Dan Cooley's Blog, page 25
August 12, 2012
FREE BOOK TODAY ONLY
[image error]This is the last day you can order a FREE copy of Bizarre Bible Stories for your Kindle. Tomorrow it goes back to the normal price of 2.99. The link is here. If it doesn't work you can cut and paste in that mess below.
If you can write a review on CBD or Amazon, I'd appreciate it.
The publisher has asked for a follow-up book by the end of the year. Oh Boy! We will let you know how it is going and post draft chapters a couple times a week on the danielcooley.com blog.
August 3, 2012
Bizarre Bible Stories for FREE!
[image error] For the next 5 days (August 3-7) Bizarre Bible Stories is a free Kindle download. Please download a free copy while Amazon gives it away! After that it goes to the massive 2.99 digital price.
Bizarre was written as a way to get kids into the Bible, enjoying stories they haven't heard before. Hopefully the free and then cheap price will get more copies out to the kids that need it most.
It's also able in paperback new - or hardback if you can find a used 2004 copy, but...
Those aren't free!
July 28, 2012
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Clovis
[image error]Clovis Texas, that is.
So JoLynn (the woman willing to live with me) and I are driving back to Albuquerque from Marble Falls TX, and I took a wrong turn in Lubbock (only Bugs gets lost in Albuquerque). As a result we get stuck on 84 Business instead of the loop around town, adding about 20 minutes to our trip. That’s not a big deal, except that it was a 12 hour trip already, and staying married for 12 hours in an Avalon requires a minimum of mistakes.
JoLynn took over the pilot’s seat in Lubbock. I had my head buried my head in my laptop.
Somewhere between Lubbock and Clovis JO says , “That motorcycle, she didn’t look good, should I pullover?”
“What motorcycle?”
“Ugh. The one on the side of the road! She looked limp.”
“Limp? She was driving? Sorry, I missed it.”
“There were two of them! He was holding her up, and then laid her down. They are on the side of the road.”
“Well, take that turn-around and lets go back.”
Zoom. I forgot who was driving.
“Maybe up at that town – no there is another turn-around up ahead.” I said.
Brakes, tearing asphalt, down to the 65 mph speed limit, hairpin turn, accelerating again, back five miles we go to another turn-around, more brakes, more asphalt, back in the original direction we go, the motorcycle and people are just a mile ahead.
It’s a large Harley parked off the right side of the little divided highway. The guy who had been driving was dressed for riding, in his late 20s, and was standing behind his girlfriend trying to give her a little shade. She was sitting next to the back tire, on the safe (non-highway) side of the bike.
“Do you guys need some help?” JO asked.
“Well, we left Lubbock and she started feeling sick. I decided to pull over, and as soon as we stopped, she fainted. I was just thinking, what would have happened if I had driven longer?”
Their names are Jody and Shawn. Evidently she was dehydrated, the bike was throwing out a lot of heat, it was around 100F outside according to our Avalon, and the combination made her woozy. His plan was to make it up to the next little town before Clovis, but had he kept to his plan, she would have fallen off the back of the bike at 65mph. Amazing what one little decision changes.
We were able to put her in the front passenger’s seat of the Avalon, crank up the AC, give her some water and a bag of ice, and wait for the Ambulance and Police to arrive.
The cop was a lot of fun. He was a young kid (late 20s?) who told us he loves these kinds of calls, when he can fly down the highway from Clovis at JoLynn speeds with lights and siren blaring. The EMT folks did all their checks - and while they were putting her in the ambulance for transporting to the hospital, I asked Shawn if we could pray for them.
What a cool time. The officer took off his hat, and the four of us stood off the side of Highway 84 and prayed. Shawn and Jody didn't seem like Christ followers, so our current prayer is that God will send someone to follow up with them.
A funny thing happened on the way to Clovis, one of the more funny/cool adventures on our entire trip. And, it wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t gotten on the wrong road in Lubbock.
JO should be thanking me. You think?
THE FOURTH FISHERMAN The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
[image error]The Good: I chose this book in order to read about the Mexican fishermen who lived after spending a zillion days in their little boat out in the open sea. To the extent that the book covered these men and their families I enjoyed the book. But – this book isn’t primarily about the three fishermen who live through their amazing ordeal of being stranded in the ocean.
It’s primarily about the author, Joe Kissack, who calls himself “The Fourth Fisherman.” And that brings us to…
The Bad: I didn’t care about Joe. He tries to weave his story of being rich, feeling lost, finding God, coming to faith and finding his real home with the fishermen getting lost, finding God, coming to faith, and coming home. It didn’t work for me.
I wanted more information about the fishermen – Did they really find God? What did that look like? What were their homes like before they left on that fateful fishing trip? How did they change as a result of being lost at sea and finding God? What about the families of those who died at sea? Instead of that information, the author gives us something else. I got concerned when the surviving three fishermen’s story was over, but the book was only about half way through.
The rest of the book was about The Fourth Fisherman. I didn’t care about Joe. He wasn’t poor, he was rich. He wasn’t lost at sea, he was lost in self-absorption. Guess I should have read the title.
