What a Free Coffee Taught Me About God’s Love

My husband and I have been on the road for twelve days. We’ve spoken at a Bible college missions chapel, connected with many of our ministry supporters, visited family, and will host a booth at next weekend’s Missions Fest Alberta.

Mostly, though, we’ve been presenting a fun date night at churches along our route. Six down, five to go.

We spent Saturday night at a friend’s house while he and his family were out of town. On Sunday morning, we woke early to leave the city for our next destination. Usually I enjoy a morning cup of coffee, but because I had no means of making myself a single cup to go, I bypassed that simple pleasure.

A stranger’s kindness

We’d driven about three blocks when I saw a Starbucks. “Pull in,” I told my husband. I ordered my favorite—a toffee nut coffee misto, extra hot with skim milk—and then we drove up to the window.

The gal at the window smiled as she handed us the drink. “No charge today,” she said.

“What?” said my husband.

“No charge,” she repeated. “The customer before you paid for your order.”

I hardly knew what to say. I’d heard of such random acts of kindness done for others, but I’d never experienced one myself. Gratitude filled me, and I expressed it with a wave at the stranger who’d by now turned onto a nearby road. He waved back in return, and then he was gone.

Imagine—I did nothing to warrant the stranger’s kindness to me, and yet he paid for my coffee. What a great illustration, albeit on an infinitely smaller scale, of Christ’s love for us! We’ve done nothing to warrant His mercy and kindness, and yet He paid our sin penalty for us.

How can we express our gratitude?

Certainly by saying thank you on a frequent basis, but also by loving Him, living for Him, and telling others about His love for them, too.

A stranger’s undeserved kindness to me at Starbucks reminded me of God’s undeserved love and mercy to me and to all mankind. I pondered these thoughts, savoring each sip of my toffee nut coffee mistro, thankful for the lesson and more determined than ever to live a life of gratitude for His mercy.