A few years after college, I picked up a passion for coffee. Read a great book and learned the nuances of beans, roasting, and brewing. I moved over to the espresso world. Another addictive habit with a world to learn.
My first Christmas as senior pastor at Grace Church, I bought the staff an espresso machine, Rancilio Silvia. It was actually my personal espresso machine. I have used the same one every morning for 16 years and counting. I tried to estimate once how many shots have been pulled from that machine. Scary.
After that Christmas gift, I thought I was the best boss ever. The staff would have an espresso drink to delight their hearts at any point during the day. Supposedly, productivity would go up too. Not sure if that’s been verified with a legitimate study, but who really cares. I wanted to bless the staff.
We talked about going to the next level: getting a coffee shop for Grace Church. That would be a coffee lover senior pastor’s dream. In the middle of the discussions, a young man attending Grace Church came to us and said, “I work at Nordstrom’s at SouthPoint. We’re upgrading to a digital espresso machine. My boss isn’t sure what to do with the current machine. They don’t need it. Would y’all be interested?” YES!!!!!
If you don’t believe in God, then re-read that last paragraph. There’s proof. In fact, over all these years, when i meet someone at Grace Church for an afternoon meeting, I often offer to make them an espresso drink. If I do, I almost aways re-tell the story of the Nordstrom’s espresso machine. Punchline: this is proof that God loves me.
God will go out of His way to show you His love in a special personal way. In fact, you probably have similar story. Don't explain it away. Enjoy it. Retell it. Stand on it. God smiles over you. Nana always wanted a yellow house. I thought that was interesting and wondered how that would look. When we found our dream country property, the house was… yellow.
To wrap up the story. Our beloved espresso machine from Nordstrom’s finally gave up the ghost. The repairman nicely said that he’d refuse to fix it again. It was time after 13 years to replace my old friend. It was a little said to see it go, but I know God still loves me. Keep looking for those little God moments when He smiles down from heaven. He really really loves you!