The Ugly. The author talks about the three fishermen and himself finding God, but what does that mean? There is talk about how much the Bible helped the guys on the boat, so I assume they weren’t finding Buddah, but it wasn’t much more specific than that. You may like that, but for me it was too vague. And then it gets ugly.
Joe believes he is led by God to do some things that make little sense. The things he “feels led” to do are hard on his finances, his wife, his kids, his employer, etc. And it all ends… empty.
I hope Joe lives to see his movie produced (about the fishermen). I think it could be a good one if he does just one thing. I hope he leaves the fourth fisherman out of it.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. They asked for honesty.
DanielCooley.com
July 6, 2012
A Bad Breakfast
[image error]So I sleep in this AM, and this reading comes up in Proverbs over breakfast...
Pr 6:6 (MSG) You lazy fool, look at an ant. Watch it closely; let it teach you a thing or two. 7 Nobody has to tell it what to do. 8 All summer it stores up food; at harvest it stockpiles provisions. 9 So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing? How long before you get out of bed? 10 A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next? 11 Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, poverty your permanent houseguest!
July 4, 2012
How Jesse Raised David to Raise Solomon
[image error]We have Proverbs because of... Jesse? What a cool legacy we can leave!
When God asked Solomon what he wanted.
Would he have chosen wisdom if David hadn't taught him to pursue it from birth?
Would David had taught Solomon about wisdom if he hadn't been taught it from his dad Jesse?
Verses 3-4 show how the teaching was passed down. Makes me wonder what kind of a legacy we will leave!
Pr 4:1 (NLT) My children, listen when your father corrects you. Pay attention and learn good judgment, 2 for I am giving you good guidance. Don’t turn away from my instructions. 3 For I, too, was once my father’s son, tenderly loved as my mother’s only child. 4 My father taught me, “Take my words to heart. Follow my commands, and you will live. 5 Get wisdom; develop good judgment. Don’t forget my words or turn away from them. 6 Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you. Love her, and she will guard you. 7 Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do! And whatever else you do, develop good judgment. 8 If you prize wisdom, she will make you great. Embrace her, and she will honor you. 9 She will place a lovely wreath on your head; she will present you with a beautiful crown.”
July 3, 2012
Solomon's 10 Commandments with Promises
What an awesome passage - especially the way it reads in The Message. Maybe because it is less familiar the commands seem more vivid. Here we go - Oh Boy!
10 Commandments:
Don't forget what's taught
Take to heart God's commands
Grip love and loyalty
Tie love and loyalty around your neck
Carve L&L on your heart
Earn a good reputation
Trust God
Listen for God's voice
Run to God and from evil
Honor God with everything you own
7 Promises:
A long life
A full life
Will be kept on track
Body will glow with health
Bones will vibrate with life
Barns will burst
Wine vats will brim over
Pr 3:1 (MSG) Good friend, don't forget all I've taught you; take to heart my commands. 2 They'll help you live a long, long time, a long life lived full and well. 3 Don't lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. 4 Earn a reputation for living well in God's eyes and the eyes of the people. 5 Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. 6 Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track. 7 Don't assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! 8 Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life! 9 Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. 10 Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over.
Not a bad way to live, eh?
June 30, 2012
Four Earth-Shakers
[image error]Have you seen these?
Pr 30:21 (MSG) Three things are too much for even the earth to bear, yes, four things shake its foundations—
22 when the janitor becomes the boss, (had a real jerk boss in Dallas... Joe was his name. not sure about the earth shaking, but his employees sure did)
when a fool gets rich, (happens to too many lottery winners)
23 when a whore is voted "woman of the year,"(and then everyone waits, hopes, anticipates the celebrities downfall)
when a "girlfriend" replaces a faithful wife. (and no one, christian, non-christian, friends, parents - no one gets why the guy is being such a jerk, and he doesn't get why no one gets him. it is too much to bear)
June 29, 2012
Your "Limiting Factor"
[image error]What is your greatest "limiting factor?"
Proverbs talks a lot about "The Fear of the Lord," - the entire Bible does, but I've noticed a lot reading through Proverbs this summer. I now wonder if our greatest limiting factor is what takes our eyes off of the fear of the Lord.
It's what we fear more than Him.
Wanting to be liked. I hate that part of me. When I want to be liked more than fearing God, I do stupid.
Pr 29:25 (MSG) The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in God protects you from that.
What is your greatest "limiting factor?"
June 28, 2012
Proverbs 28 on Leadership
[image error]Pr 28:2 (MSG) When the country is in chaos, everybody has a plan to fix it— But it takes a leader of real understanding to straighten things out.
Pr 28:10 (MSG) Lead good people down a wrong path and you'll come to a bad end; do good and you'll be rewarded for it.
Pr 28:12 (MSG) When good people are promoted, everything is great, but when the bad are in charge, watch out!
Pr 28:16 (MSG) Among leaders who lack insight, abuse abounds, but for one who hates corruption, the future is bright.
Pr 28:28 (MSG) When corruption takes over, good people go underground, but when the crooks are thrown out, it's safe to come out.
