Coffee Cup

I just dropped my favorite coffee cup, I am upset. This cup has been my morning delight filled with "wake me up caffeine" for years. It just slipped out of my hand and in slow motion fell to the kitchen floor. I loved that cup, it was farily large, I didn't have to fill it up but one time to have the average size cup times 4, but could always tell myself I only had two cups of coffee!

Isn't it funny how we get attached to certain things, not people or pets, but THINGS? The drivers seat in my old Mazda Pick up ( a 2003 model) is starting to rip, just a little, but a start is sometimes all it takes to turn into a mess. I got sad when I first noticed that, I love that truck, doesn't seem THAT old to start having a ripped seat, a seat belt return thing that doesn't work good, yeah it is that old, but not a ripped seat, I take care of it, well a little.
One of my favorite TV shows, "The Big Bang Theory" has a really strange character: Sheldon, who has to sit in the same place in his apartment every time. He says it is the perfect distance from the TV, the perfect cross wind from the heater/AC vent and the window, and only 5.89 seconds from both the kitchen and the bathroom. (Like I said, Sheldon is well strange, makes for good TV, though). We are people of habits (My spell check kept trying to make me spell HOBBITS, there:) me especially, I love a routine, I feel lost without one.
Now, I am going to have to start using this other coffee cup I have, (it's just NOT THE SAME) or go and buy a new one as close to the old one as I can find.
The point here is: Things Change. Some things change for the worst, and some for the best. As we get older, it seems, we are slower to accept change, and "Go with the flow".
How about new friends ? Maybe you greet a new person or family at church. You know: "Hi, I am Chris, and just wanted to welcome you to our church" You then shake their hand, ask them a few questions about themselves, and never talk to them or see them again. Why? Because they don't fit into your Routine. You have as Sheldon would put it: "4.8 Friends, and there is no more room for any, sorry" (Not sure who is .8 of a friend, but with Sheldon, you never know.) We get comfortable with what we know. We get comfortable with our furniture, our vehicles, our coffee cups, our jobs. Have you ever been "up" for a promotion and knew it would be a raise, but also more responsibility. You where actually relieved when you found out you didn't get it, because your comfortable in your present position? Maybe that is why you didn't get the promotion, your just so comfortable at what you do, no one can see you doing anything else.
Are we too comfortable in our relationship with God that we cannot grow? "Lord, I went to church, paid my tithes, read 3 chapters in the bible this week, what more do you want of me?" How about reading 5 chapters next week, how about inviting that guy you meet last week and basically forgot about, to breakfast next Saturday morning and get to know? How about calling the church office and seeing if their are any volunteer positions that you could help with? How about letting God change your world? How about being responsive to His still small voice, and not being stuck in your same old routine?
Yeah I broke my favorite coffee cup this morning, I do think I will go to Walmart or somewhere and see if I can fine one simular to it. Maybe while I am looking, I will run into someone who just needs to talk. I think I will go to the store after noon today, I never do that, I try to always get my running around done in the morning. Maybe this next Sunday I will sit on the far right side of the church instead of right in front of the sound booth, dead center. I have two chairs in my living room, and I ALWAYS sit in the left one, It is MY chair, but maybe I will sit in the right one tonight. (I'll have to kick my cat out of that one, you see that is HER chair, but she needs to get out of her rut as well)
My point is: "Be open, be loose, be flexible." Sometimes we don't hear God telling us to do something because it is out of our "comfort zone" or not our "routine" It is scarey, but it is a RUT. Be open to God's voice, listen to Him. He may be telling us He wants us to Africa on a upcoming short term missions trip, but we can't hear Him, because that is WAY out there, WAY out of our routine. Talk about "Comfort Zone", Africa? Your kidding, right God?
Just think about it, that rut is getting pretty deep in my life, and now that the coffee cup is broken, the sky's the limit.
OK, where did I put that other cup? It's time for coffee.