The magical healing power of coffee

This week has been an interesting one. I am preaching again this week and the scripture passage has me really excited. When I initially took a look at the two passages that I would be preaching on I figured that last week's sermon would be the "easier" to write. Leave it to God to really point out some cool things in this week's passage and I am really excited to share them on Sunday.

This morning I did a bit of catching up on my blog reading. Both of the blog posts from my good friend (and fellow seminary alumni) Brad were excellent. His first post was on the topic of healing. I was really interested in what he had to say seeing that I just covered the miraculous spiritual gifts. His life experiences also bring a unique perspective:

"Healing, and specifically God’s power in healing, floats through my mind every once and a while, and it has been on my mind again the past few days. I work in a hospital providing care to people recovering from serious injuries and illnesses. Some of my patients are in the hospital a few days, and I have worked with people who have stayed in the hospital for many months."

Brad goes on to say:

"As I stated in my beginning, I believe that God can heal absolutely anything and everything, but there is a qualifier to that, which is that God works healing according to his will. And this can be hard for us to grasp and accept."

The overall point that Brad is making is that sometimes God brings the healing that we desire and other times he does not. Unfortunately we don't always know the reasons why or why not. God's healing is not dependent upon us. It doesn't matter if we have "enough" faith. What matters is God's will. His will is that one day there will no longer be a need for healing but between now and that day comes we cannot fully know why God does or does not heal someone. I would highly recommend the post as it helps shed some light on the subject.

Brad's second post this week was on one of my favorite topics: Coffee. He picked up on a news story this week that had this headline:

"Two cups of coffee a day cuts overall risk of dying by 10 percent, research shows"

He goes on to point out the fatal flaw (pun intended) in the headline: it doesn't matter what we do–we cannot actually cut the risk of dying. The mortality rate in human beings is hovering right around 100%.

"So no matter how much coffee I drink, or how much I exercise, or the amount of broccoli I eat, or any other habit, good or bad, that I may practice, will have any bearing on the ultimate fact of my death. Death will indeed come for me one day. My habits may influence the length of life to a small degree, and they may also influence its quality, but they will not stave off death’s inevitable arrival."

Death on this earth is inevitable. It's coming and we cannot avoid it. But death her on this earth is not the end:

"Whenever it may come, I believe as a Christian that only one thing will really matter: my standing with God. In the parable of sheep and goats in Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus is seen separating people into two groups, those who knew him truly, and those who didn’t. The ones who knew him as his own receive their inheritance, being joined with him forever, while those in the other group are cast out into the darkness."

And I have to give the punchline away. It really is the most important thing in life.

"This is truly the Good News. Earthly life will end but for the Christian it is merely the gateway to their eternal presence with God."

Both posts are really worth the read...especially with your next cup of life-prolonging coffee.