Comunidad San Dimas
Howdy there, it’s been a while since I’ve written anything worthwhile or informative.
Life’s been pretty crazy lately between classes, work, spending time with Holly, and trying to figure out my summer plans. I’ve finally got my plans ironed out and it’s been quite a long and often frustrating process at times, but thankfully God has opened the door for an internship opportunity. I’ll be serving with an organization called Innerchange in a program that they call summerXchange, from June 6 – July 31.
I found out about Innerchange because they were mentioned in a book called The New Friars by Scott Bessenecker, and I really felt my heart going out to the missional lifestyle these people were living out. The book talks about a resurgence of people dedicating their lives to bringing hope to the poorest of the poor by living among them and sharing life with them, just as Jesus left His place in heaven to come live among us. We must be the hands and feet of our Lord, and many of the poor and helpless just need a reason to keep going through each day. If anyone wants to read more about the Biblical reasons these groups of people or “new friars” live such a simple life, I would recommend reading the book or looking through the Innerchange website, especially their Postcards.
So this summer I’ll be on a project team in San Dimas, which resides in the Mission District of San Francisco. Much of the ministry is inner-city outreach to gang-members and adolescents in or recently out of juvenile hall. Other than that, I’m not sure about the specifics of the trip, but I’m excited to see what God has in store for the summer and I’m praying that he teaches me more about where my passions and direction lie. I’ll try to keep this blog updated with what’s going on throughout my summer and in the weeks leading up to it. Also, I’d definitely appreciate your prayers for this opportunity because I really don’t know what to expect and I need to raise funds for it.
Thanks and check back soon for more info!
If: a poem by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream and not make dreams your master;
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!
Rough draft of my introductory speech in COM 181
As Gil Bailie put it, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” My name is Daniel Cooper, and I’m looking for a life less ordinary. Today I will share a little about my background, my goals for the class, and my outlook for the future, in hopes that you all might have a better feeling of who I am and where I come from.
It would be impossible to encapsulate the intricacies of my life experiences in just a few minutes, but I believe that one of the best ways to understand someone’s worldview is to know a bit about their roots. I was very blessed with my childhood. Although I’ve moved about ten times and lived in five or six cities, I still enjoyed typical childhood events like birthday parties, video games, dodging cars while playing street hockey, and fighting with my siblings. An amazing group of people befriended me when I entered a new high school, and each and every one of them shaped part of who I am today. Math and science were easy for me in high school so parents and teachers pressured me to pursue engineering in college. Not having a better alternative at the time, I now find myself studying my third year of mechanical engineering at the University of Kentucky.
I enrolled in this course because it is required for my curriculum, but I am excited to have an opportunity to practice and improve my speaking abilities. Specifically, I would like to finish this class being able to verbalize my thoughts in a clear and concise manner, because a skill like this proves useful in many avenues including: job interviews, presentations, and special events which require you to speak in front of people. Most of all, I want to learn how to effectively express my passion for life so that others might understand my convictions.
My passions, such as my faith, my desire to serve others, and my longing for adventure motivate my behavior, but if held at gunpoint I could not name any specific ways in which this will play into my future in five years. Just the thought of a 9-5 office job makes me squeamish. The last thing I want is to get caught up in the quote-unquote “American dream”, only to look back and realized that I’ve squandered these few days with which I was blessed to be alive. I long for a non-traditional life that breaks the mold and just overflows with enthusiasm and joy for each day. I don’t want to be motivated by money, because in the end will I remember more about what I put away in some bank account or will I remember how I used it non on myself, but on those whose need was much greater than my own. One concrete goal I do hope to attain is a lasting, fulfilling marriage in which I dedicate my time and efforts to my wife and children. Having seen my parents and those of so many of my friends divorce or leave or simply be absent, I want to prove that lifelong marriage isn’t just a waning statistic, but rather a beautiful creation held together by sacred vows.
Every day, I’m looking for that life less ordinary. I don’t want to be left wondering what might have been. As Robert Frost said, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
Not my own writing…
A friend of mine from Lexington posted this on Facebook and I really enjoyed it, so I thought I’d share the wealth…
I Do.”
with those two words, everything changes.
my friends are getting married.
the boys that played baseball in my backyard
and the girls that I grew up beside in sunday school
are shopping for rings.the boys that would stay up all night playing video games
and the girls on the bus who giggled all the way to church camp
are asking future in-laws for their blessings.the boys who would sneak into the graveyard at night
and the girls who dared me to kiss my “crush” during underground church
are making plans for their life together.if there was a target for an entire generation.
a common goal that repeated itself with every new birth
it would be marriage.it’s the one thing that the majority of us hope for.
dream about.
make plans for.
cry over.
and long for.the day the boy finds the girl who completes him. the girl who makes him a better man
is the same day
the girl moves in with her protector. defender. the one who loves her for her.we meet another with qualities that we admire.
a smile that calms us
eyes that look on the world with love
and our mind starts racing.
