Hey guys. I had a great day today, and wanted to share it with you. I have two points though, so I’m splitting this baby up into two posts. Here’s the first one.

Last week, I started my new job at Starbucks. It has been… humbling. Here I am, a college grad…
and I’m working in food services. I’m at the “bottom of the totem pole” again,
and I came in knowing absolutely nothing about anything.

To be honest, I carried a sense of pride at the Mad Hatter Agency, because I was working at this crazy, quirky, cool startup company. An entrepreneur right out of college. How exciting.

Right?

Well, that life is cool, buuut it stressed me out.

And yet, I’m finding that it’s not much different here. Because, I’m finding that, even working a job you don’t need a degree for…
it still stresses me out. 

Which means to me that, no matter what job or relationship I move to, I’m gonna be stressed.

That is, until I quit stress and apply for peace.

I’m not saying there’s something wrong with me. I’m just saying, I know my stress comes from the fact that, somewhere along the line, I’m not believing the truth.

How do I know?

  1. God states through Paul in the book of Galatians that the fruit of the Spirit is peace (Gal 5:22)
  2. It is none other than the Spirit of God that leads us into all truth (John 16:13)
  3. Anything else just comes from:
    • the flesh, which acts contrary to the Spirit of Truth (Romans 8:6, Galatians 5:17),
    • the ways of a fleshy, deceived world (1 John 2:15), or
    • freakin’ Satan, the “father of lies” (John 8:44).

So anyways. Last night at small group, my awesome friend Casey led a discussion on the purpose of our small group. One of them, we all agreed, was not just to come and be entertained, but to be changed. So he challenged each of us to take a “baby step” this week.

Mine was to write out some truths about myself I could look over before I went to work:

  1. Truths about who I am according to God (who has the most correct perspective of me of anybody, of course), and
  2. Truths about who God is according to God (and who better to know God besides a guy with a brain and heart as big as God?).

So I looked in the Bible this morn and found seven verses, stuck ’em on my dash, and considered them. We had also committed to pray for each other during the week.

Then today came. It was (1) My longest day yet, (2) The first Saturday of my LIFE I have ever worked, and (3) busy on account of it being a weekend. But here’s the weird thing.

I experienced this peace and joy I couldn’t understand. (Phil 4:6-7)

But guys, hold on. I can’t blame myself for changing my attitude. I honestly didn’t do much different at work, even with the verses and all. So, logically, I would conclude it was really just God working through all of our prayers.

I applied for this job. But my manager gave it to me.

I applied for peace… but it was Jesus who got it for me.

[End of Part I. Stay tuned for Part II: Applying for Righteousness.]

In the meantime, thoughts?

  1. Have you ever experienced peace by receiving it instead of striving to get it?
  2. Do you also experience stress and anxiety on a daily basis?