Coffee and Strength

 "Coffee is a food group." - Olivia Erickson 

 I said those words about a year ago to a friend of mine at a youth conference as she snapped a picture of me drinking my yummy mocha frapachino after a night of sleeping on a nursery floor. For me, coffee as a food group is a very real concept. I have my daily two cups and sometimes another at night if we have decaf in the house. Every time we are in Virginia, my mom and I make a stop at Starbucks, even if it's just for a black coffee refill in our special Starbucks cups. And I absolutely love Caribou (the coffee chain, not the animal) and it's a favorite place to go to have a good chat with friends or study on a Monday night when there are Medium coffees for $1.

 I do believe that I have proven to you, dear readers, that I love my coffee. I also love my tea or hot cocoa as it is usually my night time companion while I read or fiddle around on the computer. If I love coffee and tea so much, why would I ever want to give it up as I am now doing for the 40 days of water challenge from Blood Water Missions?

 The answer is simple. Because I love it.

 We've all heard the classic statement that too much of a good thing is a bad thing, and I believe that to be very true. Coffee has become more then something I just enjoy, but it's become something that I run to. When I am tired - I drink coffee for energy. When I feel dull or unfocused - I drink it for inspiration and focus. When I am cold - I drink it for warmth. When it is night time and I need something to calm me - I drink tea to relax. Are any of those things necessarily bad? No. But instead of always relying on a drink to sustain me, I should be relying on Christ.

 In Christ we have an amazing strength that most times, we do not even try to tap into. How we attain this supernatural strength is through surrender and relying fully on the power that Christ has. We admit our own defeat and weakness, and we seek to be made strong through Jesus. The Bible is full of examples where people did amazing and unbelievable things, but it was never through their own power or sheer will, it was always through the surrender of their lives to a God that had a plan to display his glory in the weak and feeble. 


"For who is God, but the LORD?
   And who is a rock, except our God?—
  the God who equipped me with strength
   and made my way blameless.
  He made my feet like the feet of a deer
   and set me secure on the heights.
   He trains my hands for war,
   so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
  You have given me the shield of your salvation,
   and your right hand supported me,
   and your gentleness made me great."
   Psalm 18:31-35


  Those verses have been on my heart lately and I am reminded that Christ needs to be my strength. Relying on anything else will only end with disappointment and defeat. Please pray for me as I do this challenge of my only beverage being water. I've already gotten past the caffeine headache and Sunday morning with no coffee. but there is still a long ways to go.