Starbucks

Just some numbers:
Tall Mocha: $3.30
Tall Iced Caramel Macchiato $2.80
Frappé $4.15

According to starbucks marketing, 25,000,000 per week consuming starbucks.
Multiply that by 52 weeks in a year.
Equals 2,744,000,000

On average the typical starbucks drinker consumes 4 beverages a week.
Lets say they choose to get a Venti Iced Carmel Macchiato each time, at $ 3.80 each.
So per week this example consumers is spending $15.20 per week.
Time 52 weeks.
$790.40 is spent per year.

Lets compared this information to the typical person who donates to any organization to help others.

In America 83% of adults claim to be donating every year. Although all those donations combined at up to $1,220 in one year.

The average starbucks drinking spends more in two weeks ($1580.80) than 83% of Americans in a year ($1,220). I don't know about anyone else, but these seems outrageous to me.

To compare all this to something that can actually be done.

In Ghana, Africa is costs approximately $66 per year to feed a child three meals every day.


Starving child in Africa ($66) average starbucks consumer yearly ($790.40). Interesting...

A day like today

Where do we get the motivation to do anything with our lives? Why are some people more ambitious than others? What is pushing those people? I want whatever it is. Not for the moment. Not for the day. But for my life. How can I obtain this? Where do I start? Someone once told me that if you can't see a blessing then you aren't looking. Am I blind to how to live a meaningful life? When it comes to the day and what it holds, it really is only last 24 hours long. Then it is gone. Never to return again. Once a moments has past it is gone forever. Why then do we insist on defining ourselves on what was or who we were. Instead we need to focus on the here and now. How are we going to change this moment, this time, and this day? You never know when it will be your last.

Throughout my life there has been a common theme I haven't been able to forget and don't think I want to. This is that; yesterday existed, today is here, and tomorrow is not promised. Who is to say that today couldn't or wont be my last day. The future is truly unknown. It really is someone's best guess, and yet, we fall short and honestly don't have a clue what it actually looks like.

What if we did know our future, every step, and what will happen later? Does this take away free will? Frankly I don't want to know, because then the experience of living life is completely taken away. If someone told me I was going to own my own business, have an amazing family, and wouldn't have to worry about anything in life. Why would I try anymore if this was already determined? Would you try if everything was already going to be handed to you? Boring! I don't want that, and refuse to accept a predestined future. I would rather leave it unknown, a blank slate in which my creativity can take over.

God knew this at the beginning when He created us. He didn't want to create robots that did everything He wanted, when He wanted. Where is the good in that? God knew that without free choice, then humans are nothing but under His control. Does a robot love it's creator? Does a robot have fun? Explore? Learn? Create? Have relationships? Does a robot have anything that is not forced? A robot will not love in return unless that master tells it to. Is this the love the master wants? Forced, conditional, and fake? No! No one truly wants to force others to love them, if they do then they are deeply confused on what love is, and even when they have forced others to love them, they are never satisfied. They insist and keep forcing others to love them in an endless cycle that will always result in loathing of self.

An example of this is found with an abuse situation in a relationship. One partner needs and desires the love of the other, and does anything to obtain it. The other partner will give the "love" out of fear of abuse and both are never really getting what they truly desire. Love. True, pure, unconditional love that every human is searching for and always striving to find. The only time we will find this is from God. He loves us! Not because of anything we have done! Nothing we can earn! He loves us because He created us and saw that it was good.

"And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good." Genesis 1:31

This idea challenges me to live in the moment, the day, and see it as a blessing. I have discovered this a motivation to receive what I have been given and to live in love. I am loved. You are loved. We are loved. What else could motivate us more to live?

What is means to live

So the other day I was asked, what does it means to live life? Interesting concept. My definition of living life, is that you end the day with no regrets and with complete satisfaction. This looks different for every individual and can be defined based upon perspective. As far as my own life and what I do to accomplish living life on a daily basis. I really have no idea. I love to live, but really to define that, there are no words.

So an example will have to do. In order for me to begin the day properly I prefer not to wake up before 11am and preferably to good music. Change my clothing to an equally comfortable outfit as my PJs, then decide what to do. This almost always consists of some outdoor or something that results with an adrenaline rush. I have learned over the years to approach every extreme activity with a certain amount of caution as well as safety equipment. I grab the necessary safe items, ipod, camelbak, and anything else needed. Head out to the mountain where I blast whatever music I am in the mood for. Then arrive at the necessary destination and begin the journey. Whatever that journey looks like at that particular time. There is a specific rush that is obtained when setting off on a hike with nothing but the music you love and nature all around you or to accomplish the summit and observe the earth from a bird's eye view. Or even riding a bike, challenging yourself with every move, and believing that the next turn or jump will not cause physical harm, all the meanwhile feeding off the unknown and striving for the end, whatever "the end" looks like at that moment.

Honestly thinking about it, I am never thinking about the end except at the beginning. Why is this? Why am I am able to lose myself in the middle, but know the start and the finish at the beginning. However not worrying about it in the middle? The freedom that comes in the middle of an adventure as you lose yourself in the activity and no longer worry about anything except your next move. No longer focusing on the past or the future, but fully living in the present, in that specific moment. I believe this is the definition of living life as defined by me. Living in the moment with no regard to what has happened or what will happen, but enjoying the breath you are given here and now. And somehow knowing that the breath exiting your lungs was a gift given to you to enjoy for that moment and everything you have ever known can change in a moment as you breath your last breath.

Let's begin....

We begin our lives as innocent and curious without a care in the world. What happens to us as we obtain years? As a child you run around in anything, try something new just because, and really don't care what anyone else thinks about you. When does all of this change? Is it possible to return to this innocence and view the day with infant eyes, exploring everything and anything. How do we return to this curious state of mind and exploration? I believe as we grow up we are taught a variety of things and absorb things from our environment constantly as we adapt into new stages of life. Where are the rules telling us that through this we cannot hold on to the exploring nature of a child learning about their surroundings during every waken moment. God asks of us to be like children. What does this look like in today's world?

I believe the innocence of a child can never be fully renewed, however we are able to return to that state. I want to be able to go outside play in the mud, get dirty, and then run through the sprinkles. After that grab a homemade cookie, a nap, and then play with friends. How do we integrate these things into our now adult lives? Is it possible to enjoy the moment for what it is and not have a care in the world?


Cast all your anxieties/worries on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18: 3,4

God is real. He is ever present.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

Matt Redman put it this way in his song, You Never Let Go:

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won't turn back
I know you are near"

We know the promise of God, He will never leave us or forsake us. He love us even though we run away, turn our back, feel unlovable, and choose to be selfish. He asks us to be children, to be innocent, to enjoy his creation, to play, to learn, to explore, and to be loved. There is no fear in perfect love.

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." 1 John 4:18

God is perfect love. There is no fear in him. If there is no fear we have nothing to worry about. Anything that would cause us anxiety is completely in his hands.

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."" Matthew 6: 25-34



It is amazing that we still have a difficult time believing these truths that God makes so clear to us over and over. How can we learn these lessons and apply them to our lives. I think this is possible when we modify our lives to do things that mirror a child. When we take time to play and get muddy and ruin clothes or scrap our knees trying to learn something new. I know I am learning everyday, but what I want most is to see through a child's eyes as if seeing everything for the first time. I challenge you to do the same. To read these truths and try to approach life as a child does. Simple.
Enthusiastic.
Careless.
Loved.
Protected.
Curious.
Happy.
Joyful.
Accepting.