God Speaking Through a Cappuccino

Have you sometimes felt God telling you something in his own subtle way? It's incredibly hard to describe this manner of communication. Something akin to describing what a rose smells like or what the color red is (without citing examples). But sometimes there's an inner "tug" in your heart. And you sort of feel that it’s the Lord “tugging” you because you feel his gentle peace. The clincher for me is when I’m being “tugged” into doing something that’s good for me but not something I necessarily want to do.

This morning, I drove my wife to her office and proceeded to a meeting I had. It was only 8:30 and my contact always arrives at around 9:30. I figured I had an hour to waste.

I parked in front of a coffee shop near his office and started putting quarters in the parking meter. I usually spend 3 hours meeting with this person but I only had an hour worth of quarters.

Then comes that “tug” I was telling you about.

Something in my heart was telling me that I should immediately proceed to his office (and maybe ask his secretary for some more quarters).

But what I first wanted to do was buy a cappuccino and get my quarters from the coffee shop.

But still, there was that inner tug…

Instead of ignoring it, I did what often worked in the past. I rationalized. I told myself that getting the cappuccino was the logical thing to do since I was a bit sleepy. The caffeine boost, I figured, would help me get some work done before our meeting starts.

I headed to the coffee shop and ordered a decaf cappuccino. Then I fed the parking meter a few more dollars and proceeded to the office.

I entered his office and greeted his staff as I usually do. They greeted me back but seemed puzzled I was there. They then told me that their boss was on vacation.

I realized that he did tell me about this trip. But for some reason, I did not make a note of it in my organizer.

I started walking back to the car laughing at myself. The Lord was trying to save me a few bucks but I was too stubborn to listen.

As I was driving to my office, I made a mental note to pay more attention to that “inner tug” next time for the stakes may be a bit higher than a few dollars.