
Global Jones Signature Blend
$22.14/12 oz
Cupping Notes: Sweet Lemon, Chocolate, Cherry
I met Hal Jones in 1983 when he came to Maui to speak at our church, Hope chapel. He and our pastor Craig Englert had started Campus Crusade in Hawaii together, and were very dear friends. He had been a missionary for many years living in the Middle East and serving in Beirut Lebanon during the civil war. He told me of the time that he and a friend were driving down a street when a mortar exploded behind his car. In a few moments one landed in front. Hal recognized the “bracketing” and knew that the next one would be right on top of him. He was right! As he sped away, the mortar exploded right on that spot. Eventually Hal returned to Hawaii to raise his family, and ran for office, becoming a Hawaii State Representative, and started a real estate business.
I was invited to Hal’s church to speak when I returned from my first year and a half working with Miskito Indian refugees in Honduras. Hal was very “simpatico” with the Miskito Indian refugee situation. He invited me out to lunch after church, and we drove in his very nice Mercedes to one of his favorite restaurants. As I sat in the front seat of this luxury vehicle (I estimated $80,00), I asked Hal:
“Hey, I heard that you used to me a missionary.”
“Yes, I served with Campus Crusade in the Middle East.”
Without too much thought other than the extreme poverty of the Miskito refugees that I was living with, I blurted out:
“So how come you are driving a car like this?”
Hal was silent for a few moments, and finally said, “It’s for my real estate business.”
He still took me to lunch and picked up the tab.
When Laura and I married, we visited Hal at this office in Honolulu and had a time of sharing with him. Laura asked him to tell us one thing that he did that kept him on track.
“Every morning I start off reading a chapter from the Book of Proverbs. Since there are 31 chapters, there is one for every day. That is one of my habits that has served me well.”
I took that one to heart, and since then, I have followed in Hal’s footsteps, daily reading and meditating on the Proverbs chapter of the day. That discipline has served me well also.
Eventually Hal sold that car, got out of the real estate business, and returned working with a relief organization in the Middle East, while living outside Paris France.
In 1997, we went took our three Miskito leaders to Israel along with Hal’s friends Craig and Kathy Englert. Hal took time out of his busy schedule, and met us in Jerusalem, and spent a few days introducing us to his Palestinian friends. It was quite an experience, especially walking around Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem late at night looking for the home of Hal's friends. In 1999, on our way back to the U.S after at few months in Israel, we visited Hal and his wife Lana at the home in France. The next year, 2001, Hal & Lana joined a study tour to Greece with Dr Randy Smith.