I reach in my pocket grasping for my keys to unlock the cafe. Cafe 41:11 is still asleep; enjoying a few more hours of frosty darkness until the warmth of the sun touches the west side of the building. I pass through the early morning shadows entering the train car in a personal morning fog...but on a mission. (BTW - I'm NOT a morning person!)

My mission?

The rent is due Wednesday, April 1st and every dollar counts. I need to check the donation box.

Once inside, the donuts and the sugar cookies greet me as I stumble through the dimly lit cafe toward the donation box. I fumble my keys searching for the small brass key to the box. It's quiet inside except for the jingling and clanging of my keys echoing off the curved stainless steel ceiling.

Slipping the key into the key hole, I turn my wrist and pull open the donation box door. Envelopes and loose change pour out. My personal morning fog lifts in excitement of what might be inside! I forage through the donations seeing roughly two handfuls of loose change, lots of crinkled one dollar bills, a few five dollar bills, one twenty, and a folded piece of colored paper. Intrigued...I grab the creased piece of paper. At first, I think it might be a handwritten note from a grateful guest. (It's happened before.) But it wasn't a note.

It was a coupon.

It was a coupon for one complimentary Clorox Bleach item. The picture above is the actual coupon. The cafe has been open for a year and a half and a coupon has never been dropped in our box. So I chuckle. It seems funny to me for some reason. (I wasn't making fun of the gift or the giver. It just made me laugh like some form of dry Monty-Python-type humor.) The coupon catches me off guard. It is a unique gift but also very endearing and thoughtful and so I smile and laugh.

Questions fire in my mind...

Was this coupon given to the cafe by a teenager as a joke?

Was it given by someone as a "thank you" for all they've received?

Was it a gift from one of our older guests who doesn't have much?

Maybe...just maybe...the person who gave it felt they needed to give something and this was all they could afford?

With elbows resting on the counter and staring at the coupon in my hands, my brain shoots into light speed accessing that famous passage of Scripture where the widow gives out of her poverty.

"But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on" (NIV, Mark 12:42-44).

Hmmm...(I think to myself)...somebody is giving the cafe coupons. Somebody is giving out of their poverty or it's just an attempt at humor. Either way...this gift kicks butt!

I begin to wonder, if Jesus' earthly ministry happened in 2009, would He have pointed out a widow giving a coupon donation to help His followers understand the heart of giving instead of two copper coins?

I pray you'll continue to give to your church, beloved organization, or missionary. Please do not ever believe that even the gift of a coupon is not appreciated. It is! The cafe doesn't have a bottle of bleach. We could use bleach. This coupon is a special gift even if it may have been a teenage prank. I guess we'll never know. But I do know this...

Whoever gave the cafe this coupon made our donation box more like a nourishing well; one we can go to for sustenance the way a desert well provides water for thirsty travelers. And, I have to say, whoever gave this coupon is always welcome at Cafe 41:11.

Because of this gift and a special check given today, along with so many other kind-hearted donations last week, the cafe has enough money to pay the rent needed April 1st.

Thank you...somebody...for giving.

"Tim, do you have five bucks I can have to put gas in my car?"

When my friend asked me that yesterday, time stopped. The grand and historic trees around Medina shook. Thunder and lighting clanged inside my heart producing a freakish hail storm that pounded black and blue marks on the skin of soul. Basically the earth stopped rotating on its axis.

I looked in his eyes thinking: LORD? That is my five dollars. My last five dollars! The last five dollars in my wallet! That's my gas money. I need gas and are you asking me to give it to him!? Are you asking me to put his needs before my own!?

I was near the point of cursing at myself but said, "Yes, I do. Here you go brother."

And I gave him my five dollars.

Five dollars may not seem like much to you, but to me...it's HUGE! When you're living on a missionary salary, five bucks goes a long way. You can get a foot long sub at Subway for five bucks. You can buy a few gallons of gas to drive to and from the cafe during the week. Or it's lunch money for Mollie. She loves cheesy dipper day! Five bucks is huge to me.

I need to stop right here and ask you something. Are you like me? Do those same selfish thoughts bounce around the mind of your heart? Or am I the only one? I hope I'm not alone.

God is a reciprocal being. The things we do and say will be done and said unto us. He promises in His word. And it's not an Old Testament or a New Testament concept. It is covenantal and based on who God is. It's based on His character. It's true throughout Scripture because God is the same God yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

It's also a basic law of nature called reaping and sowing. He designed this law. If you plant a tomato seed in the backyard garden, then you'll get a tomato plant. You expect to get a tomato plant. You won't get a new computer. Computers do not come from tomato seeds planted in the yard. And if you don't plant a tomato seed, then you won't get a tomato plant. (Sowing and reaping, reaping and sowing, baby. It's true and it works.)

