Episode 3: May Your Coffee Taste Much Sweeter

Do you ever wonder if personal peace is even possible in today’s world? For the next few minutes let’s stop, breathe and take a sweet little sip of peace. 

There’s something about coffee that takes me back. Something about it that helps me to stop and enjoy the moment. I don’t drink enough coffee to get addicted, but I do look forward to my morning coffee every day. I make it the night before and have it set so it comes on early and it’s nice and hot when we wake up. There’s just something about it. 

Coffee with friends is a huge part of my life. I love going into coffee shops and smelling what’s going on and even the noise of the coffee shop is pleasant for me. When I was worship pastor, I set up most of my meetings in coffee shops. 

I’ve been going to northern Minnesota every year for about 34 years fishing with my son and some friends. It’s a small group of about four of us. We stay in a very simple resort in a town called Orr Minnesota, a town of about 175 people. The north side of town is about a minute from the south side of town, meaning it’s pretty small. We fish on a lake called Pelican Lake, which is a huge lake. And the fishing is incredible. 

There’s this train. The train used to be a huge annoyance as we would get up there and the train would run through anywhere from 10 to probably 15 times a day all through the night and all through the day. The place we stay at is across the bay so as the crow flies probably a little over half a mile. The train would be very loud and you could hear it coming for what feels like miles away. It used to be very very frustrating. Somewhere along the way, my perspective changed. Now, I so look forward to hearing that train all through the night and all through the day. It’s a peaceful sound from a distance and echoes through those northern woods. It’s just part of the overall experience up there. It really is incredible. And now when I hear a train anywhere else, it takes me back to northern Minnesota. 

Each morning we wake up in our very primitive cabin and head on over to the TPatton Café for coffee and breakfast. I suppose we are considered regulars because we are there every year and sometimes twice a year. We know the owner, Tara, very well. She and her staff are wonderful people that know how to take care of their customers. 

They have a simple menu in a beautiful unique setting. The restaurant is an old train depot and when you walk in you take a few steps down to the dining area. The food is cooked upstairs. There’s about 15 to 18 steps to get upstairs so the servers really get a work out! The real workout is When the delivery truck comes and he has to make about eight trips with his two wheel dolly loaded up with Food going up the steps. 

One of the simplest things they serve is coffee. It’s not really a special kind of coffee. Nothing you would find in a coffee shop per se. Coffee shops as I said earlier, are a big deal for me and I have to show much restraint to not run into a coffee shop every day and buy coffee. But there’s something about coffee in northern Minnesota at T Patton Café. Believe it or not I still remember the first cup of coffee that I had there. And it’s something that I look forward to every year as we get ready to go. I even start thinking about this at the beginning of the year even though the trip happens around Memorial Day for a week. I’m sure it has something to do with getting away from the stress of the city life and enjoying the wild north of Minnesota with great friends over a cup of coffee (or 6 cups). 

I have a friend in Nashville and he and I discuss coffee and even though we can’t have a cup of coffee in the same room, we slow down and just chat as we sip coffee together sometimes, separately. Sometimes we were just chat and cut up. Other times we’ll talk about life’s deep struggles together. One day, the conversation was particularly pain filled. As we wrapped things up, I felt inspired, went into the studio and wrote the first verse and the song started coming together. When you listen to my music, you’ll realize that most, if not all of my songs, are written around life experiences. 

The second verse came about as a result of a very awkward moment at church one Sunday several years back when I was leading worship. We had gone over everything with all the people that needed to know so that we could make sure everything ran smoothly and everyone knew what was going on. Everyone said they understood and so we went about our Sunday morning service. 

Well…things did not go smoothly at all. One person had forgotten what we just talked about and created a really strange moment in the service. It was incredibly uncomfortable to say the least and there was nothing that I could do about it while it was happening. I was pretty upset, to be honest. 

So if we fast forward to the end of the service I was backstage behind the curtain getting ready to come out and lead the last song after the sermon was done. I was fuming mad. I honestly had nothing to give because I was so focused on the problem that we had had earlier. I felt very inadequate to go out and lead this congregation in worship. And as the speaker was wrapping up his message, that’s when the second verse hit me and I typed as fast as I could.  

“When your anger rises at the smallest things and your spirit’s raw and you’ve got nothing to bring, when you open your mouth but you cannot sing; When the worries high but the faith is low and you’re at the point you don’t know where to go, and you speak the words but you still don’t know; I pray this prayer over you.” It came so fast and it was very healing for me as I wrote those words down. It was right then that I asked the Lord’s forgiveness and I was able to lead well in this closing song. 

I finished writing the rest of the song when I get home that day, “May Your Coffee Taste Much Sweeter”. It’s a long title, but I think you get it. 

The bridge says, “God knows your struggle, He knows how hard life can be. He’s with you in your trouble, He’ll calm your storming seas”.  

Most of us know that coffee itself doesn’t taste sweet but there’s something about coffee that sweetens the day for those of us who like it. If your drink is hot chocolate or hot tea or hot water, this song is for you too. I think this song will bring a smile to your face and a bounce to your step. God does indeed know all of our struggles and how hard this life is! He’s reaching His hand out to me, to you, and all we have to do is reach back and grab His hand. Do it in your stressful times and do it in your peaceful times, but do it. 

I hope that no matter what you’re going through, no matter what your struggle or trial is right now, that you will tap into the source of life, the source of eternal life, Jesus Christ. 

Here’s the prayer: 

May your coffee taste much sweeter than it did yesterday 

May God’s blessing overflow and make you dance 

May the people that surround you touch your heart like never before 

And help you fall in love with life all over again