Quiet is good (and random notes)

It has been a quiet week here in the Ozarks of SWMO. My riding mower has been in the shop for a couple of weeks and should be back next week. The yard and field aren't too bad as the heat and little rain have kept the grass from growing too much. I've been content to be lazy and read a lot in the past week.  

Next week the local AA baseball team will be back in Springfield and I think I will try to take in a game or maybe two. I haven't done much people-ing, so I should be okay with a solo night at the ballpark. I've also been content to have coffee at home for the past couple of weeks. Maybe I will venture out for a morning coffee shop experience next week.
Simple coffee shop conversations are generally good. If anyone in the area is up for that next week, let me know. 

I mentioned screen time in my last post and I have been doing better about not using my phone as much. I still play games on it, but not as much. I've been spending less time scrolling social media, but still spend way more time than I need to be spending on mostly nonsense. I'm afraid it will be an ongoing battle.

A couple of days ago Highlandville MO experienced its last 8 PM sunset of the year. It will be April 28th before we have another sunset that late. I have been noticing the morning sun slowly moving southward as the sun shines on the deck now and affects my morning Chromebook viewing. I can't say that I am looking forward to fall and winter. I really am more of a summer boy. 
The Farmer's Almanac is calling for higher than average precipitation for our area this winter. We are on the boundary of what will be either snow or rain. The snow is pretty, but you don't have to shovel rain!
Fortunately, our winters here are pretty mild as Midwest winters go.

I am happy that there is still another month of summer and early fall in the Ozarks is still warm enough to keep me happy. To all of my flannel wearing, fall loving friends -- Be patient. Your time is coming. 

Enjoy life, my friends!

John

Coffee Shop Theology

I'm at a local Ozark coffee shop this morning -- Urban Grounds coffee + plant lab.
It is a bright (glass on two sides) open place with lots of plants and planters. I'm not much for the sweet, creamy coffee drinks. A decent drip or a classic Americano is about all I ever get. The refillable mug of drip coffee here is just fine for my morning cup (or two) of coffee and time on the Chromebook.

If you've followed my faith journey over the past several years, you have probably figured out that I'm not a big fan of church nor religion in general. The greatest downside to that is that discussions about faith and interactions with a faith community become quite rare.
I miss those faith centered conversations and sharing of thoughts. 

So I am wondering...
Are there others that feel that way and would there be any interest in a small group/regular gathering to talk about faith, theology, philosophy, etc.?
I'm thinking of a morning coffee shop meeting, but --
     not everyone is a coffee drinker
     and a weekday meet is difficult if you're not retired
I'm sure we could work around a couple of objections, but I don't want to make it complicated.
An afternoon brewery meet would also work, but I know there are more and more people that are non-drinkers. 

In my head, this is a group of men, but it doesn't have to be that way. I'm also thinking of a pretty small group -- six to eight at the most. I have no interest in being a teacher and I don't want it to be a class. I see a need for a moderator or facilitator to keep things on track, but also want it to be flexible enough to adapt as life happens for those in the group. It's a pretty loosely formed idea and would need some work that the actual group could help with.

Right now it's just a thought and I'm going to be gone until mid-February. 
However, if you are in the Springfield/Nixa/Ozark area and have any interest in such a small group beginning sometime around the end of February, let me know.

John

Church thoughts

This Saturday morning finds me in the local Starbucks -- local, as in Ozark MO.
I just decided to go out for coffee this morning and this is the nearest coffee shop. It's Saturday morning on Labor Day weekend, so it's pretty quiet in here. There is plenty of activity behind the counter, but most of it for drive through or online orders that dash in for pick-up and then are quickly on their way.
For some unknown reason my Chromebook is not connecting to the wi-fi, so I'm using a hotspot from my phone.

I've been thinking about the church/religion thing lately ... again.
There are certainly things that I miss about regularly attending church. The gathering of like believers and sharing of ideas, experiences, and thoughts is certainly uplifting. However, the whole religious thing is pretty tiresome. 

