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“My Coffee Cup Meditations” and Me

A Guest Post from a Reader in Scotland

Meeting a dear friend for that promised coffee… or using the spare time for private prayer? Given the choice on a given day I’m all too aware of which I would naturally plump for!  Despite relishing the notion of disciplined prayer, the opportunity to enjoy a cup of hot, frothy coffee laced with companionable conversation is so appealing that “formal prayer” gets pushed further down the queue.  And if I’m brutally honest, it’s all too often relegated to the end of the day.

Roger Ellsworth’s My Coffee Cup Meditations is a set of slim books which offers a neat, practical solution for people like me whose spirit is willing… but oh, the weakness of the flesh!  These books are a springboard to Christian prayer—an excuse to meet God every day,  albeit with that all-important coffee!  God, who satisfies the deepest longings of our hearts, is always waiting for us.  It doesn’t matter how or where we meet Him; what matters is that we meet regularly.  These short reflective essays lend themselves admirably to initiating a natural conversation with Him in our own homes, in our own time, and in the midst of all our chores.

I usually select a book at random, read a chapter, close my eyes, and sit silently, coffee cup in hand, asking God to join me. Soon I will feel Him right there beside me. Of course I know He’s always there, but this is our special time, together, and He knows how much that coffee motivates me!  Sometimes He’ll speak to my heart; at other times I’ll tell Him all about my day. With anyone else I’d worry about being too talkative or too focused on myself, but I know I’m dear to Him and that He really doesn’t mind.

These readings place us quietly but squarely in the presence of God.

Prayer consists not in thinking much but in loving much (as St Teresa of Avila once wisely said), and it’s really the practice that counts rather than the theory.  A daily pause for reflection with spiritual readings such as these, places us quietly but squarely in the presence of God. We may occasionally need to flick away distractions, but our loving Saviour who delights in us will surely do the rest.


Guest Blogger Farifteh (Frith) Robb, a former lecturer and midwife, lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Of Persian heritage, she became a Christian in Iran. Her autobiographical book Unexpected Grace: A Life in Two Worlds was published by Great Writing Publications in 2017. Image “Coffee in Edinburgh” by the author.

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An Old Man with a Flat Tire

On the Way back from Church…

I don’t think of myself as old, but I sometimes get reminded in a jolting sort of way that I am. Sylvia and I were returning from a church service one night when our car warned us that we were losing air in one of our rear tires. We pulled into a convenience store parking lot to take a look. The problem was easy to see. A steel rod had gone through one side of the tire and had come out the other side. The tire was now completely flat.

I immediately ran into a problem. There was a lever that had to be pulled to release the spare tire, but it was tucked so neatly away that I was having a hard time locating it…

Read the whole story. Find out what happened–and what lessons to learn–in

Old Houses, New Houses … And 30 Other Bible-Based Meditations

ISBN: 978-0-9600203-1-7

My Coffee Cup Meditations are short, easy-to-read, engagingly presented devotions based on the Bible, the Word of God. Each reading takes a single idea or theme and develops it in a thought-provoking way so that you are inspired to consider the greatness of God, the relevance of the good news of the life, death, resurrection, and coming-again of Jesus, and are better equipped for life in this world and well prepared for the world to come.

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E-Book Production Underway

Read My Coffee Cup Meditations Books Anywhere…

We’re working on getting the series into Kindle format for readers who like eBooks. Read them on your device… enjoy taking a short meditation break from that backbreaking work!

Activate the link below for a keyword search at Amazon.

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Old Houses, New Houses

A Reading from Book 11

From God’s Word, the Bible

“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens.

John 14:2; 2 Corinthians 5:1



It was finally gone, the victim of the cold steel of a bulldozer’s blade. I knew the end was rapidly approaching, but I still hated to see it go.

I’m talking about the little old house in which I spent the first twenty-one years of my life. Little? Yes. It consisted of a kitchen, a living room, two bedrooms, a pantry, and a porch. Oh, yes, there was also that little area on one side that my mother referred to as “the sun room.”

What about the bathroom? There was no bathroom. We used the privy, which was situated a little way down the hill. My folks, you see, were very poor. We just had enough money, as they put it, “to make ends meet.”

The old house was in bad condition all through my young years. Walking across the floor would cause it to sort of creak and groan as if it were offering a protest against the person who was adding more weight to its weary existence. The walls were adorned with various cracks and holes. And the foundation could only see its sturdy days in the rear-view mirror.

