It's Sunday @ 8am and I'm heading off to work church. Before I get there however, I will have stopped at St. Arbucks for my favorite drink. A Grande Quad Vanilla Latte.

Throughout the week I drink regular coffee...good quality coffee as I've posted here, but regular coffee nonetheless. For some reason though, I've dubbed Sunday as my fancy coffee day.

I feel like a better human with a good cup of coffee in my hand. I act like a better human too.

The drive will also include something moody and raw:



I do this every Sunday and If I can't for some reason I feel all jacked up.

What does your ritual look like?

I love coffee. Have I mentioned that before? With Java, I'm like a senior citizen when it comes to free samples at the grocery...I just can't get enough.



About six months ago a man came to me with a small baggie of contraband. It was wrapped in a brown paper lunch bag with my name written on it. As the words, "What's this?" began to leave my mouth, my hands made contact with the secret substance and my nose clued me in on what was inside. Before he even said anything, I knew it was coffee.

The aroma was so stout and confident...these weren't like other coffee smells I had come in contact with. As I opened up the paper sack, I could see that there was a small plastic sandwich bag filled with beautiful, dark-brown coffee beans. A masking tape label was displayed prominently reading: Roast City #1 - Guatemala

Glancing up from my surprise, he said to me, "I know how much you like coffee...so I figured I would let you try some of mine. I've been roasting my own coffee at home and I brought this for you."

This man is a coffee purist. While he doesn't have a lot of money, he definitely appreciates the finer things in life. He's developed an at-home method of roasting his own raw coffee beans that he orders online. This allows him to take part in a hobby, experience some of the finest coffee known to man at a much lower price, and share something he loves with people. Oh...and his at-home roasting method consists of a popcorn popper, open doors/windows, and lots of experience.

Thanking the man for the coffee I walked away and I didn't see him for a week. When I did see him again. He had another bag of coffee for me. It was also appreciated. When I saw him a week after that, he brought me yet another bag of home-roasted coffee that was out of this world in quality. At this I had to ask him, "Why are you bringing me coffee every week?"

He told me that he really appreciated all the things I did for people and that this was just his way of being able to serve me and say thank you. He told me that while he doesn't have much money, this is a way for him to do something of high value for me. Dollars permitting, he has brought me a small bag of coffee beans each week for the last six months. I've consumed every last bean.

This man is living out of excess rather than absence.

And he has no idea how much that means to me.

Around 2 years ago God spoke to me while I was on a cruise ship headed towards Jamaica. I was in the ship's library sitting in a little pod-like chair reading a book when I felt like Jesus Himself placed an idea in my head. The idea was to start a coffeehouse on the west side of Cincinnati.

This coffeehouse would be different than other coffeehouses, but I wasn't quite sure how. I simply knew that it's main objective would be something other than the almighty dollar.

When I returned home I began sharing the story of what God had pressed into my brain and heart. It seemed I was not alone in my far-fetching dream. Over the next year several other people felt it pressed upon them that we as a church, Vineyard Westside, should start some sort of coffeehouse on the west side. People who would never know each other's stories were being united by a single strange idea.

Several months back a woman named Fran came to our leadership team with an interesting proposition. She told us that she owned a bar on Glenway Ave. that was up for lease again. She had been coming to Vineyard Westside for a while and for some strange reason, God spoke to her about not letting her bar be used for destroying families anymore. She told us that if we were willing to provide the labor, she would provide the funds to transform that bar into whatever we thought would be better. It was clear that the coffeehouse was going to happen.

And it is happening. This will be Refuge Coffeebar:



While this old bar was in horrible shape, we've come together as a community and began the transformation process to turn it into something beautiful. It sits on the corner of Glenway and Ferguson. It was blue and the foundation was damaged. There were cracks running all over the outside of the building, but we have since repaired those and given it a paint job. Soon, the name Club Octane will fade away into the land of the lost with so many other pubs and dives.



Inside we've got big plans. We have created a business plan that is different to say the least. Refuge will be what we are calling a "Biznistry", that is, a business-ministry. There are lots of details involved, but the main point is that Refuge will not take a profit. The money we make in this place will go back out into the community of Cincinnati's west side.



There has been a lot of work that's taken place. We have gutted the entire venue. The sub-flooring even had to be ripped up as it was beginning to rot. Concrete also had to be poured to level everything out. We've started to frame lots of things out at this point. This will be an internet bar with free wi-fi for all the lap-top peeps. We are also looking to have free computers to use set up for the people of this community.



This will be the stage area. We are looking to have lots of live music in this place. We are also toying with the idea of holding a saturday night church service here...something...unchurchy.



Our goal is to offer something different to the community. There are all kinds of ways to get into trouble in this particular area, but there aren't very many safe places to go and just be. This will be a place to just be. We're also looking to offer community classes such as; cooking, reading, life skills, computers, karate, bible studies, etc..



Here's the new wall behind the bar being framed in where there will be lots of menu items. We are interested in offering the best coffee in town and we'll be accomplishing that through a local roaster called La Terza. We're also going to serve snacks, sandwiches, and whatever else we feel like serving...it's a different game when you're not just looking for profits.



This is a little room toward the back of the building that will be used as a library / bookstore.



She's still a little rough looking, but you should have seen it at the beginning. Here's one of the several downstairs rooms. Food storage, office space, classes, etc.. could be held here.



We are so excited about this project that it's hard to express. We have been entrusted with something and we're expecting God to do something amazing with it. This coffeehouse is located in what society is calling a "declining area of Price Hill". We'll see about that.

If I were a good writer I would spend all my free time doing it.

I have too many things going to to keep you up to date...sorry journal. If you were to ask me to tell you a great bear story I could. If you were to ask me to tell you a great hiking story I could. If you were to ask me to tell you a story of beautiful things...I could.

I think I'm addicted to coffee. I'm actually to the point where I don't think I want to have any kind of carbonated energy drinks anymore. I was trying to choke one down in the car on my way to the airport and I couldn't even do it. My taste buds have been captured by espresso macchiatos. My God they're delicious.

I dumped irish cream coffee into boiling water I gathered from a mountain stream this morning. I used a dirty handkerchief to filter my 4x too strong coffee into a thermal mug. I think I'm addicted to coffee.