I’m enjoying a freshly roasted Sumatran this morning. After my last post, I realized that random tea bags are not for me. I contacted a local coffee roaster friend and Joel lovingly drove to Nixa and picked up a few pounds of green coffee beans. Thanks Joel and Ed!

The coffee tastes great… but I wonder if my taste buds can fully appreciate it. I am SO sick! I have been since the OJ trial… no not that one, the one in October of this year. OK maybe it was the first one. It seems like a long time anyway.

In today’s coffee photo you’ll see my beloved two pound bag of Sumatran coffee and the new Central Assembly mug. I’m using the Central mug because I’m very sad to miss service this morning.

I’m afraid my incessant coughing might distract the congregation, and I’d hate to infect hundreds of elderly ‘heroes of the faith.’ [Seriously, half of em were missionaries in Africa for 50 years... the other half knew Paul and Timothy personally.... or at least E.N. Bell.]

So, I’m too sick to go to church. Which wouldn’t be a big deal except for the fact that I was looking forward to the sermon, the prayer time, the worship music, and sitting by my friends… The sermon will be on the podcast but the rest, I’m totally missing out on.

Speaking of sermons… I preached last Tuesday night for Central’s Enabled group.

Enabled
“An equipped, empowered, and enabled ministry for people with disabilities” that meets in the chapel on 3rd Tuesdays @ 7:00–9:00pm.

At first I thought I was being asked to “share a devotion” with a “small group.” Actually they wanted a 20 minute sermon for around 60 people at a special Thanksgiving celebration. I had so much fun! Enabled is a really diverse group: kids, young adults, elderly, physically disabled, mentally disabled, and their families. I could tell they all love each other so much.

That was officially my first sermon. [The others don't really count because they were class assignments.] I found out on Friday that I had to preach on thankfulness… I wrote my sermon on the back of a napkin at Golden Corral on Military Appreciation Day. [Mmm... free food... I was thankful!] I spoke on Psalm 107. The sermon went really well. I didn’t need any notes and I didn’t get nervous. I couldn’t be nervous, they’re such a great group of people.

Well, my coffee is getting cold and my family just left for church. I suppose I should take a shower or clean the house or do homework… or maybe turn on some music and take a nap. Yeh, it is a day of rest isn’t it?

[Could it be? Two Morning Cup posts in a row? It's true, you're not dreaming... and I'll even throw in a Tech Tangents post later just for my loyal longtime readers.]