Giving

2007-12-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

I heard something very interesting today at church. I said once before that I love my pastor. Well, my pastor, AND his wife, are great people. They love each other. A lot. They love other people. A lot. Pastor Craig has been talking about giving. Hm..sounds so simple. If it's so simple, why are there still needs yet to be met? Why don't we give whenever we feel the need to give? Pastor Craig went to a drive through restaurant last week. He ordered a drink. The total came to $3.32. Craig only had a $5 bill. He felt the needed to let the bellhop keep the change, at first resisted it, but then decided to go ahead with it. When he informed her of this, the reply was "really?" Yes. Really, miss, keep the change. Craig went on about his week. Let's move ahead two weeks later. After church, a girl walks up to Craig and starts thanking him over and over again. Craig is kinda wondering what's going on. "Why are you thanking me?", he asks. The girl responds. "Two weeks ago you pulled up to [unnamed rest.]where my friend works. You told her to keep the change. She was shocked. She didn't like you before that day. She thought you were probably like most pastors of big churches: stingy. She was so impressed with your generosity that she decided to give Lifechurch a try last sunday and gave her life to Christ! Thank you!" The tip was $1.68. A pastor that gave $1.68 saved that girl's life. He almost didn't give it. A little generosity goes a long way. It might save someone. One more interesting thing? Amy, Craig's wife, apparently likes to give so much that when her birthday comes around, Craig asks her what she wants. She says more. More money. More money to give to someone. More money with which to bless someone else. Wow. What an attitude.

Starbucks Salvation

2007-12-06T08:09:00.000-08:00

For 25 years he was known as Michael Gates Gill, but that was when he was an advertising executive, a self-described "master of the universe" who put his job first, his wife and four children second. Then he was fired. He was 53, replaced by someone young, he says, "younger and cheaper." These days at 67, he's simply Mike, the friendly barista at a Starbucks in suburban New York. He's happy, he says, making lattes and cleaning the bathroom. Gill, the Yale-educated son of writer Brendan Gill (of the New Yorker), has written an improbably memoir: How Starbucks Saved My LIfe: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else. Well, not quite like everyone. Universal Pictures bought the film rights before the book was even finished. Gus Van Sant is to direct. Tom Hanks may play Gill. "It's like Alice in Wonderland," Gill says on his day off, sipping an iced venti latte at the Manhattan Starbucks where he used to work before transferring to a store cloer to home in Bronxville. The branch manager who hired him three years ago also is there. Tiffany Edwards, 33, recalls when Gill first told her he was writing a book, "I said, 'Whatever.' Now, we're so proud." The book is mostly about the joy of doing a job he likes and how he feels more respect at Starbucks than he did as a creative director at J. Walter Thompson, the giant advertising firm. It also deals with the low points of his life, his divorce and brain tumor. The book has a religious born-again feel to it. Gill agrees and says, "It's spiritual." "He makes me blush," adds Edwards, the daughter of immigrants from Trinidad, patting her heart. "I didn't know what impact we had." Gill was nearly broke four years ago when he met Edwards, who helped inspire a composite character named Crystal in the book. His post-Thompson consulting business had faded. He'd recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor. His wife had divorced him after Gill confessed he and his girlfriend were about to have a baby. He took the job out of desperation. He needed health insurance for himself and his new son. what he found, he says, was self-respect and a new sense of happiness. But "until I started writing, I didn't realize why I was happy." As he made the transition "from a member of the ruling class to a member of the serving class," he came to appreciate Edwards' skill as a manager. She is a much better boss than he had ever been, he says. The book takes some liberties with the facts. In addition to composite characters, it compresses time sequences. But Gill says everything about himself, his old and new lives, is "true and honest." Even now with the book and movie deal-the rights sold for six figures- Gill plans to keep working at Starbucks. He earns about 10.50 an hour. "I need the interaction," he says. "I need the confidence it's given me, that I can keep up with the other partners who are in their 20's." (Starbucks call its employees "partners" and its customers "guests.") Gill says the job has given him time to reconnect with his children from his marriage and spend time with his youngest. He writes that his girlfriend lost interest in him when she discovered that he wasn't rich. He says his health is fine, and his brain tumor hasn't grown. "My doctor calls it, 'watchful waiting.'" What would his father, who died in 1997, think of the book? "I'm sure he'd say it could have been written better. He was a critic and a beautiful writer. But I think he'd be proud." And what would he think of his son working as a barista? "I'm not sure he'd understand. He was a high achiever. He always wanted to write the great American novel, and he was disappointed he didn't. He was always running from one party to another, but I don't think he was happy--not the way I am now."
-Source, USA TODAY

Kmax

2007-12-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

New album from KMax coming soon! http://www.kevinmax.com

Totally Random

Giving

Starbucks Salvation

Kmax