About a Year Ago

I'm reposting this to illustrate the "Present/Future" principle. That is - how God comes through when we struggle with our "now" situation by reviewing how progress was made.

GPS "God Possesses Sovereignty"

"Recalculating route. Make the next legal U-turn."

For those of you who have been following our very deliberate process, you will recall how we wrestled with the issue of either going non-profit or for-profit. We initially chose the latter.

Now that we've hit a giant stone wall of the banking industry freezing loans (we applied to 6), we've discovered that in the time-period, we saw community and like-minded vision develop with different fellowships. This was a surprise we did not anticipate or foresee. Our organic (house) church has been fortified by the strength of trust and intimacy that we did not have the first 12 months of living here. The support of what we want to do has flourished into the hearts of those who are part of our bi-weekly gatherings. Other followers are hearing the heartbeat too. On Sunday, May 24th, we will share our vision with Trinity Fellowship Church in Hickory. Our prayer is that we will appeal to those who can help us upfit the location for reaching out to the community through Java Journey.

So as it stands presently, we are going establish Java Journey under the umbrella of Living Hope Church (an established non-profit). LH will eventually buy the equipment we have purchased and will oversee the JJ ministry and operation.

We will provide more details as we travel down this artery.

I'm amazed at what has happened in the last 11 months. God is gracious.

We're Expecting

From one of my favorite Broadway musicals:

Rabbi! Rabbi! Did you hear the news?
More bad news?
No, good news. At Motel's and Tzeitel's, a new arrival.
A new arrival at Motel's!
We just heard the good news!
Mazel tov!
Thank you very much.
- It's a nice thing.
- Yes, it is. Very nice.
What is it?
It's a sewing machine!

We rejoice in the news that Ben and Rebekah are anticipating an addition to their family in less than 9 months. But we also are eager about an added piece of equipment as well - a major piece.

If you scroll backward to our post from December 4, 2007, you'll see that we were excited about a super automatic espresso machine that we had purchased. At the time, we didn't realize that it would sit for 2 years before being used. Once we got the service area prepared and had 2 men (making karate noises - it weighs about 200 LB) move it into place, we plugged it in the the 220v plug and hooked up the water supply. The machine powered up and looked ready to go when we noticed a growing puddle forming on the surface below it.

It seems that sitting (even though it was in a climate controlled environment) is not good for a machine with seals and o-rings that need to be pressurized and working. So we took it to our newly found roaster and machine techs in Asheville. Making a long story short, it was very difficult to find the needed parts. So we set up what we thought would be our "back-up" (The "Conti Bar") as our main machine. It has performed very well for us.

Somehow we hooked up with an automatic espresso machine specialist in the Denver, CO area. Making a long story short again, he said he was confident he could find a buyer. He also politely told us (not being the first either) that the machine was too productive for our setting. There are 2 machines like it serving Denver International Airport adequately. So 2 at Denver's airport and 1 on a main drag in Hickory, NC - ? You get the picture.

As he was preparing to send an offer by e-mail, he quickly followed the message up with another one suggesting another possibility. He had a relatively new 2-group espresso machine that had limited use as collateral for a coffee shop that did not succeed. Would we consider an even trade - he would pay for all shipping. He leveled with us and stated that what we had was worth more, but he would make sure the machine we were getting was in top working order and we could ship our machine "as is."

We realize that on paper, people may consider us naive for being on "the short end" but we're all comfortable with the prospect. It's God's money anyway - is it not?

We are now in the process of shipping our machine (in 2 pieces) and he is tweaking his machine and will ship it in a few days.

So - we're preparing to say mazel tov! when the new arrival gets here.