“could this be the one?”its as if we were programmed to think this way.
as if the wires inside were connected
purposefully
to make this idea weigh heavy on our soulthat innate desire within us for marriage.
to find the one who loves us. who understands us. who completes us
is a desire for Christ.over time, the attributes of our Creator become common
as if they no longer impress us.“God is love” – I know that.
“He forgives your sin” – been told that since I was young
“Christ wants to have a relationship with you” – old newsas humans, we have a hard time understanding something we can’t touch.
right on cue, God sends a reminder.
a physical manifestation of his attributes.
in the form of another.
a husband. or a wife.we can better understand the depth of God’s love
when we sleep beside one who loves us more than any other human could.God’s patience becomes real
when we live with the one who loves us on our bad days. bad weeks. months. years.We see a picture of God’s grace
when we hurt the one most important to us. and through tears, they forgive us.God’s plans make sense
when we can share them with another who has the same passionwith this ring, I thee wed
“my own personal Jesus.”not that we worship our spouse.
and they can never take the place of our Savior.
but in some small way, they help us understand the way our Master feels
about us.and as the years pass,
and wrinkles form on faces that were once smooth
and first-anniversaries give way to silver and golden anniversaries
our understanding of Christ’s love grows.as slowly as if we are staring at a masterpiece in the dark.
our eyes begin adjust.
and we start to see the lines.
and then shapes come into focus.
and even some color.then death does us part.
and the Master calls us into his Kingdom.
and the lights in the dark room are turned on
and we fall to the floor weeping
before the most beautiful picture we have ever seen.
Starry Night
Song: In the Shadow of the Glorious Cross
As I stood in my driveway this evening I felt cheated gazing into a sky muted by city lights and pollution. Sure, the brightest stars were out and if you really squinted carefully you might catch some of their fainter relatives, but it was nothing compared to the night sky as seen this previous weekend. I was lucky enough to spend the weekend at my friend’s absolutely amazing home-away-from-home on Nolin Lake, and was able to soak up a seemingly unadulterated panorama of stars and galaxies. There seemed to be no end to the universe, yet it was all laid out before me that I might be in awe of God’s presence, power, majesty, and beauty. My mind reeled as I contemplated my relative insignificance in comparison to this expansive canvas of my Father, but simultaneously found comfort knowing that the God of this same universe loved me enough to not only include me in His story, but to count me as a son… an equal in His eyes to Christ.
Tonight my head tilted heavenward, and the same thoughts flooded my mind as I strained my eyes for a glimpse of the beauty I knew lay just beyond my grasp… just beyond the familiar orange haze that clouded my sky. And then an interesting insight hit me. What if I had never seen that sky full of stars and planets and galaxies days before? What if this mediocre city sky was all I ever knew? It reminded me of Christians who are fearful to venture into the depths and widths and breadths of our Father’s majesty and power… they are content with the few dim stars they regularly see, but shouldn’t they know that there is so much more for them?! God must feel the same way with all of us– He knows all that is in store for us if we just pursue Him. He wants us to see the pureness of unadulterated love, but too many of us are content with the few dim stars and truths we’ve been fed since childhood… and yet those are barely touching the surface of His magnitude.
He has invited us to be part of the greatest story ever told… ever told. He– the Creator of that night sky, Creator of love, Creator of cool autumn breezes and warm summer rains, Lord over all, Father of mercy, the Alpha and the Omega, all that Was and Is and Is to Come– He calls us friend, son, daughter, family. He offers us His power and His inheritance. He knew us by name before the world began; through Him we were each fearfully and wonderfully made. God made no mistakes in creation, no child has been born by accident and no babe goes unloved. His Son thought about each of us personally and intimately as He drew His last breaths on the cross… He knew and forgave every sin ever committed and yet to be committed, and loved every last one of us. Loved us till His death, and as surely as He lives again in Glory, His love remains unfailing and unchanging. This God, in all of His vastness and mystery, longs for someone to say yes to Him and venture into the chasms of His immeasurable greatness.
Will those lukewarm Christians who never delve deeper God still go to Heaven? Yes, but as it is written,
“he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.” 1 Corinthians 3:15
“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm– neither hot nor cold– I am about to spit you out of my mouth… Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:15-16, 20
And yet there is still hope for those who are lukewarm and overcome the world.
“To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” Revelation 3:21-22
How does that not fill you with awe and wonder and make chills run up and down your spine??
