Yesterday at 5:45am, my phone alarm went off. But unlike other days as of late, I had NO problem bounding out of bed.
It was time for third month of Factor of 7. I was so excited about it, I woke up three times throughout the night to make sure I hadn’t overslept for our Jesus adventure.
As I write this, I can’t tell if my excited jitters are from the skinny caramel macchiato I had or the remnants of our Starbucks Factor of 7. (Talk about some legit Jesus Caffeine!)
So yes, yesterday my beloved and I found ourselves at McGraw housing complex Starbuck’s here on a Fort Benning. At 7:00am. Ready to bless some folks with free coffee. $107 of free coffee, to be exact.
And as it has proven the last two months… It. Was. Awesome. Jesus was there– and blessed us immensely.
My beloved approached the cash register and ordered our personal drinks. (Perk of Factor of 7 experience: We get an excuse to treat ourselves to coffee/yogurt etc.) He asked the cashier/barista to break a $20 bill. (We needed a couple smaller bills to get our exact cash amount.) Needless to say, the cashier/barista looked a smidgen annoyed at our request.
But in less than thirty seconds, that all changed.
Brandon handed me the $5 bill I needed, then I stepped up to the register and told Shauna that we were going to pay for the next $107 worth of coffee that came through the line.
Her expression was PRICELESS. Her jaw dropped, eyes got big and she gasped…. “WHHAAAA… ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!”
The entire atmosphere of that little coffee shop changed quicker than you could say “double shot espresso.” For the next 45 minutes or so, Brandon and I stood at the pick-up counter, notebook and business cards in hand, watching peoples’ reactions and asking how we could pray for them.
That’s us on the right. Sharing some Latte Love
In total, we were able to buy coffee/breakfast for 22 people. One of our bless-ees is having a baby in June. Another is deploying to Germany. Several families were preparing to watch their son/brother graduate from Basic Training today and tomorrow. (Fun conversations ensued when I told them that the handsome man behind me was a drill sergeant. Fortunately they weren’t in his battalion, so my beloved wasn’t one of the drills who probably made their son cry 😉 )
When I asked one lady how we could pray for her, she leaned in close to me, eyes misty and whispered gently, “I am a cancer survivor.” I very loudly (and enthusiastically) blurted out “WELL, PRAISE THE LORD!!” I’m sure the other customers were intrigued.
It was a fantastic way to spend part of our morning. Oh… And did we mention that a reporter from The Bayonet (the local Fort Benning newspaper) was there? She is going to run a story on our ministry in next week’s paper. (Thanks for that one, Jesus!)
Today we encourage you to share the love of Christ around you. Get creative. Pop over to the Factor of 7 page for ideas. You never know who you will bless… and how YOU will be blessed in return.
Oh, one more thing… To celebrate this successful event, we are doing a GIVEAWAY!!! We are sharing a little more Latte Love with a chance for you to win a Starbuck’s gift card!
The contest starts today and will continue until the story runs next week in The Bayonet. (Approximately one week.) To enter, share this post (and/or future/past posts) with folks you know via Facebook, email, Twitter, etc. And then leave a comment to give your reaction and how you shared.
The more you share/comment, the more times you can enter to win some of your own Latte Love!
We are so thankful that we have been called to serve in this way… More than 22 different kinds of drinks were purchased on Wednesday at McGraw Starbucks from frappuccinos to white chocolate mochas… But every single one of them was made with little Jesus Latte Love!
Caffeinated with Christ,
SGK
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
–John 13:34
