Suffering at Starbucks

By Pam Shavey 

You know, I love going to Starbucks for my favorite iced mocha!  I like to stroll on in and not make a scene and just get my mocha and go.

When I was pregnant with my 2nd son there was a gal Liz who worked at “my local Starbucks” (well, one of my local Starbucks) who introduced herself because she was also pregnant.  So we were both pregnant with our 2nd boys and both due within a week of each other!  Crazy, huh?  We started a friendship 3 ½ years ago and now I make a point to try to go into our local mocha shop when I know she will be working.

Conversations have not gone deep quickly but they are getting there.  I have been pondering the idea in a book, Finding Common Ground, about the lost art of sowing.  In the book, Tim Downs talks of the importance of finding common things to talk with people about - to sow into their lives.  That we need to sow before we can harvest.  That this is not a time of simple harvesting but of the hard labor of spring plowing, of backs bent from pruning, of calluses from hard work.

And so, my hard work is to go to Starbucks to get mochas :)  Yea, thanks Jesus for the treat in the midst of sowing.  The hard part is to talk with Liz in the moments we have and to keep the 3 kids occupied and to think of ways to open up possible spiritual conversations.  And, to pray she has a moment to talk.

In the last 6 months I have found out that she has been involved in Alcoholics Anonymous and that she goes to a small Lutheran church.  She has also asked for my phone number and has asked questions about Mars Hill. I feel that I am beginning to see the fruit of labor.  I pray that one day this summer we can go to a park together I have asked in the past and nothing has come to fruition.  I also pray that one day she will hear the whole gospel!

I was once told that evangelism is like a tennis game.  How?  Well, I hit the ball over to Liz with a question, idea, thought and then wait for her to hit the ball back over to me.  For instance, when I have hit the ball over to her about going to a park, she has not responded with an “oh yea, let’s go” so I have waited.  But, when she asked for my phone number I hit the ball back by giving her my number.  It causes me to check the soil, to see what God is doing in her heart and to not go out there like a hunter waiting for something to conquer.

So yesterday my husband Gary and I both had an opportunity to sow with a couple on our block.  Gary and the husband, Billy, went to the Phinney Neighborhood Summer Beer Fest; it was an opportunity to sow with Billy and to see other guys from the neighborhood.  When the guys left, Billy’s wife Jessica walked down to chat with me.  We talked for an hour on our porch!

Since then I have doubted my words, doubted most everything about our conversation but I pray the Lord would continue to build a friendship between our 2 families.  I want to ask her some more questions, begin thinking of the tennis match when I am talking with her and not just desire to talk about myself.

I pray that as I go to Starbucks and sit out on the porch that I would be able to “play tennis” in conversation with those God has put in my path.  I pray I would not give up in the hard long season of laboring in the fields.waiting for the harvest.