In this episode of The Edge, we sit down with MichaelEtcheson, founder of C.R.E.A.M. Coffee, which stands for Christ Rules Everything Around Me, for a conversation about incarceration, faith, vision, purpose, and refusing to let your circumstances determine the size of your future.
The vision for C.R.E.A.M. Coffee was actually born whileMichael was incarcerated in TDCJ and participating in the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP). What began as an idea behind prison walls would eventually become a luxury specialty coffee company with a mission to make a difference far beyond the cup.
Michael also talks candidly about how, long beforeincarceration, he had limited his own potential based on what he saw around him. Looking back, he puts it this way: “I put myself in a box. The box that was created for me was so much larger than the one I put myself in. Maybe I was just sitting in the corner.”
For anyone watching from inside a prison, those words carrya powerful message. Your upbringing, your environment, your mistakes, your race, your circumstances, and even the walls surrounding you today do not have to determine what God can do with your tomorrow. Sometimes the boundaries weaccept for ourselves are much smaller than the possibilities God has placed before us.
Today, C.R.E.A.M. Coffee combines premium specialty coffeewith purpose, partnering with nonprofit organizations working to restore hope, strengthen communities, and create second chances.
Michael's story is living proof that incarceration doesn'thave to be the end of your story. It can be the place where God begins showing you what the next chapter could become.
Your circumstances may put walls around you. They don't putwalls around God's purpose for your life.