But I loved that old house. It wasn’t the physical structure that made it lovable. It was rather what went on there. The love and respect we had for each other, the happiness and the laughter, the gratitude we felt for the Lord’s blessings, and our shared faith in the precious gospel of Christ—all of these things and many more made the old house a palace of delight.

One of the most pleasant memories of my childhood is my mother filling that old house with singing before Parkinson’s disease made her body like the house itself—weak, weary, and worn.

I treasure the lessons that I learned in my years in the old house, one of which was that it isn’t necessary to have lots of money to be rich. Greater still was this lesson: believers in Christ have two new houses awaiting them. One is a new body. Paul says we have “a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1). My body is an “earthly house,” a “tent,” which will be “destroyed.” But when Jesus comes I will receive a new body (Phil. 3:20-21).

The second house believers will receive is the “Father’s house” (John 14:1). That term is Jesus’ shorthand for our eternal home that is so beautifully described for us in Revelation 21 and 22.

Here, then, is the final outcome for believers in Christ—we will live in new bodies on a new earth. Those bodies will be beyond the reach of disease and death. No Parkinson’s in heaven, and no death either! Thank God! And the new earth will be beyond the reach of sin and Satan. The Apostle Peter refers to it as “an inheritance” that is “incorruptible and undefiled.” He also says that it “does not fade away,” but it is “reserved in heaven” for us (1 Peter 1:4).

Christians have indescribable glory awaiting them, and it’s all because of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came from heaven’s glory to this earth to take us from this earth to heaven’s glory.

When will believers in Christ receive their new houses? When Jesus comes! One glorious day, He will break through the clouds “with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God” (1 Thess. 4:16). Dead believers will hear the voice of their Lord, and they will spring from their graves in marvelous resurrection life. Living believers will be “caught up” (1 Thess. 4:17). They will instantaneously receive their new bodies without having to pass through death. And then the Lord will escort all of His people to their new house in heaven. New bodies on a new earth—what a destiny!

As we wait for the glory of that day, we live in this world of change and decay. Nothing here lasts. How thankful we should be that we have the Lord to abide with us! Before her disease took her voice, my mother used to sing:

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see:
O Thou who changest not, abide with me!

(Henry F. Lyte)

 

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These Books Lifted My Spirits!

I’m So Glad the Postman Brought These!

Farifteh (Frith) Robb writes from Edinburgh that her spirits lifted when these two books arrived in the mail delivery. “They cheered me up,” she wrote.

Frith herself is a gifted author and tells the story of God’s kindness to her in her memoir Unexpected Grace, also made available through Great Writing Publications. More info HERE.

Observant readers of this post will pay attention to the detail of the coffee cup, too, testimony of Frith’s recent visit to the beautiful upstate of South Carolina

Enjoy reading the meditation (#2 from Book 6) below…

From God’s Word, the Bible…

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil.

Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

Hebrews 5:12-6:2


Milk and Meat

We know the Bible is both milk for spiritual babes and meat for the spiritually mature. We also know that we are not to continue to subsist on the milk of the Word. We’re to progress to the meat of the Word.

So we’re face to face with an important question: at what point does the Word of God cease to be milk for us and become meat?

I mentioned in the previous reading that some think the milk of the Word has to do with Christ and His salvation, and we are to graduate from those truths to the greater truths of the Spirit. Imagine it! The Christian graduating from Christ!

But the Christian moving from milk to meat is not a matter of leaving certain doctrines behind. It is rather a matter of coming to a greater understanding of those doctrines. It is building on the simple doctrines that we heard when we first accepted Christ.

Doesn’t the book of Hebrews tell us to leave “the elementary principles of Christ”? Yes, but this leaving shouldn’t be understood in the sense of departing from a place to never return again. It should rather be likened to a man building a house. He lays the foundation, and then he leaves it so he can go on to build on top of it. He doesn’t leave the foundation by destroying it or by denying that it is there.

The author of Hebrews was concerned about his readers because, after laying the foundation and starting to build the house, they were acting as if they wanted to destroy the house and the foundation so they could start all over.

These people should have been at the meat level. That means they should have been able to teach others, and they should have been able to discern between true and false teaching (Heb. 5:12-14). But they were back at the milk level—unable to teach and unable to discern.

