Fresh.

At my workplace we had this huge launch of a new coffee a few months ago. The pikes place blend. In all its majesty it created a wake that had a need for... shirts. Shirts advertising a coffee blend. One of the designs states simply: BOLD. The other states: FRESH. I have a friend who, to this day, loves to wear her FRESH every shift possible.

That has nothing to do with my day.

Today is Fresh and new. I breathe in this mountain air and I feel God give me something new. He is doing something new. I have seen the stars for the first time tonight in a couple months. Thank God for fresh air down here.

Our speaker is very passionate about what he has brought to camp this year. He is speaking on the fullness of Thriving in life. Living in the fullness of God.

I am living in the midst of God's love and this week is quickly becoming a staging time for my year. My year will be extraordinary.

Today is an incredible day. Enjoy a flower for me.

Rich. In the lap of luxury.

I am rich. I live in the lap of luxury.

The luxury of love.

Love everlasting. Love that is unconditional.

It's my purpose in life.

It is God's purpose for me. Just to simply be loved.

God has family, he has always had family. He knows how to love. He IS love. That is where we come in. We were created to be loved.

Today that is all I'm going to do. I will be loved. Today I look for more ways that He shows love. Today I enjoy Him. Simply enjoy my Abba. It is my highest calling and purpose. It is where the rubber meets the road.

I must live out of the center of God's love.

Kendall

There's a storm Brewing.

This has nothing to do with coffee.

I have nothing to do with coffee.

God is speaking.

...Two truths and a lie...

My Abba, and friend is becoming my lover. He is speaking daily. He is loving me. God is caring for me. Daddy is leading me. My heart has been resting. Breathing.

If i could describe the stage or season or period (whatever you want to call it) that I'm in right now, it could come down to one word: receptive

I am choosing to receive what God wants to give me daily; and that is no small care package.

I'm seeing him in the sunrises. In the sunsets. I am enjoying his beauty in the mountains.

He is constantly blessing me with gifts of scenario.

Let me explain.

I'll find myself in a forest. I find a spot. A perfect spot. It fits my body when I lay in this spot. The view is unmatched and unprecedented. The temperature of this spot is perfect. The sounds are inviting. The smells are soothing... and nobody gets to be in this scenario but me. God will give it to me like he has given some of my friends literal diamonds.

Then i am energized. I go out from the place of rest ready to function. Ready to bring heaven to earth.

Then i find another spot. A gift.

It's like my daddy has been just giving me these items, scenarios, feelings, just to support me and love me. Like a father would.

But there's change as of late.

These are becoming like my lover is giving, out of love, expecting nothing. My lover gives me a gift that takes my breath away, like an engagement ring might. My lover whispers things in my ear just to make me laugh or smile, but most of all just to be loved.

It makes me love Him back better.

Now the wind up... the coming storm... the result of the gifts...

I have had 3 separa... no... 4 separate occasions in the last two months when God has given other people specific things to tell me. All four have hit home perfectly. All I can do is listen, smile, and thank my Lover, my Daddy, my Friend.

Change... the first person tells me they are feeling major change in my near future.
Transition... the second person tells me that God says he is preparing me for a major identity fulfillment.
Morphing... the third person tells me that God is saying I am going to be triggered, set off, fired, set on fire... the result is a dead sprint for the finish line.

The fourth was a vision. A vision that i wont share with you but i will tell you what God told me through it. The person telling me this vision had zero idea what it was about but that's because it was for me not her.

It hit home today. It described a previous me. Not a bad me, not a lesser me, but a previous me. The stage/season/period that I have been in lately all put into a single verb. Out of this comes another me. A transformation.

God is brewing something in me. I can feel it. I can't identify it.

There was a storm today. A beautiful, awesome, powerful storm. This storm was passionate.

I can recognize a passion being placed in me. A passion for something that I haven't been passionate about before.

This may sound silly, but I don't know what it is, I just know that I am passionate about it.

Kendall

All creation is longing

The air outside can be described as coastal. I can feel a tinge of moisture in the air and there is a steady breeze. I love moments like this. I love moments when I feel like I can see the face and the heart of God in the conditions around me.

I see the turmoil of God's heart in the upside down landscape of the clouds.

I feel the peace of God's heart in the breeze across my patio.

I hear the tenderness and compassion of God's heart in the distant chirp of the birds.

I understand the weightiness of God's presence in the complete still moments.

I smell the fresh mercy and redemption of God's grace in the wet grass.

I am absorbed by the warmth of God's love and attention as I drink my hot tea.

I see the captivating vulnerability of God's heart as I watch my beagle rest.

I can just barely grasp the fullness of Gods strength and majesty as I look deep into the mountains.

These are the moments that energize me. The moments where God gives me a fresh breath and a new outlook; refined purpose and heightened joy. I live for the moments where God shows up in his creation. All creation is longing to be restored. God did not create an imperfect world. Satan perverted a masterpiece. All creation is longing to be restored. I am longing to be restored.

God restore me. God I want more of you. More of you God. Your restoration.

That's the papa I know and love.

