They drive my wife crazy.
At first they were cute.
Then the question became where will we put them all.
Now it’s: “Will you please stop buying them. We have no room!”
Coffee mugs.
On our first few youth missions trips we bought souvenirs in the markets on our days off with no real rhyme or reason. We had no plan. In the moment we just thought, “O that’s cute,” or “It’s so cheap.” Why wouldn’t we purchase a 12’x12′ fully framed canvas painting? Of course the plane would allow us to carry it on.
After a while we were getting calls from Hoarders about being on their show. My wife and I sat down and had one last talk before an intervention was needed. We settled on three things we would collect on our travels: decorative plates, bells, and coffee mugs. The plates have been able to be hung on the walls. Bells are nicely displayed on shelves. At one point I made shelves to display our coffee mugs, but at present I am looking at them lining the top of our kitchen cabinets, and open our cupboards and God help you catch them all as they come exploding out with the release of the pressure when the door opens. We are busting at the seems with coffee mugs. They’re everywhere. And I love them! I love the memories they conjure up in my mind of the places we’ve been as a family and places we’ve traveled on missions trips.
Today, as I was preparing my morning coffee, I decided on some Peruvian coffee I bought this summer in Peru. It only made sense that I would choose my beautiful Peruvian coffee mug to drink from. Then I had an idea. A redemptive idea.
Why not use my coffee mugs as springboards to pray? And so, as I was enjoying my coffee this morning, I prayed for my friend Jon Edwards who is a missionary in Peru. I prayed for the work he is doing. I prayed for the pastor and church we worked with this past summer. I prayed for the schools and community we ministered in. I also prayed for each person who was on our short-term team.
What about you? Look around your room, your desk, your house. Maybe it’s a picture of your family, your friends, something you’ve collected from a special place. Use that as a springboard to pray for someone today.
It’s super easy, simple, and practical. All you need is to be prayerfully watching, asking God to give you eyes to see how the things around you can help you better understand Him, and how you can pray for the people and situations He cares about as you go throughout your day.
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