Shadrach, Meshach, and Abeantogo

When I come home from Olivet, one of the first things I do is grab a cup of coffee from the coffeeshop in town. It is called Shadrach, Meshach, and Abeantogo. Get it? Cute, huh! 

Anyway, it is much different than a typical coffeeshop because they actually roast their own beans right there in the store! They have a huge roasting machine and the perfect location. They are in a garage. Most of the time the garage door is open right on to the street. It's really quite a unique little place. 

I stumbled across their website and found this on their about page:
www.abeantogo.com/about-us/
(check it out)

What a cool analogy! Just like the coffee going through the fire, so do we as Christians. We are being refined and made whole... so that the end result is a good tasting, cup of a person. What a great picture and prayer for our lives. 

I often forget the purpose of trials. During those awful seasons in my life, I think, "when is this going to end! what is the point of this?". Student teaching gave me days like that, long distance with Michael gives me days like that, my struggling Grandma gives me days like that, my lack of a job gives me days like that, my deep thoughts give me days like that, no money gives me days like that... and so on and so on (for my whole life). But it is during those moments, those beautiful and refining moments, that I need to remember what that end result is. I am growing as a Christian, through every trial I go through. I am forced to seek the Lord and depend on Him during those times as well. It's not always easy and often times feels like it will never end, but I must remember that fire. That good, refining fire. 

My prayer is that I can come out as a good, strong cup of coffee than before I started as a raw, bitter bean.