“For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible . . . everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.” Colossians 1:16

Dear Friends,

Kevin and I were just talking about that I have written letters for City Impact for over 27 years. As I began writing this letter I poured myself a cup of coffee and zapped it in the microwave. Those of you that know me have realized that I am quite the connoisseur of coffee.  We buy whole beans and ground them to brew a fresh pot of coffee each day.  Recently, I read a story that I believe you would enjoy – so, pour yourself a cup and find a comfortable spot to sit.

“A Group of Alumni, who had become highly established in their careers, got together to visit their favorite old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress at work and in life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice-looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee.  In most cases it is just more expensive and, in some cases, even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups. And then you began eyeing each other's cups.”

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live.  Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee that God has provided us. God brews the coffee, NOT the cups.  City Impact believes that our role is to introduce people to God’s coffee and to serve it daily.  I have come to realize that God’s coffee is the best there is . . . trust this connoisseur.

​From one coffee (or tea) drinker to another,
Betty Alvarez Ham
President