A week of serving guests, praying for guests, listening to their problems and concerns, and sharing the Gospel completely drained me. And, I needed to get back to the cafe Saturday morning to open the doors for the Medina High School ENCORE club. ENCORE is a competitive show choir made up of singers, dancers, instrumentalists, and crew members at the high school. This talented bunch of teens spent almost all day in the hot tropical-like-Medina-sun washing cars to raise money, spraying each other with water, and eating popsicles. It was a blast! But, I was tired.

Late in the afternoon, one student walked into the cafe carrying a cell phone. The student walked to the coffee bar and asked, "Is there some place I can recharge my cell?"

I pointed and said, "Sure. There's an outlet right behind you. You can plug it in there."

The student thanked me and walked back outside into the scorching heat. I stood there for a moment...alone...thinking: Father, I need to recharge. I need some place to "plug in." The low signal for my spiritual, mental, and emotional batteries are flashing within my heart.

King David prayed, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew (recharge) a steadfast spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). In those moments when I need to recharge, or be renewed, I like to:

• spend time with my family (and beloved beagle Cooper)
• pray and plug into God's Word
• turn off my cell phone
• turn off my computer
• be a couch potato (I have mastered the athletic skills and techniques necessary to compete at the professional level of this sport) 
• wander barefoot and shirtless through the yard and garden
• laugh until I cry and can't breathe

I feel recharged and ready to serve this week after worshipping with my Church family, sitting down over a wonderful lunch with my sister and brother-in-law, and after indulging in a long nap yesterday. Thank you for your prayers and generous financial support. Please know that your encouragement in this way recharges me and my family, Janis, and the cafe volunteers. It helps prepare our week of mercy ministry.

What do you do to recharge your mental, emotional, and spiritual batteries? I invite you to share your thoughts in the comment box below.

Those who liked the "bike" e-mail I sent a couple months ago are gonna' love this one! A guest's bike at the cafe was taken last week by a group of kids. So, we cruised the streets of Medina in search of his stolen wheels. We couldn't find the bike. So, once again, I lent him a used bike hanging upside down from the hooks in my garage. It was a form of transportation until we found out what happened to his bike.

This past Sunday was Mollie's birthday. Mindee, Mollie, and I returned home from a relaxing evening out. Mindee pulled "black beauty" (our '96 chevy cavalier) into the driveway of our house. She pushed the button on the garage door opener. The garage door slowly squeaked open revealing the bike I lent our friend. My first thought, Tommy returned the bike. He must be finished using it. I got out of "black beauty" and walked over to the bike. A handwritten note was neatly wrapped around the frame. I pulled off the note and began to read,

"Dear Tim,

It wasn't my fault and I have a witness! Jesus, the Holy Savior, must not want me to have transportation. You have my permission to write an e-mail about this. I'm just lucky I wasn't riding it at the time!

Your brother who you must hate by now-

Tommy"

I put down the note and thought, what happened now? I meticulously examined the bike.

The front tire was flat.

You know the scene in The Money Pit with Tom Hanks where everything is going wrong? At one point, they just want to enjoy a hot bath. So, they begin pouring buckets of water into the tub when suddenly the tub falls through the floor and shatters into a billion pieces below them. Tom Hanks stands over the newly formed hole and begins laughing so hard he can hardly breathe. I nearly laughed that hard yesterday.

I don't hate Tommy. I love him. A flattened bike tire will not keep me from loving him. Nothing will keep me from loving him. The Apostle Paul reminds us, "It (love) is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs...It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres" (NIV, 1 Corinthians 13:5 & 7).

Paul's words are a common occurrence at wedding ceremonies or hung neatly in a frame at Grandma's house. But I wonder, do we really believe these words? Do we truly live these words?

Love is superlative. It surpasses and is excessive. True love fully embodies the "always" and "everythings" of life. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus...right? Then why do we allow disappointments and harmful actions and hurtful things to separate us from each another?

We hurt Jesus all the time and He still listens to us and welcomes us home. Is your love for someone a little flat?