00:00Yesterday, I had an opportunity to spend time with my 16-year-old daughter.
00:07She's 16 and in her third year of college.
00:11It's wonderful to be around her as she's growing.
00:16She's so smart, and it's just so interesting and a privilege to get to know our children as they grow.
00:26There's one thing about Sarah that's never changed, and I really appreciate it.
00:34She loves books like a child loves their blanket.
00:39You take her to a bookstore, and she will disappear into the aisles and just find the most incredible literature, things that aren't always obvious.
00:51But when I look at it after she's done, I see the beauty in it that she sees as well.
00:59She brought me a book yesterday called Before the Coffee Gets Cold, and the concept behind that book is something I want to borrow today and tell you a story that's similar.
01:14Now, there's a quiet idea behind the story, and I'm going to borrow it because it's beautiful.
01:25It's about a cafe where time briefly bends.
01:29In that world, a single rule governs everything.
01:33Once a cup of coffee is poured, you are given only the warmth of that drink to say what must be said to someone who is no longer with us.
01:49You cannot stop time.
01:52You cannot undo the past.
01:55You cannot rewrite a life.
01:57You are given one fragile window to speak what matters most before the cup cools and the moment ends.
02:10Now, this is a story about how little time we really ever have and how often we wasted on things that do not heal, do not reconcile, and do not love.
02:25Now, imagine this idea turned into a different direction.
02:32What if the one sitting across from you in that cafe was not someone from your past, not someone you lost, not someone you regret, but Jesus.
02:49The Jesus of the Gospels is never still for long.
02:55Think about it.
02:57Crowds are always pulling at him.
02:59Children are being lifted into his arms.
03:03The sick are calling out.
03:06The broken are finding their way toward him.
03:11Even the cross stands ahead of him.
03:15Waiting.
03:16His life on earth is one long movement toward love, sacrifice, and redemption.
03:26Yet, again and again, he stopped.
03:31He stopped for a blind man calling his name on a dusty road.
03:36He stops for a woman who touches the edge of his robe in desperation.
03:41He stops for a tax collector hiding in a tree.
03:47He stops for a thief dying beside him.
03:54Jesus has always done something extraordinary with very little time.
04:02So imagine this.
04:05What if he had only the time it takes for a cup of coffee to cool,
04:11and he chose to spend it with you?
04:16Not to preach.
04:18Not to perform.
04:20Not to solve every problem in just one sitting.
04:25But to sit.
04:28To listen.
04:31To be with you.
04:34The point of this story is not that time is short.
04:39Understand, the point is that Jesus uses short moments
04:45to change everything.
04:47And so, in today's story, the cafe becomes sacred.
04:56The coffee becomes a clock.
04:59And the conversation, well, that becomes holy.
05:04The cup is set between us.
05:08Let's begin.
05:10Steam rises gently, curling into the quiet air like a fragile prayer.
05:17There is something sacred about the way it moves.
05:21Slow.
05:23Delicate.
05:25Already fading.
05:27We both know what it means.
05:31This moment has a limit.
05:34This warmth will not last forever.
05:39Jesus looks at the cup, then back at me.
05:43Not with urgency.
05:46Not with pressure.
05:48Just with awareness.
05:51He smiles.
05:53Before it cools, he says softly,
05:58I wanted to sit with you.
06:01There are so many things I could say.
06:05Questions about my life.
06:08Regrets.
06:09Fears.
06:09Doubts.
06:10The things I replay in my head late at night.
06:14But the clock is already ticking.
06:19So instead of something polished, something spiritual, something impressive,
06:26the truth spills out.
06:30I don't know if I'm doing this right.
06:36Jesus nods as if he has heard that sentence countless times before.
06:43You were never meant to do it alone, he says.
06:47That's the part you keep forgetting.
06:51The steam thins.
06:53The coffee is already losing its warmth.
06:57I look down at my hands.
07:01They look ordinary.
07:04Too ordinary for a moment like this.
07:08I feel behind, I admit.
07:12Like everyone else figured life out.
07:14And I miss the lesson.
07:18He leans forward.
07:20Not to correct me.
07:22But to be close.
07:25Do you know how many people I met who thought they were behind?
07:30He asked gently.
07:33Peter thought it.
07:35Martha lived it.
07:37Thomas carried it like a weight.
07:40They all believed the lie that timing meant worth.
07:47He taps the cup softly with his finger.
07:52This coffee does not lose its value when it cools, he says.
07:57It just changes temperature.
08:01You haven't missed your moment.
08:03You are still in it.
08:06Something in my chest tightens.
08:08What about the things I wish I could undo, I ask?
08:13The words.
08:15The choices.
08:16The years I wasted.
08:18Jesus does not answer right away.
08:23He watches the steam disappear.
08:27As if he is letting time do what time always does.
08:32Then, he looks at me with eyes that have already seen the cross.
08:40If regret could stop resurrection, he says, I would never have risen.
08:50Silence falls between us.
08:53Not awkward and not empty.
08:57Full.
08:58Like being understood without having to explain.
09:02The coffee is almost cold now.
09:07One last question rises.
09:11Why spend this time with me, I ask, if it's so short?
09:17He smiles, and there is something tender and fierce in it at the same time.
09:26Because love doesn't measure moments by length, he says.
09:32Only by presence.
09:34He stands slowly, not rushed, and not distance.
09:42He places his hand over mine.
09:44It's warm, steady, and real.
09:50Remember this, he says.
09:52I am not waiting for you at the finish line.
09:57I am walking with you in the middle.
10:00In the unfinished.
10:03In the questions.
10:06Then, almost as if he knows exactly what I will feel when this moment ends.
10:13He adds.
10:14And when the cup is cold, and the room feels quiet, remember that I stayed until the very last warm moment.
10:28He steps back.
10:30The chair across from me is empty now.
10:35The coffee is cold.
10:37But my heart, my heart is burning.
10:43Because even a moment with Jesus changes everything.
10:50God bless you, my friends.
10:54Bye-bye.
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