Dan Cooley's Blog, page 34

When the Game was Ours

When the Game Was Ours Larry Bird and Ervin Magic Johnson

I love basketball, and thought Bird was the best ever. Not so. He didn't even write this book. Although the cover looks like he and Magic wrote it, it was actually written by Jackie MacMullan. However having a writer rather than a basketball forward write the book was probably a good thing. And Bird was great, but kind of a jerk if the book gives an accurate history.

I think I liked the beginning of this book best – the account of Bird and Johnsons rivalry in the early years. It does a good job getting you into their skin as they prepared to compete against each other. How they became friends later is a cool story too. Having grown up with Larry and Magic, I didn't realize that they launched the modern NBA – it was always there as I was growing up. I do remember how it was rocked when Magic was diagnosed HIV positive. The contrast between a city kid and a farm boy, white and black, east and west teams ramps up some tension in the early chapters. The read was more fun than I expected. It's terrific if you like basketball, good if you like friendship, lousy if you hate sports and friends.

 

The Power of a Whisper

I had to buy this book for two reasons. One, I've always liked Hybels. Two, I grew up in churches where "hearing from God" was kind of taboo. Honestly, it's often used as an excuse to do what we wanted to do anyway. From "God told me we should get married" to "God told me we need to break up," God is an easy one to blame. Maybe that's what it means to "take the Lord's name in vain." Anyhow, I got a copy and read on through it.

The subtitle is Hearing God. Having the Guts to Respond. I like that.

One of the quotes I like was: "Ps 46:10 'Be still and know that I am God. . . ' Reduce your speed. Stop multitasking. Lower the ambient noise of your life--and then listen for God to speak . . . Jesus wove into the fabric of his everyday life the disciplines of prayer, solitude, reflection, fasting and worship. . . . There is a God who loves you and who would gladly whisper to you words of encouragement or direction, wisdom or well-timed warning if only you would carve out the space to hear from heaven throughout the course of your day.

Hybels lists five filters to know if the voice is from God or not. Here the old Experiencing God workbook was superior I think. Anyway his filters are . . .

1. Is the prompting truly from God? This seems more like and introduction than a true filter to me.
2. Is it Scriptural?
3. Is it wise?
4. Is it in tune with your own character? This one I had some difficulty with. It seems to me that a number of Biblical characters were asked by God to do things specifically outside their character, in order to prove it was God in charge. Moses and his speaking, Gideon the weak going to war, Paul the Jew going to the gentiles, etc.
5. What do the people you most trust think about it?

As a pastor it was interesting to hear Hybels stories about how God's whispers had helped to set the direction of Willow Creek Church. He has written much about leadership, it was helpful to hear about his surrender in listening.

It got a bit long for this ADD reader, but I liked it enough to plan a future sermon series using the video set for our home bible studies later in the year. It's not an awesome 5-star Hybels book, but I liked it enough for four. Hope you like it too.

 

Heaven is for Real

I hate it when books make me cry. Here I am all alone reading. And crying. I'd lose innumerable man-points if you saw me.

It may be because I lost a good friend this week. Steve was my age, and we had a TON of stuff in common – almost weirdly so. As often happens with cool people, I went to his house to cheer up Steve and the family and they impacted me. His wife loaned me this book. If you decide to read it, it's best to prepare by setting aside four essentials:

1 - About two hours of time.

2 - Kleenex and lots of it.

3 and 4 - An IV and a port-a-potty. You won't want to take the time to put this book down.

The book is subtitled: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back. The subtitle didn't grab me, as it sounded like another one of those, "they said I was dead for 5 minutes, and when I work up I remembered heading for the bright white light" books. The hell this family went through before seeing heaven is what pulled me in. I hope this doesn't mean I'm more of a hell then heaven kind of guy. It's possible the book impacted me so much because I'm an emotional wreck this week. But, maybe it's that good.

I quoted a bit of the book below so you can get a glimpse of the writing style and emotion of dad, the author. Now I'm off to hide my Kleenex and wash my face.

 

P. 148-9 "speaking of Colton's experience in heaven, people have said to us, 'your family is so blessed!'

In the sense that we've had a glimpse through the veil that separates earth from eternity, they're right.

But I also thing, Blessed? We watched our son almost die.

When I was a kid, I always wondered why the cross, Jesus' crucifixion, was such a big deal. If God the Father knew he was going to raise his Son from the dead, how was that a sacrifice? But now I understand why God doesn't view Easter as just the endgame, just the empty tomb. I understand completely. I would've done anything, anything, to stop Colton's suffering, including trading places with him.

