CONFESSIONS OF A STARBUCKS PASTOR

Do you observe what is marketed online, TV, radio, billboards and in store displays? I know the ads are there and glance - rarely intrigued - but as a person with a sociologist's heart, I often pause to see what's trending. There are all those commercials for the pills your doctor is too ignorant to know about but savvy you can learn about in 60 seconds to fix things you never knew were wrong. Don't worry that the side effects are often worse than what you just discovered you had and the list always includes headache, nausea and death. My favorites are the ones about everyday life. Those luxury car ads that show the life everyone wants to have with built-in everything to enjoy while cruising along the golden highway. It's either the perfect couple in the car, or the perfect parents with the perfect kids. What about the diet commercials that show the before and after photos that tell you that you can do it too - with their program. There's even the one with the d...

Have you ever noticed a small piece of thread and given it a little tug only to find out it kept coming? Your entire garment could become unraveled if you continued. That is what is happening in the Middle East. Long a hot bed of conflicting religion and government, don't think that the Syria "threads" aren't reaching far and wide. While this 67-year old country has never enjoyed a serene existence, the 2011 Arab Spring opened the door to a civil war where anything goes. Protestors were tired of the Ba'ath Party, a socialist movement led by Bashar al-Assad. The government responded to the protestors with kidnapping, torture and murder. The civilians organized and continued.  In return, the government escalated their responses by destroying whole neighborhoods and towns. Other entities have joined in. Of the more than 110,000 people killed in this short period of time, when WMDs recently killed 400 children a few weeks ago, a thin red line was finally crossed ...

She was just one. God does that for us, too. An innocent 16-year-old San Diego teen has been in the national limelight these past few weeks. Shortly after her abduction by a family friend, a national Amber Alert was issued and an intense search began. I remember walking in to the room with the TV on and being impressed at how rapid and intense the search shaped up in such short order. I loved hearing the police and FBI declare that they were going to bring her safely home. Within a few days, miraculously this teen was indeed found - in the middle of nowhere - and saved. She was brought back to her hometown unharmed, but she couldn't go home to the one she knew because her captor had murdered both her mother and brother in his quest to capture her. The number of rescuers put in place to find this one girl is mind-blowing. If they had not all worked together, we would not have this happy ending for at least her life. She was just one person and all these people put out messa...

Here they come. Well, actually they have been on the way for quite some time. Ever read George Orwell's book 1984 ? Follow this story:  Back in May 2013, A high school in Arizona thought that school spirit would be increased by having a "Redneck Day". Students could come dressed in characters inspired by the popular TLC program "Duck Dynasty." Side note: I have hosted themed events for years and it is indeed both team-building and fun to produce and experience so I am a big fan. Continuing:  The U.S. Department of Education is conducting an investigation into this matter because one student wore a Confederate flag that day. Civil rights activists claim this created a racially hostile environment.  What  was intended as innocent fun is now undergoing scrutiny including moderated conversations between the school administrators and the civil rights community to "shape new policy and racism prevention measures."  Apparently some students and ...

While the media has focused us on recent Supreme Court rulings, another big news item went unnoticed. The other day I learned that the Christian organization Exodus International had shut its doors. Its president no longer believes they can do what they have promised for over 25 years. In case you haven't heard of them, Exodus International was one of the power players in the evangelical world. Their mission was to bring people out of homosexuality by way of  Christianity. Serving generations, they ran conferences, trainings, inspired support groups all in the name of changing homosexual orientation. Churches referred people to them or created their own sub-groups. They were a very big deal for a long time. Two weeks ago its president pulled the plug. Exodus had not been successful. Some people were still attracted to the same sex, including the president who was faithfully married in a 16-year heterosexual relationship. The organization no longer believed in wha...

What? The attorney for the recently convicted abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell was being grilled on FoxNews the other day by Megyn Kelly. She kept questioning how either he or the doctor could condone a late term abortion. The attorney kept responding that the primary practice targeted abortions in the first term, and that only "a few" were late term. He proudly stated that the clinic was not in the poor condition the media depicted, and that many clients were referrals. Pregnant Megyn kept at him until he finally acquiesced, sputtering that pro-choice people should "choose quicker" and that an abortion over 24 weeks was just "too late". What? There is a cut off line between when it's the choice of convenience or harm to a human? Before a certain period of time, a life in the womb (with a beating heart and fingerprints not to mention being fully formed) can be disposed of and referred to as pro-choice? After this invisible line, it becomes illegal...

I spent a bit of time perusing the internet the other day and read some chilling stories about how government has treated select groups of people. One group of people had marginalized citizenry, was prohibited from certain areas and received reduced rations going without public transportation. Another group of people had marginalized citizenry, was prohibited from certain areas and received reduced rations also going without public transportation. In both cases the government legitimized the seizure of personal property for redistribution and labeled such targeting as a national security measure. In both cases only those not fitting a particular point of view were targeted. In both cases it appears as if the rest of the nation went along with it, for awhile. Who am I referring to? In the first illustration, I am referring to the Holocost where over 11 million people were relocated and murdered because they did not fit a certain profile. In the second illustration, I am referri...