All-in-all, I'd have to say that church people are among the most fake people I know.
Like most things, that isn't always true, but it seems that church people can be a pretty judgmental bunch and as such, have to guard against being judged themselves by putting on their church masks when they around other church people.

Although I rarely get answers to questions I ask on Out of My Hat, I am truly interested in your thoughts on church/religion.
I don't know if you attend church regularly now, or ever have.
I don't know if you have experienced some kind of church or religious trauma somewhere along the way.
I don't know if you follow any particular religion or denomination within a religion.
I don't know if you feel compelled to share your religion with others or to convince them to follow with you.

But, if you were looking for a church today...
What would it look like?
Maybe not the whole structure, but what things would you really want to see in your church?
A large church with small groups? Or maybe just a small group?
A band with contemporary music? A choir and traditional music? Some sort of blend?
Teaching/preaching from the Bible or holy book? Uplifting message for daily living? No preaching at all?
Or maybe just a place to connect with others that have a similar outlook on life and philosophy of living?

Maybe you are looking for some kind of instruction on how to get to heaven or an explanation of heaven/hell, life/death, or something like that.
Maybe you are looking to connect with God.
Maybe you are looking to connect with people.

What would your church look like?
Who would your church welcome?
                                     ...exclude?

I'm curious.

John

Happy Tuesday

I missed yesterday's Monday Meditation post. I had a morning appointment with the dentist to have a fractured tooth extracted and didn't really have the time to properly meditate nor write about it.

Yesterday was supposed to be another rainy day, but it turned out to be pretty wonderful. I spent the afternoon finally getting the yard mowed. Three+ weeks of rain, sun, and spring growth took a little longer than usual, but it is done and looks very nice. 

Next up is working on the flower beds.
I'm a little late in getting seeds out for the annuals. Two weeks in Mexico at the prime planting time will do that. No worries, though. It's a long summer and there will be plenty of time for planting and enjoying the beautiful colors.

The hummingbirds are back!
I saw one Sunday afternoon and it looked like it was looking for the feeder that was out last year. I made a batch of sugar water (1 part sugar to 4 parts water) and put it out. The tiny ruby red throats and emeralds found it quickly and have been feeding regularly. I wonder if they are the same birds from last year.

I think I'm going to take the bike out today. One of the Springfield pastors has a weekly open coffee and conversation on Tuesday mornings. I could use an enlightening spiritual conversation, so I think I'll see what she has to say today. I've thought about a weekly day out for coffee and conversation, but don't really have a base of followers or friends to make that kind of thing happen. Maybe I'll just join somebody else that does.
After the additional boost of coffee, I'll be back to working in the yard again.

If you were having a pastoral conversation today, what questions would you have or what would you want to talk about?
I'm curious.

John

Friday Morning Coffee

This Friday morning finds me having coffee and quiet time at a Starbucks in Springfield. I have a morning meet with my friend and local civil rights activist, Pastor Christie Love of The Connecting Grounds (TCG). It's the normal way of things that advocates of civil rights draw fire from those that make it their business to oppress others or stand in the way of equality for all citizens of a community. 
My hope for our meeting this morning is to offer a place of rest and respite as well as a safe place to vent.

Pastor Christie is the one that opened my eyes to the often invisible community of our city's unsheltered. Three years ago I showed up at TCG to serve coffee at a warming center where people were waiting to catch a bus to an overnight crisis cold weather shelter. The third night (in a row) that I showed up she just smiled and said, "I've got you, don't I?"
Truthfully, I've done very little over the past few years while she and others have done so much and fight daily for the rights and betterment of those that are without shelter and so many other basic necessities of life.
Honestly, it's a little embarrassing that I do so little to help others that I know are in need. It's no wonder that the unsheltered community remains invisible to most of us. In part, they want to be unseen because to be seen usually means to be harassed and ridiculed. But a big part of their invisibility is that we don't want to see them. Knowing that someone needs help and then not helping them is a burden that we'd rather not carry. And helping them doesn't always fit into our neat and orderly little world.

