Ryan Cook -Real Life

Love is a Mystery Song

I had the opportunity to sneak into a little recording session w/ my wife, Lance and Amber.

This is one of the most talented group of individuals I know.  I love it when they get together and and jam.  

Turn on your speaker for your listening enjoyment.

  

www.ryancook.net

Anjelah Johnson- Nail Salon

Here you have it, one of my favorite skit comedians, turn up the volume and ENJOY!


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Interview w/ by bro Lawrance Lybarger

Last night at Awaken, P Mike spoke about Defining Moments in life & turning your moment into a lifestyle. Basically, taking your moment and putting action behind it.

A few weeks ago, God spoke to Lawrance and he started changing his life from the inside out.  Last night he wanted to get rid of an outer persona that had been w/ him for a while, actually for 6 years, his hair.  Interview w/ Lawrance and pics below:

Name : Lawrance Lybarger, Age: 17, The kid w/ long hair, big gauges and tight pants. L= Lawrance & R= Ryan

R: When did you start growing out your hair?

L: 6 years ago, I was 11 years old.

 

R: Why did you decide to grow out your hair?

L: I had friends w/ longer hair. I started skating. I wanted to blend in.

 

R: Can a person skate w/ out having long hair.

L: Yes, for sure

 

R: So what was the draw?

L: Listening to hardcore metal, a lot of people in the bands I listened to had long hair. The band members where cool, I want to look like that.

 

R: Do you think you are cool now?

L: Of course, just w/ short hair.  

 

R: Did you have an attitude w/ your long hair? 

L: Rebellious. I like the book, “The Outsiders” I wanted to be rebellious like them.  I started doing stupid things, breaking in, drinking, smoking,.

 

R: What about God during that time, did you believe in Him?

L: Yes, but denying it because of the people I was hanging out w/. I came across as not believing in God.

 

R: Your hair was long and silky (LOL) - What made you want to cut your hair?

L: A few weeks ago, P Mike spoke about Mary breaking her alibaster box, it was her most prized possession.  God started dealing w/ me. I have been wanting to change. So one day the thought came to me to give my hair up for God.  Some of the attitudes and things I have done were centered around my hair.  My hair was my prized possession. Would want to hit people for messing w/ my hair.  If my hair wasn’t fixed right, I wouldn’t go to school.

 

R: I know what you mean.

L: Ya, you look you had long hair at one time (LOL)

 

R:So you gave up your hair for God?

L: Yes, it’s a way to start fresh

R: How is God moving in your life?

L: I have a bunch of new friends, I am doing better in school & I have a good relationship w/ God. Instead of blaming others, I taking responsibility myself, I am owning up to my mistakes.

 

R: You have made many bad mistakes, bad choices and had a bad life style, you have sold drugs & wronged a lot of people; How does Gods grace feel to you?

L: I feel his grace all the time, everyday. If I carried on, I would most likely be dead in a gutter.  He is w/ me now all the time.

 

R: Do you regret cutting your hair?

L: No, but I do miss it a little (as he throws his head sideways, out of habit, as to move his hair to one side, but has none to do that w/) I did it for a good reason.  I think it helped a lot of kids, maybe some of the kids saw God moving in my life and how big of a change I have made. Maybe He would make in others’ lives!  That would be cool, I’m stoked!

 

R: What do you think of other kids w/ long hair?

L: Not all people w/ long hair are bad.

R: I agree w/ you.

L: (Holding up the bag of hair) I am surprised how much hair I had.  I didn’t realize how warm that hair kept my head warm? Now I know how you feel.

R: Welcome to ‘beanie’ world! Smiles

Way to go Lawrance!

In a Box?

How many of us have heard the statement, you live in a box or us four and no more. Today I wanted to address that a little bit, along w/ diversity.

The word diverse simply means, being different. I know in a church staff world, the entire staff does not try to emulate the lead pastor. That would just be weird to have a lot of little mini-me’s of the lead pastor running around. It takes all types of people to build a staff. 

For instance, our staff at GJFA comes from diverse backgrounds, we are not all alike. We were all raised in different areas, some w/ different views on religion, ethnicity of cities and so on. Jesus brought us all together to minister here.  Through this diversity, we make a well blended strong team w/ lots of experience.

The only reason I bring this up is because I have encountered some prejudice statements a few times in the past couple of weeks and it’s been bugging me. I am not going to bother you w/ the details, it doesn't matter.