I was very much at the milk level in the early days of my Christian life. My understanding of salvation was very simple and elemental when I came to Christ. I knew I was a sinner. I knew Jesus was the Savior. I knew I must repent of my sins and trust Jesus as my Savior. I came repenting and believing, and I was saved.

But I didn’t stay there. As I read God’s Word, read about God’s Word, and heard godly men preach, I began to move off the milk level to the meat level. It wasn’t that I ceased to be interested in Christ and salvation. Far from it! I became more and more interested in Him and His work of salvation. As I learned, I was amazed at the glories folded into the simple gospel.

For example, if I had been asked as a new Christian to identify the three mediatorial offices of Christ (prophet, priest, and king) and explain each one, I would have been at a loss. With the passing of time, however, I learned about these offices and rejoiced in them.

If I had been asked on the day of my conversion to explain how Jesus could pay for our sin in the six hours He was on the cross, I would have been bewildered.

On the other hand, I was easy prey in those days for those who had mistaken notions about Christ and His redeeming work. I now shake my head in amazement at some of the “teachings” that I simply accepted at face value. One especially comes to mind—that teaching that suggests that God tried first one plan of salvation, then another, then another, and finally decided to send His Son. The truth is God has always had only one plan of salvation, and that plan is His Son.

Am I where I want to be and need to be in the spiritual realm? No. After all these years, I can say with Paul: “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended…” (Phil. 4:13).

When it comes to the deep truths of Christ, there should be an end to the milk, but there will never be an end to the meat. There will always be more to understand, and each new understanding will bring greater wonder and awe.

 

 

 

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Get Them While the Ink Is Drying!

Celebrate Six!

So, there are now six of the devotional books available.

The latest books in the series to release are:

The Day the Milk Spilled

I can’t tell you how this saying came about, but I do recall a day when I saw someone crying over spilled milk. The someone wasn’t a child. It was my dad. And the milk wasn’t the small amount in a glass. It was a lot of milk. For years my parents tried to scratch a living out of a hardscrabble little farm near Mulberry Grove, Illinois. There wasn’t much money to be made from farming in those days, at least not from farming on our scale. . .

More information HERE.

“Where are the Donuts?”

Our two sons, their wives and their children were all present for the Christmas gathering. Turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, corn, sweet potatoes, and homemade bread were on the table. When the moment came that we had been eagerly anticipating, we took our seats. As soon as our youngest grandchild, Eramin, was comfortably situated in her high chair, she surveyed the table and asked: “Where are the donuts?”

More information HERE.

 

If you like buying your books from Amazon, activate the link HERE.

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Amazing Amazon

Amazon is Simply Quite Amazing . . .

. . .in its technology, that is!

We’re delighted to let you know that all six of the excellent My Coffee-Cup Meditations books are now available for your convenience on the Kindle platform, and you can purchase them inexpensively from Amazon wherever in the world you live–for $4.99 or the equivalent in your currency!

View the selection from Amazon HERE.

So, there are now SIX great reasons for you to get the Kindle versions of My Coffee-Cup Meditations.

 

 

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The Best Christmas Ever!

Three Wonderful Things About Christmas

Excerpt from a book forthcoming early in 2018; more info to follow and HERE.


For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

 Luke 2:11; John 1:14; 2 Corinthians 9:15



One statement seems to crop up repeatedly each Christmas season—“This is going to be the best Christmas ever.” Another form or variation of goes like this: “This Christmas is going to be perfect.”

Every Christmas has to be better than the last one. We are always on the quest for a better Christmas. Everything must be perfect! Nothing must be out of place! Nothing must be allowed to cast a shadow over our celebration!

I want to ask those who toss “the best Christmas ever” around to explain what it is that they’re after. What is it that would make this Christmas better than all those that have preceded it? Do we mean that this Christmas we will get the best of all gifts? Do we mean that this Christmas we will see the best of all decorations? Do we mean that we will pull off our contacts with family members and friends without a hitch? Do we mean that we will laugh more? Do we mean that we will eat more? Do we mean that we will go to more Christmas parties?

I’m certainly not opposed to people having an enjoyable Christmas, but I’m not quite sure how to process this endless quest for the best Christmas ever. I wonder if our craving for the “best ever” is really a manifestation of the discontent that has plagued us since Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden. We had the perfect once, but we lost it. And we’ve been trying to get it back ever since. In other words, I wonder if our yearning for the best Christmas ever really amounts to us saying about ourselves what the Bible says about us.

