Kids swarm the cafe. They line the coffee bar sweating all over the counter and panting for something cold to drink. Library bags relax comfortably on the cafe's cozy red chairs. A teenage boy and girl sit face to face at a chess table in a furious battle of wit. And a group of middle school youth pile on the wooden bench near our over-sized table. The cafe is packed. It's packed with kids. Some new kids. And some regulars. And it is fun!

I blame the free kool-aid, ice cream, popsicles, and air conditioning. The cafe volunteers fault the friendly and welcoming hospitality we offer. Maybe it's a bit of both.

"What'dve Y'all been up to?" I ask. (Y'all spits from my lips now and again. It comes naturally from being born in San Antonio.)

"We're headed out to play basketball?" replies one young man.

The kids carry on. Tease one another. And argue over whether they have enough people to play. They chug kool-aid and sweet tea and beg for more Ramen noodle soup.

Then, as fast as they came, they're gone. But they'll be back.

So I sit down to read, leaving the work to my community service helpers. A woman I've never met walks through the door carrying a Bundt Cake. It was a delicious surprise!

"Is that for us?" I say excitedly.

"Yes!" she replies setting it gently on the bar.

After a quick exchange of thank you's and you're welcomes, she leaves. I sit up, place my book on the shelf, and walk over to smell her donation. I lift the cake to inspect it and hiding beneath it is a $20 bill.

I think to myself as I drop the donation in the box: WOW, What a sweet surprise! Thank you Father for this woman and her provision.

Please know that all the volunteers are doing what they can to serve and reach the young people of Medina. We may not always see them experience the life-changing power of knowing Jesus. But we are serving. We are sharing. We are praying. We're giving away bibles, and feeding the hungry, and quenching the thirst of those thirsty, and doing all of this in His name and for His glory.

Thank you for giving. You are just as much a part of our work as those on the front lines. And you get to share in the reward awaiting those who remain faithful until the end.

Someone once wrote, "Whatever you do (WHATEVER), work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving" (NIV, Colossians 3:23-24).

I instruct a community service helper to brew a pot of Dunkin' Donuts House Blend donated to the cafe. (They say: America runs on Dunkin'. I don't. I think it's kinda' hard to run on a cup of coffee. A person could roll their ankle attempting that. It's dangerous. I run on a track or away from an attacker. But I drink a cup of coffee.)

I sit anxiously waiting for the coffee to ripen and then pour myself a cup. Steam from the coffee tickles my nose as I take the first sip. Its aroma inviting. Its flavor invigorating. Kids pile in the cafe and plop down in our comfy chairs.

"This air-conditioning feels so good," says one teen wiping sweat from his forehead. "It's hot out there."

"I'm glad you like it," I reply. "Would you like something to drink?"

"A kool-aid," he answers.

A few adults pile in the cafe too. I open the Word and share words of encouragement with a dear friend. After that, a man asks me for food from our pantry. We walk downstairs, and he gathers cans of soup, peanut butter, and a can of beef stew. The beef stew was the only one we had. Not a big deal. I'm glad to give it away. It's better than watching it collect dust sitting on a shelf.

About fifteen minutes later, a women walks in with a box of canned goods for the cafe. Her present contains (get this): cans of soup, peanut butter, and four cans of the exact brand of beef stew I just gave away. No joke. I give away one can of beef stew and immediately receive four!

There is an interesting occurrence in Scripture. Paul shares something Jesus said that is not recorded in the Gospels. (All you bible scholars can correct me if I am wrong.) But Paul writes, "In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'" (NIV, Acts 20:35). It truly is more blessed to give than to receive. This truth applies to many aspects of our lives.

It is more blessed to:

• give love than receive love.
• give money than receive money.
• serve than be served.
• give hope than receive hope.
• give mercy than receive mercy.
• give faith than receive faith.
• feed the hungry than receive food.
• shelter the homeless than receive shelter.
• clothe the naked than receive clothes.
• restore sight to the blind than receive sight.
• restore hearing to the deaf hear than receive hearing.
• heal the sick than receive healing.
• give freedom to captives than receive freedom.
• give life than receive life.
• give a job to the jobless than receive a job.
• give a car ride than receive a car ride.
• give fair fries to a missionary who shall remain nameless than receive fair fries (I had to throw that one in there).
• be a friend than receive a friend.
• be a listening ear than receive a listening ear.
• forgive someone of an offense than receive forgiveness.

