Dan Cooley's Blog, page 30

10 Minutes Best Slide Video EVER

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC3EZtgltUU&feature=youtu.be

Wedding videos can be... boring! But this is my daughter.

So it's not.

You get 7 minutes of cool music with the growing-up pictures you get at the wedding reception. PLUS

3 minutes of fun music ("So Happy Together," by the Turtles) with pictures of the wedding.

All for the low price of hitting the link. SWEET!

 

Bizarre Angel POW Bible Story

[image error]I'm working on some new book chapters (for guys, late teens or 20s), & thought I'd post some Bizarre ones for any helpful comments. This has always been one of my favorite offbeat Bible stories.

Oh -  the picture on the left, it is actually from a tattoo shop. If I wanted to get a tattoo, and had a body to put it on, that one would be around the top of my list.

Here we go...

When it comes to weird war stories, Daniel 10 is right up there. It made me ask some questions, including:

1.    Do angels really fight? I mean like with swords or AKs or fists? Somehow I can't see an angel with nunchucks. Are there then angel POWs? And…
2.    Does prayer really work? I'm talking changing the future, supernatural, radical work? Not "getting healed" from a stomach ache or a good grade on a test what you can't prove kind of work. And finally…
3.    Does God sometimes speak through dreams? I have dreams when I'm under stress, but if those come true the world is headed toward major chaos. Hmmm….


Odd Bible Story: Daniel 10

It's around 500 BC, and Daniel is living in Babylon, the capital of Persia. He's the king's counselor, one of the most powerful guys in the world. Not a bad gig. Daniel had been given a number of visions/dreams (see the end of Chapter 9) by God about the future. Personally, I've never had the vision thing happen, but it certainly sounds cool. After the visions, God would send an angel to explain the visions to him. That sounds even cooler. But this time the angel couldn't come. He wanted to come, but he couldn't. That sounds weird.

This much we know from the get-go. Daniel is an exceptional guy. The visions aren't coming to the average Joe (sorry if that's your name), just to Daniel. And, this time the answer to the dream/vision didn't come. So, Daniel took action.

Daniel said to himself, "Self," he said, "It's been three days and God isn't answering my prayer. Did I do something to disappoint Him? I confessed everything I can remember. How long am I supposed to pray when God doesn't answer?"

Not having any better ideas, Daniel decided to do something to remind him to pray about this consistently. Not having a smart phone to remind him, Daniel did the next best thing. "I'll give up my favorite foods (no more ham, pineapple and green chili pizza), drinks (Dr. Pepper had to go), and lotions (Giorgio Armani – he liked the good stuff. Girls everywhere were disappointed)." Still, nothing happened.

Daniel prayed for a week. No answer. "Mercy, what I'd settle for pepperoni now."  For two weeks (Dr. Pepper withdrawals kick in). Nothing. For three weeks (Armani files for bankruptcy)." Still no answer. But he kept fasting and praying. Then it happened.

He got sick.

24 days after Daniel first prayed he and some friends are out walking by a river when HE shows up. This angel was no valentine's cherub. His body was hard and smooth like a polished rock, his face bright as lightening. Daniel tried to look up into his eyes but it was like trying to stare into a fire. The angel was dressed in linen, as if wrapped in light, with a wide gold belt. When he spoke it was like a thousand people talking in unison. This was not an angel to be messed with. And yet, someone did.

It wasn't Daniel who messed with the angel. He must have wondered, "What are my friends doing? Will they talk to this guy? But the angel was so bright, so close to heaven in his appearance that the only one who could make out what he looked like was Daniel. His friends were simply blinded. Daniel had seen angels before, but this one was so powerful he got weak in the knees and felt faint. "Shoot, I'm not falling am I? Ugh, I'm sick to my stomach, scared spit less, and couldn't stand with a walker. What do I do?" But Daniel didn't have to do or say anything. The angel began the conversation by saying something he didn't expect.

He makes an excuse for being late.

