Even Starbucks Can't Make People Happy

Female Cochineal insects are flat and wingless

I wasted time while eating a salad for lunch by reading an article from Starbucks that popped up on Facebook about something called Cochineal Extract.  If you are so inclined to wasting time you can read the article for yourself here.  Anyway, turns out Starbucks has used this Cochineal Extract to color stuff they serve red.  It is a natural food colorant that is used pretty much everywhere.  Seen a red velvet cake?  You've seen Cochineal Extract at work.  Here's where it gets a bit interesting... only a bit, (pun intended and you'll see why in a second).  Cochineal extract comes from an insect by the same name.  The Cochineal insect is dried and then mashed to get the red coloring.  Now, before you get grossed out you need to think about all the other things that you eat and where they came from or what was crawling on them before it got to you.

Anyway, this is not about the bugs that color things so well.  Apparently some vegetarians were upset with Starbucks for using this cute little bug to color about four food items and two drinks.  And instead of simply not ordering the bug-colored offerings they launched an attack against Starbucks to force them to stop using this extract so they could enjoy the offered items without the guilty conscience that comes from bug consumption.

Well, Starbucks caved and is now implementing a plan to use another food and human-consumption-safe extract made from tomatoes - which are apparently fine to kill and mash because, after all, they have no feelings.  Anyway!  This is not what peaked my interest either...

No, what I was interested in was the fact that no matter what Starbucks (or any of us) tries to do someone will be upset.  See, I read the comments section of the post (which was far more interesting) to see how the general audience at Starbucks felt.  You guessed it.  Some of them loved it!  Yeah!  No more insect consumption!  And some of them thought it was just pandering to the vocal minority, Birkenstock wearing hip Seattle crowd.

So here's what I've decided.  I will never make everyone happy, nor with the church I lead.  So, I want to make decisions based on what I believe God is doing and the direction He is leading, as well as what the intended result is.  I want to be able to say that I did what I did because it was where/what God was leading me to.  The same for the church.  Our music is loud.  We offer free custom coffees.  We wear jeans and t-shirts.  Not because we think its the only way, but because we want to use whatever means we can to connect with people who are far from God so that we might have opportunity to connect them with their Savior who will absolutely change their lives.

I do what I do as a leader in Christ's church to connect with as many people as possible in order to share the Gospel with as many as possible.