I moved to Austin, Texas, the summer after I graduated from college. Post-college life can be a lonely time, especially when you earned your degree at a small Christian college that provided built-in community and easy friendships. It was the first time I was truly out in the world, learning to provide for myself and make all my own decisions.
About a month into this new life I was trying to create, I thought, “Is this all there is?” Going to work, coming home, making dinner, going to bed, and doing it all over again tomorrow… felt very mundane. So, I decided, instead of going straight home after work, I would try out a local coffee shop. I knew of one called Lamppost Coffee that was on my drive home.
I pulled into the parking lot and prayed, “God, I really want to connect with one person today.”
I went inside and probably ordered a vanilla latte. Drink in hand, I spotted a cozy chair directly across from a large, black-and-white painting of a lion hanging above a tacky, red couch. I sat, sipping my coffee, when three girls came and sat under the lion’s head. During a lull in their conversation, I mustered up enough courage to speak up from across the coffee table.
“Hi, I like your tattoo,” I said to one of the girls who had the shape of Nicaragua inked on her arm.
My question quickly sucked us into meaningful conversation. Little did I know, these three girls were each connected to this coffee shop in some way.
“God, I really want to connect with one person today.”
After that night, I began showing up at Lamppost multiple times a week. Slowly, I grew in bravery, inching closer to the bar seating where you could freely chat with the baristas. Soon, the baristas knew my name, and I became a “regular.” If a barista messed up a drink or made a little extra of the Lamppost’s famous espresso milkshake, they offered it to me first. For me, this was meaningful. I felt like I had a place I belonged in a city that was still so foreign. Eventually, I connected with the owner of this coffee shop, who loves Christ and others deeply. He subtly displays his faith through Chronicles of Narnia references hidden throughout the coffee shop, like the lion painting and the name “Lamppost.” When I needed a part-time job, it was a natural transition to become part of the Lamppost team, who already knew me. This place had become “my place,” and these people had become “my people.”
I began to realize that, not only did I feel a sense of belonging, but these people also accepted me fully as I am. I felt confident in my quirkiness and giftings for the first time – maybe because everyone in the coffee crew was unique, too. What drew us together, the one thing we all had in common: we loved Jesus. For the first time in a Christian circle, I felt permission to be uniquely who God had created me to be.
Around this time, my boss began hosting a small house church, which consisted of many of my coffee-shop coworkers. When my husband and I got married, my boss at the coffee shop officiated our wedding. Soon after, my husband took over as a manager when the shop began to expand.
The Lamppost became such an integral part of our lives and our story. It taught me so much about the beauty and intricacies of a cup of coffee and the deep community that can be formed over a simple cup… and all because I decided to break out of my normal routine and ask God for a connection. He used that one moment of boldness to shape so much of my time in Austin. When we moved to Colorado, our boss was one of the first people (other than my mom) to fly out and minister to us during a season of grief and deep loneliness.
And guess what now hangs on our wall above our coffee pot? A black-and-white painting of a lion.
