Hello my Starbucks  friends, so glad you're here! If you're any thing like my wife and I you most certainly like a good cup of coffee! Occasionally there's an issue as to who is going to brew the coffee. My wife said to me the other day; "ya know there is an answer to every issue in scripture if you look hard enough." I responded "well yah sure there is." She said it's written right here in scripture as to who should brew the coffee. She opens the Bible and said well here ya go, read for yourself, as she handed the Bible to me-she said; at the top of the page right there in great big bold letters. So I took the Bible and read:... "HEBREWS!"  Oh, brother, drum role please;-)

I found this article I could identify with, maybe you can also.  Thanks for stopping by!  Bart...read on...

 STARBUCKS AND JESUS
Excerpted from John's book Confessions of a Caffeinated Christian
By John Fischer

I am a loyal, shameless consumer of the Starbucks brand. I drink my coffee every day out of a stainless steel mug with a snap-on lid I got at Starbucks three years ago. I have a Starbucks cap. I fly United whenever possible because they have a good frequent flyer program although the fact that they serve Starbucks on board does not go unnoticed. I get a warm feeling inside when I’m on the road and I see the circular green logo. It’s home away from home. As far as I’m concerned, there is coffee and there is Starbucks, and that’s about it. Coffee is what you get at Circle K or 7 Eleven. Starbucks is what you go a little out of your way for.

Confessions of a Caffeinated Christian
By John Fischer

Besides, I am a creature of habit. I’m the type who will order the same thing over and over again at my favorite restaurant because I am afraid that if I try something else I will waste my money on something I won’t like as much as what I know I could have had. And I have tried some of those other coffee brands, even ones that are chic in Seattle, and I’ve not been as happy as I would have been sticking to what I know.

Not to mention the fact that I found Starbucks before it was famous, which tends to make me even more loyal. I feel like first family.

I found Starbucks coffee in 1978 when it was served in the cafeteria of Seattle Pacific College (now Seattle Pacific University). My whole understanding of coffee was revolutionized at that point. It became something I actually liked—something more than an acquired taste or a necessary morning drug.

Now here’s where Jesus comes in: just about everything I can think of about my experience with Starbucks coffee happens to also correspond to something true about my experience with Jesus.

I’m loyal to Jesus because I feel like I found him (or in this case He found me) before a lot of other people in my generation did. I was following Jesus before moral was a majority and Christian was a coalition. I was following Jesus when the Beatles were more popular than He was. I was following Jesus before the Jesus movement. And my commitment to Him continues in spite of all the publicity of a fast-growing, popularized Christian culture that makes my head swim with its array of products and services.

Just as there is coffee and there is Starbucks, I believe that there is religion and then there is Jesus. I was very happy to find this out because Christianity for me used to be an acquired taste. I grew up with it—even knew in my heart it was true—but that didn’t mean I liked it. Meeting Jesus made me fall in love with God. I’m not into Jesus because I’m supposed to be, or because I grew up with Him, or because believing is a fire escape from hell. I’m into Jesus because I’m way over the top with Him. I love following Christ. I love the life I have with God. I love the world the way He shows it to me. I would do this no matter what.   

Surely there are other brands of coffee and other coffee experiences, just as there are many types of churches and many different experiences of Christ. By singling out one brand of coffee over another, I’m not suggesting that this is the only legitimate experience of Jesus. I am merely saying this one most captures my own personal experience with God. If coffee drinking in general were a relationship with Christ, the Starbucks experience would connect the most with how that experience relates to me. 

I keep coming to Starbucks because of the experience I have there. They made a promise to me—they promised me the world’s best coffee delivered in a clean environment that always invites me to stop and stay awhile—and so far they have kept it. God has kept his promises with me as well, solidifying the most difficult times in my life with his peace. I keep coming back to him because of the wholeness I have in him. I stick with my coffee for the same reason I stick with God. He completes me. Why would I look elsewhere? This is not just about habit; it is about being whole. It’s about trust. It’s about making and keeping promises.

I am a caffeinated Christian—a human being who bleeds and hurts and struggles and wants to run away from life sometimes. That’s when I need a strong cup of java with a kick in it to propel me into the reality of my daily experience. My faith is a part of all this. Being a believer doesn’t mean I cease being dysfunctional. Like this morning, I’ve got my Bible and a strong cup of coffee, and I need them both to make it today.

My caffeinated Christianity is a relationship with God that takes into account my life in this body and my handicap as a sinner. It’s my need for a wake-me-up in the morning that does not exclude the Spirit’s presence in my life. It’s my caffeine connection with the world that God shares with me. It’s a holy connection with a human kick. Even Starbucks makes decaffeinated coffee, but that’s only a concession for those who want the experience, but for one reason or another can’t have the caffeine. It’s never the preferred drink. It’s a substitute.

Caffeine is what gets my blood pumping. I am aware of all the negative side effects—it shrinks my capillaries, it’s addictive, it gives me acid stomach, it may shorten my life, and it will eventually kill me—but life isn’t exactly kind to me either, and knowing that does not hinder my faith. Indeed, it makes faith more real. This is life as I know it in the world—the one I’m in, the one God loves, the one Jesus came to—the one full of people God is crazy about, and many of them don’t even know it.

So I’m holding my coffee cup this morning in the palm of my hand. The cup is hot, almost to the point of burning, but I can handle it. The newspaper is telling me about a world that I am slowly waking to as the caffeine works its way into my brain. In the paper is a story about how experts have discovered that coffee, especially when consumed daily in large quantities, can be beneficial in preventing certain kinds of cancer and diabetes.

I knew that all along.