Dan Cooley's Blog, page 11

21 Things I’ve Learned After Moving Back to Haiti

For those going to Haiti with AnchorPoint this year – this is a terrific blog – with lots more on her site!

Living Green in Haiti

Last week marked one year since I returned to Haiti to pursue life as an emerging adult. Wow.. that sounds way fancier than it actually is. Anyway, I won’t add more to this intro. So voilà! Hope some of these are useful to you

1.  If you see a piece of tree on the road, it’s not because it rained and it accidentally got there. It could be. But this is how you’ll know there’s a car accident nearby. Slow down.

2.  TAG supermarket sells some of its stuff 3 times the price of other markets

3.  You can find fluoride-free toothpaste, harmless deodorants and other stuff that conscious shoppers generally care about at Caribbean Super Market

4.  At Epi d’Or if you order the chicken meal (or fish or beef or whatever). You will get served the meat only. That’s it. You also have to state and pay for the rice…

View original post 875 more words

Don’t give Trump so much credit, America

“Your success as a family . . . our success as a nation . . . depends not on what happens inside the White House, but on what happens inside your house.” Barbara Bush. This is a blog worth reading!

Purpose on the Prairie

In less than 24 hours since Donald Trump has been named the President-elect of the greatest nation on this earth, it’s become apparent he’s being given far more credit than he’s due.  There’s anguished cries of, ‘How will my children grow up knowing not to discriminate?’ or, ‘How can I look my daughter in the eye and tell her she has purpose?’  Really?  Really, America?  You have given Donald Trump, a mere mortal man, far more credit than he deserves, especially considering the man hasn’t even taken office yet.  Trump does not have the power to mold our families, that is our flat-out our responsibility.

Your children will learn to love or hate, be respectful or disrespectful, wise or foolish, not by the character of the family in the White House, but by the family in their house.  May I submit to you that your sons and daughters will be…

View original post 375 more words

The Fir Tree: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

By Hans Christian Anderson

Illustrated by Sanna Annukka

The Good: It’s awesome — if you don’t mind a depressing Christmas. It is Hans Christian Anderson, after all. The illustrations, the gold foil on green cover, the cool classic Christmas tale – it all works together to make this a keeper. We will be setting it out with our Christmas decorations, for older kids and adults to pick up and read. I’m not sure younger kids would connect with the geometric artwork or story as well as older ones.

The Bad: We tend to read and watch stuff with our kids where everything turns out alright, despite our actions. As a result, we can inadvertently teach that regardless of how we live, everything will be OK. Anderson is much more real, but prepare yourself – and if reading to a young child it might be best to prepare them – for an unhappy ending. The benefit of this type of writing is that it encourages some deep thinking when reading alone, and discussion when reading to others. I think it’s better to prepare for reality than to ignore it. This story is a classic for a reason.

The Ugly: Not the book – it’s gorgeous. Not the story – it’s classic. It’s the truth being told that is ugly – to look at life now and enjoy what is beautiful about it, because in the end we will all be ash. It’s a good thought to remember at Christmas, to enjoy life now, but a bummer to remember we only have so many Christmases left. On the positive side, as a Christian, I figure this life is as bad as it gets, and the day I’m burnt up I’ll see my first Real Christmas.

I received a free copy of this book from blogging for books for an honest review. I chose it because of the cool looking cover, and am glad I did.

Danielcooley.com

Thriving Trough Ministry Conflict – The Good, the Trump, and the Ugly

The Good: I absolutely loved this prayer quoted in the book. It is by monk and writer Thomas Merton.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils along.

Oh – the rest of the book is good too.

The Bad: Had this book had been loaned to Donald Trump in early 2016, and had he applied it, this election would have been way more boring. More successful for Donald, certainly, but boring. I couldn’t read about the “red and blue zones” and not think that had he read and applied this book – for good or ill – Hillary would have been history. I suppose I was supposed to apply it to myself – my bad.

The Ugly: This little book reflects its teaching back on the reader. I find it much easier to read about how others are my problem. Wanting to be liked, I abhor conflict, have avoided it, and created more ugly as a result. Thriving Thru Ministry Conflict convicted me – it would have been much easier to stay ignorant. More painful, and less profitable for myself and my church, true, but easier.