The scripture says that as Jesus gave us his spirit, as he sagged there, lifeless on that Roman cross, God the Father turned his back. I am convinced that he did that because if he had kept on watching, he couldn't have gone through with it."

 

Average Joe - truly average

I picked up this book while looking for a new study for our church men's group. The reviews seem ed to say that it was a real page-turner, but needed more Biblical content. That would work well for us, as supplementing Biblical material is easier than making an average book interesting to a group of guys. But the reviews were wrong.

What we look for in our guys group is a book that is clear, blunt, fun to read, Biblically in-your-face, and exciting. To me, this book seemed average.

The study guide in the back of the book is great. Certain chapters come to life. There is great content in here, but it's lost in its averageness (not a word but you get my meaning). It was a bit like having to eat a box of brand X cereal to get to the prize. I found myself skimming ahead hoping the next prize would drop out without having to read everything in-between.

It's worth a read, and a study. Just don't expect a Ferrari. Think Prius.

If you liked this review please rate it at http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/reviews/index/blogr:5345.

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

Funky Monkies

I got hooked on Funky Monkeys in Haiti. They are the best drink ever! The recipe is at the end so you can experience a bit of heaven too. We are having them at church this Sunday. Here's why.

About three years ago a couple from Cottonwood were at the Maranatha Orphanage in Port-au-Prince. While there they fell in love with Salinda, who was just a few months old. They checked into the possibility of adoption. They paid the fees, filled out the dossier, and waited. It seemed like an eternal process. Then the earthquake hit. At that point everything shifted into overdrive and they were able to bring Salinda home. Since then the adoption paperwork has been ongoing. This week the adoption was finalized! We will be having a Salinda Celebration highlighted with my favorite Haitian drink after church to thank God for His answered prayers in this process.

I've wondered if any of this is similar to how Jesus adopts us. He paid the price and filled out the dossier, but we are still here.  One day the earthquake will strike (Zach 14:4-5) and we will go home (Romans 8:15, 23). I think it's safe to assume that in Heaven it's paperwork - no. Funky Monkeys - yes.

 

Funky Monkeys:

½ can sweetened condensed milk

2/3 C chocolate syrup

½- 2/3 C creamy peanut butter

½ C full cream powdered milk

1 3/4 espresso (cooled)

 

Put into blender that holds at least 8 cups. Blend ingredients together. Add ice to 8 cup line. Blend just until smooth (blending longer makes it too runny)

 

Some passages about your adoption:

Ro 8:15 (NLT) So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father."

Ro 8:23 (NLT) We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

Gal 4:6 (MSG) You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!" 7 Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.

Eph 1:4 (NLT) 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

It Came From Within

One of our church home Bible study groups went through this book and loved it. They then recommended it to me. We ended up using it as a sermon series and recommending it to all our other home Bible study groups at the same time. It was that good.

In this book Andy defines, illustrates, and gives us the tools to confront four evils that come from within our hearts. The four evils he exposes are:

· Guilt – defined as "I owe me" – confronted with confession

· Anger - defined as "You owe me" – confronted with forgiveness

· Greed - defined as "I owe me" – confronted with generosity

· Jealousy - defined as "God owes me" – confronted with celebration

 

I loved the way Andy cuts off our excuses in the first part of the book. He believes comments like "that just wasn't like me," or "I don't know what came over me," etc. are really references to the real us. The monsters we haven't dealt with have snuck out of our hearts cage and we have been exposed. The only reason those actions aren't our normal behavior is because the monster is normally caged, not because it doesn't exist.

His section dealing with anger is especially good. That is, unless you don't want to deal with it. In that case it sucks.

My favorite part about the book – it's just plain honest.

Buy it, read it, love it, take others through it.

If you didn't like this review, please don't tell me or I'll have to confront my anger with forgiveness. That sucks. If you liked this review please rate it at http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/reviews/index/blogr:5345.

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

I Need Your Help

I get free books for Cottonwood Church. I'm about to lose them.

A while ago I got connected to Blogging for Books. They give out free books if you review them. It's been a huge help to our little church for me to be able to review books before taking the plunge to order any. What I didn't know is that people have to rate your reviews to stay in the system. Ugh.

Can you take the time to http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/reviews/index/blogr:5345 go to this link and rate my reviews? I only have about a half dozen. You have to scroll down to the end of the review to rate it. That's their way to try to get you to read it!

I'll try to remember to post this "rank this review" icon as I add reviews in the future.

