A Salt Packet

Let’s backtrack, I am back to making the coffee for the people.

If you know me, you know a passion of mine is coffee. I love the joy that can be found in the simplicity of life given to us by the Father. This past year I laid this down and the rest of what the Lord was telling me to lay down. And, I went on the WorldRace. If you are unfamiliar, this is an 11-month mission’s trip over-seas where you pretty much live out of a backpack. It was a beautiful journey sharing God’s truth and discovering more of His heart.

Now, here I am two months into a new year; thrown back into the thicket of what is “normal life”. I am not going to lie to you my soul misses the adventure, the community passionate after the will of the Father, and the many daily divine encounters. Yet, the Lord has gently lowered me back into His truth that every day is a serious gift. I have loved seeing our God in the mundane, the ordinary, the thicket of ”normal life”; I saw Him in Aldi through a man walking up to strangers asking them if they knew the Name, Jesus; I saw Him in the beautiful, sky colors peaking over the mountains; I saw Him in the sweet reunions with friends and family; I meet with Him every day in my quaint, little bedroom. He continues to remind me that He is the same God of my bedroom that He was on those mountaintops. He is the same yesterday, today, and with what lies ahead.

Today, I walked back into an ever-once-familiar place. Even though, it was my first day on the job. Green aprons flying by as the coffee aroma hits you in the face.. Starbucks. I have worked at Starbucks since I was studying my under-grad in Florida. I could be asking, God, why would you bring me back here? At first, I 100% questioned even the thought of it. Yet, here I am not a supervisor as I once was, but a barista. I know that it is exactly where the Lord has called me for now. Tears fell to my chin as I drove home after today’s shift. Not because it was horrible; I truly love it all, the fast-pace, the coffee-making, the customer-connections! My heart was just broken over the many we pass by daily who are lost and without the Hope of our Savior, Jesus. The tears fell because I felt small, inadequate, and just sad. As these emotions unsettled my soul, the song came on the radio that goes, “That’s the power of His Name; just a mention makes a way, giants fall and strongholds break, and there is healing..There is no power like the MIGHTY NAME OF JESUS.” This truth washed over my aching heart instantly, friends. The Lord reminded me of my calling to be salt and light. “Be Salt. Even if, it is only 1 itty-bitty packet at a time.. a sprinkle here and a sprinkle there, Kel.”

The enemy wants us hopeless. He wants us selfish. He wants us distracted. He wants us full of pride. So, we are blinded and do not see the need all around us for a sprinkle of His love and His truth. Humble and lowly, Jesus walked. He met a Samaritan woman at a well and revealed Himself to her of all the people.

John 4:7-14 The women at Jacob’s Well – “There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. His disciples gone away to the city. Then saith the woman of Samaria, How is it that thou being a Jew asks me for a drink, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knew the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have ask of him, and he would have given thee living water.

vs.13 Jesus says, ”Whosoever drinketh of this well water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

I cannot help but think there are many today as this woman at the well, thirsty. Would we stop? Would we give her the time? _ maybe it is not so much a thirsty woman at a well, but maybe it is a homeless man on the street, maybe it is a depressed teenager, maybe it is a bisexual man, maybe it is a broken family, maybe our least favorite politician. These are people Jesus died for; His heart is aching for ALL people.

We have to get uncomfortable. It will probably not look the way we think it should, wrapped up all nice and neat on a Sunday-morning pew. This is not the life Jesus calls us too. He calls us to the wells, friends. His calling is for ALL people, those who are broken, who are shattered, who are hopeless, who are fighting to hold on, and those who seem to have it all together.

“`Luke 5:31-32 ”They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

I hold tight to this verse because truly if we found Jesus was walking around today, I believe we would find him in the most unlikely of places loving the most unqualified of people (Matthew 25:40).

Jesus, Thank you for being the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Thank you for the truth of the Gospel that you came and died for ALL people. I pray you would move us to get uncomfortable. I pray that we would not live lives distracted and selfish, but move our hearts for every person that we encounter. Bring us to the wells. And, Jesus lift the burdens, giving our souls peace, that we know we merely are called to be salt and light. The Power is simply in Your Name, Jesus.

Your Beloved, Kel