Open your Eyes

Last week at Hope Community Church Pastor Steve spoke about sin. Now, he's currently on a 10- turned 12-week sermon series on sin, so that is not a terribly helpful statement, but you can go on their website and listen to the message if you really want to know the details.

As illustrations, he talked about three guys in the Bible who encountered God: Moses, Isaiah, and Peter, and he talked about how drastically different their lives were after that encounter. His examples were the stories of the burning bush and Moses (which really should be called the non-burning bush, don't you think?), and Isaiah's vision of the throne room of God. Those two make sense; these measly men get their worlds rocked when God defies the laws of nature, time, and space to reveal himself showing how different God is from Man and then calls them to do His will nonetheless.

What got me thinking was not a point he made, albeit they were good, but rather the tangent to which his points sent my brain. This third example was the day Peter and his buddies had struck out fishing, but when Jesus joined them and Peter did what he said they caught so much it almost made two boats sink. For Peter, that encounter with Christ was just as world-rocking as Isaiah's vision of six-winged flaming angels. (Alright, the flaming thing is a guess, but they're called seraphim for crying out loud! They at least had to be really, really bright.) Peter's response to Jesus is very similar to Isaiah's and Moses'. But why? Couldn't it have just been another guy God decided to do a miracle through to show His power? Why did Peter respond so drastically, dropping everything to follow Jesus at that very moment?

Peter's response was so drastic because he was not simply in the presence of another prophet, but God Incarnate. I don't know what in Jesus' being made that fact clear, but it was clearer than anything Peter had ever seen before. He knew he was in the presence of God. Why else would Peter have left everything in that moment?

As I mulled this over in the pew, a question raised in my mind. Do I read the New Testament as though Jesus is just as jaw-dropping as the glory of God in the Old Testament? Do I ponder what it must have been like to see God–fully God–in flesh? Moreover, do I live as though Jesus has just as much power, majesty, and might as God the Father? In my everyday speech and theological conversations I am aware to avoid sounding like Modalism, but when the rubber meets the road, do I live with true belief that Jesus is God and as such has sovereignty over all the situations that bring me fear and doubt?

If I don't, I am not living a life of trust. Worse, I am acting like God is a liar and not who He says He is and not able to do what He says He can do. The truth is that Jesus was, is, and always will be fully God. It could be that I am missing the glory He wants to show of himself to me because I refuse to see him as he is. Does that sound cyclical? Perhaps. Open your eyes and see Jesus for who He is and maybe our jaws will drop too.

Weekend Away

I'm still working on the teach/preach thing, but I realized I forgot to post pics from my grandparents cabin a few weekends ago.

My friends Carrie and Jen came up with me to get away and rest for a few days. Here are the highlights:

We made Monster Cookies,
Played Dominoes, of course,
Looked at the stars from the dock (I don't know what's wrong with me),
Carrie and I took the canoe out to watch the sun rise,
and we went for a freezing cold boat ride.
All in all, it was a much needed getaway for some R&R. Although I hope the next time I go up, it will be warmer than 60 degrees!

What's the Difference?

"When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities." Matthew 11:1

Teacher. Speaker. Preacher. Lecturer. Trainer. Educator. Mentor. What do you see in this list: synonyms, distinct offices, or just confused overspeak? English has so many words for these type of people and, based on how they are used in culture, the differences between them can be miniscule.

When you hear the word preacher, is this what you see?

Or this?


When you hear teacher, do you see this?


Throughout the last few months, a question has ebbed and flowed in my mind: what is the difference between teaching and preaching? My gut tells me there is one, but I have never seen a sufficient definition for them. I'm not implying they aren't out there, but they have yet to cross my path. (I thought about putting dictionary definitions here, but they were too worthless to waste space on.)

Throughout the New Testament we see the words "teach" and "preach" used together and separately, by many different writers. In the near future I intend on doing a word study of "teach" and "preach" in the OT and NT, but for now I want to set the stage. This is the beginning of a thought.

Here is what I think I know:

• American English (the only language for which I can speak with any shred of authority) often uses "preach" as a subset to a more general "teach." I suspect this is inaccurate.
  
• They are very similar, but have key differences.
• It is more than the size of the audience.
• It is more than the style of delivery.
• It is more than the content of the message.

The thing that makes those last three points true is the "more than," because I think audience, delivery, and message are a part of it, but the difference cannot be defined by those. They are more descriptive than prescriptive, perhaps.

What do you think? What is the difference between Teaching and Preaching? Ever heard a good definition of either? Have your own opinion? I want to hear it!

