Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Parable of the Coffee Shop

My favorite metaphysical image from Leaper by Geoffrey Wood

The parable of the coffee shop shows that the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man who goes into a coffee shop and orders an espresso.

As the man talks across the counter, the coffee guy makes his coffee and sets the cup and saucer on the counter between them. But the man doesn't drink it; he keeps talking, so the coffee gets cold, useless. The coffee guy pours it out and pulls another, sets it up. The man still can't stop talking. The next one goes bad too. So the coffee guy throws that one out too, makes another. And this goes on see?

You may think you are the coffee guy in the parable, but your not -- you're the espresso. (It's like that in parables.) You're not for you. You're some one else's beverage. And God, the coffee guy, he's going to keep remaking you again and again, as many times as it takes until you are drinkable. God's pulling the shots, and he's got standards.

If God changes you, you'd better change.