Being a child of God is more than simply knowing and believing. He desires that we live what we know; that we act on our belief (1 John 3:18; James 1:22-25, 2:14-26). Dearest friend, step out in faith! Live what you know and what you believe and trust Him for the results.

The cafe rent is due tomorrow and we could use some beef stew. Our "beef stew" is the roughly $80 the cafe needs to pay the bills and stay open. The cafe will be open tonight from 6-9pm. I'll be there, and I'm dropping one can of beef stew ($8) in the donation box trusting my heavenly Father to provide a bunch more "beef stew." It is one way I can put my faith in action. And I believe He'll provide.

Conan O'Brien, host of the Tonight Show, says, "Twitter is all the rage." This e-news update is a twitter update on some of the past "goings-on" at the cafe. Thank you for your support and prayers. Keep more of both coming our way. Enjoy!

1. Gave a new Bible away to a guest last week.

2. One type A organizer helped one non-type A person (me) organize and clean our pantry.

3. More people helped organize our pantry.

4. Prayed for a freezer and fridge for the cafe. Received two freezers and a fridge in less than 48 hours.

5. Medina city historical board voted unanimously to approve our new CUPS CAFE outdoor sign.

6. New CUPS CAFE business cards printed and donated to the cafe.

7. Shepherds Grace Church hosting a community VBS program at the cafe this week for young people in Medina.

8. Beat my wife in a quick game of corn hole.

9. Medina Presbyterian Church VBS collecting and donating canned goods and supplies for the cafe this week. I'm speaking there Sunday and they're coming to the cafe to refurbish our outdoor tables...YEAH!

10. Training two new volunteers. One next week. The other in a couple weeks.

11. Cafe blessed again this year with a contract from the fair to raise money for the cafe. Will need workers. More to come on that.

12. Ran out of paper towels. My wife donated some today.

13. Mollie spending a few days this week with grandparents in Pennsylvania.

14. A community service person asked me to help keep them accountable with an addiction.

15. A woman will donate cans of whipped cream on a weekly basis through the rest of the summer.

16. A volunteer asked if it was okay to continue playing a game with a teen. OF COURSE!! I reply.

17. Two volunteers helped out a guest. Took this person to a church outing.

18. Free spa night Monday July 20 for young teens and women. Already have some sign-ups!!!

19. Donuts run plentiful at the cafe.

20. My wife got a raise. She made more than me last quarter.

21. Met new cafe neighbors renting the location next to us. Cool.

22. Umbrellas look sweet outside in the nice weather.

23. A man just released from jail stopped in asking for a cup of cold water. Our new vision statement at work. I think we touched his heart.

24. A special donation of $500 made to the cafe last week will help us pay the rent for August. Any matchers for September?

25. Stopped everything, all the noise, for a moment late one night when I couldn't sleep to listen for God's voice. Found it to be a good exercise (u should try it). Heard Him say, "I love you." And, "Live Life." Yeah...um...still processing that last one.

26. A friend came over and got on my roof to help me work through a roof problem.

27. A friend bought me a brand new hammer drill. Undeserved...but thankful.

28. Cafe hosted a live teen band last Friday night. 70 guests came through the doors.

29. Gave canned goods from our pantry to a woman and her shut-in grandmother. Told her it was from God and that God is real and He loves her. She wept.

We received a monster donation of canned goods and perishable food on Saturday. One of the coolest things about this donation is how we were able to help the Salvation Army in Medina by giving away some of the perishable food to them for their monthly soup kitchen: PROJECT MUNCH.

This donation came about because of the generosity of the youth work camp going on last week. 370 plus teens from 8 different states and 13 different churches spent last week doing community service projects. And they brought canned goods to donate to local food banks and charities.

