Life at 3 miles an Hour

I must admit to a real quagmire (my new favorite word) of mixed emotions as I write this.  In the 10 years worth of life's lessons and musings contained in this blog, many of you would note that Starbucks has had a place of prominence.  Many mornings, with a grande drip and a croissant and a beachside window seat, have been recorded here.  In all of the incredible things that we've experienced in our new journey of church, one thing has never been replaced ... My early morning ritual of viewing the world through the window on Alki.  Over the years I have wandered and tried other venues to change things up, but always returning eventually to watch the sun rise over the ferry's on their downtown trek across the sound. With all of my fondness in the context of my writing, one thing cannot be shaken from the reality of the Starbucks coffee experience itself... It is sorely lacking when placed besides so many of the local venues.  Now to be fair, when we are outsi...

I actually found a spot to sit in the land of badge people, known outside of my neighborhood as Amazon.  A seat in a comfortable spot in the Starbucks located at ground zero is a valuable commodity.  It doesn't often happen here during business hours 6 days a week, so I'm feeling pretty fortunate.  I have Van Morrison in my headphones, wondering if any people of the badges actually know who he is, and am just spending a bit of time people watching.  Lest you think that's code for being lazy, I'm actually working.  It's a bit of a self imposed research project that all people who practice the pastoral arts need to consider a priority task.  Actually, all people who claim a relationship with Jesus need to see this as a more noble task than it tends to be considered in the contemporary church.  A bit of contextualizing wouldn't really hurt anyone.  Jesus was, after all, the master of it.  If we claim to follow him, it only makes sense that we em...