The Best Part of Waking Up...

...is not Folgers in my cup. It's flavored coffee. This morning I was making my coffee and I am using my absolute favorite coffee mug. The ironic thing is that it got me thinking about church.


Yeah, now it's completely obvious why, right? This beautiful, hand-crafted coffee mug was made by one of my middle school art teachers, Mr. Rick Taylor. This was given to me and several other 18-year-olds, from our church congregation upon graduating our respective high schools. I didn't drink coffee at the time so I could never have imagined out valuable this would be to me until years later, but it was definitely use for some nice teas. Back to my main point however. Church.

I used to be extremely involved in church. Not even my own necessarily, but church in general. My best friend attended the largest church in our town and it also happened to be right across from our high school. I was there frequently involved in Bible groups, devotions, youth groups, mission trips, Activators, vacation Bible schools, church services, and every other church related activity. The irony is that my church was right down the road from hers, but I never felt completely comfortable or welcome in my youth group. I know it had a lot to do with the fact that my best friend was part of another church and I also had no idea why I was going. I went to college completely confused about how I felt about religion in general. I was a member of United Methodist Church, attended Baptist functions, and enrolled in a Lutheran based college. Talk about confusion! Now, I am of the mind set that religiousness and God and things associated with heavenly beings are up to the individuals' interpretation. Honestly, I don't know where I fall. I understand the background of the Lutheran religion the best, but I don't know if that puts me any closer to wanting to be a part of it. I have always wanted to be a part of a church that I could call my home, but I don't know for what purpose. I am thankful for the time and experiences from being involved in a church atmosphere as there are so many things you can get out of it. Isn't it amazing that one cup of coffee can remind me of all of this? So there's your coffee for thought this morning. Drink up and add some sugar to that cup 'o' java.