A nice, hot cup of coffee is among my early morning “must haves.” I can’t get anything done until I have my coffee.
When I was young, my parents made coffee in the morning, and it was the worst coffee you could ever drink. I tried it and could not get beyond the first sip.
I tried it with cream and sugar, black, cream, sugar, but none of those ingredients enabled me to drink any of that coffee.
After graduating high school, I went to a Bible college where I met the future Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage, wife Martha. My life changed in so many ways it would take a series of books to explain them all.
I didn’t notice until after we were married that Martha was highly addicted to coffee.
Every morning she would make coffee and the aroma filled the little apartment we were living in at the time.
On our first morning in that apartment, she said, “How do you like your coffee?”
I looked at her, smiled and replied, “I like my coffee in the coffee pot.”
A few mornings later, as she made her coffee, she said, “Why don’t you try some of my coffee? I think you just might like it.”
It took me several weeks to accept her invitation, but I finally agreed to have a cup.
The coffee smelled so wonderful that I couldn’t believe it was really coffee. After looking at the coffee for a while, Martha said, “Are you going to taste it or not?”
Looking at her and smiling, I nodded and took my first sip of real coffee. It was the most wonderful sip I’ve ever had. I responded, “This is wonderful.”
“See,” she replied, “I knew you’d like it.”
It didn’t take long for me to drink that genuine coffee. My wife offered to get me another cup, and I didn’t stop her.
When she brought the coffee back, I said, “Why is this coffee so much better than the coffee my parents made?”
“I’m not sure,” she replied, “maybe your parents were making instant coffee. There’s a great difference between instant coffee and real coffee.”
I looked at her for a while and recalled those days living at home. When my parents got up in the morning, my mother would heat water on the stove, put instant coffee in both their cups, and then pour the hot water into each cup.
I didn’t realize then they weren’t drinking real coffee.
I started giggling, and my wife said, “What’s so funny?”
With a huge smile on my face, I raised my coffee cup, and said, “This, my dear, is the real thing.”
Thinking on this episode, I was reminded of a scripture.
“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
— John 8: 31-32
Many misquote this verse. But to know God’s word is to know the truth which will set you free from all hypocrisy.
I want the real truth, not some artificial truth.
Dr. Snyder is a former pastor who lives with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage, wife Martha, in Ocala, Fla. His email is [email protected].
