A beautiful collision...

Though this day is our country's official holiday, I feel as though my Thanksgiving has already come and gone.

You see, last Saturday, Titus, some friends, and myself hosted a meal for some of our downtown friends. The spread of food ranged from traditional turkey to Kenyan mashed potatoes. The range of music flowed from Kim Walker to Jimmy Jackson. The activities ranged from chess games to soul trains. I could go on for hours.

So what does this meal have to do with Juja Java?

Everything. Absolutely everything.

Because at this meal, this feast, this celebration of life, I felt as though I was catching a glimpse of heaven. The types of people present at the party- heaven will be attended like this. The glory of a feast among saints and sinners- heaven will include this. Joy and love and company and music and food and laughter and utter contentment- heaven will be like this.

Though these things are present in heaven, they should be present on earth as well. I look to times when Jesus prayed that God's will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Therefore, I think that when heaven comes down to earth, it is a very glorious thing. It is a very sacred thing. It is a very breathtaking thing -- it will take the breathe right out from your lungs because it is the collision of two worlds functioning under perfect intent.

And I had the honor of witnessing these two worlds collide into one at this feast.

It was such a beautiful collision.

So I relate that directly to Juja because I long for that collision to be at the core of our focus. It only seems right that it should be.

And I do not pretend that we have the formula for the collision perfected by any means. I do not know how often we will have the honor to see the collision happen. I do not think we have reached the point of fully understanding how the collision should manifest itself.

But I do know that the beautiful collision on Saturday took my breathe away.

And I will fight and work and strive to bring about the collision in Juja Java.

"Then he turned to the host. "The next time you put on a dinner, don't just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You'll be—and experience—a blessing. They won't be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God's people." Luke 14:12-14

It will be such a beautiful collision.

-B-