We've Got Some Work to Do

3/18/11

“Ah coffee. The sweet balm by which we shall accomplish today’s tasks.”― Holly Black

I've got no idea who Holly Black is, but I agree w/ her. Each day I get a 'Daily Thought' emailed to me from REAL SIMPLE. I love their magazine——and reading cool quotes——so I signed up for this lil' feature. Today's quote of course reminded me of Sixty-Six Beans. 

It is w/ regret that I write to you saying that we got denied for a small biz loan, yet again. =( Boo. Hoo. While we were accepted at one bank, their terms just didn't work for us. So, here we are. While this whole waiting process has been going on, in the back of my mind I've been thinking that getting a loan wouldn't really show God's glory. Unless they already had money, almost every business owner got a loan this way. Nothing extraordinary about that. 

From the beginning, Sommer's said how she thought we could somehow get this thing going debt-free, meaning without any loans from the bank. (And, for as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to have an experience where something great happened because of God's help alone, no one else's.) Our ideas were to visit local churches and ask if they'd like to support a Christian-based coffee house opening in their area and to start a Small Biz Directory——which we've already had a few local businesses sign up for. =) Our assistant pastor also suggested serving/selling coffee on Sundays in-between morning services as a way of raising money, too.

Well, these were our ideas from the beginning, but we only went through w/ one——the small biz directory. Instead of letting the loan process simmer on the back burner while we went full throttle serving coffee at our church and visiting other local churches, we did just the opposite. We placed the we'd-need-God-to-REALLY-show-up-for-these-to-actually-work ideas on the back burner, and placed the easy-way-out-everyone-else-does-it-this-way idea first. I think that's why we've reached a standstill. 

We——actually I'm not going to lie——I got too scared of what other people would think of our crazy God's-really-gotta-show-up ideas. I'm not too proud to admit that I'm mostly to blame. =/ I realized my lack of faith when my pastor said on Sunday that he makes God-size goals. Meaning, if he can reach a goal on his own then it's not big enough. Wow. Looks like I need to learn what it's like to make plans and expect God to show up, BIG time.

Keep us in prayer, because we refuse to throw in the towel just yet!

——Ashlee