The Venti Minion

Today I want to talk about being thankful again.  I am thankful that a certain place exists.  It is Starbucks.  Now don't laugh to much yet.  See I am thankful for Starbucks but not just for the drinks which are good.  I am thankful for the life lessons I have learned at Starbucks.  "Yeah right," you say, "You just like the drinks!"  Not so fast.  I really have learned a lot from going to Starbucks.

 I do like to go to Starbucks. I go there at least once a day and get at least one Venti Earle Grey tea with cream and artificial sweeteners. It's sort of my breakfast and I do this every day after I work out. In fact, I love to mess with my personal trainer by telling him that right after my workout I am headed to Starbucks.

Well, eight years ago, I was very jealous of the skinny people who would come in there with their workout stuff on. They looked like what I wanted to look like. They were in shape, they were happy, they were skinny and I was jealous. I wanted to look like that but I didn't think I ever would. Now fast forward three years. It was a cold day and I had to wear running tights and a long sleeve shirt. I had on a cap and gloves plus my running shoes and I weighed 185 pounds. As I stood in line at the Starbucks, I thought to myself, "Oh My God! I've become one of them!" It was a great feeling.  Be careful how you judge people.  If you judge someone, you risk becoming just like them.

This certainly worked out good in my life but there are other areas where I have been very judgmental of people and I had to repent for being so.  See I judged my ex-wife and even some other people I know and it was never my place to be judge.  I realized that I was judging certain areas of their lives without judging my own life.  When I looked into my life, there were parts I liked and parts I didn't.  As I took a deeper look into some of the parts I didn't like it made me realize that I have no time to judge others.  I have to spend my time getting myself straightened out in those areas.  What areas of your life are you critical of other people?  Do you sit around at lunch with your friends talking about girls or guys and saying things that aren't nice?  Make a decision to say nice things and do nice things to others.  You will be glad you did.

There was another time at Starbucks that affected me a little more deeply and I was reminded of this the other day while I was out walking. See, one morning about five years ago, I went into Starbucks to get my usual drink. At that time it was a Venti Carmel Light Frappacino.  I was standing in line waiting and I was sort of in a bad mood. I was grumbling to myself about my bad run time from that morning. It was nothing that you would have known from looking at me but I was a little aggrivated because my time was slower than I wanted. As I stood there, I saw a man sitting in a wheel chair. He seemed to be having a pretty good day from what I remember. But here is what hit me like a jack hammer. The Lord said something on the inside of me. He said, "You see that man sitting there? He would kill to be able to do what you just did this morning. Now stop your complaining!" Imagine how ungrateful I was.  There I was thinking about a slow run while looking at a man who couldn't walk.  I repented right then. Because of all I have been through in the last couple of years, my run times have gotten much slower but I am so thankful that I can run today.

What are the areas in your life where you are grumbling and complaining? If you look around, there is someone sitting in a wheel chair in that very area you are grumbling about.

And that's another Opinion of the Minion

A Midsummer Minion's Dream

Today, I want to talk to you about dreams.  How often do you sit and dream?  I do it all the time.  I day dream about all kinds of situations in my life.  I have visions of what a right relationship would look like and see myself there.  I think dreaming is something important that we have missed in our lives.  I was in church on Sunday and heard this message.  Then I went back to a totally different church and heard the same message about vision and dreams on Sunday night.  Do you think God was trying to tell me something?  In the last couple of weeks I have had two very strong revelations from the bible about dreams.  So here we go.

We all have dreams.  As I have said before, when I was in high school, I dreamed of going to Annapolis and then on to fly F-14s for the US Navy.  Well that one didn't come to pass but that's OK.  Top Gun is still one of my favorite movies of all time.  I love the end because Tom Cruise overcomes tragedy and saves the day.  It's my kind of movie. 

I also dreamed about going to law school one day and becoming Perry Mason.  I was going to argue cases and be the greatest lawyer ever to walk the planet.  Well that partly happened.  I did graduate law school and technically I am a lawyer but I don't practice much.  If you have ever had me as your lawyer, you know I am no Perry Mason.  ;)  But I am happy with me and I am glad I went to school.  When I told people about my dream some of them said I would never make it.  Some said it to my face and some said it behind my back but that's OK.  That dream was working inside me and guess what, I made it.

Now here is a dream that I am going to share with you that I have never made public.  Only a few people know about this one but I want to share it with you now.  For years I dreamed of being the President of the United States.  I could see myself in the Oval Office.  I could see myself making right decisions and governing wisely.  I read scriptures about how when the righteous rule the people rejoice.  Many people say they wouldn't want the job but I wanted to be the go to guy.  I wanted to see if I had what it took.  If you come into my office you will find many books about presidents, the white house and being president.  It was definitely one of my long term goals.  Today, I don't really want to be President anymore.  Why you ask, because it isn't my calling.  I am beginning to wake up to what the Lord has called me to do and I know that isn't it.

So what I have been doing the last couple of days is working on my dreams.  I am writing them down and beginning to think about them.  Many studies show that when we write down our dreams and think about them regularly, this process acts like a magnet drawing us closer and closer to our dreams and goals.  That's pretty cool stuff huh.

See, I think it is important to dream big.  When I dreamed about losing weight, I would see myself skinny.  I would see myself doing all kinds of things.  One thing that really embarrassed me about being big was I couldn't water ski which was big with my family.  But I would see myself being skinny and attractive.  I started confessing everyday that I weighed 205 pounds.  I did this for over a year without dropping a single pound but that dream was resonating inside my spirit every day.  That dream was working inside me and pointing me the right direction.  Then one day, that dream popped in my spirit and the transformation began.  But guess what, I didn't stop at 205.  I went all the way down to 185.  See when we dare to dream and then keep those dreams in front of us, amazing things can happen.

Now let me tie this to a place you may not really understand.  God.  Guess what, he has dreams.  He has dreams about you.  The bible says that He has plans for you.  Plans for your good.  It says in another place that he knew you before the foundation of the world.  Since before the world was founded he was dreaming about you.  That's pretty far out there stuff huh.

Well I want you to get a picture of this.  Think for a minute about that perfect guy or that perfect girl or maybe a car, etc.  Picture him/her/it in your mind.  Think for a second about whatever your goal is.  See yourself in a right relationship (See the Box).  See yourself succeeding.  How does that feel?  Does it touch a nerve in the core of your being?  Does it release a warm feeling inside you?  This might blow your mind but the Lord sits around dreaming of you the same way.  He pictures you in his mind successful.  He pictures you in his mind with the right person.  He sees you enjoying yourself and it brings great pleasure to His soul.  He gets excited about His dreams for your life.  He has a good life planned for you.  He sees you and He spending time together doing things that you love.



And that's another Opinion of the Minion.