OH - good news, I have an article coming out in the new issue of Leadership Journal that I co-wrote with a friend here at Cottonwood. Published, in anything, feels so good!

Dan

Next Generation Leader Review

I love Andy Stanley. He seems so . . . normal.

This book is short, concise and for me extremely helpful. After having it on the shelf for some time I'm reading it again. It's that good.

Some quotes I marked in my old book are

1. It is not his insight that sets the leader apart from the crowd. It is his courage to act on what he sees, to speak up when everyone else is silent.

2. You can survive being wrong. You cannot survive being unclear. . . clarity results in influence

3. Dream no small dreams, for they stir not the hearts of men.

Now to apply it.

If you liked this review please rate it at http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/reviews/index/blogr:5345. If you didn't like it, you can skip rating it. I won't be offended.

 

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

Sharpen

On this Mother's day, what do moms fear the most? According to Josh McDowell, the number one fear of Christian parents is that they won't pass on their values to their children. Why is that so scary? What is our fear?

Ultimately sin is fun. And stupid. You have to be temporarily dull to fall for it.

In the last 30 years teen pregnancy has increased over 500%, teen suicide by 300%. Over 1000 girls will have an abortion today, while another 4000 kids will catch an STD.

Surely we can sharpen our kids to look for a life better than fighting STDs, sleeping with losers, and suicide. This is a war we can win.

In Deuteronomy 6:4-9 God gives us instructions that have been put on Jewish households for over 3500 years. They still work. The words "repeat them" mean "to sharpen." I like that, we can do this!

"Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:4 (NLT)

Here it is again in the Simplified Cottonwood Version: Listen up Cottonwood! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. So love the Lord your God with all your center, all your unseen self, and all your body. Make His words the center of your life. Sharpen your kids on Scripture. Talk about how God's word works when eating meals, watching TV, and stuck in traffic on Paseo. Sharpen your kids both when you're tucking them in bed and chucking your teenager out of bed. Let your hands do God's work. Let Jesus shine through you face. Let your house, your very address be the address of the Living Word of God at work. (SCV)

Is Celebrating Osama's Death Wrong?

My son Micah posted this question on Facebook: "Why are people who worship someone who loved everyone regardless of what they did celebrating someones death? I don't remember Jesus preaching that one."

I wonder, is it wrong to celebrate the death of Osama? Did our years in Canada mess with my son's thinking? Is he right? Would it have been better for me to use a photo that wasn't 10 years old? Anyhow it's great to see our kids think on their own. Here are some of the comments that have come back on his Facebook.

My sentiments exactly micah.

But he was epitomizing evil...He made a choice and its unfortunate he chose a bad one. No one deserves hell, people just feel its closer to ending the wars.

Dan - Ok, just an unpublished note of mine to interject here. Did someone say "no one deserves hell? Really?? Don't we all? Back to the thread…

Micah - War is ugly, I'm not saying Osama's death is something that was good or bad. I'm saying that as a Christian, it's not something we should be celebrating or glorifying. I do think the military is necessary, and will always be necessary. Read... the Old Testament, and much of it is about Israel and the wars that they went into, but war and death is something that we should never celebrate as Christians, no matter who it was. "Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live." - Ezekiel 33:11‎"Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice." Proverbs 24:17

Pr 11:10 (NLT) The whole city celebrates when the godly succeed; they shout for joy when the wicked die." Could the celebration not be gloating over his death, but happiness for the innocent he can no longer torture and murder?

i am not celebrating his death, i am celebrating the fact that the world is a safer place now.

People are excited. The single largest antagonist of the American people for the last 10 years and more is now facing his judgment. He was our enemy, and he was evil. People are excited to see him gone in the same way that people were excited to see Hitler gone. it's natural for humans to be excited when evil falls. But, it's not our job to judge him; That's God's job. It's just our boys' job to arrange the meeting.

Micah - My issue with that is that it makes it sound like America is doing Gods bidding. America isn't a God fearing country. This doesn't sound like God succeeding. It's America succeeding. If God had succeeded Osama would be a Christ follower, not dead. America's and Jesus's motives rarely collide, and when they do it's out of love, not out of war. I'm not saying that Osama's death was bad, on the whole it probably benefited the world, but I think that God and America have two different schedules, and I don't think it is right to say that America killing Osama was a godly thing, or that it was for God.

that's the point - We aren't acting on God's accord, but on the basis that we don't want a madman killing innocent people because of HIS god. If I implied or said it was God's will, I apologize, but that's not what I think or feel.