After going through 9 semesters of school where the vast majority of my classes were spent dealing with Jesus, I had begun entering into the mindset of, "I can't wait to get out there to minister." While it's certainly possible to minister on the campus of a private Baptist University and on a seminary campus, I wanted to minister to those who were far from God. After taking classes on how to do evangelism, I wanted to actually do it.

While talking about Jesus here helped a little, it was not enough. This past January I had started a break from school and I am still on that break. During this time I had begun working as a barista in a coffee shop. I love caffeine and it was a job where "normal" people also worked, "normal" being those who were not planning to have full-time jobs sharing Christ professionally.

With this job I have been able to take 1 Corinthians 10:31 quite literally. The text states, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." In seeking to bring glory to God, my desire was and has been to share Christ with my coworkers as much as the job would allow. Thankfully, I have been able to share Christ plenty and far more than I was even expecting.

As an example of what the typical situation for me has been, last Saturday night after work I ate out with two gay guys who are in a relationship, a rather large gay man who was very ... open, a bisexual female coming out of a serious relationship with another woman, and a "normal" couple where the female just came out of a lesbian relationship. Let's not forget the Buddhist I also hang out with and the transgendered used-to-be-a-man I met recently.

It's been difficult but I have somehow managed to regularly mention our need for repentance and they still seem to want me around. The opportunities for explicitly sharing the Gospel has continuously happened and them being a "spiritual people" has welcomed such conversation. As they have begun to respect me as a person, they are beginning to at the least respect my view of who Jesus is. I just pray this process continues so that they eventually experience the mercy and grace of Christ upon them in a miraculous way.

During this process, I have experienced things and are dealing with things I had not expected nor planned.

1. Initially I had planned to have the "Protestant work ethic" and work in such a way that I stand out in my devotion to God through my job. While I certainly have that ethic, it's hard to present it in this way when I actually suck at my job. I am not a good barista. While I can certainly make any drink (almost) to perfection and can make them to look pretty, I am clumsy and slow which makes the rest of my job difficult.

Simply not being a natural at the job has also been coupled with my inability to always be morally perfect. While I certainly know of my imperfections, I try to work on them and not publicise them unless I see the need to do so for the sake of helping another person or helping myself become more holy. I have shown unintentionally that I am in just as much in need of Christ than anyone else.

Thankfully, in my professional and moral failures, God has shown himself exalted. While I cannot live perfectly, God has granted me the blessing to show his perfection in my weakness. I do not have it all together but I know someone who does.

2. One particular individual I work with is a joy. She's funny and finds me absolutely hilarious. Her falling on the floor in laughter at my statements is a regular occurrence. She's also a rather beautiful girl. There has also been a small amount of flirting on my part and a large amount of explicit flirting on her part. I'm under the impression that she might like me. The problem? She doesn't know the God I serve.

I am not a fan of "missionary dating." That is, dating that has the purpose of converting the other person. While we are certainly supposed to strengthen one another spiritually, what am I to do if she never comes to Christ? Break up with her and cause her to reject Christ because I reject her because of him? This is not how I'd want to handle a relationship.

As with point 1, I can only pray that God grants me discernment in these situations.

I would have put this into my video blog on youtube, but I felt the need to make this a little bit more anonymous. While I try to have my life be an open book, I try not to take that approach when other people are involved.