Starbucks in Austin

I want to share two things with you about the Starbucks in our hotel.

First and most important: On the first few days we were here, the temperature was over 100 degrees. As I stood at Starbucks, waiting to get my latte, I saw some people getting their orders. Some were in filthy, shredded clothes. Some looked pretty "down and out." I stood with them at the end of the bar, awaiting my order. I saw the Starbucks baristas hand them large cups of ice water, saying, "Your grande ice water, ma'am," or "Here's your tall ice water, sir." As far as I could tell, these people didn't go through the line and pay money. Starbucks was just giving them the ice water they had requested. That's the sort of thing Jesus would have done, had he run a Starbucks store. It made me proud to be one of their patrons. I seem to recall that Jesus said something about those who give a cup of water in his name. 

Second: General Convention seems to run on caffeine. Regardless of the hour, there seem to be many Episcopalians getting coffee from the Starbucks in our hotel. I've been here since Monday night. Starting Wednesday, on the register readout, I saw this line: "10% Episcopalian." "YO!" said I to myself, "I'm way more than 10% Episcopalian!" Then I realized that, for some reason, Starbucks is giving all us Episcopalians a 10% discount. That's kinda cool.

– Lisa Fox