You’ll want to read this blog because it’s written with you in mind. You never know from week to week what to expect. It can be rib-aching funny, thoughtfully serious, painfully transparent and sometimes even a little embarrassing– but it’s never boring. Occasionally strong, it’ll never be bitter. And it’s always—always—intended to leave you better than it found you.
“2nd Cup of Coffee?” you say. “Why that?”
This blog is intended to lift and encourage you, to edify and challenge you to personal and spiritual excellence. To do that means you and I both need to slow down and connect. Think about it. Do you know anyone who really gives that first cup of coffee the kind of appreciation it deserves? Neither do I. We can polish off that first cup with practically anybody. Not-so-hot neighbor. Dude across the table blabbering with his older brother in Bangalore. Trucker in QuikTrip. Weird aunt. Self-important greeter in Menards with a handful of masks, staring at you? Even the boss, in a pinch. No biggie, right? Just the first cup.
That refill, though—that 2nd cup? Oh-ho-ho, yeah. Catch the aroma of that fresh-brewed java. Feel the warmth slowly radiating. Watch the steam rising . . . . Nah. That one’s reserved for people we like hanging with. Real friends who’ve made the cut, true kindred souls whose lives and interests intertwine with yours. Yeah. That second cup is a, ah, brew of a different bean.
As of this writing, I’ve spent almost 47 years learning what it’s like to be married to my oldest best friend, whom I’ve known since we were both toddlers. Our son and daughters, along with our adoptive son and daughter in love, are adults and pursuing their chosen careers. Our four grandchildren are doing the same, and we are now enjoying the total spoilage of three great-grandchildren.
I am a medically-retired minister and a CPA-trained hospital chaplain. Those have been my most recent occupations. What made them both so Bob Ross-colorful was all of the other things I have been: paper boy, animal wrangler for a veterinarian, security & parking for a medical center, USAF veteran, US Post Office carrier, FAA controller, lithopress operator, entrepreneur & small business owner—and an honest-to-John walking miracle.
In Spring of 1997 with no prior notice and certainly without my permission, my small gut started dying. Three times I came pretty close to it, myself. Five abdominal surgeries came between then and 2001; I spent the next 2 years infusing thick, milky, very expensive steak-in-a-bag through large-bore IV catheters while slowly, inexorably losing precious weight.
In other words, I was starving to death. Dying.
That was when God stepped in and changed the way I live, think, and see things and people. When you hear a Voice ask, “Do you want to be healed?” coming from where there’s no one standing, it’ll change your whole life. I’m a real, live gutless wonder! I have 18 inches left of my original 21 feet! In every measurable way, I am not the same man I was; every day is a brand new gift of 24 hours direct from God’s hand to me.
Medical science and non-believing doctors agree that I’m not supposed to be alive, let alone functioning and practicing Advanced Weirdness. I just shrug, grin and tell them to take it up with God. In the meantime, I share a gift with you I’d never have developed had He not used this incredible series of events to refocus my attention—that of writing encouragement into your life and experience in a lively, engaging manner that hopefully lightens your load and brightens your day.
There are only two requirements here: respect the thoughts and opinions of others; and do your own thinking. I am a Biblical Christian, order my life that way and recommend the truths taught in The Bible. I don’t force any reader one way or the other; we are all the sum of our own choices, and you must make your own. I hope you ‘get’, though, that this is one believer who is having a terrific, blessed, great second life and is always happy to share it.
I have my set of challenges, for in writing and typing out the manuscript of what I intend to publish as a story to all that God still works bona fide “impossibles”, I deal daily with the effects of living with, for all purposes, almost zero small intestine. Multiple chronic health issues I won’t bore you with here are things I’ve taken in stride as my “normal”. As a hospital and ER chaplain, I worked in spite of them. I used them and learned to show God’s love in a positive way while helping others heal from life’s wounds. I won’t always understand. I will always listen and I will always care.
In the ongoing effort to pacify the legal types who tend to salivate over such things, I’m constrained to include this bit of exciting stuff. © D. Dean Boone and 2nd Cup of Coffee, 2017.. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to D. Dean Boone and 2nd Cup of Coffee with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Welcome, then. Please do come back often, and let your friends know we’ll be doing this every week, usually on Monday morning.
Coffee’s always fresh!
I love you and I believe in you,
Dan
© D. Dean Boone, January 2013