I could probably vent for a long time on the state and local governments that are making daily survival even more difficult for our unsheltered friends. For my own mental health I'll pass for right now and maybe address it when I'm better able to process that.

Also for my own health and overall wellbeing, I am going to have to find another volunteer outlet as the shelter season comes to a close. There is no shortage of need. It will just be finding an area that works best for my limited abilities.

John

April 1st and Looking for a coffee shop

It is hard to believe that 2022 is already 25% over!
Although it has been a mild winter, it's like the year doesn't really start until spring arrives and I can spend more quality time in the sun. I know lots of people enjoy the outdoors in the winter, too -- but not me!

It's still right around freezing outside this morning so I'm inside with the fireplace warming up the living room from the cool indoor temp of 61 (16c). It is sunny out and the day will warm up nicely. I'm looking forward to working on the flower beds and garden during the month of April.
I'm going to begin by building a little outdoor table/workbench. I need a place to pot plants and stuff. It is amazing how much lumber costs these days! Four 2 x 4s and a few screws is $40! I'm glad we built this house before those prices went up. We could probably sell it right now for a 50% profit and move to Mexico. 
Hmmm...

As the spring progresses and I start spending more time working around the yard, I think I'll be spending less time on the computer and less time on the blog. One thing that I'd like to do more of this year is ride the bike.

My motorcycle has been parked in the garage for all of last year and most of the year before. It hasn't even been tagged to ride for over a year. It is now ready to ride and I even managed about 100 miles last week. I think I'd like to start a regular practice of a weekly morning ride for coffee. It would be better if I am meeting someone for a little conversation to go with my coffee, but I suppose I can enjoy coffee and my laptop and try a little blogging about whatever local coffee shop I happen to stop at on that particular day. Mornings will be pretty cool for a little longer, so it might be a while before I get this practice started. 

Looking ahead to next week, Monday morning looks like it has possibilities. 
Anybody up for a Monday morning cup of coffee somewhere within 60 miles or so of Highlandville?
Let me know in the comments or send me a text or message. Otherwise I'll be the pathetic, lonely, old guy sitting by himself at a coffee shop.
Actually, that doesn't sound so bad.

John

Coffee Conversations

Coffee Conversations is a label that I seldom use -- probably because I mostly enjoy quiet with my coffee. Yesterday afternoon I met with a friend over coffee. I may have to start making the occasional exception to my normal coffee and quiet time routine. It was such an uplifting visit!

The friend I met with pastors a Springfield church that is going through some big and exciting changes. It was such an uplifting and encouraging visit!

We (Chris and I) haven't been around at all since the world changed with the advancement of the coronavirus, so hearing her God stories and feeling the energy of her spirit was pretty cool. 

There will be much work ahead and I'm hoping that we will again be able to work with them as they continue to be Jesus to the community.

I wonder who will be my next coffee encounter and how long (or soon) it will be before that happens.

Any offers/takers?

John

Coffee time!

Yeah, I know.
It's always coffee time!

This morning I'm at Kingdom Coffee (personally, I think it should be Kingdom Koffee). I've heard about this place from friends and since I was downtown this morning I decided to drop in.

I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to good coffee. I'm typically a black coffee, no sweetener, no flavoring, or an Americano, same way. In general, I prefer a medium roast to a darker roast, and will occasionally have a lighter roast.
This morning (at the barista's recommendation) I'm just having a cup of black coffee, their house roast. I haven't asked about it, but I'm guessing a medium roast and possibly a Guatemalan blend. It's good. It has an earthy taste with a maybe light chocolate notes and a hint of spice towards the end. I would definitely buy this for home if I was in need of more coffee.