Duane Kenyon, a member of Christ the King Lutheran Church, was part of the team that organized this work camp. He wrote to me in an e-mail, "The canned foods were donated by the Group work camp attendees and the fresh food was left over from the meals served during the week of camp. These were donated by the co-sponsor Christ the King Lutheran Church. I'm glad we could help your awesome mission."

Christ the King Lutheran is located on the corner of Rt. 42 and Kennard Road in Harrisville TWSHP.

Christ the King Lutheran

8080 Lafayette Rd.

Lodi, Ohio 44254

Services: 8:15am & 10:45am Sunday's

Sunday School: 9:30am

Pastor Chris Cahill

Church Phone: 330.948.3000

God is so good! Thank you Duane, and Christ the King Lutheran Church, and all those teens who gave of their time to serve the needs of others in Lodi and the surrounding community.

We're struggling with the room to store this donation. Our pantry needs some TLC. It's overflowing. We shouldn't be surprised by this. God the Father spoke through one of His prophets saying, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it" (NIV, Malachi 3:10).

Any youth groups or church small groups wanna' do a community service project at the cafe to help us clean and organize our pantry? Anyone need a can of soup?

conduit: "a natural or artificial channel through which something is conveyed; a means of transmitting or distributing" (conduit. (2008). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved December 19, 2008, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conduit).

I joke with a close friend about how we (the cafe servants) are conduits. We're not your ordinary, everyday PVC pipe found on a shelf at a big-box store. We're conduits of a living God. We're channels through which Jesus sovereignly and graciously conveys, transmits, or distributes His purposes according to His pleasure and for His glory. We're conduits of His mercy. Mainly so that He gets all the glory. It's never about us.

Our great King used me, and another brother in Christ, as conduits of mercy to help a young man during one cold December evening at Cafe 41:11. I remember it being busy earlier that week. But when Thursday hit, business slowed so I decided to close early and began cleaning when a 28-year-old walked in.

He needed a job.

I discovered he had snow plowing experience. So I called my friend Mike, because I remember Mike telling me one time how He knew a guy who owns a snow plow/landscaping company. Mike gave me the guys number, and I called the business owner.

5:24 p.m. Thursday, December 4, 2008

"This is Tim from Cafe 41:11. I'm calling because I have a guy here looking for a job. He has experience driving one-ton snow plow trucks. You're the only person I know who owns a plowing business so I thought I'd give you a call. It can be temporary. I didn't know if maybe you needed any extra help."

"Is he there?" the business owner asks.

"Yeah, he's right here. You wanna' talk to him?"

"Yeah, put him on."

They talked on the phone using words I couldn't understand. Something about back spreaders and salt licks. (I have no idea.) During their extensive foreign dialect, I made a New Year's resolution to order Rosetta Stone's "Snowplowese" language software.

They spoke their goodbye's and the 28-year-old was ecstatic!

He had a new job.

I wouldn't know the significance of all this until the next evening...

7:00 p.m. Friday, December 5, 2008

I went to Mike's house to chill and join other brothers and sisters in Christ for some impromptu worship. Mike told me how his friend, the business owner we called the night before, just bought a new snow plow truck on faith. He felt it was something God was leading him to do.

Mike shared with me that he bought the truck on Thursday, December 4, 2008. And as he backed the new truck into his driveway he prayed, "Okay God. I sensed that You wanted me to buy this truck. I acted in faith. You need to provide someone to fill this seat. Someone to drive this truck."

When he finished praying, his cell phone rang.

It was me...

...calling on behalf of the 28-year-old looking for a job.

I waited to share this story until the timing seemed right. Today seemed right. Cafe 41:11 is a connecting place. It's part of our mission that we act as conduits to local churches and the community. I've put together a new resource page on our website. Think of it as a pipeline, a conduit, to connect you and those you know and those you may encounter who need connected. Check it out and thank you for your support and prayers. You can also find it by highlighting the MEDINA link, then the RESOURCES link.

Are you a conduit of His love and mercy?

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.