You give five bucks to a friend in need and you'll get five bucks back. Sometimes more.

Now, you may not receive back, or reap, everything you've sown while on this spinning ball of dirt. Your reward may be in heaven. God, being sovereign, can give and do as He pleases (Psalm 115:3). He may choose to wait to reciprocate the things you've done or given.

The funny thing about Godly reciprocation is the fact that you won't be worried about that five bucks when you get to heaven if you did not receive it in return while on earth. You won't even ask God about it or ask Him to give it back to you, because HE will be your reward. And enjoying the presence of Almighty God for eternity is so much more rewarding than receiving a measly five bucks for that one time you emptied your wallet. (Actually it will be less than that because of the rapid devaluation of the American dollar.)

Godly Reciprocation Principle #1: "He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him" (NIV, John 14:21).

Godly Reciprocation Principle #2: "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in His love" (NIV, John 15:10).

Godly Reciprocation Principle #3: "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (NIV, Luke 6:38).

Godly Reciprocation Principle #4: "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (NIV, Romans 10:9).

Godly Reciprocation Principle #5: "See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him" (NIV, Deuteronomy 30:15-19).

Godly Reciprocation Principle #6: "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised" (NIV, Hebrews 10:36).

There are so many more examples of this truth in Scripture. My six barely scratches the surface but you get the idea. Try putting these principles to the test. See if they work. If you don't know where to start, try them out on me and see how God reciprocates. I won't mind being your test subject for this experiment. I make a perfect guinea pig. By the way, I gave my last five bucks away yesterday and...

...a different friend handed me a crisp, cool fifty dollar bill today! Man oh man, the Lawd is good!!

Uh oh, I wonder if He has plans for me to give this fifty dollar bill away too? The cycle continues. Reciprocation here we go...

Clouds creep close together slowly blocking the afternoon sun. Young and old gather at the cafe for hot chocolate and soup. It's a beehive of activity when a man in a denim coat steps through the red train car door and approaches me saying, "I need to talk to you for a minute."

"What can I do for you?" I ask.

"I heard you have a food pantry here or something...I just got laid off from my job and I'm havin' a tough time right now, man."

"Yeah...we do," I reply. "We also have some fresh bread up here. Go through it, take what you need, and then meet me downstairs."

Together, we raid the shelves of the cafe pantry like hungry teens on a sleep-over attacking mom's fridge at night. It was nearly a robbery, and it's a good thing no one saw us. They would've called the police.

We knock over canned goods and rummage through cans of coffee and boxes of tea. Bags of chips fall clumsily from our hands. The man in the denim coat stuffs plastic grocery bags with nourishment tearing one of the bags. I top off the ripped bag with four rolls of toilet paper. (You all know how I feel about toilet paper.)

We shake hands. And he leaves thanking me and wishing me a God Bless You.

An older gentleman drops in to give the cafe a special donation to help pay the rent. (We still need more.)

Afterwards, a mother chases her two little girls into the cafe. Mom enjoys a chicken salad sandwich on white bread while her children crunch popcorn with mouths missing two front teeth. They wash down their afternoon snack with green kool-aid. The chins of those two precious girls barely clear the top of the coffee bar. Their toothless smiles push back the curtains of clouds and the sun once again shines through the dusty cafe windows.

My wife and daughter stop in on their way to the library.

"I missed you today," Mindee says. She hugs me and gently kisses my cheek.

Teenagers pile in the cafe. And I have a chance to talk to them about music and Christian music and about the love of God found in Jesus Christ. Yesterday, I delightfully discharged all the duties of my ministry.

It was a good day.

My heavenly Father always manages to provide the financial support for my family and for the cafe. I am thankful, but mission work is hard. And yet I'm reminded to endure hardship as if navigating dangerous seas in search of a safe harbor. Most days I wish the source of my salary, and the money needed for the cafe, was more like a calm ocean, a safe port, a place of peace and rest and lacking danger rather than rough seas. (Maybe someday.)

I remember from my days in the Navy how unspeakably beautiful a calm ocean is. It's like a glassy mirror. It's perfectly flat without disruption. I'm not exaggerating. An ocean like that will lull you to sleep. But my support level may never get to that place and that's okay. Again, I'm reminded to endure with a thankful heart. There is a great reward awaiting those who endure rough seas. The reward is an unbreakable promise.

I hope you've come to realize that the reward for enduring hardship is truly worth it. Don't give up. Don't stop sailing just because your journey is stormy. Endure hardship. Oh how I pray you'll endure.