Right now, I'm set at home since I just bought some coffee at The Dancing Mule.
I was there on Wednesday with Hannah and had an Americano. It was nice to sit and visit. I always enjoy coffee with my girl.

Both of these places seem to have their regular community of coffee drinkers. Wednesday there were several customers that knew each other coming and going from the place, and this morning it is obvious that the guy at the cash register knows many of the customers. There is a buzz of conversations between customers, as well as a few of us that are on our computers or phones. It is a very young crowd and I'm old enough to be the dad of just about everyone in here. It has a nice energy for a dreary Friday morning.

I generally have good coffee at home and rarely venture out to a coffee shop for my morning elixir. Maybe I'll need to make a weekly habit of riding for a cup of coffee when it warms up this spring. I could try the many coffee shops of Southwest MO, or maybe not. I do enjoy my morning quiet time at home.

Life is hard.
Imagine how difficult it would be without coffee!

John <><

Nov 29: Quiet time

It's late afternoon and I'm just getting around to posting today. My morning coffee and quiet time was pleasantly interrupted by a text message from my daughter wanting to know if I wanted to meet her for coffee. I had slept in today (I'm retired, so...) and it was almost 10:30, but I was just on my first cup of coffee.

I can't tell you how much I enjoy having coffee with my baby.  It really is a thrill that she still wants to spend time with her dad. We enjoyed our coffee and conversation for about an hour and then I came home to work in the yard for a couple of hours.

It almost made it to 60f (15c) in the Ozarks today, so it was a good day to be out.
I knocked off early so that I could sit and enjoy a cigar while relaxing in the afternoon sun.
I call this Nicaraguan the best cheap cigar you'll ever smoke!

One of my blogging friends posted this blog about silence today.
Personally, I don't think I'd have a problem with it. I'm more comfortable with quiet than with noise. I realize that total silence may be different, but I still don't think it would be a problem.
How about you?
Would total silence drive you crazy?

Just wondering...

John <><

Coffee Conversations and Getting Organized

It's Saturday morning and I've been up for a couple of hours. I woke up around 4:30 and was still awake 30 minutes later so I decided to get up and get the day started. I've read a couple of blogs I follow, had a light breakfast, finished a game of Scrabble on a phone app (I won), and am indulging in my morning coffee.

I decided to go with one of the recipes in my Christmas Coffee Concoctions notebook -- Thai Coffee. As I read through the simple ingredients I thought that I'd have to substitute heavy cream and stevia for the sweetened condensed milk, but Hannah (and Daniel) were all over that and included a can in the gift bag of spices!
It's simple and tasty--coffee with a little cardamom and a little sweetened condensed milk. It has a flavor like a chai tea latte. And since I'm using the Christmas mug from Jenny (and Aaron) it's kind of like having Christmas in February!

--While relaxing on the beach last week, I was reading a book about Louis L'Amour and his daily writing habits.

--One of the guys in our small group is a writer/musician. Over coffee one morning, I asked about his daily routine.

--I was also asked to do some magic, but really wasn't prepared for that. Two things play into that -- I don't normally perform close-up magic and so I rarely practice it, and close-up magic takes a lot of practice.

The result of these things is that I've decided that perhaps I need a little structure in my routine.
Although I have been more intent on writing this year, I haven't set a time or daily writing goal. I need to do that. I'm going to have to evaluate just what I want to accomplish in writing so that it can have some purpose or goal. I also need to set aside a time to read. I've been doing a little more reading and am enjoying it. I need to be more purposeful about setting aside time to read and to write.

I also want to work on some close-up magic regularly. I felt bad about not being prepared to perform a few effects for friends, but hate to perform badly worse than I hate to let people down. I tend to think of myself as a stand-up magician -- meaning small stage performance with no large props. However, when people hear "magician" -- they just want to see a trick. If I'm going to be around people, I need to be prepared for that. (Or I could avoid being around people.)

