Welcome To Coffee with Christ. I’m your host, Nikol Jones.
Finding time to read the Bible is hard. We are so busy these days whether it is with work, family, friends, kids, extracurricular activities, or all the “To Dos” of ordinary life.
It is hard to sit down and read the Bible let alone process what you read or hear what God has to say to you.
If you’ve been in church for a while or you hang out around church-y people, you’ve probably heard the term “relationship with Christ.” It’s a weird phrase if you haven’t grown up around it. It’s also a weird phrase even if you have. I mean, what does having a relationship with Christ even mean?
Most people think it is going to church on Sundays
Maybe participating in a Bible Study if you’re really serious
or reading a devotional book.
And prayer. We can’t forget about prayer. Some people love it; others find it confusing and frightening. But we all seem to manage it when something is desperately wrong.
All of these things are GOOD things. They are building blocks for faith – every single one of them. But they are not relationship.
Relationships are two way streets. Think of how you interact with a friend. What do you do?
You call them;
you text them;
you listen or read their response.
On the best days, you make time on your calendar to be with them. Maybe you go to a coffee shop to catch up on their day or week or every how long it has been since you last talked.
You share what is important to you.
And they share what is important to them.
You listen.
You learn.
And this is how we love.
About 10 years ago, I decided to test out things I’d do with my friends (like catching up at a coffee shop) with my relationship with God. So, even though I’m not a morning person – I got up early one morning. I poured myself a cup of coffee even though at the time I wasn’t a coffee drinker. I sat in my favorite living room chair; and as silly and foolish as I felt, I invited God for coffee and said out loud, “Good morning, Lord. How are you?”
Then, I listened.
I listened to the clock ticking.
I listened to my dog snoring.
I listened to all the thoughts running through my mind about how stupid this was.
But I sat there – in the silence – and listened long enough to get through that first cup of coffee. I didn’t pick up my bible until I finished.
God didn’t speak to my heart that day, but as I kept inviting him over and listening, eventually He did.
And so, coffee with Christ was born. I have a blog (coffeewithchrist.org) where you can read what God teaches me in my time with him.
But I thought it would be fun to created a podcast where I can guide you through a similar process.
It is a time for you to sit back, enjoy a cup of coffee (or your favorite drink) and listen. I’ll go ahead and warn you – when you’re sitting alone in the silence, it will be awkward. But we will push through that together.
Then, I’ll read from the Bible and ask some questions. You can follow along in your bible but you don’t have to. You can just listen to God’s word being read aloud. That’s actually how God’s people heard it when it was new.
I won’t offer insight or discuss what we just read. There will be gaps between questions to give you time to think.
If you like it, I hope you’ll tune in regularly and pass it along to your friends.
So, are you ready? We’ll get started in our next episode.
