I know I am a bit late entering into the fray of the red cup frenzy, but I just couldn’t help myself. My sentiment can best be illustrated with a very short story of an experience I had in Starbucks not too long ago.

It was a weeknight and I was already heavily caffeinated. I was headed to a friend’s house and I felt a nudge from the Holy Spirit to turn into the nearby Starbucks because He had someone in there that He wanted me to speak with. I kept driving, ignoring God's prompting, because I had stuff to do that night. After about a mile of arguing with God, I turned around and headed into the Starbucks.

I prayed in the car before going in and made up my mind I’d do whatever He wanted me to.

As I walked in the front door, I was already looking around to see if the Lord would highlight anybody in the room as the person I was on assignment to meet. As I immediately walked in, a woman made eye contact with me with an aggressive snarl on her face. She was wearing all black, with black make up on, and her hair was dyed jet black. She was literally emanating weird/dark/creepy vibes into the whole store. And she was staring at me. Right at me. Direct eye contact with me. It was a little awkward. It literally seemed like she was there waiting for me and was mad that I showed up. I literally laughed out loud as I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me, as to say: “There you go!”

She was siting in the corner, making some sort of gothic jewelry and I could tell she had been posted up there for a while. After I got my drink, I walked over to her and began to make small talk about the jewelry she was making. I was surprised at how quickly she opened up to me. As I was listening to her, I began to ask Holy Spirit for a word of knowledge or word of wisdom that God would give me for her. I began to sense that she was super depressed and distraught. As my heart started to fill with compassion, I began to understand why God had me at that Starbucks that night.

And that’s when things got unforgettable.

She mentioned to me that she was saving LOTS of money for a procedure that she was getting done. It seemed like she wanted me to ask her about the procedure, so I did. She told me she was getting a sex-changed performed within a few months.

I was stunned.

Not because he wanted a sex change, but because I didn’t realize that she was a man. As soon as she said that, I could totally see it. I told her that I wouldn’t have guessed she was a guy. She began to share with me about all the hormone therapy she was undergoing and how it literally changed the way she looked. All that was left was a medical operation and it would be 100% complete.

What happened next is heartbreaking.

She then interrupted our conversation with a direct question: “So I take it you’re not the guy from Craigslist?”…... “What do you mean?” I responded……

It turns out that she had put up a “random encounter” add on a hookup website as a transgender looking for a one night stand. Some married business man was supposed to be meeting her at that Starbucks at the exact time that I had walked in. Those weird looks she was giving me when I walked in was because she was wondering if I was him. When I walked over and started talking to her, she assumed I was the guy. She began to cuss under her breath as a wave of humiliation and self-loathing overtook her. It was a surreal moment.

I have never seen such brokenness and self-hatred before in a person. The gravity of the situation settled on me as she began to open up to me even more.

I asked if she did stuff like this often and she said it was like her second time. The amount of shame on her was so strong; we both knew she hated herself for doing it. I could literally feel the relief coming off of her that the guy didn’t show and that she didn’t have to perform some incredibly shady sex act with a random stranger that night.

I began to tell her the whole story of what got me into that Starbucks that night; what prompted me to talk with her. She started to flinch as I explained how God sent me in there to reach someone . I didn’t want to push her away with the “God spoke to me” stuff, but I wanted her to understand that this just wasn’t some weird coincidence.

I began to share with her/ him about how much God loved her and that right in that current moment, she couldn’t make God love her any more or any less. That even in her confusion and shame, God wasn’t confused at all about her. His mind was made up about her, and He sent me in there that night to let her know. It seemed as if God gave me every single word to share and I could see it was rocking her world.

As I was talking, she began to tear up. I felt the presence of God fill that Starbucks.

Once I got back in my car, I just sat there for a few minutes, contemplating what just happened. What if I had not paid attention to the nudge God gave me? What if I had not talked to that person?...

God is so good and He loves people so much. He is desperately looking for those who will surrender enough of themselves to care about what He cares about. The lost. The broken. The hurting. People committing atrocious acts against themselves because they don’t realize how much God loves them and the price He paid for them.

God help us take our eyes off ourselves and put them on the harvest.

“I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” -John 4:34

The world needs Jesus, not Christmas trees on their cups.