Coffee House Dream

My friend Mary has a blog called "Chasing Dreams... Rabbits... and Pigeons." She writes about big plans that may or may not ever become reality. See, Mary and I are similar. We are both great big dreamers; we come up with a new plan for our lives on a daily basis. Mostly, these goals will fall by the wayside, because they are big, big plans that would take much effort, much charisma, and much money to pull off.

I have always been this way. Just ask my mom, or my sister--both tend to roll their eyes when I tell them of a new plan to travel the world, start a business, or run a marathon. They know that next week I'll have a new dream and the current one will fade away. While this never achieving used to bother me a little, I have learned that dreaming is a part of me, and while I may never achieve some of my crazy little goals, a few do make it to reality.

For example, I once got an idea to study abroad. I don't know why I thought to do this. I just decided one day that I would like to study English in England, and not just anywhere in England--I wanted to study at Oxford University. I'm pretty sure everyone that knew me, including myself, thought this was just another one of my ideas. I even remember thinking, on the day my parents purchased a very expensive plane ticket, "I guess I can't back out now. This is really happening." And I didn't back out. I really did study English in England. I was on the rowing crew (another "crazy" goal that started as a joke with my roommates at Union), I walked where Shakespeare walked, I was inspired by the same meadows and rivers that inspired Lord of the Rings and Narnia and Wonderland. Amazing. And it started as a silly idea.

I have another dream that I think may be my most insane. It is definitely the largest, spanning the entire globe, costing millions of dollars, and requiring a lot of very specific knowledge. But I think "it just might work." I refer to it as the "coffee house dream."

This particular dream has a long, detailed history. Maybe I'll write about it later. For now, here's the bones:

Missional coffee houses catering to the oft-forgotten wealthy intellectuals in big university towns (think Ivy League, Oxbridge, etc.) getting their coffee and tea from partner plantations in third-world countries. The idea is that the coffee is missional on both ends--one, it allows a village in struggling area to have jobs, get medical care, education, and most importantly, to learn of a God who loves them; two, those who drink the coffee will be made aware of its origins and those who grow it; and three, the coffee house itself will be a home for conversation, relationships, and ideas, the hope being that evangelism will be made possible over a cup of coffee and a homemade scone.

So there it is. I have high hopes for this one.