This is one of my favorite books on church conflict, and easily the most helpful at getting me to deal with my part of the mess. I’ll be loaning it out and recommending it to others. Wonder of Donald reads book reviews?

Danielcooley.com

 

Free Halloween Book Deal

What does a parent do when they run out of candy? Read Bizarre Halloween Bible Stories of course. I have it as a free download through Kindle from Oct 29 – Nov 2 here. Look for the guy climbing out of a commode.

It’s not a huge deal – just 3 stories, two from Bizarre Bible Stories 1, and one from BBS 2. I’ll cut and paste one of the stories at the end of the blog, so you know what it is like. They are:

STORY 1: How to Scare a Witch (From BIZARRE Bible Stories, Ch. 6)
STORY 2: Eaten from the Inside Out (From BIZARRE Bible Stories, Ch. 24)
STORY 3: The Left-handed Assassin (From BIZARRE Bible Stories 2! Ch. 1)

Hopefully we will have 5 new stories – Bizarre Christmas Bible Stories – out soon. Would stink to have it published on Dec 28…

 

Chapter 3: The Left-Handed Assassin

(From BIZARRE Bible Stories 2! Ch. 1)

Scripture Passage: Judges 3

Would you like to look different? Would you like to be smarter? If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Sometimes I wish God had made me different. It’s not that I look disgusting, I’ve seen worse. But, why didn’t He give me shoulders? My arms go down to my knees because they come out of my neck. Was that necessary? In Judges Chapter 3 we have a person who thought he was perfect, but wasn’t. And we have another person who probably wished God had made him differently. But God made him perfect for what God wanted him to do.

NOW LET’S GET STARTED. . .

 

 

The time of the Judges was demanding. When we get to the book of Judges, Chapter 3, life in Israel was horrible. Moses had led the Hebrew people out of Egypt. Joshua had led them into the Promised Land. Life should have been good, but when Moses, Joshua, and the previous leaders died, the people “did evil in the Lord’s sight.” [Judges 3:12 NLT] The people were poor, their army was weak, and they were little more than slaves to an evil jerk named Eglon, King of Moab.

Through war, Eglon had gained control of Israel. His life was great. He was king and his kingdom was growing. So was he. His name means “male calf,” which was fitting in that the Bible says he was both enormous and callous. His army came into Israel as far as Jericho, where he stopped and bartered a peace treaty to end the war. Israel became Moab’s territory. The Israelites were virtual slaves, giving King Eglon most of the money they made. In return, Eglon stopped the war. For eighteen years, Israel belonged to Eglon.

Have you ever felt far from God and then gone to Him for help? What brought you back to God?

Eglon was a pain, and pain has a way of bringing us back to God. Here is what the Bible says happened next.

“When the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help, the LORD again raised up a rescuer to save them. His name was Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed man of the tribe of Benjamin. The Israelites sent Ehud to deliver their tribute money to King Eglon of Moab. So Ehud made a double-edged dagger that was about a foot long, and he strapped it to his right thigh, keeping it hidden under his clothing. He brought the tribute money to Eglon, who was very fat.” [Judges 3:15-17 NLT]

Ehud made an assassin’s weapon. It was a double-edged foot-long dagger, he couldn’t find on store shelves. It differed from a common sword not just in being shorter, but it also didn’t have a hand-guard. [One reason he lost it later]. Both the shortness and the lack of a hand guard allowed Ehud to keep it hidden. Ehud strapped the dagger to his right thigh because he was left-handed. This made it easier and faster to pull from its sheath.

[Stand up and pretend you have a sword strapped to your left thigh. Now, with your left hand, try to pull it up so it can come out of its sheath (holder). It’s awkward because your elbow can’t come up that high without difficulty. Now pretend it’s strapped to your right thigh. Can you see how it is easier to pull out a sword from your right thigh when you are left-handed?]

The “tribute money” Ehud took to King Eglon was what Israel was paying Eglon not to attack them. When Ehud went to see King Eglon, he brought a number of people with him. They were necessary to help carry the money, animals, goods, and materials. When they arrived, Moab celebrated, because someone else was making them rich. That’s not a bad deal if you’re a Moabite. It was a bit like a robber coming to your house with a gun, saying, “If you give me all your money, then I won’t kill you.” As long as they paid Eglon, he didn’t kill them.