Just Playing

Last night we had Core Team Training, like every Wednesday, at O'Rourke's. I was there much too early, but I was in the area with nothing to do and it didn't make sense to go all the way home beforehand. So I showed up and chatted with Andy and Sara, and worked on my computer a little bit. Ava (3 year old) was enamored with my computer. I opened Photo Booth and she about died. I think we took pictures of her for twenty minutes! If we got a really funny one, she would belly laugh so hard, and scream. It was super funny. Eventually Paisley (8 year old) showed up, and thought it was great too. Of course Lil' Bubba had to some see what was up, but I don't think he quite appreciated it. Well, I can't tell you all of this without showing some of them to you!

Lately

Clearly I am bad at keeping this thing consistently updated, but I figure that if I get up one post a month you won't think I'm dead :) Here are some snapshots of what I've been up to recently:

I went back to camp last week for the Youth Workers' Retreat, but I got to stay at home. This is a storm that kept trying to rain.
A couple of weeks ago, my little sister Anna (age 8) told me a story about how they lost power at the house, an outlet melted, the phone jumped across the room shooting lightening, and pictures fell off the wall during a storm. This is the tree that was struck by lightening, in case you couldn't figure that out on your own!

More has been going on, but that's all I have for now!

Taking Time

This title could have many multiple meanings, and I will probably touch on several of them. First this pic is from me and my roomate Carrie taking time to go to a great coffee shop near us in order to do "stupid crap" we didn't want to do. But look how greatly she matches the walls! 

Another way this phrase has been rolling through my mind is that I need to be taking more time to be alone with Jesus. I have a hunch He's been getting jealous of my time usage. That hunch comes from the fact that a series of things have happened which have completely disrupt my plans. 

About two weeks ago, I was supposed to go back to Staples for a musical, but instead I ended up with a dead car on an exit ramp after running out of gas. I know, it was completely my fault. So as I sat there waiting for a friend, I opened my Bible. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that suffering produces perseverance." Yep, I flipped right to James 1. And I got the hint. 

Then yesterday, I had spent an absurd amount of time on this very computer. It kind of crossed my mind that some of that time could have been spent better, but I justified it by saying a lot of the time was at work, doing work, and there wasn't really another option! I ate dinner outside with a friend and I pulled out my computer to show her something. Instead, the wind tipped over my water glass right on to the keyboard! It didn't turn on. Surprisingly, the potential wrecked technology didn't bother me. I took it as another not-so-subtle hint. PTL, it turned on shortly after Core Team training, after we prayed about it, and Nate looked at it. I'm really glad I don't have to pay to have it fixed. 

Then today. I met Molly at Overflow Cafe for two hours of fantastic fellowship. I went out to my car, only to discover I had left my lights on and not even my electronic locks would work! A nice guy from inside the cafe gave me a jump (it took 20 minutes to recharge!) and then I finally went about my day. While I was running errands, I saw a friend a little ways off. But because my head was full of all my own stuff, I walked by and pretended I hadn't noticed. 

So what have we learned? Coley is a space cadet. 

Well, I won't deny it. But I also know that when I get this distracted and crazy, my soul is running on empty. That works about as well for myself as it did for my car. I beg you, please take time before this starts to sound like your life. If it already does sound like this, or worse, Stop it! Rest in your Father. Take some time to recharge, refill, rest. 

Because I'm Just That Brilliant (alternative title: Think About Sugar!)

This morning I decided I wanted beef stew for dinner. Now, I don't usually think about dinner at 9 in the morning, but this requires 8 hours in the crock-pot, so I kind of had to. For just throwing in random veggies, potatoes and meat it turned out pretty good! 

At the last minute I decided we needed some corn bread with it. Jiffy corn bread is about as low maintenance as you can get while still having some taste. All it takes is an egg and a little milk. If only...

Instead of 1/3 cup milk, I put in 1 and 1/3 cups! Yes math majors, that is 4 times too much. Thankfully I had two more packages, so I was able to make it work, but I now have corn bread coming out my ears. All in all, dinner turned out well and I have more of that as well! 

Regarding the alternative title: 

One day when Kelsey and I were home we decided to make chocolate chip cookies...not a rare occasion. Everything was going fine until Kelsey put in way too much salt (Kels, was it two or four times the amount?). Either way, the cookies came out only okay. That might be stretching it. So while we ate them (no one else wanted to!) we told each other to "think about sugar!" It didn't help. But now it comes up again any time we screw up a recipe. I'm sure we'll have even bigger mistakes in the future, and when that time comes, I'll be sure to tell you about them.