I have pondered for a great deal of time dedicated this Starbucks to the random conversations I’ve had and new friends I made at Starbucks, Mojoes, or other local coffee joints I spend time  reading, studying, and on occassion working at.

Over the past month alone I have met a school teacher in IPS and heard amazing stories and insights, a double Grad student, got to know some baristas, along with quite an eclectic variety of connections.

I read a quote recently that emphasized, “this generation belongs to the storytellers and connectors” and I’m intrigued by the amazing stories to be heard when one just sits, listens, and ask the right questions.

It’s so much easier to connect people with people and people with God after you hear their story in their words! So much to learn about people and the Lord from listening!  

So, bad news. Last night I found out my fave Starbucks on the north side is changing hours. It’s my only post midnight study spot. Not any longer….now closing at midnight. Way bummer!

Speaking of hangin at Starbucks, I made a new friend this week. I was studying last Saturday and ended up talking with a young guy Chris who was hanging out there. Anyways, a couple days later he needed a ride someplace and called me to see if I was available. I was coming back from Chicago at a church planting summit for Midwest Church Planting when he called. Wasn’t exactly the most convenient timing but I felt a bit compelled to help knowing he didn’t have many other options  and it was clear God has a purpose for me in this new relationship. So I picked him up Tuesday evening, he ate dinner with our family, as God provided an opportunity for us to encourage and support a new friend walking in the middle of some very difficult life circumstances.

There are times when you feel useless for meeting the needs of people with love for God, and yet there are some times when God opens the doors wide open and make it crystal clear I have a responsibility to be His hands and feet. This was one of those times. While in Chicago I heard Gordon MacDonald give a great explanation that ministry is best explained as, “Serving people so that they are pointed to Jesus and his redemptive plan.” It truly is all about redemption.

Don’t you love that question? I mean when you start connecting with someone and the first question out of their mouth is that. And the question usually means, “What are your vocational responsibilities?” Like, should I respond: I do wrestle with my boys, I do watch old school movies like Pulp Fiction, I do love my wife, I do love skateboarding, etc. I do dread being cast into a mold based on what “I do” or the perception about what “I do,” if you know what I’m saying. What is it with Americans and being defined based on what we do vocationally?

And actually for me I dread that question doubly because of the perception, expectations, and assumptions about what “I do.” I happen to be able to have heart/passion alignment, with paycheck receiving vocation, with all that combined in my beliefs of faith as a disciple of Jesus.

And sitting at my regular Starbucks brings about these types of conversations that often start with “What do you do?” Sometimes I make a game out of it and see how long I can go in a conversation without saying the words “church,” “pastor,” or “Christian” and yet still describing “what I do.” I mean you want to kill a conversation in a hurry, especially with next gen folks, share one or any combination of those words in your introductory sentence. Rarely does that evoke a good next conversation step. Any bad experiences in church, any known judgmental people or general pathetic representations of Christ, or just generally the assumption that I am looking to convert, change, or manipulate all gets conjured up simply by a response to the question of “what do you do?” Hardly fair, huh? Ha! It does make for a fun game on occasion!

So practically speaking, what do I do? I do try to be a passionate follower of Jesus Christ and seek to be faithful here and now.

The first concert I went to was the REM Green tour, and that gave birth to a new love of this Athens band (sure to cover another day).  We live in a world full of people going from point A to point B, smiling a lot, well trained to say “I’m good” when asked, over-financed, over-scheduled, and emotionally drained. The lives we keep don’t aid us to being observant to other people’s hurts that’s for sure. And yet every point we reach is full of people, with every phone call at work or personal has a person on the other line. At our core we know it’s only people that matter and everynow and then we see outward evidence of what is going on inside.

A couple weeks ago I was reading at my favorite Starbucks on 116th & 69, and there was a college age girl listening to music and appeared to be reading some text book of some sort sort. Out of the corner of my eye I happened to notice a tear trickle down her cheek. That immediately caught my attention. Then less than a minute later she erupted and tears began to flow down her face. She leapt up and stumbled out the door to her car, dropping her computer bag, with everything spilling out on the floor.

I haven’t been able to shake this one. What does it take to cause someone to go from reading, drinking coffee, listening to music to suddenly bursting into tears in a public spot? A song on that I-Pod that evoked memories of a relationship gone sour? Or maybe the textbook was just that bad? I’ve always dreaded anything to do with science myself. But I figure it’s prolly much deeper than that for this young lady. A favorite REM song of mine is “Everybody Hurts” and this is one of those reminders to me of a reason to slow down and be more attentive to the people at appointments, on the phone, at my usual haircut spot, gas station, and yes my favorite Starbucks.