The Most Expensive Coffee in the World

OK. For those of you who weren't there and wanted to know about the illustration, here it is:

I haven't always been a coffee drinker. Actually I just started drinking it again after about 20 or so years. But I looovvve coffee. Especially strong coffee. And when I heard about this particular coffee I just knew that I had to share it with Revolution. (A friend of mine, Jono, who is also a youth pastor told me about it. He actually "shared" it with his youth group as well and gave me some of it so that I could do the same. Thanks Bro!) Now this coffee is very expensive. It actually costs about $420 per pound in Canada but you can find it a little cheaper on-line. It is the most expensive and sought after coffee in the world. It is only grown in Indonesia and is a delicacy all over the world. It is called Kopi Luwak. There's no way that we could have given a cup full to every person there Wednesday night (too expensive) and I didn't want to make some and let everyone try a sip (too gross, sorry guys... I wasn't drinking after you) so we gave 1 coffee bean to every person. That's right we gave 1 Kopi Luwak coffee bean to everybody as they came into the sanctuary. Everyone held their bean, most tasted it, some even chewed it up and swallowed it. They say that this coffee is not only the most expensive but also the most caffeinated. The strength of the bean is amazing, and the smell?... it's incredibly good. If you like the smell of coffee, that is. Anyway, as I was explaining to everyone the greatness of this particular coffee and everyone was tasting their coffee bean we watched a video on how coffee is roasted (sorry, I had to go all "Discovery Channel" on them, haha) and then we watched a second video. This video was from Animal Planet. It was about these things called Civet Cats (kinda like a cross between a raccoon and a monkey) that are nocturnal mammals that live in the trees of Indonesia. They love to eat coffee cherries. The only problem is, their digestive system can only break down the 'fleshy' part of the coffee fruit and they poop out the seed, or bean, because it won't digest completely. (I think you see where this is going) Then, after they excrete (that's a fancy term for poop) the un-digested bean out onto the ground, people come and dig through the excrement (poop) that's on the ground and collect all of the beans. Then they sort and dry the beans. Then they roast the beans. Then they sell the beans. They sell the beans for a lot of money! And there you have it... Kopi Luwak. Google it. I'm not making this stuff up. The most expensive, most sought after and most caffienated coffee in the world comes from poop! That's right, poop. People all over the world pay top dollar for it too. Crazy, huh?

By now you're probably wondering why in the heck did you let students put that stuff in their mouth? It's one of those "crazy youth ice breakers" that you do, right? Nope. We don't do "ice breakers" in Revolution (sorry, I guess I'm too old or something). Let me explain why we did it.

We started a new series Wednesday Night titled "What In The World Is Going On? There are so many people who are living in fear, depression, worry and the list could go on and on. There are wars, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanoes erupting, economies crashing and again, the list could go on and on. And some people are freaking out. They're asking the question "what in the world is going on? Is this the end of the world? Does God even care that we're hurting? Are Christians suppose to suffer? Why is this happening to me? And that's what we'll be talking about for a few weeks. Back to the reason for the coffee bean. No matter what you are going through in your life... no matter how much "crap" you're surrounded by, no matter how much things stink right now... hold on! Persevere. Push through. Don't quit because God is going to take what looks disgusting and broken and dark and crappy... and He is going to turn it into something that is valuable, great, precious and amazing. No matter where you are in life right now... no matter how bleak the situation... no matter how "bad" it is... God has a greater plan than what you can see so don't quit! Embrace the process. Don't try to escape the process. Because just like the Kopi Luwak coffee bean, without going through some crap, it could never become the greatest "most expensive coffee in the world."

Love Ya!

Java Jim