Friday, April 11, 2014

Day 101- A Coffee First

Today I made my own unique coffee drink for my "first."

There are lots of coffee drinks these days. I've tried a good many of them.  What I've discovered is that I like coffee with cream and sugar.  Most of the flavored coffees are OK, but they seem to have a bad aftertaste and I usually end up wishing I had just gotten coffee with cream and sugar.  I will use Splenda if they have it. Here's a helpful hint for you. If they have something in a yellow packet that they say is Splenda but it says something else on the packet, do not use that.  Throw it in the garbage and just get the sugar or run.  It is not the same and it will ruin a perfectly good cup of coffee.  Not that I have a strong opinion about that or anything.

Tonight I had what seemed to me a great idea.  How about if I put mint chocolate chip ice cream in my coffee?  What could go wrong with that?  I'm not mixing any kind of foreign substances in it.  I just made a regular cup of coffee, put the Splenda and cream in it and then dumped some ice cream in it.

You need to start with good ingredients



Why not bring two great things together?

One of my favorite coffee cups

Looking good

Joel did not like the sound of this "first"

I put the ice cream in the coffee and took a sip.  It did not taste as good as I thought.  What to do?  I know what to do; more ice cream. I did that and the taste improved.  No surprise there.  It really was not quite as good as I hoped.  The idea of ice cream floating in a drink reminded me too much of a coke float and it is not as good as a coke float.  Once I got past the idea that the ice cream melts in hot coffee and it is not a float, it was pretty good.  Joel asked me about my "first" and I told him what I was doing.  He did not think this was a good idea.  The idea of doing this at 8:00 at night may backfire come bedtime.

I probably won't do this again. If I want ice cream, I'll eat ice cream or make a coke float.  Hmm, have I had a coke float in 20 years?  That idea has all kinds of possibilities.  If I want coffee, I'll just drink my coffee with cream and Splenda (or sugar; have I mentioned that?). The extra calories from the ice cream is just not worth it for the taste benefit in the coffee.

Sometimes when you mix 2 good things it just takes away from both things.  Sometimes I catch myself talking with a family member while checking email.  On occasion, I'll try to read while texting someone. It's better than texting and driving, but I find that I can only really concentrate on one thing at a time. When my family is talking to me, I try to shut the computer lid so it won't distract me. If I'm reading and they want to talk, I find I need to put the book (or electronic reading device) down so I can give them my full attention.  I read a study a month or two back that someone did on multi-tasking. What they found out was that people don't multi-task nearly as well as they think they do.  When they measure production, it almost always goes down when people multi-task.

The ultimate application I guess would be trying to live for Jesus and something else at the same time.  Jesus Himself said in Matthew 6:24, "“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."  I need to be reminded that I can't serve God and:
  • Other people's opinions
  • Money (see the above verse)
  • Fame (like that's a real possibility for me at this stage in the ball game)
  • Pleasure
  • Fun
  • Self
  • Friends
  • Popularity
  • Entertainment
The greatest commandment is to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  I can only have one master. Jesus makes the best one.  Now, about that coke float...

Tasting the abundant life,
Barry

3 things I thank God for today
1. Hannah Grace's good experience on the Math team today
2. Laura's willingness to sacrifice for the family
3. Our sister churches





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