I am still floored by the prejudice attitudes that spew from peoples body language and mouths. (Now, I know from experience there is what I call reverse prejudice, where outsiders look in and prejudge as well, but I’ll hit that subject another time.)

Just a small question to throw out: What does God think and how does He see people?

God loves ALL people. It doesn’t matter where they are from or what they look like. 

God so loved the WORLD, just not one kind of people.  

God made us, His people, in His image.

Just because a human being looks different than you, doesn’t give you the right to treat them different than someone who looks exactly like you.    

Most the time: Their ways make as much sense as ours or I may never agree with them, but I can relate.

Just some food for thought or discussion.  Hit me up on FB or blogsite: What are your thoughts on the subject?  Play nice!

www.ryancook.net

Successful Way to Share your Faith

Wanted to hit few of the notes from my message last night on sharing faith.

Paul was speaking @ Areopagus Acts 17:16-34

How did Paul Share His Faith

  ·      Didn’t matter where he was, seized opportunity- He was hanging around waiting for Silas and Timothy

·      His spirit was provoked or troubled by what he saw

·      He was just being himself

·      He met the people where they were, on their turf- spoke to ALL people, both Jews and Gentiles.

·      He didn’t judge them because they didn’t know any better- What if Paul went in and said, “you guys are stupid, your following false gods, you guys are ignorant” would that have worked? No, ran them off and shut down.

·      He believed in what He spoke about

·      He wasn’t afraid

·      He made known what was unknown_ He explained God to them

·      He got people thinking- they said “we want to hear more about this later”

·      Didn’t win everyone to Christ- Not a perfect conversion rate, but still some believed! And that’s what matters, they were not all ready, they weren’t all in the same place in their journey of life.

God orchestrates this. We might just be a step in the process. The first or opening step, maybe the closing step. Just because you don’t win someone to Christ the first time doesn’t mean it was all for nothing.

8 Easy ways you can share your faith

·      Talk to people: Just talk, be friendly, be relational

·      Ask & Answer and Listen: open your mouth and also be an active listener, people want to tell their story. Listening also earns credibility

·      Be Selfless- it’s not all about us

·      Open your mind and your eyes to others, spiritually & literally (I see lots of Christians walk around w/ there heads down, avoiding other people, Ohh there so and so, let's keep walking…..be friendly, what if one of those people are going through a hard time or just need a friendly hello?

·      Visit different places- we are a people of habit, eat at the same places, visit same places, try a new one, expand yourself

·      Don’t be afraid- Listen to what Acts 18:9-11 says-  ⁹One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. ¹⁰For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city." ¹¹So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God

·      If you have been a hypocrite, repent & ask for forgiveness- make it right w/ people- earns credibility. People wont care what you know until they know you care.

·      Ask and listen to the Holy Spirit- Act 19:21- says Paul was purposed or impelled to go to Macedonia

·      Be Yourself!! We have a lot in common w/ other humans. Don’t diminish that just because we attend church. We all feel pain the same way. 

·      Be yourself- Someone needs what you have. Some of you can't do what Pastor Mike does w/ the youth or reach students as some of our students can and so on and so on......

www.ryancook.net

Disturb Me Again!

I have blogged about God’s Holy Disturbance a few times, and feel I need to one more time.

The wave of momentum is moving at GJFA. Jump in and get involved. Let me share this verse w/ you from Matthew 6:34- Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. -Message

It is easy to get sidelined from our busy lifestyles, but try to stay focused on the BIG PICTURE, the reason we are here.

Sometimes my fear is we are so caught up w/ our active, selfish lifestyles and comfortability, we do not want God to disturb us or bother us.  After all, if it’s working, why fix it right? 

The people that are willing to let God disturb, to bother them, to not only think about the vision, but that can feel the vision, are the people that are going to make the difference.

I am praying that God will raise up more and more leaders in our church.  Leaders that will want to lead out of calling & burden rather than for popularity or affirmation.

If a person isn’t disturbed, if nothing bothers them, if everything is gray and there is no black and white then your heart may need to be jump started again.  Maybe you have entered nto a state of numbness?  We live in culture and life where sex is glorified, affairs are on an all-time high, more & people are dying from smoking, alcohol, drugs and obesity than ever before. We are a serve me/ feed me culture and I see people being bothered less and less and less.

