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It’s Monday morning, and this week is off to an obstinate start.

I needed to make a payment by phone. Expected it to take five minutes. Took an hour.

Then, I got ready to head out to Starbucks to work on this article and I couldn’t find my mug. After more than 10 years of officing at Starbucks, it recently occurred to me that one of those insulated steel mugs would keep my tea hot throughout an entire morning or afternoon of work. If you remember to bring it with you.

This morning, I remembered. And now, I can’t find it. I’ve checked all over the house, in the truck — even called Kasie. No sign of it anywhere.

Finally, I give up and head off to Starbucks, facing the prospect of having to purchase another cup or end up drinking tepid tea – the kind of situation my son would identify as a “First World Problem.”

Touché in absentia.

Ok, so in the larger scheme of things, it probably doesn’t even rise to the level of a nuisance. The biggest annoyance is the time I wasted looking for it, stacked on top of the other delays.

So, I head off to the office.

As I pass by the outdoor tables out front of Starbucks, one of the baristas is there, taking a break and visiting with some of the other regulars.

“Hey, Garth. We have your cup inside.”

Last Thursday, as I was leaving, I paused to visit with one of my Starbucks friends for a few minutes. I must have left my cup. So, he took it inside, and they have been holding on to it, waiting for me to come in.

Such are the advantages of office space at Starbucks. Actually, it’s one of many.

Now, several have pointed out to me that there are much cheaper places to find a cup of tea. “Home” tops the list.

But, as you have probably deduced from recent articles, I don’t believe God is all that concerned with how much money I spend on a cup of tea. Good stewardship is not about getting the most for your dollar, it’s about using what God has entrusted to us for His agenda.

And I’ve made the case that this agenda has 4 major items:

• Provide for my needs, and those of my family
• Provide for the needs of others within the body
• Fund Ministry
• Build relationships with those I can impact spiritually

These points have been the outline for our discussion over that last several weeks. As a result of our study during this time, I would offer the following refinements and clarifications to those four items.

• Provide for my needs, and those of my family (article here) – This is not a guarantee that we will never experience financial hardship. While God will ultimately meet all our needs, we should expect our faith to be tested in this area, just as it is in others.
• Provide for the needs of others within the body (article here) – When you hear of the “poor in Jerusalem,” it’s easy to think of homeless shelters and rescue missions. Charitable outreach to that distinctly needy segment of society. But the New Testament practice was less about giving to charity, as we think of it, and more about fellowship – about a commitment of sharing life together with other believers at such a level that “not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them” (Acts 4:32). To be honest, I am still exploring how to live this out in my particular situation, but my attention is drawn to the needs of pastors in India and Africa who struggle to read their Bibles because they can’t make out the print and don’t have glasses.
• Fund Ministry (article here) – I’ll begin by pointing out that this item on the agenda is completely misnamed. First, because those who devote their full time to the study of the Word and prayer are not, biblically speaking, the ones responsible for doing ministry. Their responsibility is to train others to do “ministry” (Ephesians 4:11-12). Ministry is done by the entire congregation. Second, because it’s not about “funding” it’s about fellowship — about “sharing” with other believers who have already shared with us. So, I’ll revise the bullet-point for this item – Share materially with those whose lives are devoted to sharing spiritually with me and others. I know it’s long, but anything shorter seems to leave something critical out.
• Build relationships with those I can impact spiritually (article here) – This is much more than simply looking for opportunities to evangelize. Relationships aren’t projects. And there is a lot more to eternity than just “getting in.” Each person’s faithfulness will determine their experience when they arrive at their eternal dwellings. In these relationships, I not only want to help my friends come to faith in Christ, but to grow to full maturity so that when they stand before Christ, they can hear “well done, good and faithful servant.”

Which brings us full circle back to the money I spend at Starbucks. The thousands of dollars I have spent at Starbucks represent at least as many hours spent there. In that time, I have made a good number of friends. Some are believers, others are not, at least not at this point. But through the years, we’ve had the opportunity to discuss many things, some of eternal weight –  assuring a friend that they won’t loose their salvation because they are not good enough; exploring what faithfulness looks like in parenting and marriage; explaining that faith must be tested, and thus, won’t necessarily protect us from disease – the kinds of things friends can talk about.

And that’s what God cares about. Not about my frugality, but whether my heart reflects His heart and my agenda His agenda.

Look at every item on that agenda – Trusting Him when our faith is tested – Sharing with those who are suffering – Sharing with those whose lives are devoted to sharing spiritual truth – Building friendships that impact eternally – all of these relationally focused. These will be the measure of my stewardship of the possessions entrusted to me.