After giving Daniel the strength to listen, he tells Daniel "I came in answer to your prayer three weeks ago. But, the prince (demon) of Persia held me captive for three weeks. Then God sent Michael (one of the archangels) down to bust me out of captivity." Daniel must have wondered, "If this Michael dude is bigger and scarier than you, what does he look like?"

If we understand this story correctly, here is what happened. Daniel, one of the most powerful men on the planet, needed help. An angel, more powerful than any Daniel had ever seen was sent down to help him. A demon, more powerful than the angel who was more powerful than Daniel caught and held the angel captive for 3 weeks. Then an archangel, more powerful than the demon who was more powerful than the angel who was more powerful than Daniel was sent by God to bust the angel out of captivity.  Somehow Daniel doesn't seem so powerful anymore.

But his prayers do.


Why did God put this story in the Bible?

First, let's answer some questions…

1.    Do angels really fight? Evidently so, and they can be caught and held captive, which is weird to imagine. I still hope they don't use nunchucks. Light sabers would be cool.
2.    Does prayer really work? Evidently so – it can even call angels to war. However it doesn't always seem to work when and how we expect it to work.
3.    Does God sometimes speak through dreams? Evidently so – but it wasn't normal then, so I'd guess it isn't normal now either. But - it would be cool, eh?

God wants you to know about the power you have though prayer. You will be a powerful prayer warrior if you don't give up.


What difference does this make to me?

This depends on what, or who, you've given up on. I wonder too if Daniel would have received the answer to his prayer if he had quit praying?

Sometimes the answer to your prayer is still in process. And sometimes, perhaps, the process includes battles and captivity between angels and demons. Don't pray wimpy prayers. God has an army waiting to answer.

I will . . . ___________________________


Where else is this taught? (You may need to look up the passages in their context for a complete study)

"So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into 'the Holy Place.'  Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God.  The 'curtain' into God's presence is his body.  So let's do it—full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out.  Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going.  He always keeps his word."  (Hebrews 10:19-23, the Message)

H.L.M.F.

[image error]I love pictures.

Susan Weagant has written a great kids book with illustrations by Valeria Bouthyette. You just can't have a great kids book without great illustrations. This one has both. It's focused on H.L.F.M.

It stands for His Life For Mine. Oh - this is for LITTLE kids. And adults like me who like pictures.

You can check it out at susanweagant.com.

Her husband is on staff at Camp Peniel, so you know it has to be good.

The Search Committee: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

[image error]The Good: Churches should roll the dice. Where did we come up with this crazy idea of getting a committee of representative church attendees to go out and steal another church's pastor when we need one? When they needed a new Apostle in Acts 1, they cast lots. Oh well, foolish things we do can make for great writing. Tim Owens, way to go!

Tim takes the typical Pastoral Search Committee (this one of seven people), pours them together with all their problems into an older church van, and puts the story on "blend."

I've been on both sides of this story. I've been on search committees. And, I've been the pastor seeing the obvious search committee walk in the back of the church. I was praying they would like me while hoping no one else noticed them at the same time. Tim is right. It's weird.

Besides the cool story idea, I liked:
1.    The teaching that everyone, including pastors, aren't sinless.
2.    The sermons are terrific, I wish I spoke that well!
3.    The idea that what we are looking for may not be all that far away.

The Bad: There isn't much bad here. The book could have use another edit (some extra words, some awkward writing), and I would have been okay with more clarity about how Jesus is our only answer.

The Ugly: A few things were ugly here:
1.    Me. With a soap-opera book about seven shallow, needy people, why did I get so sucked in?
2.    The Pastoral Search Process really is flawed – ugly even. Maybe casting dice isn't so crazy?
3.    The cover. A couple sheep? Really? Was that the best Tyndale could do?

I'd recommend this book, its great fun. However you must weigh that recommendation with the truth that I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for my review. I wasn't required to write a positive review – but I did anyway. 

