Green Bean Coffee House Burns Down
On October 23, 2009 the Green Bean Coffee House and three other businesses were destroyed by a fire. For more information on this story visit these links:
http://www.kirotv.com/news/21401279/detail.html
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/65765377.html
http://www.auroraseattle.com/2009/10/23/green-bean-scorched
Ring...Ring...Ring...
"Hello this is Randy Rowland."
"Hi Randy, this is Jeff."
"How you doing Jeff?"
"...Well..."
Randy [With gusto]: "The Green Bean is unscathed and doing just
fine!" "On the other hand, the building is gone."
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Dear Friends of the Green Bean Coffee House, Sanctuary Church and the Greenwood community:
With that wonderfully framed perspective, a new course and future for both the Green Bean, Sanctuary Church and the community has been set.
The people, people in community, all alive and unhurt are intact, present and will move on through this crisis. In-fact they will be more vibrantly alive and mission-driven than ever before. The stuff of brick and mortar, lath and plaster...went up in smoke or fell to the ground. Yet the substance of meaning, care, life, spirit, joy, and future - was only fed toward advance, perhaps like never before.
So you know by now of the fire. The fire raged rapidly and totally
consumed the Green Bean and 3 other businesses just adjacent the C.C. Teriyaki, Szechuan Bistro and Pho Tic Tac. In addition to the businesses, the
Taproot Theatre was severely impacted, not burned but suffered major water and smoke damage.
What started out as shock
followed by tears then by profound grief, began by noon to turn toward hope: "What's next?" Talk began among
people gathering across the street: "This is a community thing...we've got to pull
together." Talk was beginning to swirl that nearby businesses, untouched by the fire, where exploring how to turn some of their net receipts toward those impacted by the fire.
I stood on the street for about 3-hours. Once people were allowed to
gather on the sidewalk across the street from the fire - most just came, stopped, stood quietly...and simply stared at the smoldering ruins. It was easy to start conversations..."It's so sad." Replies came:
- "Yes...so sad...I loved the Green Bean."
- "This hurts, the Vietnamese restaurant was the most authentic in the area...tragic," says Dave (a travel journey tour guide)
- "My 10-year old son is in a play at the Taproot...I am am afraid to tell him what has happened here," say Robin (a mom of 3)
- The Green Bean was such a wonderful, safe place for so many of us in the neighborhood," anonymous.
This sweet one, not fully understanding what was going on or why, knew without a measure of doubt she had lost something valuable-a place where wonderful people of all kinds gather and softly celebrate every day. This place, the Green Bean, held people in community in such a way (whether people knew or not) they were experiencing the King's Kingdom, His Presence, a foretaste of His Fullness "heaven on earth".
This little 5-year old knew somehow that something near & dear was taken away. But of course we know, as Pastor Randy Rowland so well expressed, temporal stuff may be gone, yet that of eternal, living and true - continues on.
I trust soon, this little Japanese-American girl will walk through the doors in a newly remodeled building somewhere near Greenwood and 85th, where a restored Green Bean and community freshly arise from the ashes. And we will see a smile that sings: "Joy!"
So community...continue to pray. I can't wait to see how the Lord is going to keep on doing His good work.
Jeff Littlejohn