Starbucks gift cards and God’s economy
October 20th, 2008 | by mbhunter |
I’m not sure if there is any explicit biblical opinion on coffee, but a number of friends from church really enjoy their daily grind — almost as much as I do, I dare say. My wife isn’t a big coffee drinker, though she does enjoy other Starbucks drinks as an occasional treat when she’s in town. Most of the free gift cards I redeem from MyPoints are Starbucks gift cards for her.
When she lost her wallet about a week ago, one of the cards in her wallet was a Starbucks card that still had about seven bucks on it. Slightly annoying, but nothing that would break the bank.
Enter God’s economy. In Philippians 4:19 the apostle Paul writes: “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” There’s no mention of how specifically needs are met, only that they will be met. (In any case, the fact that we “have” anything at all is because God lets us use it; everything, including us, is His.) The books may not be balanced immediately, or in a way that we expect. Further, if it’s not a true need (food, water, clothing, shelter) then it isn’t obligated to be part of the equation, but this doesn’t preclude it from being part of the equation.
Despite objections from die-hard coffee drinkers like myself, Starbucks probably is not a true need. Nonetheless, God revealed His economy this way in the past week:
- Someone gave my wife a Starbucks card that they couldn’t use anymore. My wife was getting her YMCA ID card replaced, and in the process was explaining why she needed it replaced. During the conversation she recounted that she had barely broken in her Starbucks card before she lost it. Well, one of the people standing there had had to give up caffeine from some medical condition, and gave her the card she had in her wallet because she couldn’t really use it anymore.
- Costco started selling discounted Starbucks cards. In the checkout line Sunday they had an advertisement posted: “Five $20 Starbucks gift cards for $79.99.” Well, all right then!
- My wife’s wallet was recovered! On Friday we got notice that someone had turned in her wallet. We don’t know yet what was left in the wallet, but God might give her other card back, too.
5 Responses to “Starbucks gift cards and God’s economy”
By Aaron on Oct 20, 2008 | Reply
That’s great. If the old Starbucks card is in her now recovered wallet, she should give it away to someone next time she drops in for a pick me up. Perhaps it will be Gods way of helping someone else back.
By Total Noob on Oct 21, 2008 | Reply
Wow, that was cool!
By stocks on Oct 21, 2008 | Reply
Well, thankfully my dad found a code word to use around my son for when we were going to starbucks. He would say we are going to “church”. or loosely translated “Saint Arbucks”
St.Arbucks
heeh
By ave joe on Oct 22, 2008 | Reply
I like it.
Check out “A Green Tale,” and “A Coffee Tale,” at http://www.financialtales.com
By ChristianPF on Oct 24, 2008 | Reply
MBH,
I completely agree – I have found that to be so true in my own life. God often and probably most of the time meets my needs in a way other than what I was expecting. The trouble I think people have is that they aren’t opening their minds to the unique way that God wants to meet their needs. If they are closed minded they might miss it!