Off to the casino. We're looking for a new pastor.

DanielCooley.com

Relax

[image error]I wanted to lie and say this blog was my own.

But it isn't.

A good friend, who was once a Jr. Hi. brat in my Lake Charles LA youth group wrote this. Chad is now the director of Child Evangelism Fellowship for the greater Houston area. Why do the brats often turn out so good?

If you want to go directly to his blog you can do that here. Below is the article I liked so much...

 

How to Relax When Sharing the Gospel

Posted on January 16, 2012

Chris really wants his non-Christian friend, Sally, to trust in Jesus. He shared the gospel with her, but Sally keeps coming back with more and more objections–some of which are stumping Chris. The disagreement intensifies. Both take it personally. Voices are raised, and tempers flare. Finally, Sally is out the door.

I've seen Christians lose their cool in evangelism. Heck, I've done it, too. And it can potentially destroy any future opportunity for the unsaved to trust in Jesus. Many of these events occur on the social networks which are quite impersonal.

Here's something to keep in mind that will help you relax when you're engaged in evangelism.

Don't argue. When someone disagrees with you about who Christ is, or if God exists, don't take it personally. Jesus, Himself, said that if they reject you, they are really rejecting Him (Luke 10:16). There's no room for arguments in evangelism. I don't even like to debate with people. Most of those "debates" aren't very productive in evangelism, and they can actually do more harm than good. A good rule of thumb: arguments push the unbeliever away.

Debates (which is a friendly word for arguments) are usually formats for each party to show how smart and well-read they are. Although some people are good at keeping a debate on the level of love and respect (and debates do have their place), debates easily end up doing the job only the Holy Spirit can do: bring conviction. I'd like to suggest another format for discussion.

Give them freedom. Instead of arguing, give the non-Christian freedom to disagree with you. It's not showing weakness. In fact, it's showing good sportsmanship. Another way to put this is that it's showing the love of Christ.

1 Peter 3:15 says to always be prepared to give an answer with gentleness and respect. This means to provide the answer with a smile. When an unbeliever disagrees with something I said, I like to respond with one word, "OK." Both of us already provided our points-of-view. Arguing directs their thoughts to more and more objections. Freedom to disagree directs their thoughts to dwelling on my point-of-view. So I like to state my case, and then give the Holy Spirit room to work.

Giving them freedom to disagree touches their hearts in such a way that they want to think about our point-of-view. Arguing shuts that door.

Our job is to provide the message, not to argue. The Holy Spirit is the One to bring the conviction. So smile at the disagreer. Their perspective is real to them, and our love toward them opens the door for the Holy Spirit to do His work. And instead of tense discussion, we're able to relax and provide an atmosphere of Christ's love. And it's the expression of His love that impacts the non-Christian the most.

My Daughter's Wedding. What Could Go Wrong?

[image error]It was my daughter's wedding. What Could Go Wrong?

Our plan for Amanda's wedding

•    Dec 25 Get Christmas out of the way and start packing
•    Dec 26 Drive 11.5 hours to Camp Peniel TX
•    Dec 27 set up wedding and rehearsal
•    Dec 28 wedding
•    Dec 29 tear-down and clean up from wedding
•    Dec 30-Jan 1 Visit friends and family in Houston
•    Jan 2 drive 15 hours back to ABQ with 5 adults crammed in a Dodge Dakota

Wedding Reality

The drive to Camp Peniel in TX normally takes 11-12 hours. That's if the roads are good and no one gets sick. We assumed the roads would be fine. They were fine here.

Once we hit the two-lane roads in TX there was patchy snow and ice for, like, forever. We had a caravan with plenty of young "never driven on ice and snow before" drivers. We saw overturned trucks in the ditch, police, ambulances, fire trucks, etc. Our normal 65mph roads were going around 35.  JoLynn (my wife) was praying for safety. Then it happened.

