Interesting Happenings...

Stay with me, this might be a bit out of order but I'm kind of rambly tonight ;)

So, I am/was in school to finish my bachelor's degree in Accounting.  Well, some of you know that last summer I had changed from accounting to Christian studies in order to go into ministry full time with my then-husband.  I always assumed God meant for us to do it together.  Sooooo, when the marriage fell apart so did my 'dream'.  I went back to my 'stand-by'.  I was going into accounting because there is going to be a lot of good positions opening up when I have the degree, the CPA and enough experience because there are a lot of CPA's in their late 50s right now.  So, that was my 'perfect', make a lot of money, plan.  Well, I like my job now, I like the bookkeeping but I don't want to be a CPA.  The more I look at it the more I hate it.

I realized a few weeks ago, when I was failing my SECOND class EVER, that perhaps I was doing the wrong thing.  That perhaps I wasn't supposed to step away from the ministry God called me too.  Especially when I realized I wouldn't have been taking those two classes had I stayed with the Christian studies degree >.< That's going to be an expensive lesson!!!  I put it to God that if He really wanted me to do this He had to make it pretty clear.

Well, that Sunday, He wrote a sermon JUST for me.  It was about being confident and stepping out and taking the risk of doing what He wants us to do.  Then I found my way into some groups of entrepreneurs who think my idea is awesome.

So, we are back on track and I'm scared to death, good thing that God walks me through the shadow of death, yes?

So, I am working on setting everything up to open my Christian, steampunk coffee shop.  Yup.  It'll be open late and there will be all kinds of music and since I'm just that crazy, I'm opening it on a street that is hugely popular, right near the Capital and closed to cars, it's only open to pedestrians, high rent district but there are also a lot of homeless, needy people who hang around the area.  There will be work areas for people who work from home, there will be WiFi, there will be coffee and conversation and most importantly, there will be a sense of the REAL Jesus.  The one who hung out with the sinners and didn't care for the practice of the Pharisees.  The Jesus who told the woman caught in the act of adultery to 'go and sin no more' rather than condemning and stoning her Himself.  The Jesus who called Peter to walk on the water with Him, when Peter was an alcoholic fisherman.  The Jesus who healed everyone who believed.  The Jesus who submitted Himself to public humiliation, abuse and slaughter without so much as a whimper in His own defense. 

How many Christians can say that they don't fight to be 'right'? That they don't try to get things 'their' way?  Especially under the guise of 'it's God's Word!'.  Get over yourselves.  Jesus says we'll be persecuted because He was.  We aren't going to have it easy here on Earth but we're supposed to continue on and fight the good fight and treat people the way Jesus treated them.  With love, care and healing touches. 

My coffee shop will be a refuge, a shelter, yes there will be a charge for things, but there will also be a caring hand.  It's not like you can't tell who the homeless people are, that they don't stand out like a sore thumb.  They will be cared for and no one will be allowed to be nasty to them.  Because what we do to the least of these is what we do to Jesus.  Would you want to get to Heaven and have Him say, "I was hungry and you didn't feed me?" just because He showed up as a dirty, stinky homeless person?  Hate to break it to you but when He was here on Earth, He WAS a dirty, stinky homeless person!!!!!

I am finishing up my business plan, still trying to figure out a name...had one and realized it was too similar to something else here in town so I want to change it.  Ideas are welcome!!!