Look What We Are Working On…!
Announcing the soon publication of the BIG Book!
Then came the idea of producing the books together, so that there would be enough readings for a whole year, and with some left over, as not all months have thirty-one days. So the result is what you are now holding in your hands: The Big Book of Coffee Cup Meditations! And isn’t it a great idea that this book has been produced in such a way that you may read from whichever month you would like to at any time in the year—and never have too few days in the month, because there are always thirty-one readings in each month!–Roger Ellsworth
Introduction: All About this Book
From God’s Word, the Bible…
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
Psalm 1:1-3
What you have here is a big book—twelve books all in one, in fact. The idea of connecting enjoying coffee and reading the Bible devotionally happened early in 2017 when I wrote the first book of My Coffee-Cup Meditations.
Early mornings are very predictable for lots and lots of Christians. Roll out of bed, turn on the coffee pot, pour a cup, settle into a favorite chair and enjoy what is called “the daily devotional.” This usually consists of reading a passage from the Bible and a selection from a devotional book. It concludes with prayer.
Christians who follow this pattern can go through a good bit of devotional material as the years go by. So they are always looking for new material—something to go along with their Bible and their coffee.
Hoping that I could be helpful in supplying the need for more devotional material, I gathered up some articles I had written and put them in a book—A Dog and a Clock. The idea was to supply brothers and sisters in Christ with enough devotions to carry them through one month. That quickly led to another book—The Thumbs Up Man—to carry “devotion-doers” through another month and then another.
You can guess what happened after three or four books came out. There are twelve months in the year. So why not provide enough books to cover a year? So off we went and out the books came until there were finally twelve! Since these books were designed to go with the Bible and a good cup of coffee, it seemed right to call them My Coffee-Cup Meditations. Thanks to my good friends Jim and Sue Holmes for that suggestion! And thanks to my wife, Sylvia, and my sons, Tim and Martyn, for contributing some chapters along the way.
Then came the idea of producing the books together, so that there would be enough readings for a whole year, and with some left over, as not all months have thirty-one days. So the result is what you are now holding in your hands: The Big Book of Coffee Cup Meditations! And isn’t it a great idea that this book has been produced in such a way that you may read from whichever month you would like to at any time in the year—and never have too few days in the month, because there are always thirty-one readings in each month!
One of my main concerns in writing these books was to cause the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to shine. It’s wrong to think that the gospel is for unbelievers only. Believers need the gospel! We need to be reminded again and again of the greatness of what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. The more we ponder the gospel and the more deeply we ponder it, the more we will find our hearts flooded with gratitude, and the more willing we will be to faithfully serve Him.
The big book you’re holding is published for you with the hope that you will read the devotions, enjoy them, and, most of all, find 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.
And don’t forget to pour that cup of coffee!
A Great Christmas and New Year Book!
Note from the publisher: this is to be produced as a magnificent, sturdy cloth-bound book (nearly 800 pages in extent) with a loose dust-jacket. More information coming soon.