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So amongst only a few other things, this afternoon I got to spend a few hours with Jennica while over at one of the many local Starbucks. Started with a good conversation, and then moved inside so she could tackle more homework and I continued a book I started this morning. Sitting there, right behind the counter everyone picked up their finished drinks at, we could not stop laughing at all the various little things going on in the store!!

There was the handful of students who were, like us, trying to focus on something or other, and then there was the other people who just seemed to be taking a little time-out from their day and relaxing at the coffee shop. There was the grandparents with three of their grandsons stopping in for a ‘milkshake’ (frappuccino?), or the High School student picking up a few drinks for who-knows-who. Its a pretty busy place on a Tuesday afternoon!!

One thing though that really jumped out at me when we were sitting there, keep in mind that we were working on our own little projects, sitting in the corner and not interacting with anyone else but ourselves, the one thing that kept recurring was an nearly non-stop barrage of complaints! Friends meeting up with friends they havent talked to in a week? month? semester? whatever? and once the formality of greetings were over, they all seemed to start right into what wasnt going well, or what was wrong with their job, or any number of a hundred other things. Honestly it was rather entertaining. 

The grandpa was talking about how misbehaved the grandkids were, apparently taking them shopping was a fight to keep them from touching everything. Or the pair of older women who sat in the opposite corner and were talking about one’s troubles in finding a job, and their neighbors, and Im not sure what all else. One of the baristas (employees) was going on and on all afternoon about having overdone a workout routine and how terrible it was to get out of bed this morning to come to work. I spose I could go on and on, but you should get the idea by this point. Starbucks is a haven for all the disgruntled people in the area!!!

Not really, but it sure felt like it. I was reading the book “Worldliness” by C.J. Mahaney this afternoon, and one of the things that is pointed out in this book is the need for the Christian to be distinctly seperate from the world at large around him. Sitting there I really began to notice just how much like these people around me I was like. I whine about things I dont like, I complain over the lack of sleep I get, or the weather, or gad prices, or whatever else there is to complain about. And in the moment I do that, I am no different then the next guy in line. Here I am standing totally seperated from the world in the eyes of God, and to those around me I am stuck in the same prediciment, saying the same things, disgracing my Savior who has given me everything!

See, the fact that I get up in the morning and have air to breathe, and a job to go to, and a car to get there with, and any of the other thousands of things I take for granted is in fact a gift from God and a blessing I have been given. All of these pale though in light of the greatest gift I have even been given (and no, its not my girlfriend).

This gift overshadows everything else I have, everything else I could ever get, and anything I could ever dream up. This gift is the forgiveness of my sin. Jesus Christ giving himself in my place, taking what punishment I earned, and not requiring anything in return from me, this is the gift that should be ever on my mind. When things arent going so well, I remember what He provided for me and then it doesnt seem any harder then breathing to put up with. Be ever mindful my friends of the truths set before us, and let’s stand out with distinction from those around us. Always bearing our own troubles with a smile, and finding someone else we can help in the midst of their situations, ever praying that we might be the little bump they need to come to their knees before our holy and just God and accept the sacrifice He has made for our benefit.