I also want to work on my Spanish. I have a "listen and learn" course on my phone and have transferred it to my Google drive so that it is also available on my laptop. I want to spent a little time listening (and learning) on a regular basis as well as using some flash cards to increase my vocabulary.

When you throw in exercising, motorcycle riding, and household chores it sounds like an awful lot of stuff -- too much to do without being organized. I think I'll work on a weekly schedule with some things done on a daily basis and others done less frequently.

Since I'm not a very organized guy, I'm asking for your help.
How do you get things done?
How structured is your routine? Daily? Weekly?
Do you use lists?
What inspires you to do what you do?

Help a brother out, would you?

John <><

Travel Eve

It is the night before our early morning flight to Mexico. This Mexican trip is to the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan Peninsula -- Cancun. It's been two years since our last trip to Cancun and I am looking forward to the warm weather, the sound and smell of the ocean, and some good times with our friends from Canada.
And lots of time to relax and think.

One might think that a retired guy has plenty of time to sit and think. And that's certainly true, but daily routine and life in general has a way of interrupting and distracting one from focused thought. And I'm finding that there are imposed protocols about sharing personal thoughts, particularly about actions of churches and church leaders. It appears that there is no quicker way to find oneself the subject of whispered conversation and the target of gossip than to have a disagreement with a leader of a church or church group.
My particular case is small and insignificant. Many I've been reading about have much greater issues and have been silenced and shunned at some pretty high levels. I'm not sure where we got the idea that lying or covering up for leaders is somehow protecting the integrity of the church or guarding the reputation of God. Maybe we're following the political model of self preservation. (Oh wait, I'm the one that lets politics influence my religion.) To my knowledge, no one has shortened the hand of God (that's church talk for expressing that God is able to defend himself).

I had breakfast and a coffee conversation with an old friend this morning. We talked a little bit about how organized religion and organized religious education has managed to change us from a people following God to a people following a religion -- in many cases, to a people (or congregation) following a person that speaks for his/her particular religion. I shared some of my own ideas about Unorganized Religion.

I'm getting used to the idea that ministry will look a little different for me in the coming year. I think it's going to be more organic and primitive than it's been in the past -- more personal.
Just yesterday, an old friend asked me to be a part of a missions team that he takes to coal country in Eastern Kentucky. I don't know if it will work for this summer, but I'm going to take a good look at it.

For now, I'm going to enjoy a short break from life and relax on a beach for the next few days. Right now the temperature here is 27f (-3c) with light snow. By morning it will be 16f (-9c). The current temperature in Cancun is 75f (24c). Tomorrow afternoon it's supposed to be 82f (28c).

By the way --
God loves you.
Jesus died for you.

Simple enough?

John <><

Coffee Conversations with John

About a week ago I posted a meme on Facebook about enjoying my morning coffee and quiet time.

Although many people agreed with that sentiment, there were a couple of people (that live alone) that commented that they would love to have some conversation with their morning coffee. Yesterday morning, I had a nice conversation with my Vermont brother while we each had our morning coffee.

I realize that work schedules (yours, not mine) and time zone differences might present some challenges, but I was thinking that maybe a brief morning conversation over coffee might be something that others are interested in, as well. If that's something that interests you, you can comment with your number, along with a good day and good time to call. All of the comments on the blog are moderated, so that won't go out to the public. If you're reading and commenting on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, you can message me with the information.

I probably won't do more than one or two per week (remember, I do enjoy my quiet time) and I won't keep you for very long. We can make arrangements via text or messaging so we can have an enjoyable time without being hurried. I'd even be willing to set my alarm and get up a little early to accommodate your morning schedule or time zone difference.
And if you're local (or with-in an hour or so), I'll hop on the motorcycle and meet you somewhere for a face to face over coffee!

So what do you say?
Anyone up for  Coffee Conversations with John?

John <><

"To me, the smell of fresh-made coffee is one of the greatest inventions." --Hugh Jackman
(taken from my Coffee Concoctions notebook from Hannah)