The Starbucks Lifestyle

I am sure that many of you have been to a Starbucks coffee shop at least once in your life. If you have not, I would highly recommend going into a store and experiencing what it is like. It might just change your life.

I have worked for Starbucks Coffee Company, on and off, for almost 4 years. It is by far my favorite job that I have ever had. I started with Starbucks back in August 2009 in good old Fort Wayne, IN. At that point in my life, it was the first job that I had ever had. I worked there until about April 2010 when I was let go for being tardy to work. Needing a job, I found my summer filled working for a landscaping company.

While working at my job in landscaping, I realized how much I missed working at Starbucks. I found out that they could not rehire me until 6 months had passed from my release with the company. So I stuck it out, and worked my landscaping job until I was eligible for rehire. At the 6th month mark, I applied to Starbucks again and was quickly rehired.

At about the one year mark since I was rehired, I was approached by someone asking me to come with him and help start a company. Being an entrepreneur at heart and needing the extra money, I was lured away from my job at Starbucks. I remember one of my coworkers at Starbucks telling me before I left, "You are going to come back. They always do". 

Some time past and I found myself missing Starbucks again. I asked myself, "What is it about that place that always has me wanting to come back?". Sure enough, I am currently back at Starbucks in Carmel, IN, and I plan to stay with the company for a long time. 

Now that you know a little more about me and my story with Starbucks, I want to share with you something that I think can change the world. 

Starbucks is recognized around the world for its outstanding customer service. During training, baristas are taught to not only make drinks, but how to become better at interacting with the customers and creating the "Starbucks experience". Simply, Starbucks teaches us to become servants. That is Starbucks "It Factor". 

Could you imagine what the world might be like if we all became servants? It is not always an easy thing to do, but isn't the end worth it? I know that I would love a world that was more like what I get to see and do at Starbucks. 

I challenge you to try to become more servant-like. There are simple things we can do to make a difference. While you are out, maybe just try to be more aware of what is going on around you. A simple gesture of holding the door open for someone can change their attitude for the day. 

Seeing the difference I get to make in peoples lives, in and outside of my job, makes what I do so worth it. 

Am I Light: A Story of my Life

There is something amazing about the power of testimony. We have all heard countless stories of people who have been open and shared the experiences they have had in life. When someone opens up like that, it has this way of capturing our attention. We are drawn to these moments because we can identify with the story, or part of the story.

In general, we as humans are secretive. We do not like having our lives exposed unless we gain from it. We like our skeletons hidden in the closet, where they are "safe and sound" and "never to be found".

Today, I want to open the doors of my life and expose myself to the world.

Since I was young, there have been people in my life that have invested in my life. My parents raised me well. They spent the time to instill me to be polite, thankful, have manners, etc. They did everything that they could do to set me up for success as I grew older.

As time passed, I became more and more independent and I began to make decisions for myself. In high school, I started to try and find who I was as a person. I tried different things like basketball, choir, and baseball. I began making more and more friends as I got more and more involved. As time went on, I found that I did not feel like I really belonged to any certain group, but was that guy who was kind of just floating between the groups.

Well my sophomore year in high school, I got in major trouble for the first time. I do not know if it was my way of trying to get attention, but I was caught stealing money from different places in the school. Growing up, I was the goody-goody who never got in trouble. So when I was caught, I was extremely embarrassed and ashamed. After I was caught, I went to all of the people I had stolen from and apologized, as well as paid them back. I only got a minor suspension. I was shown great mercy.

Well time passed, and I stayed out of trouble for some time. Nothing really changed in my life as I got older though. My senior year of high school I found myself in trouble again. I was caught stealing money...again. Only this time, it was a more significant amount of money. I spent the next few days at school awaiting my consequence. The administration again decided to show me grace. I was expelled from school, and was able to take my grades and make them final so I could still graduate. I do not know why they showed me so much grace. They could have called the cops on me, and I could have gone to jail. That was what I deserved, but they showed me grace.

At that point in my life, I began to start to really struggle with thing in life. I did not jump off the deep end and get more in more in trouble, but I did start to lose my foundation. My life began to spiral little by little, and I felt like I was being sucked into this vortex that I could not escape. My foundation was Christ, and the more that I felt like I did not fit in anywhere, the more I lost my foundation.

As I grew older, I discovered the party scene. It was something that I was always so scared to get near, but as I found less and less meaning to my life...I found more and more of the partying scene.

I felt so empty inside.

Growing up in the church, I knew how to blend and act when I was around my church people. I continued to party and try to fill myself, but nothing seemed to do the trick. I knew deep inside that the only thing that would fill me was God, but I did not want to give up the partying scene.

At one point it just HIT me. I knew I could not continue like I was. I called myself a Christ-follower, but there was nothing in my life that was separating me from what the world looked like. We as Christ-followers are called to be light, and I was not being light.

So, at that point, I decided to be different. I have eliminated the partying scene from my life. It has changed my life so much! I feel filled, and I know that I am filled with Christ. Day to day, I now choose to be light.
I do not have a step-by-step process of how you are to make that change in your life, but I do know the ONE who can CHANGE you!

I challenge you to look at your life and see what you are portraying. Are you being light? Do you want to be light? It might surprise you.


“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” --- Kevin Max