Why do you think the Bible tells us Ehud was “left-handed?” Do you think it is an advantage or disadvantage to be left-handed?

There are a few reasons the Bible tells us Ehud was left-handed. First, God wanted to say, “I can beat Eglon with one hand tied behind my back.” The term “left-handed” can be translated “bound in the right hand.” It’s probable that something – maybe a childhood or battle injury — left Ehud’s right hand unusable. It’s likely that Ehud was a one-handed, left-handed-only man. Having only one hand was a major disadvantage. At this time in history, farming, carpentry, blacksmithing, and being a soldier were common jobs men performed to make their living. Any of these jobs would have been difficult with just one hand.

[We don’t know for certain, but since the text can read “bound in the right hand,” and since Eglon wasn’t concerned about his safety, I’m going to assume for the story that Ehud only had one usable hand.]

Even if his right hand was usable, folks back then believed being left-handed was a handicap. In Ehud’s time, even left-handed warriors were trained to use their sword and fight with their right hand. God was letting Moab know He could win with a one-handed, left-handed, man.

[When my mom went to school, those who were left-handed were forced to write with their right hand. They thought that being left-handed was a deformity, even in America, just seventy years ago.]

Ehud was chosen to take the tribute to the King of Moab, not because he was an important official (he wasn’t), but because he didn’t appear to be a threat. You can almost hear King Eglon order, “Send the tribute by some wimpy guy. Deformed is cool, left-handed even better. I don’t want to have to worry about my safety. No muscled soldiers allowed!” Ehud may well have been the least dangerous man in all Israel. The king didn’t worry about him. He should have.

Being left handed was an advantage for Ehud. It’s the reason Ehud was able to get close to the king with his dagger. They must have searched Ehud when he came with the tribute. When security saw no sword on his left side, and no usable hand on his right side, they let him through.

Have you ever gone camping or lived where there wasn’t a flush toilet? Did it smell bad around the outhouse? Aren’t you glad we have clean bathrooms now?

Ehud and the group from Israel delivered the tribute to King Eglon. Then they started the trip back home. Along the way, Ehud made an excuse to the rest of the entourage, and hurried back alone to Moab. He may have been praying, “God, help me get in to see the king. Don’t let them find the dagger. Please help me!” He made it back to the king’s house. The guards were standing in front.

“Hey guys. I’m sorry to come back again so soon. I have a secret message from God I didn’t want to give with everyone else around. Is it okay if I go in to see the King again?” [Judges 3:19]

“Hey you – give Ehud another quick search. I’ll see if King Eglon wants to see him.”

After a scary search, which focused on his left side where there was no dagger, they agreed to let Ehud into the King’s fancy room on the second floor. Ehud said, “If it’s acceptable to the great King Eglon, I’d rather talk to you alone.”

The king was unafraid of “Ehud the lefty” with the withered right arm, so he sent his guards out of the room. Ehud closed the door, walked forward, reached with his left hand, pulled out the dagger strapped to his right thigh, and plunged it into the King’s belly. Here’s the gross part. The dagger went in so deep that the handle disappeared beneath the king’s fat! [No hand-guard to stop the thrust] Ehud left the knife in the king. The King James Version then says, “And the dirt came out.” Because his insides came out, it smelled ghastly. Time to leave!

This extravagant king’s room on the second floor had its own bathroom. They used to build the bathrooms against an outside wall, kind of like an upstairs outhouse you might use while camping. Here is what we think happened. The toilet was just a large upstairs hole to the ground floor below. On the ground floor, the toilet bottom was similar to a closet. It would have had walls separating it (and most of the smell) from the rest of the house. It also had a small door to the outside so some poor soul could go in and shovel it out. Yuck. [This may be evidence that Ehud was also a small man, as he had to sneak out of this shovel door.]

Ehud locked the door to the king’s bedroom, left the knife inside the king, removed the toilet seat, dropped down (yuck, but it saved his life) to the poop closet below, and escaped through the clean-out door.

