A Real Cup of Coffee

Yesterday I stopped into Starbucks Coffee because I had some time to kill. The big green has been in the news of late over some real world financial issues. But the biggest stuff has been regarding coffee and the environment in their stores. Let me tell you what I mean. A couple of years ago I had a meeting with a guy in a Starbucks in Vancouver, Washington. Now let me tell you, the Pacific Northwest is Coffee Heaven. Starbucks started in Seattle and there are lots of great independant coffee joints up there. So I went in to wait and instead of smelling the wonderful aroma of fresh groud coffee, I was hit by the foul odor of warmed over egg and sausage biscuits. I had to check the door to make sure I had not accidentally entered McDonalds. When I asked the baristas what was up, they said they were a test store for a new breakfast product. I just thought it was a dumb idea. Here was the national leader in coffee moving from their strength, coffee, to eggs. Who makes that type of decision. Who ever it was I felt he should have been fired. Which eventually he was. Which brings us to yesterday. The big green, again under the management of Founder Howard Schulz, eliminated all of their breakfast sandwiches, and this week closed all of their stores for three hours to retrain the people on better service and how to make a good cup of coffee. Yesterday, after waiting almost five minutes at an empty counter while the employees played around with other, I finally got an average Cafe Americano. While the stores no longer smell like sausage and eggs, they also do not smell like coffee. Because the coffee is sealed in airtight bags and Starbucks has gone automated, instead of brewing their coffee by hand, or as the Italians like to say, "con la mano." When I was Iowa last year, I stopped by a small coffee place near Iowa University, [pictured above] called The Java House. What an experience! No breakfast smells. Just fresh baked goodies and coffee. Like a coffee place should be. So I ordered my coffee and the guy gives me number. It took me a second to figure out what was going on. The barista was making each cup of coffee individually in 1 cup drip systems. It was in short, fantastic. The way coffee should be. Strong, dark, and with the oils of fresh roasted beans on top. Starbucks can retrain all they want. They will never be able to match the cup of coffee I had that day in Iowa City.

A New Place to Worship

I am just about back in the states. Actually right now I am in the Mexico City airport waiting for my flight to be called and I got to thinking. About my last few days in Oaxaca, Mexico, and the church. Specifically the church in what we know as the developed world. It is amazing the things we take for granted. PowerPoint, good lighting, floors, and even a bunch of great stuff when we visit. Oftentimes I struggle with the affluence of the American church when I know my brothers and sisters in Christ are just fighting to get a roof over their heads. I wonder if God is really happy with us. The picture above is of a church I helped build this last week. It is in Mitla, Oaxaca, almost 2000 miles south of the US/Mexico border. And yes, it is literally made out of bark and tree branches with aluminum siding for the roof.

Off To Oaxaca

I'll be getting on a plane in a couple of hours to go the one of the poorest states in Mexico, Oaxaca. My next couple of weeks will be spent working on an outdoor kitchen to serve widows, widowers, and poor people food, finish work on a pastoral training center for the Zapotec people, and some detail work on an upcoming agricultural ministry we are putting together in the Tlacolula area, about 40 minutes outside of Oaxaca City. We have a team of eleven people from the US and Mexico working and serving. Most of our direct ministry will be spent in the village of San Baltazar. Here is a picture of what once was the sanctuary [now a Sunday school classroom] before we helped the people build a new facility last year. Please pray for our team while we are gone.

Scooby Doo, Where Are You?

If you are like me, when you grew up, before you left the house on Saturday mornings, you watched cartoons. It seems like I met some of my best friends over a bowl of cold cereal and the sports page. Folks like Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, The Pink Panther, George Jetson, and many more. To this day, I still look back fondly at those times as days of innocence, joy, and just pure fun.One of my other favorites was a rather late entry into the cartoon wars, Scooby Doo. Scooby was a talking dog who helped his merry band of investigators solve untold mysteries while getting into all sorts of trouble. It was so popular, another character, Scrappy Doo came out of that cartoon, and recently a live action movie was made about all of them and their famous van, The Mystery Machine. Last Saturday, I had the rare chance to enjoy a morning in bed watching cartoons. I grabbed my breakfast, the paper, and much to my surprise, Scooby Doo was on. But not the Scooby I knew! What I saw was a Scooby who could change into a dolphin, and was now some sort of adventure hero. Kids, this was definitely not your father's Scooby Doo. Even the animation was horrible. I have posted both pictures here for you to compare, but I gots to tell ya, the newer hipper version looks like it was drawn by a five year old. I don't know, maybe I am just biased, but I miss the old hand drawn style of animation. The colors were more vivid, the characters moved better, and it just looked richer. I mean in this new stuff, there is absolutely no attention to the background, it's just all fuzz. Is it any wonder kids minds are numb? Look at the cartoons they have to watch.

For Your Consideration

As you all know it is election time here in these United States. The presumptive nominee of the Republican Party [GOP] is John McCain. McCain is reviled by the conservatives in his party. One of the main reasons for this is that in 2004, he was apparently asked by Senator John Kerry to be his Democratic Vice Presidential running mate, and he considered it. He said no, but he considered it. This got me to thinking. I am the kind of guy that likes to consider stuff. I'll be honest, sometimes this trait scares me. It causes me to question what for many is settled law, orthodoxy, and legitimate tradition. I may not end up changing my point of view, but I like to try and see things from the other side. Occaisionally I go too far and have to brought back by my friends, but it is who I am. One area where this can be a real problem is when we get to questions of faith. I cannot be a "the bible says it, I believe it, and that does it" kind of guy. For sure, faith to me is a journey with a certain end, but, the road is likely to be more varied than most of us would prefer. For me, it is a road of questions, doubt, possibilities, and yes considerations. Sometimes of the grandest things, but sometimes of the unthinkable. I am thankful that in spite of all of those questions, doubts, and considerations, God always accepts me, waits for me, loves me, and is there for me.