Why?

A humble reason as to why I want to share my thoughts.

I just recently went through the process of defining why we do what we do at Just Love Coffee. It was a three page definition, but the crux of it was that I wanted to spread love to the world, to our country, and to our local communities. I was encouraged by my friend and CMO of Just Love to start a blog. After thinking about it and getting past the thoughts of “who really cares about what I have to say?” I decided to give it a try.

The only reason I would have to start a blog is to discuss issues in our world doing my best to look through the lens of love. We are so divided as a country on politics and even religion. There are hot button topics such as abortion, the death penalty, the poor and the rich. While I certainly do not have the answers to these questions I finally for once in my life have a couple of convictions that I can stand on. One of those is that God loves us. He loves us with a love that is incomprehensible. And I believe He wants us to love each other as brothers and sisters, all who are children of His regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status or whatever else might separate us in our feeble minds. I believe that we should as people of God see the commonalities in all of us. For one, it is a miracle that you and I are on this earth at the same time. We are all facing struggles in the same time and we are all searching for happiness.

Full disclosure. If you hadn’t noticed by now everything that I say will be rooted in my faith in God and His son Jesus and His message to us of love. I have fallen so short of this my entire life and I am simply trying to do what it is I feel God is wanting me to do which is to spread the good news of Christ and Christ’s love. This can be very taboo in today’s culture, especially when being the founder of a company. A company whose job it is to find like-minded people to spread the news of love to their own communities. But if you don’t agree with me about God I still want to hear from you. I love you regardless of your beliefs.

I started this little company as a way to help adoptive parents raise money for their very costly adoptions. It was online only and we gave $5 per bag based on their supporters purchasing coffee from their unique URL. The business model was based on how much we could give verses how much we can make. This was not a great model to present to bankers as I was trying to borrow funds to get this crazy idea off the ground. While I launched this company I was also running the family business that my dad started in 1976. While I was going through my own adoption process with 2 of my daughters I came up with the idea of this business model.

In 2007 I read Shane Claibornes’ Irresistible Revolution. I devoured the book and immediately took to the streets of Nashville getting to know the homeless community. Shane was living out his life the way I felt we all as Christians should be living. I felt that my calling was adopting two older kids from Ethiopia and helping those who were unseen in Nashville. I was on fire. And for the next few years I continued to be on fire. And then…

The flame diminished. The online model evolved into a coffee shop which evolved into a franchise model. All of the sudden I lost my original vision and started trying to chase to dollars to survive. I use the analogy of being in the ocean and if you’re not fully aware of the undertow, the next thing you know you’ll be 100 yards out and 100 yards further down the beach. And that’s exactly what happened to me. I lost my original vision of love. Focus on love changed to focus on survival which caused me to focus on money. Big mistake. I went through hell from 2015 to 2024. It cost me my marriage and my relationship with my kids. A huge price to pay for hiding, numbing out and running from your problems. What was absent from my life at that time was love. Was God, Christ and a faith that God would take care of me regardless.

So I re-read The Irresistible Revolution last week and the embers turned into a raging fire again. What I found was that not only did God not abandon me, but my staff didn’t either. This is extremely humbling. So I defined the “why” for Just Love Coffee as spreading love. It was a 3 page description, but when you narrow it down it is love. Love for our staff, our franchisees regardless of whether or not they are scolding us while we are trying to help them, our vendors, our competitors, etc. I’ve been called to not just love my friends, but more importantly to love my enemies. I don’t consider my franchisees or my competitors my enemies, but at times it can feel that way.

So, I don’t exactly know what I’m going to write about day to day, but I will bow my head and pray that I will have something to say that needs to be heard. I do not have answers. I’m not a scholar or a minister or even an entrepreneur even though I play one in real life. I’m just one of you. I’m broken and sinful, but redeemed and I pray that those of you who disagree with me tell me so, but tell me so in love. I will do my best to do the same. This life is difficult. It’s painful, but it is also beautiful and I pray that we can work through topics together in love.