We went from ice worries to flu worries. One of the groomsman suddenly came down with the stomach flu. He was traveling in a full car not his own. And he was super sick. Like the worst kind of sick when all you want to be is alone. Ugh. And, what about everyone else in the car, all also in the wedding - would they come down with the flu also? He and his wife wisely got a motel in Lubbock, we crammed in the remaining cars, Megan (our other daughter) prayed no one else would get sick, and then it happened.

No one else got sick. Not the entire weekend, not even yet. Maybe no one will ever get sick again, she prays so good. And, no one wrecked on the ice. Not the entire weekend, not even yet. Maybe no one will ever wreck again, JoLynn is so close to God. But then we went shooting.

We were done setting up for the wedding, so Caleb (our son) went down to the camp rifle range with his .22. The range was unlocked. There were another ten or so .22s in working order and maybe a thousand shells counting what Caleb brought. A bunch of wedding people heard us, many who had never shot a gun, so we gave lessons. We blasted that cliff but good. It was great fun until we were putting up the guns and cleaning up. Someone found an un-shot shell and thought it was more fun to shoot it then put it back in a box. True that. However it so happened that I was down range cleaning up. Then it happened.

A good friend yelled, saved my life, the day, and the wedding from being really ugly - and/or painful. Like the roads and the flu it was God's grace again. Then it happened.

Amanda and Jake got married. Who would have thought the "pow-wow" circle at Camp Peniel could look so nice? However, this was outside, in December, in the hill-country of Texas. Anything could happen. But it didn't.

The weather was a perfect 65f that day, maybe 60 when the wedding started at 5:30 sundown. Everyone looked beautiful (especially JoLynn), no one tripped (darn), Dad didn't get too choked up (yea), and in half an hour we were headed to the lodge for the reception, which was great fun with Camp games. We then cleaned up, and had a good time with family and friends and new in-law family. It was when I woke up at 2am that I realized something was wrong.

It had been a windy day. We signed the wedding license outside as part of the ceremony. I had left the license on the table, outside, in the wind. Now it was 2am. Too late to fix it I figured, besides it was cold and dark outside. So... I said a prayer and rolled over. About four hours later I got up and first thing went to the pow-wow circle, to start looking down wind to see if a tree had caught the license. The trees were empty. I checked the ground. The ground was clean. Then I saw it.

It was on the table, right where we left it, as if glued there in throughout the windy night.

I could go on but you get the idea. From getting in a wreck to getting the flu to dying to losing the license, so many things could have made this weekend different. But the greatest miracle was yet to happen.

We drove for 15 hours with five of us in a Dodge Dakota from Houston to Albuquerque, and we are still speaking. I realize now God saves us in so many ways – not only from our past sins but from my present stupidity as well. So much can always go wrong, but when it doesn't I take it for granted. Not this week. This week I say thanks.

Why Church Matters: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

[image error]You can read plenty of reviews that give you the overview/content of the book. Here is just the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good:
1.    It's short. Not a bunch of fluff, Joshua Harris hits home.
2.    Joshua is engaging, including fun-to-read "I've been there" illustrations and stories.
3.    Wonderful quotes! I especially liked this one by John Stott, "If the church is central to God's purpose as seen in both history and the gospel, it must surely also be central to our lives. How can we take lightly what God takes so seriously? How dare we push to the circumference what God has placed at the center?"
4.    Great Biblical support which, when combined with Joshua's illustrations, made it convicting without being preachy.
5.    The 10-things that matter most when choosing a church was a great addition, as are the study chapters at the end.

The Bad:
1.    Joshua Harris missed some great opportunities to dig deeper into the reasons why we don't want to go to church. He mentions church splits, conflict, irrelevancy, but doesn't go deeper into these issues. I know it's a short book, but without answers to these questions it came out as a bit too short to me. With WHY in the title, I was left wondering, when thinking about church grief, "Why?"
2.    In the chapter on membership, I was left with the same thoughts. It was helpful, but without mention of membership in the Bible, "Why join?" 

