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Stay Afloat

The other day we were swimming at a local lake. It was a nice day, maybe about 85 degrees out and sunny. 

The lake is a snow run off lake, so the water is still cold. If I was guessing, it was about 62-66 degrees. We finally jumped in and had a small race out to the buoys. (Of course I won) 

We were back hanging near the shore in about 3 foot deep water and saw a mom fully clothed started to walk in the water. We instantly started looking around and saw a 10 year old out near the buoys holding onto her 12-year-old sister yelling for her mom to hurry. 

I instantly darted out and helped the girl and asked my friend to grab a small tube from the shore. Right when I got there I could see the fear in both there eyes. One girl was trying to save her sisters life, but couldnt continue to stay afloat and the other was bringing her sister down and couldnt help it.

 

Right when I got there, the little girl got on my back and we started swimming back to the shore. Even though I am a great swimmer, I got tired really quick w/ this girl on my back. The tube reached us in seconds, I put her on it and pushed her in. Mom was thankful and so was the little girl. 

So I saved her life, no biggie, thats what I do! LOL 

But seriously. I think this is sometimes happens to us as Christians. Sometimes we have friends that ‘hang’ on us and drown us. Even though I am a good swimmer, currently I am not conditioned to tread water w/ someone on my back, thank God for the tube, especially in that freezing water. Sometimes we are not grounded in Gods absolutes enough. We cant stand on His promises to keep us afloat, so we sink by the so called ones we love or the ones we are trying to help. 

I guess what I am trying to say is, its hard to help someone else, if you cant help yourself. You may think you can, but your friends will drag you down and drown you in a heartbeat if you arent plugged into Gods word, His promises and His absolutes.

Dont get me wrong, I am not telling you to go ditch all your friends, you may be the only Jesus they see. What I am telling you is, say you are having marriage problems, dont hang out at a singles club w/ your friend while they try to find a date. If you are having drug problems, dont go to the crack house w/ your buddies or put yourself in a situation when you know the bong will pass by you next. Use your head, help your friends, just be careful they dont drown you. You get the picture.

-Peace

www.ryancook.net

The Breakfast Song

I heard this playing in the office again yesterday. It is one of my all-time favorite youtube video.
Turn up your speakers and enjoy and be blessed!!!


www.ryancook.net

Never Quit

I hurt my hand the other day. A few kids were messing around after youth service and were arm wrestling.  Me, not wanting to miss out on a competition, jumped up to the table. They said go, my wrist popped and laid backwards.

Ouch! Yes, it hurt like crazy, but I didnt let anyone sense the pain. LOL! I got home, ice it and my hand throbbed all night. Went to the doc the next day, they said I tore a tendon and may need surgery. I went back to work, prayed over it a couple of times, and let God take care of the rest.

To this date, its been 8 days, and my hand is a little sore, but I will go 100% on it today at the gym and see how things work out.

No biggy, right? Well through this, I have had a couple people tell me, ‘when are you going to grow up’, & ‘when are you going to recognize you are old’ stuff like that. Statements like that really get under my skin.

I am 37 y/o and probably feel better now than most of my adult life. Do people really put limitations on themselves by age? If this is the case, I feel sorry for those people.

We were made to take risks, have fun in life, to live life to the fullest, to dream, to live in every moment, to let our personalities shine. Some people chose to play it safe, for what others will think of them.

Do you think Jesus played it safe? What about Beniah? You gotta go read this right now, Beniah was a bad dude!! 2 Sam. 23:20-21

I guess what I am trying to say is, dont let people hold you back, if people say you are to young, keep trying, if people say your to old, keep trying. Dont give up on your ambitions/life/dreams because of people. Dont give up or take another route just because someone limits you. Try anyways!

-Peace

www.ryancook.net

 

 

 

 

 

Why Does it Have to Be "Either / Or" ?

Found this and worth repeating- Great read, by Craig Groeschel.

The American Church is not lacking for “cool” pastors. Like a single guy who is trying just-a-bit-too-hard to impress a girl, some churches are simply trying too hard to be cool.

I’m very encouraged to see a shifting in direction. For years, many of us seemed focused on:

Designing relevant church experiences.

Producing entertaining videos.

Creating inviting environments.

Crafting sermon series to draw a crowd.

Writing sermons with shock value and plenty of humor or stories.

While all of the above can be effective tools, many of my friends are intentionally moving in a stronger direction. So many great Christian leaders are seeing far better results with:

Bathing a sermon in prayer.

Fasting regularly.

Practicing personal confession and repentance.

Preaching from the overflow of time alone in God’s word.

Caring deeply for others in biblical community.

I’m thrilled so many leaders are placing less emphasis on being cool and more emphasis on being like Christ.

I totally get where Craig is coming from. I've also seen churches that appear imbalanced toward the "cool" rather than "being like Christ." But I have one big question:

Why does it have to be either/or? Can't it be both/and?

Can't a church service be both relevant and bathed in prayer? Can't a church leader both fast regularly and decide to use an entertaining video to communicate truth? Can't a pastor both care very deeply for others to be in biblical community and create a sermon series with the very purpose of drawing a crowd?

It is true that we can find plenty of Scriptural examples of fasting, prayer, personal confession, repentance and biblical community. But we can also find New Testament examples of Jesus, Paul and others being relevant, creating inviting environments, using humor and entertaining stories and preaching to large crowds.

What do you think?  Can it be both? Let me hear your comments.

www.ryancook.net

On My Mind

Unchurched people have been on my mind a lot lately, pretty much all the time.  How do we reach them? How do we teach ‘the church’ not to scare them off when they walk in the door? How do we teach the religious people to get out of their circle and have unchurched friends? How? How? How? Sometimes it seems like it is an uphill battle, but it really shouldn’t be. 

We were taught as kids what we should or shouldnt do as Christians, what was right or wrong in our parents eyes. -Which is good, dont take this out of perspective or take this the wrong way. But sometimes, the way we talk in our own homes carry over into the church and some of those prejudging thoughts come across and through our children.  The point is, those thoughts should not be in our home.  That is called hypocrisy.

We are here to reach the unchurched, the ones that dont know Jesus. We are all sinners reconciled and restored through Him. We need to be sure as a church and a people, we are communicating this, not only w/ our words but our actions as well.

For too long, too many churches have given off the vibe that they are for people that look a certain way, act a certain way and smell a certain way. In Gods eyes, He loves everyone. Ask yourself to see people how God sees them. He doesnt love someone less and you more just because you show on the outside you have it all together.

Our lead Pastor, Ted, asked the question last night: If all aspects of your life were placed on the video screen of (insert your church here) would there be unconfessed areas that would bring embarrassment to you or your family. Makes you want to think twice before pointing the finger, huh?

We are commissioned to give the world a personal presentation of our Jesus.

We are not here to judge, or rank others sins, but simply tell others about Jesus.

We all have a story to tell and have a purpose to fulfill.

Are you telling your story and living your purpose?

-Peace

www.ryancook.net