Due to the smell from the open toilet, [and the possibility of the king spending much time there in the past – my assumption], the guards outside were reluctant to break the locked bedroom door. It isn’t wise to bust in on a king who is sitting on his toilet throne. Better to wait and find him lifeless then to guess wrong and lose yours. When the guards eventually broke in, Ehud was long gone.

Do you remember your answer to the questions “Would you like to look different? Would you like to be smarter? If there was one thing you could change about yourself, what would it be? Could it be that God made you the way you are on purpose?

Ehud had an unfair advantage. No security forces checked the left-handed man. Nor did they check his right side for a dagger. The King wasn’t afraid to be alone with him. Maybe God did something to eliminate Ehud’s sense of smell too – just to be nice.

A one-handed, left-handed, small, smell deprived, Ehud killed the powerful King of Moab. It’s as if God beat Eglon with one hand tied behind His back.

There is an old Haitian saying, “God’s pencil has no eraser.” God didn’t make a mistake when He made Ehud – or when Ehud lost his right arm. Because of a deformed, one-armed weak person following God, Moab was soon defeated and Israel had peace for 80 years. Not bad. Ehud may have wished God made him differently. God made him perfect. Now if I can just find a use for ape-arms.

So, What Should I Do?

ACCEPT WHO YOU ARE!

God created you just right for accomplishing His will in your life. In fact, He created you with an unfair advantage. He created you for this time and this place. You could have been born during the time of Ehud. You weren’t. You could have grown up anywhere else. You didn’t. God could have created you super-model looking. I’m guessing He didn’t. He could have made it where you never even became sick. Instead, God made you just right for this time and this place to work out His will in your life.

Where Else Is This Taught?

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NLT) “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

1 Corinthians 1:26-28 (NLT) Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish (left-handed) in order to shame those who think they are wise (kings). And he chose things that are powerless (one-handed) to shame those who are powerful (king’s guards). God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all (Jewish nation), and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important (Moab). (Author’s notes)

Philippians 4:13 (NLT) I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

2 Corinthians 3:5 (NLT) It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.

Heartline’s Hurricane Relief Continues

I’ve been connected and worked with Heartline Ministries a bit over the last 11 years. A trustworthy organization with a great report of Haiti after Matthew.

Heartline Haiti Blog

Having lived in Haiti for twenty-seven years, I’ve seen a lot. I’ve seen the damage caused by several tropical storms; I’ve seen the destruction caused by coup d’états and numerous manifestations, and I’ve seen the incomprehensible damage caused by the 2010 earthquake, that ravaged much of Port au Prince and nearby cities. Some estimate that up to 250 thousand lost their lives, perhaps just as many were injured, tens of thousands of houses and buildings were destroyed or damaged, and thousands upon thousands were left homeless. It was unimaginable.

And then on October 4, 2016, Hurricane Matthew made landfall near Les Anglais in southwesternHaiti, as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130–156 mph. This seemingly demonic force uprooted untold thousands of fruit trees, damaged many more and wiped off the face of the earth tens of thousands of gardens belonging to people that depended on them for food and for…

View original post 857 more words

Stand 4 Life

I’ve learned the easiest way to blog is to steal the best blogs on the planet, and re-post them. It’s even better when the best blog is written by your daughter.

“Once I finally held a positive pregnancy test, I felt elated… but what shocked me, is that I also felt disappointed. We’d tried to conceive for four years. I’d just returned from one of my many volunteer trips to Haiti and was excited to start nursing clinicals in a few months, but I always wanted to be a mom. A week later my husband’s best friend passed away. He was devastated. When we found out we were having a boy, we decided to name him Memphis (abode of the good) and Matthew (gift of God), after my husband’s friend.

After Memphis’ birth on April 5, I experienced intense postpartum anxiety and self-doubt. I was convinced I would unwittingly hurt or fail my son. I wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t ready. I also felt guilt that I missed my old life and freedom. I grieved it. Surely, this meant that I shouldn’t be a mom. This doubt and guilt delayed our bonding for three months.

