Welcome to the Coffee-side Chat series on the Simple Not Shallow podcast. This podcast is for those who want to enrich their faith, and this series is doing so, one thoughtful sip at a time. My name is Charles. Over the past 9 years, I’ve come to see that there is no better way for friends to talk about Jesus and our faith than over a cup of coffee, or Coffee-side, you might say. So grab yourself some coffee and put on your thinking cap, cause here we go.

In this episode, I’d like to introduction to the Coffee-side Chat series rather than offer a question to explore. If you've been following this podcast, you might be thinking, “This is a strange time for an introduction, as you are several episodes in at this point.” And, yeah, you would be correct.

But not having explained things earlier, I’m concerned that not everyone will understand why the motivation behind this series.

A little while ago, as I was trying to decide what to post about, I took a brief look at some of my older posts and found they came across as very dry and academic, as if I were a professor lecturing a class. I mean, the info I shared was good, and the use of Scripture was spot on. But I felt that there should be more, that even as Christianity is about a relationship first and foremost, there needed to be more of a relational component to these podcasts rather than a college lecture. This is transforming my approach.

As mentioned in the introduction, the purpose of this podcast is to help you enrich your faith. This means I want to help you discover for yourself the wonders and richness found in loving God. And the purpose of this new series is to help you do so through one thoughtful conversation at a time. And, I’ve come to see that there is no better way for friends to talk about Jesus and our faith than over a cup of coffee, or Coffee-side, you might say. 

So in this series, I want to kick around thoughts and ideas, just as if you and I were sitting at a kitchen table and talking over a coffee and maybe a doughnut (or, my preference, a Kringle).  

Now, don’t get me wrong, the ideas we kick around will be well-reasoned and Bible-based. We will reference Scripture, for how else can we learn about Jesus if we don’t read and listen to what he tells us in His word? And we are going to look at everything through the lens of what it means to be a Christian. Which is: to be a follower of Jesus, which involves, first and foremost, a relationship with him, leading to studentship from him, leading to a life lived for him based on everything we learn. How else can we be honestly called a follower of his? I’ll put a link to the page on my website where I discuss this further in the show notes.

And yes, we will take God and his love very seriously, but ourselves... not so much.

            One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned is not to take myself too seriously. Which is probably why those early posts sounded so academic. And honestly, I’m still learning. But I am learning how to take myself with a grain of salt. And, you know, as a Christian, I’m supposed to treat everyone as I would wish to be treated, right, the Golden Rule. So, I promise I will take you with a grain of salt as well. And perhaps that way we will get some wonderful conversations going about our faith. And perhaps as a result, our faith, our knowledge of Jesus, and his love for us will grow. All that while enjoying a coffee.