows. When I feel like I have to get away for a moment, I usually go into our auditorium and sit for a few moments, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. Sometimes, I pray. Sometimes, I listen. And sometimes, I just sit and allow the stress to bleed off of me.

And, usually, after a few moments of this, I’m ready to get back to the tasks at hand. My heart has been unburdened, and I feel like I can continue.

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Coffee Break – 01.26.2015

How has your January been? It’s been crazy around here, and getting more so as we get closer to the due date for our newest family member, arriving in February!

Coffee Break

Kalita Wave Coffee Brewing Tutorial – I mainly brew coffee in my Chemex, or using my Hario V60 pourovers, but this is a very intriguing concept. I just may have to get one of these and give it a shot. You can find them on Amazon for very reasonable prices.

Google Power User – How well do you know the tricks and twists of Google? This is a very enlightening infographic.

Owls – One of my daughters absolutely loves owls. And it is easy to see why. Owls are amazing creations that God has given unique characteristics and abilities. Here are some amazing images of this amazing bird of prey.

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Memorize Scripture: Titus 3:6-7

In last week’s passage, Paul began a very succinct statement of the gospel message. In this week’s passage he completes that thought, giving us the promise of eternity.

You can see this passage for yourself in Titus 3:6-7:

Titus 3:6-7

In the previous verses, Paul stated that God, out of love, saved us, not because of our own efforts, but through his mercy. He did this through the Holy Spirit, at baptism, accomplishing the renewal of our lives into something much more attuned to him.

In these two verses, Paul continues his thoughts on the gift of the Holy Spirit that God gives us. It is notable that this gift of the Holy Spirit comes from God, through Christ. Here we have a glimpse of the Triune nature of the Godhead, at work in our lives to bring about our salvation.

This gift of the Holy Spirit is poured generously into our lives. This is no trivial matter. This is a massive blessing from God into our lives, accomplishing much more than we usually realize.

In fact, Paul gives us three things in verse 7 that help us to realize just what the Holy Spirit gives us.