Day 28

At the start of May, I received an e-mail from a guy who had heard about my project and wanted to wish me luck for my moneyless month. He sent me another e-mail last week with an idea in it. He explained that a friend of his owns an organic coffee company and is also a photographer. He was the photographer on the set of a movie and decided to combine his two professions by producing a limited run of coffee that also promoted the movie. The guy explained that he bought a lot of the coffee to support his friend and now has a lot left over. He offered it to me to use for myself or to barter with.

I thought this was very kind of him, but I didn't want to take the coffee without trading it for something of my own. I asked him what he needed that I might have, and he responded with a request for prayer. He wrote:

"I'll request something a little different from probably anything you've heard of before, but is there any way you could send positive thoughts / pray for - if you're religious, for my cousin. I myself am not really religious, but he's 23 yr old and is in critical condition. Nothing else really matters to me at this point and time, and that would be a wonderful "trade" in my opinion".

My initial reaction was "absolutely", but after thinking about it a bit more, I felt uncomfortable taking something in exchange for prayer. I wrote him back:

"So I have been thinking, and praying, and I asked another co worker to pray for your cousin as well. I don't think I can take the coffee anymore, in exchange for prayer. How is your cousin doing?"

He wrote that his cousin was making improvements, and thanked me for the prayers, and he said that he understood if I didn't want to take the coffee in exchange for prayer. He asked if I could create two greeting cards instead, blank on the inside, but with something artsy on the front, in exchange for the coffee. I accepted his offer, excited to still be able to make the trade.