Kendall

All-Consuming

Beauty surrounds me, captivates me, encourages me, embraces me. Beauty is ingrained into my entire life. Throughout the day it wakes me, saves me, loves me.

Nature is beautiful. People are beautiful. Abba is beautiful.

God gives to us. He gives to us. He keeps on giving. I recieve what he has to give.

I can look at people, I mean really look, and see such an amazing beauty that has been given; and there is no explanation for this but extreme and all-powerful love.

What love it is that has crafted the smile! What love it is that makes eyes miles deep! What love it is that grants a nose to smell! Ears for hearing! Touch for feeling.

What love it is that has crafted our capacity for love. God knew what he was doing when he gave me the ability to love you. I love you.

Today I went on a bike ride at sunrise. I can't believe it comes up every morning. Seriously! Every single day.

There aren't powerful enough words for that experience. You need to hear the slow intermitent chrip of a few birds, you need to smell the clean, slightly damp air, you need to see a fading dark, a breaking of light, you need to touch the chill of the atmosphere around you.

I can almost touch a sunrise. What a gift of God.

Kendall

The Sounds of Left

I wrote this about a month and a half ago while in Seattle. It takes me back and is very real in my mind.

"I laid there on my back feeling an all consuming hug from the mixture of sunny warmth and a slight breeze to keep it fresh. I was looking into the sky, partly blue, partly white, partly grey, but in all parts the sight was dramatic. I just had to reallize what I was looking at. Majesty. That's what I was looking at. As I sat up, I looked out at sea, It was so easy to let my mind charge into the vastness of the view. Mile after mile I could let my thoughts travel over endless waves, further, and further out at sea... but stop. The soft turf that I'm sitting on brings me back to the reallity of my immediate surroundings. I listened left. Yes the direction left, also in this case south (meaning I am facing west), I could hear the sounds of the fish market yelling. I could imaging the hustle bustle of large men throwing fish back and forth as well as small men playing guitar and violin for tips. I smelled left. Fish, clam, oyster, coffee, the smells of left. I looked to my right. I looked right and up. Way up, higher, higher, neck cramp, higher, the sky scraper was filled with restaurants, offices, retail stores, and people. I knew what was behind me. A city stacked on top of a city, on top of a city, etc. The square footage of the ground seemingly powerless against the growth of the city. If they can't build out, they build up. I sipped on my hot chocolate (yes, from the first Starbucks ever) and let the taste filled my pallet. Coacoa from accross the world, milk from cows in Cali, a coffee shop experience in a travel sized cup. It warmed me from the inside out. Warmth of sun, smell of fish, sounds of left, sight of waves -beyond waves-, hot chocolate working outward, cranes building behind me. Seattle, WA. There I was sandwiched between Pikes place market and the pier.

Tell me if those moments aren't worth a million dollars. I mean it, a million. I'm rich! I am filthy rich. I have a get rich quick scheme, change my mindset. Daily, hourly, on the minute. I think in terms of millions. I have a million dollar moment right now. I'm sitting on a leather chair in a coffee shop that protects me from the hail and the cold. A fire place burns in my front. Artwork surrounds me, and music serenades me. Coffee energizes me and a power outlet energizes my computer."

Climactic Coffee

A coffee bean has a past. It has a present; and it has a future.

There is a tree. The air around the tree is thin. The tree stands tall and strong.

There is a star. The star is hot. The star warms the air around the tree.

There is water. It collects together to make clouds. The clouds rain on the tree.

The tree produces a cherry. A farmer picks the cherry. He soaks the cherry. The outer layer comes off. A green bean is left.

There is a man. He inspects the bean. He pays the farmer for his bean. He takes the bean overseas. He puts the bean in a roasting oven.

The roasting oven produces a bean ready to sell. A man takes the bean out of the roaster and puts it into a bag. He sends it to a shop.

There is a barista. The barista opens the bag and puts the bean in a grinder. The barista collects the ground bean and mixes it with hot water.

You buy the hot water and the bean.

Break. Change of subject.

When you look into the eye of a person it is intense. There is a tension created because you aren't just looking at an eyeball. You are staring into something larger than can fit in the space allowed. You are looking into a production of thought and emotion.

Same with a camera.

When you stare at the lense of a camera there is more going on than appears. There is a weightiness to the direct contact with a working lense because you know that the camera will capture a moment. It will continue to create thoughts and emotions beyond the moment.

There is a tension when you look into an eye; when you look into a lense.

Break. Go back.

The coffee bean.

There is a tension created when I stare into the cup. I look into the coffee. I smell the coffee, I taste the coffee. I feel the coffee, I see the coffee. I hear the slurp. I hear the people around me. I hear the music playing.

There is more going on than it seems. There is a farmer behind my cup. There was a master roaster that chose the roast. There was warm sunlight shining on the hill. There was a tree on the hill.

My cup of coffee has been, is currently, and will be full of thought and emotion. A web of reallity coming to a climax. The climax created a moment, a willingness, a feeling enough to write about the coffee bean.

There is more going on than it seems. There is a glory that we refuse to glorify.