Find a Place

I'm hanging out in a coffee shop in Massillon, Ohio today. It is called the R&R Coffee Bar. It is a great space with good coffee.  It is definitely a third place for people to hang out and chat. It's a place like my favorite coffee shops, of which there are really only a few, and they aren't around anymore. In all honesty, they are my favorites because of the space and the conversations that were had there, not just because of the coffee (though as I get older, good coffee is a must).

As I sat here, not focusing on my sermon for this week, I thought of Il Bacio, the local coffee shop that was right around the corner in Lansing where I live. It was a great place with great coffee. I blogged a lot there. Many of the posts on this page were written at the far corner high top table by the window where I could watch the sunrise but not be blinded by it.

That in turn, lead my mind to this page. I don't blog much anymore. I have grand ideas, write a blog post, then two years later meander my way back to this page when something triggers my memory or I feel the urge to blog again. Not that I don't have much to say, or that I'm not taking note of the things going on around me. The challenge is finding time to write. No one comes around here anyway, right? People need visual input and spoken word. They are looking for podcasts. I don't know if that is me.

If you happen upon this post, this is my challenge to you: find a third place where you can be comfortable, a place where you can sit and read, journal, and pray.  Hopefully its a place where you can sit and converse with friends (I skipped many theology classes to go have coffee and conversations with friends at Hill of Beans, the first coffee shop I ever went to). May it be a place where you can lean in, listen, be heard, and converse with Your Maker and those around you.