30 Jul Christina, Cup of Love

Everyone who knows Christina knows of her interest (obsession?) with everything coffee. Her thesis for her master’s degree at Golden Gate Seminary in San Francisco was about the coffee trade in general and its impact on the local farmers that grow the beans. She loves her work as a barista and coffee blogger, and her regular customers (including me) love the fact that they walk away with much more than the best latte in town, complete with her trademark art on top. We get a dose of sunshine in a world that does not offer enough. I, for one, am even more addicted to that smile than I am to my daily afternoon dose of caffeine. I have enjoyed that “cup of Christina” in every coffee roastery that she has practiced her trade: Eurotazza and Avoca in Fort Worth, Readers Cafe in San Francisco, and Urban Standard in Birmingham (where this photograph was taken), just to name a few. Christina cares about people in a way that shows, and it leaves each person she touches a little better off from the experience. When I think of Christina’s kindness and caring and how her many customers respond to it, I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes:

“People do not care how much you know unless they know how much you care.”

Matthew 5:13-16 says it best:

13 You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.