The other day my friend and I were sitting in class, during one of our breaks a discussion of tea and coffee came up.  He has spent some time in England and has come to truly appreciate Tea Time.  I on the other hand feel like I can say that 2010 was the year of Coffee for me.  See, it was in 2010 that I learned to drink coffee in the morning almost every single day.  More appropriately I should say that it was in the year 2010 I learned that I love coffee every morning.  Our discussion of tea and coffee was brief, but long enough for me to think about my coffee consumption habits.
In the year 2010 I found myself waking up and tiredly rolling out of bed to begin my typical routine of helping get the kids ready, fed, and dressed.  Then I would shower, dress, and get on to packing my bag for the day.  I would grab my to go thermos of coffee and head out the door.  I have found that, my consumption of coffee had gone from being “with breakfast”, to being “for breakfast”.
One of the reasons I like coffee is because of it’s thicker than tea feeling.  Now maybe that is because I use a portion of creamer that would make any young calf jealous, or maybe it is because I use enough sugar which requires the use of an old fashioned egg beater to mix it all.  Coffee seems to stick to your bones a bit more then tea does.  It seems to take on the form of breakfast far better then it’s watery English girlfriend, the tea bag.
With all of this having been said, this has become a problem for me.  I have realized that for far to long I was not eating one of the most important meals of the day.  I was not fueling my body for what was to come and I was not experiencing life to the fullest.  Coffee, or tea for that matter, was never intended to be a breakfast supplement.  It was only ever intended to enhance the meal itself.  This has led me to the decision that each and everyday, as best as I can, I will eat breakfast.  Let 2011 be known as the year of the breakfast.
While the previous stories are true of my life and experience, breakfast and coffee are metaphors for a much larger epidemic that runs rampant in our Churches and Christian Communities.  I find that there are many who say that they are followers of Jesus, but what they are really saying is that they are followers of church attendance.  They are turning coffee into breakfast.  I have talked with people who have the most disciplined devotional time and who work their way through the whole Bible in one year yet they show no signs of a connectedness with their Savior!  They have turned coffee into breakfast.  I know that there are people who approach the communion table and wonder more about if it really is the first week of the month, rather than spending those precious moments in a time of remembrance, embracing the mystery of Jesus death, burial and resurrection.  They have turned coffee into breakfast.
It is not enough just to be a really religious person.  It is not enough to be a person who looks really good on the outside but on the inside is like an empty warehouse!   Jesus has so much more for you than that.  Bible reading is great, I highly recommend it, but not in place of truly knowing Christ.  Perfect church attendance is awesome, but not in place of truly knowing Christ.

Are you enjoying coffee for breakfast or along with breakfast?

~Peter