After leaving the library on Monday and my encounter with the “lady of joy,” I decided to stop at Dutch Bros for a coffee. I usually stop for coffee once a week on Sunday after church, but I wasn’t feeling very well that day and just wanted to get home and put my feet up.
As I drove in, a young woman, maybe 18-20 years old ran up to my window. I told her I wanted a “Medium Nitro Cold Brew, iced, straight up.”
“Straight up” means nothing added, just plain strong black coffee. The server laughed and said, “you are a hard-core coffee drinker.” The rest of the conversation went like this:
Me: Yes, I am, drinking coffee strong and straight up since I was 13. (Almost six decades now)
Her: So, what are you doing today?
Me: Nothing much, it’s my day off.
Her: What do you do when it’s not your day off?
Me: I pastor a church in Middleton.
Her: Oh wow, I live in Middleton. Which church?
Me: The Way, on Hawthorne down the block from the Post Office.
Her: The log cabin! Is that a “regular” Christian Church?
Me: Yep, a regular Pentecostal Christian Church. I like my Christianity the way I like my coffee–strong and straight up!
She laughed and said that I made her day.
As I left I thought—I really do like my Christianity as I like my coffee, strong, and straight out of the Bible, with nothing mixed in!
