Read Online The Perfect Blend by Allie Pleiter - Free Book Online Page B

that, but the words aren’t coming. Coffee is one of the world’s most powerful catalysts. Conversations happen over coffee. Hospitality happens over coffee. Let’s face it: life happens over coffee. It’s the perfect tool to reach people—especially here. Jesus met people where they were, as they were. I want to show people that Jesus. While we can’t always show people that Jesus in a church, I believe we can show people that Jesus at Higher Grounds. Think about it: very few people might jump at the question, “Can I talk to you about Jesus?” but almost everyone will say yes to “Can I buy you a cup of coffee and talk?”
    My life’s passion is to set a warm, welcoming stage for conversations that lead people toward a deeper faith. If that sounds like a mission statement, it is. That’s my company mission statement for Higher Grounds, and it fires me up faster than a triple shot of the world’s best espresso.
    â€œIf you don’t do this thing you think God wants you to do, do you think you can’t be happy?”
    Believe it or not, that about sums it up. “Well, yeah, I suppose that’s it. I’ve been such a noncommittal basket case. I’ve held a dozen different jobs since college. I liked them all, but I didn’t really care about the work. Now, I can’t stop thinking about the work, everything up to now feels like it’s led up to doing this. I know it’s what God wants for me.”
    Diane leans in. “What if what God wants for you is to meet Will? Have you ever considered that Higher Grounds might just be His way of introducing you?”
    A scarier thought could not exist. “No, It’s not like that. It can’t be like that.”
    â€œWhy?”
    I sit down on the stool and hold my head in my hands. Why indeed? “Because Higher Grounds is…is me. It’s who I’m supposed to be, what I’m supposed to do. I know that. Finally. I won’t ever stop knowing it. And it’s nothing at all like who Will is and what Will does. He’s in a whole other world over there. A world that doesn’t mix with my world over here. I don’t want to end up thinking ‘What if?’ thirty years from now, wondering if I gave up my world to fit into his. I need to reach for this. I watched my dad come home from work at this ordinary job when he wanted to be a sculptor. He dreamed of being a sculptor, not an insurance agent. And he could have—that’s the thing. He’s so talented. He could have done such amazing things. But he fell in love with Mom and then boom! —married with five kids to support.” I throw the knee socks into a box and reach for a new pile of clothes to sort. “I know he’s happy. He’d tell you he’s happy. But…”
    â€œBut what?”
    â€œBut if he walks past a sculpture garden or if he looks at a statue, you just see it in his eyes. The ‘What if?’ He settled. Not in a bad way, I suppose, but settledjust the same.” I look up at Diane. “I just don’t think I can do that. Settle. I’d never really be happy.”
    â€œWhat if, instead of settling, you got the best of both worlds? Will’s some kind of business expert, right?”
    â€œSo he tells us every time he hands out new homework.”
    â€œWhat if Will Grey is just what you need? Personally and professionally?”
    I give Diane my best “mind your own business stare” and push a pile of unsorted clothes across the table at her. “I’m telling you, the last thing I need is another personal dose of William Grey in all this Thirdness.”

Chapter Ten
    Attack of the “Anti”
    T his is all his fault, I tell you.
    Don’t think for a second that I had any other choice in the matter. It’s his silly assignment that got us into this ridiculous argument and, honestly, I didn’t think it’d turn out quite