Hear my heart. I am not pointing fingers, because there would be twice as many pointed back. I am speaking to myself as well.  I am not judging people by any means. We are at all different cycles in life. I am simply stating, sometimes we need to sit back, find out which way is up, and allow God to disturb us, to realign our wheels, to bother us.

I want my heart to break for the things His heart breaks for. To see people the way He sees people. The only way to get there is to get close to Him and let him disturb us a little.

We are called to be disturbed every now and again!

I have prayed this prayer from Sir Francis Drake every now and again… CAUTION- do not pray it if you don’t mean it!  If you mean it- Hold on for a Holy Disturbance!...Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves. When our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little. When we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord.” 

Disturb us God!!

www.ryancook.net

 

 

 

The Words We Say

I just got through reading something about the power of words and got me thinking about my childhood years.

I spent a lot of my childhood years trying to please other people and ‘fit in’ w/ the "cool crowd."

I had a few strikes against me.

I was raised in the Jehovah’s Witness religion.  Kids always made fun of me because I didn’t get/get Christmas or birthday presents and didn’t really celebrate any holidays. 

My parents were separated, that was odd for school events because my parents hated each other. Also, I remember my dad trying to pick up on my female teachers, (Mrs. Candy, Mrs. Peterson and Mrs. Gonzales) during parent teacher conferences. Couldn’t blame him I guess, he needed a wife. LOL

I was born w/ asthma and allergies. This made it very hard to run and play some of the P.E. sports, so many times I was sidelined and didn’t get to play. The allergies allowed me to get shots 3x a week. Yuck!

Also, I think I had the biggest set of tic-tac teeth that I had ever seen on a kid, until my mom graciously put braces on them things and tamed them down.

I did get made of my last name a little as well.

BUT, most of all I remember a name that I was called like it was yesterday, hated it.  The name was “fat back”. Yep I hated it. Made me want to go crawl under a rock.  Yes I was a chunky kid, but didn’t think I deserved the name “fat back”.

I actually looked the word ‘fat back’ up in the Webster and this is what it said- the strip of fat from the back of a hog carcass usually cured by drying and salting.  Man, that boy was mean!

I was called fat back through 8^th grade until I grew into my body.

All of the above really bothered me. I was sensitive and cried often.  I do not remember having the support of my mom and or acceptance of my mom. Like I have said in the past, I love her, don’t blame her for anything or the outcome of my life, she did the best she ‘knew’ how to do.

I think as I went through high school I looked for love and acceptance in other things. I came across ‘hard nosed’ like nothing bothered me. I turned to alcohol and girls for the acceptance and kind words.  

I let the words bounce of me and didn’t really care what I said to people. I thought, if it hurt their feelings, o’well, they needed to hear it.  No big deal right? I had turned into someone that I didn’t like, like the guy that called me ‘fat back.’

We can use our tongues in 2 ways.

1. Uplifting, helping, encouraging, challenging others.
2. Evil and meanness.

For a long time after high school I had total disregard of my words. Hurting people left and right. Was I right? No. Did I know any better? No.

Do I know better now? Yes.

The words we speak, once released from our tongue travel this world forever.  

We can’t take them back, even though we try so hard.  

The words we speak pierce hearts and memories for a long time.

We never know how another person’s day is or has been.  I try to always take that into consideration. Am I perfect at it? No, but I do work on speaking encouraging words everyday.

I want to be soft hearted and tough skinned all at once- to be tender enough to reply in love, grace and mercy and to let things run off my shoulders when needed.

Have I learned it all? No, I am no where close, but trying everyday :-)

Working on my words daily!

www.ryancook.net

Reave Reports on Everything!

Ok, here is part 2 on Reave Reports. It is hilarious! It starts out w/ Londyn filming, but about 50 seconds into it, Reave grabs the recorder from Londyn and does her own reporting around the house.  

Imagine the surprise when I downloaded the pics and video off the camera and found this little jewel!

Warning, this is 4 year old filming, watch the motion sickness!

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In the Zone

Ok, so Pastor Ted was 'In the Zone' last week and thought he could take on the pastoral staff of GJFA.

We actually caught it on tape. Here is the proof!

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Reave Reports

Ok, this is what happens when the kids get ahold of the recorder. 

Reave was pretending she is a 'weather reporter'. 

This clip is only 30 seconds, but she did grab the recorder and has a 6 minute clip that I'll bust out tomorrow, so check back to ryancook.net to check it out.