I've cleaned out a special room in my heart for the letters written by Paul to Timothy. Mainly because my name is Timothy (silly...I know). But I read them as if the postman just delivered them to my mailbox today.

Paul reminds me, "But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry" (NIV, 2 Timothy 4:5).

Share below what you're enduring with a thankful heart.

Spring arrived early for me. I sat on the step of my porch during a lunch break enjoying the warm, bright sunshine. When suddenly a honeybee buzzed over my noggin heading for a small patch of crocuses blooming in my wife's garden bed. I thought: WHOA!! My first bee sighting of the year.

The bee found the flowers and went straight to work. It floated clumsily around the purple petals as if today was its first day of flight. The bee gathered pollen with each landing. Its dainty legs slowly inflating with the orange dust until it looked like a child wearing floaties at the city pool.

It was so cool to watch. I'm not going to try and make some spiritual or biblical connection between this experience and the cafe or my life and ministry. Those of you who read these e-news updates and our monthly newsletters probably have a good understanding of our ministry and our needs. I simply wanted to share with you, my supporters and friends, what I witnessed this afternoon.

Almost every day I'm asked by my wife and friends, "How was your day?" 

I usually reply in a monotone voice, "Fine." (The way Lurch from The Addams Family would reply, "You Rang?")

Today wasn't fine. Today was good.

I sipped my tea thinking about the next sentence to write. My trusty laptop computer (I call him Mr. HP) hummed and whined begging for me to pound my fingers on his flat keypad. Mr. HP is like 7 years old. That's nearly young enough to collect a pension. The age of a computer in human years is a more dramatic increase than the age of a dog in human years. Anyway, Mr. HP was my companion Tuesday at the cafe. He's been helping me write a new book.

Tuesday was a Medina city schools early release day. The first part of my shift was unusually quiet because our after school crowd left for home earlier in the day. I had one student stop in for a bowl of soup. Before he left he asks, "Can I take some bread home for me and my grandma?"

"Sure," I reply. "Pick out whatever you need." He thanks me, waves, then bounces out the front door leaving me and Mr. HP to work on the book.

A half hour later, a young man walks in. He has been a regular guest at Cafe 41:11 for almost a year. The volunteers have all taken turns praying for him and feeding him. Basically...loving him. Last week, a pastor of a local Church and one of our supporters made a commitment to meet with him on a weekly basis to encourage him, counsel him, mentor him, and answer his questions about God. He agreed.

Yesterday, he walks through the door, sits down on a stool next to me and Mr. HP saying, "Oh, Tim. Guess what?"

"What?" I ask.

"I've just asked Jesus to be Lord of my life."

My heart shouted, YES!, giving Jesus a kind of spiritual high-five. And I'm not certain, but I think Mr. HP hummed a high-five too.

I was in a fierce wrestling match last week with that great masked avenger: The Common Cold. He is a worthy adversary, but eventually I won. I pinned him to the mat, and I'm feeling better today. Although, I had some help. There were no metal chairs, ladders, or 2x4's at the side of the wrestling ring so I grabbed orange juice from the fridge, water from the faucet, a sturdy cardboard box of Kleenex, and two of my closest friends.

Rich and Lyle answered the call and joined me at the cafe Thursday afternoon providing support, encouragement, and strength to serve and minister to cafe guests. We had a great discussion going about God's sovereignty and evangelism when one of our "regulars" dropped in.

We welcomed him. The guest asked for a glass of water. Rich filled up a cup for him, and the three of us continued our conversation.

He overheard us and joined in saying, "I wish God would save me, but I just don't think he hears me. I do all these bad things and ask God to forgive me but keep doing dumb things that I don't want to do. I'm also afraid of what my friends will say if my life changes, like...a lot. But isn't it also true that, like...um, if someone asks him to come into their heart but that person just keeps doing stuff, eventually God won't forgive that person?"

Immediately, the direction of our conversation deviated. Three men slurping coffee and talking about God became four men. It was a wonderful conversation. It was a confluence of people and their stories of how God has changed, and is changing, their lives. After nearly an hour of sharing the scriptures and our lives with this young 19 year old, Lyle stood and hugged him.

I share this moment at the cafe to encourage you that your prayers are being answered and your financial support is not futile. God is giving the cafe volunteers opportunities to feed the hungry and talk with guests about Him. Your support makes this possible. Thank you!

Please continue sharing the cafe ministry with your friends and family. And remember the cafe in your prayers. Ask God to provide new financial supporters, more volunteers, and more people to pray for a greater confluence of the staff, the volunteers, and those guests walking in for a glass of cold water.

Jesus said,

"And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward" (NIV, Matthew 10:42).

"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink" (NIV, John 7:37).