The idea started as a simple coffee cart. We planned to go to events on the weekend and make some income on the side. Nothing crazy. Well, everything changed once God spoke. 

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Let's back up just a bit. We were working on the coffee cart when I had the opportunity to go on my first mission trip to Guatemala. This was the first time I felt the pure joy of living entirely for God. I was on fire. During that time, I felt deeply that He had a reason for sending me there, beyond our task of delivering water filters.

 

So, I told my family that I wanted us to become full-time traveling missionaries. They didn't want the same. It was very difficult accepting that at the time. Back to getting the coffee cart up and running and saving for our first family mission trip. If they could go themselves, they would feel it too I thought.

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I had just ordered the espresso machine, the final piece, and I was informed of a three month wait period. It was crushing since we had been living off savings at this point. Three more months of waiting, stretching our budget to the brink. I was searching for jobs to supplement us and attending as many church events as possible to try to conjure the fire I felt in Guatemala. That's when God intervened.

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I was leaving a bible study when He told me to call my dad; who I hadn't spoken to in nearly a decade. I was scared, nervous, and resistant at first. But I knew I had to trust Him. So I picked up my phone and selected the contact I had been terrified of misdialing so many times in the past. It rang, but no answer. Through teary eyes, I left a voicemail saying "It's been a while, I love you, and I'd like to talk."

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We met up that evening. I'm skipping the details here but it was truly healing. It was amazing to finally reconnect. Here's why this is relevant: my dad tells me during that dinner that he knows a bakery owner who is looking for someone to sell coffee out of their shop! The position had opened a month prior and its a sublet so the rent was affordable. 

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That night, our coffee cart became a coffee shop. But a major problem remained, there was still two months to go on the wait period for the espresso machine. We pressed on, we set up the area in the bakery and continued looking for other work to fill the gap. Well, not a week passed and we get a call asking if Monday would be a good time to drop off the machine. Nearly two months early? God is working on so many levels to get everything into place!

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We open our doors and serve a total of zero people our first day. Then the second day, again nothing. We spent hours passing out "free coffee" flyers throughout downtown so we knew something would come eventually.

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I was driving home after the second day when God spoke to me for the second time. He told me to make the coffee free. I didn't understand at first. I prayed about it the entire ride home. Asking God if He really wanted this. Asking Him if this is really Him and not my marketing brain. I asked, and listened, and prayed until I got home. I brought it up over family dinner. I said, "what if we make the coffee free, like permanently?" Cue the no's. Resounding no's. But I couldn't shake it.

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So I continued praying that night. During prayer, I asked God for the first sign I had ever asked Him for. I asked Him to show me a sign in the scripture I was about to read. To this day, I'm eternally grateful that He did. The last passage of my devotional that day was Genesis 43. The story of a famine ravaging the land of Canaan while King Joseph ruled. King Joseph's brothers come to him for grain, he gives them a hard time, but eventually fills their sacks with grain and returns their money without them knowing. There's much more to the story but that was the sign God had delivered. Out of all the verses that could have been waiting for me in my devotional, that was the final one. He had it ready to go all along. 

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After much gratitude and some healthy trepidation, I officially decided to take the leap of faith and make the coffee free. I slowly began telling everyone, my wife included. For the record, I don't recommend doing anything without agreeing on it. But with God, it's different. She also had her own sign aid in her understanding. 

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Soon after announcing our pay what you want decision we partnered with the charity organization called Nations In Love. The same organization I went on my life-changing mission trip through. This brought the entire endeavor full circle. God has made full-time mission work possible through our efforts within our coffee shop. After bills are paid, we send the remaining profits to the purchase of water filters and the work of missionaries. 

 

God has done life-giving, amazing things through a series of seemingly unrelated events. There is more than this already long story can cover and so much more to come. Thank you for caring enough to read through this and if you have Him in your heart let this be your sign to start trusting Him completely. Take the step and watch what He does.