When I hear “the best Christmas ever” mantra, I want to say: “Give it up! You’re too late—two thousand plus years too late!”

The best Christmas ever has already occurred, and it was such a great Christmas that it can never be surpassed. I’m referring, of course, to the very first Christmas, that Christmas without which there would have been no other Christmases.

The first Christmas was the best Christmas because the best of all persons came to this earth to do the best of all things so that we can enjoy the best of all ends.

The best of all persons? That would be the Lord Jesus Christ. Out of all the billions who have occupied planet Earth, there is no one like Him. He alone qualifies for the title “God-man.” God in human flesh! And He came to this earth, not as a full-grown man, but rather as a baby. Who would have thought that God could be held in such a tiny package?

And the best of all things? That would be the work of providing salvation for sinners. That work required Him to live in complete obedience to God (by which He provided the righteousness sinners lack), and dying on the cross (in which He received the wrath of God for sinners). All who believe in Christ rejoice in Him providing the righteousness we don’t have and paying for the sins we do have.

What are the best of all ends? It is getting back into the paradise we lost! The theme of the Bible is this: paradise lost through sin and regained through Christ. It is the account of our access to the tree of life being denied because of our sin (Gen. 3:24) and that access being restored through the redeeming work of Christ (Rev. 22:2).

Each Christmas season, we also hear people telling us Christmas is “all about.” Some say it’s giving, others say it’s family, and yet others say it’s having fun. But this is what Christmas is all about: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Is there anything wrong with people desiring to have a better Christmas? No, but the way to make this Christmas better is to think less about it and more about the first Christmas, which was “the best Christmas ever.”

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New Year Release

Arriving Early in 2018

We’re delighted to announce the soon-coming arrival of

The Day the Milk Spilled
. . . And 30 Other Bible-Based Meditations

I can’t tell you how this saying came about, but I do recall a day when I saw someone crying over spilled milk. The someone wasn’t a child. It was my dad. And the milk wasn’t the small amount in a glass. It was a lot of milk.
For years my parents tried to scratch a living out of a hardscrabble little farm near Mulberry Grove, Illinois. There wasn’t much money to be made from farming in those days, at least not from farming on our scale. . .

Enjoy these easy-to-read short devotions by Roger Ellsworth—and a good cup of coffee at the same time!

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Error on the Cover

An Error on the Cover–Oh No, Really?

The uploading process usually goes pretty smoothly and I have learned to appreciate managing the hoops and hurdles to jump through (and over) in preparing a new book for publication. So it was a bit of a surprise to get a note from the printers advising me of a cover design error, especially as I had already had a prototype printed anyway, and my inspection copy looked pretty good.

 

“I’ll check it out anyway,” I told myself quietly as I opened the graphics program. I reviewed the check-marks and, sure enough, the main title was just a fraction too close to the edge of the page.

How thankful I am for quality checks, especially printing pre-flight checks. They may take us out of our comfort zone and seem to be a nuisance, but they make us review something that could otherwise be catastrophic. In this case the word “Hope” in the title string “Fading Lines, Unfading Hope” was just too near the edge of the page for safety.

In ten minutes I had the problem fixed, another file uploaded, and the show was back on the road.

Giving a Gift to My Bank. . .

And I am thankful to say that the book is now well and truly in print; I ordered some from the printer just to be sure. And already I have found homes for several copies. They make excellent gifts. A year ago, I shared the book “The Twelve Days of Christmas” with staff in my local bank. A couple of weeks ago, one of the tellers there said, “Mr. Holmes, are you going to be giving away more books again this year?”

“Of course,” I responded. “This time it will be a different cluster of books, all in the same series, all by the same author. And this time, you will get to choose which book you would like. There are four different titles, and there are nine of you, so you can fight over who takes which.” There was laughter.

But more than laughter, there was appreciation when I walked in this afternoon with a card to express my family’s thanks and best wishes to the nine staff-members there and with a handful of attractively produced books. I spent a few minutes with the manager and his assistants just to say how much I appreciate their work and to wish them well over the Christmas and New Year season. There were waves of appreciation and a chorus of thankyous as I walked out of the bank… off to give another few samples to someone else interested in the series.

I’m so confident that these gospel-centered daily devotional books may be consumed by anyone–Christian or non-Christian–that I am encouraging you to make a point of trying it out for yourself. It’s the right time of the year… we’re just days away from 2018. Buy one for yourself, and one to give away. You will be so glad you did!

 

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