CONFESSIONS OF A STARBUCKS PASTOR

Ever asked God this question? Our son did at age five when he was throwing up every 30 minutes in the middle of the night. "Mommy, when will God let this be over?" When I do sit ups, I can't wait to get to the end of a set. When I used to swim a mile, I counted every lap and knew when I hit 72, I'd be done. Kids know down to the minute when the school year ends. Adults know when the work day is supposed to end. When you are doing yard work, you can see how much more you have to do before you're done. Sometimes the stuff we want over isn't so easily thrown up or monitor-able. Perhaps you are in a situation right now that you would trade if you could only just be throwing up instead of facing or dealing with the horrible thing that isn't going to go away any time soon. And you have no way to know where you are in the time table. We are drafted into the vortex of waiting. Waiting to see things unfold. Waiting for actions to be replied to. Waiting for...

So there!! A big story this week is how LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling spoke horribly about black people to his girlfriend. Apparently, she was recording their conversation and somehow it went viral. The NBA Commissioner revoked Sterling from basketball for life and heavily fined the billionaire. There is talk about forcing him to sell his team. The media is ablaze with this story, labeled him as racist and tells us that is unacceptable. Public reaction is categorically outraged. Pundits have their new thing to talk about each hour on cable. Yes, what this man said is awful. His team is mostly black but he doesn't want blacks to come to his games? I don't get the logic behind that. But then, there is no logic to discrimination is there? I do not agree that racism is as prevalent as some of the talking heads have spun it. One of them said that racism is fading as the last generation raised to be so critical ages out of society. Today's Gen-X, Y and Z-ers have n...

When we are at the grocery store, we can expect an unknown cashier to ask us how we are. Even the someone we are only slightly acquainted with who is just walking by and says "How are you?" as if it were really just a "Hello". They don't stick around to hear your answer, or if they do the only answer expected is a single word in the positive range. If by chance you are in pain, they didn't time their Q to stand by and hear some tale. So, most people respond just as insincerely with "fine." My pet peeve used to be this: people asking a question when they don't care or don't plan to engage in a conversation. As a young adult, I would almost bare fangs when this insincere "question" was lobbed my way. Now, I ignore it because I know that it translates (in North America anyway) as a longer version of "hello". I just give a big smile and agree by saying "hello" back. I've come to believe that this level of...

This is probably one of the most frequent comments I hear from people who are struggling. Their lives are upside down, they are overwhelmed and in frantic need of peace - so they try praying. They are glum as they tell me "it didn't work." When people are in this state, they have already done the anxious math and are so wound up in all the  "I can't" and "What if" spiraling thoughts that they don't have the space in their overwrought minds to hear. When they are calmer and can focus, I can share how prayer really does "work." First of all, prayer is not a last resort. It is not something you do when you think you have tried everything else. In America today, it is media-acceptable to talk about that kind of prayer as much as you want. Cuz that is the "prayer" that is mumbled or recited dutifully and ritualistically. Everyone can put up with that prayer, even on TV. I grew up with those prayers at every meal and at bedt...

Isn't that what long-term congressmen and women say when describing their work in D.C.? They are "serving their country" through their public life in government. Service implies an act of nobility at one's expense that goes beyond expectation. When I think of service, I think of members of the military who put their lives on the line, or doctors without borders who spend significant time in third world countries donating their skills for those far less fortunate.  Service also makes me think of paid and unpaid people at churches donating their time and money to make a church experience more relevant.  Service reminds me of teaching staff and volunteers who invest hour upon hour every day in order to give children the best possible education. And of course service makes me think of anyone in the food business that has to interact with customers while delivering a tasty dish... or mocha. What does not remind me of service is a government employee - representing a cer...

That would be the Super Bowl, now in its 48th year. Let's look at what that means in today's over-marketed, over-saturated contemporary culture. In order to do that, first set that thought aside and think about topic sentences. You know, the thing 6th grade teachers used to club us about when we couldn't find the main point during English class. The thing that no longer matters because everything flows together like the Ohio and Missouri into the Mississippi. (Woa, how very #DennisMiller of me just then.) Our culture is suffering because of marketing bleed and the Super Bowl is a perfect representation. The game that used to be about football is now about what people do with football as an add-on. Super Bowl Sunday has been hijacked. The pre-shows for the recent Bowl had television and film stars taking photo shoots promoting their next project in the context of "being caught attending the Super bowl". I love you Hugh Jackman, but do I really need to know ab...

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...