Starbucks.

And whimsy.

I don’t go to Starbucks very often. But I went Saturday with a friend and while I waited for our order I remembered a funny Starbucks incident from a few years ago.

I was part of a Christian music industry meeting in San Diego, and halfway through the morning session our Executive Director said her husband was going to make a Starbucks run for us. She grabbed a legal pad, wrote down what she wanted, and we started passing it around the table.

I was about the 7th or 8th to get the legal pad and I remember writing down Caramel Macchiato.

The pad finally made its way to the last person, who decided to number everything, a photo was taken of the pad, and it was texted to Dave, who was waiting at Starbucks to place the order.

A bit later Dave walked into the room with two cup carriers, and said, “Can a couple guys help me get the rest?”

There were only about 10 of us in the room, and I remember wondering why he needed a couple guys, but I got up and followed him out to his car where I saw cup carrier after cup carrier.

I mean there were probably 50 or more drinks!

Turns out Dave showed the Starbucks barista the photo, and he proceeded to make the drinks assuming the number was the quantity we wanted. In other words, where it said 1. Hot chocolate, and 2. Pike Place, and 3. Vanilla Latte, we got that many of each.

One Hot Chocolate, two Pike Place’s, three Vanilla Latte’s, four whatever, five whatever was next and so on.

We laughed so hard.

Now, what to do with all this extra Starbucks?

That was easy, since we were at Bob Goff’s office. If you have ever read any of Bob’s books or heard him speak, you know he is all about whimsy and surprises and giving big. So we set aside our real order for later, and took the extra’s out to the sidewalk in front of Bob Goff’s office building and we had a blast giving away free Starbucks to anybody and everybody who walked by.

I’m not sure who enjoyed it the most, us or them.

We could have groaned about the price or the confusion, but instead we embraced the moment and went out and made some new friends and we helped them slow down and smile.

“Every day God invites us on the same kind of adventure. It’s not a trip where He sends us a rigid itinerary, He simply invites us. God asks what it is He’s made us to love, what it is that captures our attention, what feeds that deep indescribable need of our souls to experience the richness of the world He made. And then, leaning over us, He whispers, “Let’s go do that together.”
― Bob Goff