8.05.2011

Starbucks



This morning I went to get us some Starbucks. Jerry and I are somewhat coffee snobs. Ok, we are coffee snobs. I blame it on myself, though. I think I've made him that way. The coffee here at the hotel is quite disgusting and I don't want to bear it if I don't have to. So last night I told him I would get us an americano in the morning since Starbucks is pretty close to where we are staying.

I was putting creme and stevia in my coffee at the little "bar" area and a man came up beside me to prep his coffee, and right away said: "Hello! How are you today?". I responded quickly with a "I'm doing well, how are you?". He responded with "good" or something like that. I don't really remember. Right after all of this happened, something triggered in my spirit. Sort of like a . . . "I think that man really wanted to know how I was doing". He was one of those men that has that dad smell. I don't know what it is, but it's just a very distinct cologne smell, that you smell all the time. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Anyway, as we were both standing there I just wondered if there was something more to that conversation. Like, did I need to keep talking to him? There really wasn't anything else left to say. I knew we had about 10 seconds left of fixing our coffee and then I would head out the door. Then I started to think about how much his little question kind of made me in a good mood. Not that I wasn't already in a good mood, but it made me in a better one. And then I thought, this is crazy that I'm thinking so much about a little question some random stranger asked me at the coffee bar, and that millions of people say each and every day at least twice a day to someone.

AND THEN I thought about how words are so impactful and powerful. I can chose to speak life or death today. I can speak death over myself by my lack of faith and lack of feeling like I am pursuing God as I really should. Or, I can speak life over myself today by claiming who I really am in Christ, how I am being led from glory to glory as I seek to pursue Jesus whole heartedly. That there is nothing that I CAN or CANT do to earn more righteousness, but that righteousness only comes by faith.

It's this big spiral that has occurred in my mind by one mans 5 words. He'll never know, either. I wonder what opportunities are going to present themselves to me today, and I wonder the words that are going to come out of my mouth and how they are going to effect people.

This is why I love Starbucks.

2 comments:

Sarah Smith said...

starbucks - i love it too linda... so reliable. :) great post though. random interactions are good to think about. i'm just glad you wrote about it!

The Bernie Lutchman Blog said...

One day, sister, you'll be entertaining an angel, as the Bible says. I was on a street in Hartford, Ct about 20 years ago. This man in a suit, WHOM I HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE, walked right by me and looked at me, said "Hi Bernie" and kept going! That so stunned me, as I knew nobody in that city yet, that I still remember that, and another guy I met on at Train from Chicago to New York in 1990, as we passed over the Susquehanna River!
Linnae, he had the ruddiest and happiest face I had seen for decades and we - never knowing each other - just started praising the Lord and talking about the New Testament.
For sure, be careful, but one day - you will know and Holy Spirit will tell you (since He lives in us) that you really could be speaking to a heavenly being!
God bless you! :-))

Bernie
psalm 27:4