Now, I am so in love with this boy. In time, God has shown me Memphis was meant to be born. He was meant to be waited for. He was meant to be mine. He is worth every bit of sacrifice. I know women who regret choosing abortion. I have never known a women who regrets choosing LIFE.” – Megan #StandforLIFE

 

Avenue of Spies

Avenue of Spies; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:

I liked this book so much I read the endnotes. And I NEVER read endnotes. It brings you into the lives of the French resistance so that you want to know more – I just didn’t want it to end. So when you are reading it you don’t want the war to end because that will mean the book will end, which is pretty sick when you think about it.

The subtitle gives a fine overview – A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family’s Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris – good enough.

Avenue of Spies is a page turner, but not a thriller. It’s gritty, and tells the truth in a blunt way, but stopped short of being graphic, which I appreciated. I want to know what happened, but I’d rather not relive it in my mind. It was more like watching a train wreck than being in one.

 

The Bad:

The Gestapo, the Milice, the SS, the deportations especially of the women and children just as freedom and the end of the war was knocking at the door, the torture, the French citizens that didn’t join the resistance…

 

The Ugly:

The ugliest part of this story, for me, was the end of the war. Both the story of the ship Thielbek, and the lack of guilt of some of the Gestapo and SS officers. Some of the jerks lived to a ripe old age. Although I believe the Bible and in the doctrine of Hell, I’m ordinarily surprised that a loving God would have such a place. Not so much anymore.

 

The Truth:

I was given this book to review it, otherwise I wouldn’t have read it. I thought I knew about WWII and the French resistance. I didn’t. I’ll now be loaning this book out and recommending it to others. My review is honest, in spite of getting the book for free – I don’t want to end up with the SS in the afterlife.

Introverts Guide to Marrying a Mennonite

As dad, i thought i was there. But after reading this, I’m not so sure.

LateToEveryParty

I often write about the hardships of being Jon’s wife but nothing compares to our wedding. On September 8, Jon and I celebrated 9 years of marriage. I remember saying to my husband “I just want to marry you. As long as we’re married at the end of the day, I don’t care if guests are eating pizza off paper plates on the floor.”

This almost came to fruition. Here’s what I learned.

Pick a Mantra and Stick to It

Repeat it over and over. It keeps you calm when you feel the world of cake and taffeta closing in. Mine was, “As long as I’m married at the end of the day…“

Small Wedding =  Destination Wedding

For me, minimal spotlight means minimal stress.  I’m a recluse and hate being the center of attention.  I wanted to get married in the church I grew up in. I thought…

View original post 716 more words

One of the Few: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good: I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book. I should have read the subtitle, “A Marine Fighter Pilot’s Reconnaissance of the Christian Worldview.” That is what this book is all about. If you enjoy military stories and difficult philosophical questions, you are weird. You’ll also enjoy this book.

The stories sucked me in, and the worldview issues Jason Ladd deals with are well-covered. In both instances he defines his terms well, so even without a military or college background you call follow along without any issues. Thankfully he also used Harry Potter illustrations, so I could relate. Jason is extremely well-studied; some terrific quotes are included. If you are wondering what to read next, simply going to his bibliography would be a good place to start looking.

He also has some great quotes of his own. One from early on, talking about growing up he said, “The wrecking ball of divorce has no less momentum when the children it smashes are grown.” He seems to me to write like I would expect a marine to write – in your face. It was refreshing.

The Bad: The only “bad” part of the book I could find was when some of the stories didn’t seem to fit the truth he was illustrating. Sometimes it felt like a stretch to me. I would enjoy the story – be convinced of the truth – but didn’t always see the connection.

In the book, our modern world, media, and culture come out looking foul. The emasculation of men, lies about religion, the promotion of porn – Jason helped me see through the fog and realize just how bad our culture really is.

The Ugly: Here is my only real complaint. 99% of the book is honest, clear, in-your-face marine stories and truth-telling. Then, just a few times, Jason switches into preaching mode. Leave out the sermons and it gets 5 stars. As it is, it gets 4.5, a high recommendation, but 20 fewer pages and it would be tops. I just hope Jason the Marine isn’t mad at me.

I received One of the Few for free, in exchange for my honest review. It did save me the $16.99 Amazon new price, but I still told the truth. It would have to be a free $20.00 book for me to lie about it.

danielcooley.com