Manna and Coffee

“A silent coffee cup often said more during any conversation than those doing the talking.” – Jerry Vanschaik, author of The Trier, A Week in the Life and Death of a Coffeehouse

I am approaching the end of the seventh month since I retired from Eli Lilly, where I was a research scientist for 34 years. During my time at Lilly, I met a lot of really, really smart people. Some of them were actually very nice too! I often joked that my resume must have gotten stuck on the bottom of a much better candidate in order for my resume to make it from the, “lucky enough to be in the opened envelope pile,” to the “maybe we will give this person a phone interview pile.”

Many people reading this manna this morning will remember life before the internet, and many will not. Back in the day, you had to walk over to the career center on campus and look up companies in paperback books that were arranged according to business type. You would read a blurb about the different companies, see where they were located and what the salary ranges were, and if one of the companies sounded interesting, you would change the addressee on your cover letter, attach a resume, and send it off to 20-30 prospective employers with a 25 cent stamp on the envelope!

If you have not “retired” yet, you have probably fantasized about what life will be like in retirement. I loved what I did at Lilly, because it pushed me WAY outside of my comfort zone each and every day. If you go into science, and you want to make a tangible difference, you have to become a lifelong learner.

To be honest, I kind of liked it when people asked me what I did for a living and I got to tell them that I was a research scientist. I liked to tell them that because many people think that you must be smart to have a job like that. I hope that my colleagues don’t get too angry if I let you on to a little secret, that families of scientists know oh, so very well. Scientists are not always the sharpest tool in the shed, and intelligence should not be confused with wisdom.

Most scientists became scientists because they are a curious lot and they stunk in English but excelled in math, biology, chemistry and physics. Pure science is unlike social science, there is only one right answer. Most of the time we don’t know what the right answer is, so we form hypotheses, test these hypotheses, run hundreds of experiments to collect data, and occasionally we actually discover something amazing that has the potential to help people and even change the world. 

The other interesting thing about the scientists that I know is that many of them are into music, art, and nature. Many of these scientists have side gigs that exist to make a meager amount of money to fund these hobbies. I have one scientist friend who plays in a pirate band on weekends, one who plays the tuba and was in a band with an accordion and a tap dancer instead of drums to keep the beat, one who takes amazing photos of birds, one crazy guy who has their own tax preparation company (I know…we all need to pray for him), one who refs hockey games, and one who bakes cupcakes to sell with their wife.

I even have one former colleague who roasts coffee as a hobby with the same roaster that I used before I started Mad Scientist Coffee. He was just smart enough to keep roasting for fun instead of trying to build a coffee company that is struggling to be noticed amongst the millions of other coffee companies in the world!

I have had more than one business coach tell me, “Len, out of all the things you could have picked to start a business, why in the world would you pick coffee because it so so competitive!” If you don’t believe me, try to sell exceptional coffee for $16 a bag when you can go to a discount grocery or hardware store and get a lot more coffee for less money. Of course my coffee roaster will remind you, rightfully so, that you get what you pay for, just like everything else in life.

The other interesting thing about some of the scientists that I have had the privilege to work with over the years, is that many of them are people of faith. There are a lot more scientists than you would think who are Christians like me. I have enjoyed working side-by-side with many of them over the years.

So what am I doing in my early retirement? Well, we bought a small camper and a puppy. I have been traveling with my wife and family to places that we have always wanted to visit. I’m trying to develop Mad Scientist Coffee into something more than a hobby while continuing to meet lots of really interesting and amazing people from around the world. Some of these amazing coffee friends also share a common passion that I have to help coffee farmers and their families.

Most coffee farmers around the world work very hard for $10 a day or less. They don’t make a lot because many of us demand cheap coffee, while others expect ready access to their $6-8 large iced skinny hazelnut macchiato, sugar–free syrup, extra shot, light ice, no whip but are really not thinking about the fact that that their drink, plus tip, costs almost as much as a coffee farmer makes in a day.

I’ve started reading more and writing again now that I have a little more time. I’ve even started drumming again at my church a few Sundays a month, which is a lot of fun.

The other exciting development is that my oldest daughter and son-in-law are in the process of adopting a little boy from Thailand! My youngest son and daughter-in-law recently announced that they are expecting too!

If any of you are following my Mad Scientist Coffee social media posts, or have read any other my recent manna writings, you will now know why I’ve been posting so much about Thailand and the missionaries, companies and people who are trying to come alongside the coffee farmers and their families in Thailand.

Retirement is a chance for do-overs. You get to hold onto the things that you have enjoyed over your working years, but now you have more time to spend more time doing them. You get to start visiting all the “someday” places around the world. You get to slow down a little and do the things you want to do, not the things you have to do to put food on the table. You have the time to think more before you talk, text or type, and you can actually slow down long enough to truly listen to others, because you don’t have to dash off to another meeting before the meeting before the meeting.

You have more time to pray and to get to know our Creator better than you ever have before. You have more time to actually help and love your brothers and sisters with more than the occasional “like” or “share” on social media.

So what are your dreams for retirement? Do you truly have to wait until retirement to start pursuing some of them? What would you do differently with your life, your faith, and your family in your do-over phase of life?

Don’t wait too long to start taking action on your do-overs. James 4:13-14 says, “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”