Father, I pray for myself, for all the Saints around the world, and for all who do not yet call you Father. Please give us a deeper understanding each and every day of the hope we have in You, and give us the faith and perseverance to call upon Your name and leap into the depths of Your abounding love. There are many who have become lukewarm, but please ignite a fire of passion and humility under them that they might fulfill their role in this epic romance called life; not for their name or their pride or their satisfaction. May it be all for You my King.
Itchy Itchy
Poison ivy is stupid, I’ve decided. I wish there were some way for it to distinguish between me and a potential predator and/or threat, and not make me all itchy. It’s a pretty smart defense mechanism, except that it probably won’t stop the intruder from killing the plant since they won’t break out for several minutes/hours. Or maybe poison ivy is starved for attention and just wants a friend– I mean it gets kind of a bad rap most of the time, so I bet the other plants don’t really want to hang out with it. If I was a plant and I wouldn’t get itchy, I think I’d try to get to know poison ivy… you never know till you try, it could be a really nice plant.
I’ve been up since about 3:00am so far, and I’m starting to get really bored. Trust me, I’d be asleep if I could (especially since this happened last night too), but this stupid rash keeps waking me up. And as you can tell, I’ve had too much time to think about poison ivy and to project human characteristics on this inanimate, soulless plant. Blah Blah Blah, I’m so bored.
One thing I did get to catch up on was my facebook stalking (877 photos?? Totally loved each and every one 
). Sometimes it’s not until I look at the life I’ve lived to this point, the people I’ve loved and met, the places I’ve gone, the lessons I’ve learned, etc. that I appreciate how much the Lord blessed me with. It’s not just a one-time deal though, He continues to provide and my “cup runneth over”. Too often I can overlook the people God puts in my life and the doors that He opens as I blind myself to His blessings; life seems to be just around the corner sometimes. The perfect job, perfect major, perfect girl, perfect workout, perfect physique, perfect family, perfect town, perfect religion, perfect cause… more often than not it’s just our own deception and distrust that God isn’t really gonna come through and take care of us. Yet in spite of our lack of faith, He provides every day and every breath, and our “cups runneth over”.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?
28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” -Matthew 26:25-34
This summer especially, God has blown me away with His providence. I have new Christian relationships that I never would have thought to ask for, one person in particular who really understands my in’s and out’s and shares the same passion for Christ that I do. Were it not for God, though, I would have completely missed out on this opportunity to share my summer with this amazing child of God, so thank You for still knowing what’s best for me and leading the way
This is becoming a bit long-winded and I feel like I’m just babbling and speaking in generalities, so here’s where I sign off. I bid you all adieu.
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
Father, thank You for being good; thank You for being mighty; thank You for saving me and putting up with me. Thank You for loving me, even when I don’t want You to. It’s hard for me to get my head around Your unconditional love… but maybe I’m not meant to understand it. Since the day I came into this world, I learned that everything has a condition… nothing is free, nothing is without strings attached, nothing lasts forever. Even though I’ve heard about Your perfect and unchanging love for years now, it wasn’t until I started discovering and living out my own faith that You revealed some of what it means to be unconditionally loved. Sometimes I wish you would strike me down with a lightning bolt when I screw up– I want you to be mad and stop loving me because it makes sense to me. It tears my heart in two thinking that You could possibly love me enough to take me back, time after time after time; after I spit in Your face and don’t want anything to do with You. It’s not fair. Why do you still love me?? I don’t know… but from the bottom of my heart, thank You. Nothing I can do or say or comprehend will ever do justice to Your greatness, to Your mercy, to all that You are. Thank You for the gift of life, that this morning You gave me another breath so that I might wake up and live out my joy in service to You.
I pray, Father, that You teach me humility– it’s too easy for me to make everything about me, even things like feeling a call to missions. I definitely feel You calling me to the mission field, but I fall into the trap of trying to make You fall into line with what I want out of my life. If you want me to have great experiences and awesome stories from all over the world then fantastic! But if I’m doing those things for myself and not for You, then that is a life wasted. I pray that You ignite a passion in me and in all the Saints around the world. Please give us the courage to deny ourselves, to serve others, and above all to serve You… for that is a true, un-wasted life. Help me keep You in my thoughts throughout the day and to pray constantly and earnestly. Open my eyes to opportunities and my ears to Your calling. Break my heart for what breaks Yours. Show me how to thank You properly, not only through my words but also through my life.
Okay I guess that turned into a prayer journal more than anything, but I’ve never done this so I’m just writing whatever comes out…
First time doing this… ever.
Can’t say I’ve ever blogged before, but seeing as I tend to lose track of journals I try to keep why not just go digital? This is more for me than anything, and I’m just kinda interested to see how it goes
