Freedom

As a church planter many of my friends and people I meet ask me what I do during the day since we haven't launched services yet. I tell them it's simple, I go where the people are. One of my hangouts has been Starbucks at Ashland Plaza, which I believe; strangely enough is the epicenter of the community. There are many different people who come to Starbucks, it doesn't matter how much money or lack of money they have. People don't necessarily come for the $ 3 or $ 4 specialty drink but come for a place to sit, read, and be around people. It's the new therapy or small group setting. Despite the economic hardship our country is facing it seems not to affect the Ashland Plaza Starbucks.

I meet many different people at Starbucks, which range from young professionals, older professionals, blue-collar workers, and college students. Over the past three months I formed a friendship with a young woman. The first time I met her she came and sat down next to me. I told her I was a pastor and she started to talk about all her problems. When she started talking I took my laptop and put it away because I knew our conversation could last a while. Since then I have seen her periodically or in passing. My interaction last week with her broke my heart. She has experienced a lot of pain in her life with her father's death coupled with being in and out of rehab facilities for eating disorders. Due to her lack of eating she has metabolic damage due to insufficient calories. She told me her number one priority in her life is to stay thin. She only eats between 400-600 calories a day! On top of it she is a college student, working part-time, and workouts a few hours a day. She is quitting her part-time job so she isn't so stressed. I was able to speak truth to her in love even though it wasn't received. I told her she needs to go speak with a nutritionist, eat more, and that she was slowly killing herself. It still wasn't received. I told her she was a slave to wanting to stay thin; she was a prisoner to the false expectations placed on her by others and herself. I then asked her a question that popped right into my head, "do you want to be free?" She looked at me point blank and quietly said, "no." I politely told her I was only concerned and was not trying to tell her what to do. This interaction has troubled me for days. She is not the only one walking in bondage but there are some many people I see on a daily basis who are slaves to something. Jesus came to set the captives free the only problem is that people don't know that they can be free or simply don't want to be free.