The Ugly:
The title, Why Church Matters is in a gigantic maybe 30 sized font. Joshua's name looks like a big 25. The subtitle maybe 20. "Best-selling author of Dug Down Deep" perhaps a size16. "Previously released as Stop Dating the Church," mercy, it looks like a size 2 - it's microscopic. I hate it when they sneak an old book on me as a new one.

I absolutely recommend this book if you are wondering, as a Christian, why you should go to church. That is unless, of course, you have already read it under the old title.

I received this book free from Multnomah Books for review. I was (obviously) not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. danielcooley.com

BIZARRE PAPERBACK

[image error]Bizarre Bible Stories just came out in Paperback. It's, like, the best stocking-stuffer ever!

My kids thought they knew the whole Bible because  they knew about Goliath, Noah, Adam and Jesus. Worse yet, they were bored with it.

There are so many bizarre Bible stories, why do we keep telling the same old stories over and over? Who wants to watch a re-run when the new season starts? This book tells new stories in a new way. I hope you enjoy it. Many devotional books do a good job telling the old Bible Stories to your kids. This one gets your kids into what seems like a new, fresh Bible.

You can order it at Amazon here. If you have time to write a review on any of the sites, that would be nice. Well, depending on the review...

If you would like a signed copy, send a note to dan@danielcooley.com and I'll get one out to you.

Courageous: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

[image error]Courageous is a novelization by Randy Alcorn of the movie by the same name. I saw the movie and LOVED it. I didn't want to read the book, as I'd already seen the movie. But, the movie was so good, and a friend was dumping guilt on me to read the book so…

The Good:
When Randy Alcorn is the author, you know it can't be bad. There's a lot of back story in the book that makes the movie make more sense. I'd like to see the movie again now on DVD as it will be easier to follow. If you haven't seen the movie, it and the book are great stories of men wrestling with faith, hope, tragedy, and being fathers. Good stuff for any story. It was a fun, super fast read.

The Bad:
I saw the movie first and knew what was coming. That's about it.

The Ugly:
My favorite character in the book, Bronson, was major ugly. Too bad they left him out of the movie - he was fun to read and would have been fun to see. The book, like the movie can be a bit corny, "Touched By An Angel" ish at times.

I'm glad someone challenged me to read the book. It was a fun, profitable, and internally challenging way to spend a few hours. Highly recommended.

Churches Kicked Out of Schools

[image error]I don't believe it. Churches renting NYC schools will have to move by February. Anyone else can rent - just not churches, and by not hearing the case our US Supreme Court supported that decision. Amazing. Now the school system will be even more broke without the rent the churches pay, and the schools will lose the extra help the churches gave them above and beyond their rent. Everyone loses. Here is the news link.

Our church (Cottonwood) meets at Stapleton Elementary School. The vice-principal wrote the note below to go with an article I wrote for Leadership Journal. Here is her perspective:

Thoughts from a Principal's Perspective:

This former New York City girl will go head to head with any NY Court of Appeals to keep Cottonwood Church at our school! As the assistant principal, part of my job is to manage public facilities use. In the past, several churches asked to use our school and it did not feel like a good match.

When Pastor Dan Cooley met with me to ask about bringing his church to our school, it felt right. He was genuine and sincere. We worked out the logistics and he was so grateful for the opportunity. From the very beginning, it was all about giving back to our school. They take great pride in our campus. Throughout the year they volunteer time to clean up. They have had several garage sales and donated all of the proceeds to our school. We have a Family Fun Night to raise money for books, paper, and ink and they work side by side with our staff from beginning to end to help make it a success.

He has affectionately named this Ernest Stapleton Elementary School/Cottonwood Church endeavor "Staplewood!" They have been using our facility for over two years. I think it is great that we are blessed every Sunday with the Lord's presence inside our school. During these scary and difficult times, we need all of the prayer we can possibly receive on a daily basis.

Pat Di Vasto