Month: July 2014

So Many Christians. So Few Lions.

On By danielcooleyblogIn Confessions of an Idiot PastorLeave a comment

Reunion-001We had a Cooley family reunion at our place last week. My brother and two of my sisters, with their spouses were here early enough to make a run up the Jemez Mountains. We are missionary kids. Pastors kids. We married believers. We don’t like lions.

We stopped in Jemez Springs for coffee and a snack. We were eating outside when a gal was having trying to start her car. You could hear the starter solenoid clicking – it was going nowhere.

My brother Dave and I went over to give her car a jump. As we were hooking things up, I couldn’t help but notice her shirt. Emblazoned in bright letters on a black T-shirt were the words. . .

“So many right-wing Christians. So few lions.”

Once we got her car running I said, “I couldn’t help but notice your shirt. It’s my kind of surprise humor. But you need to know – we came to help you because we’re all Christians.”

She looked a bit embarrassed, saying “Oh, my friend gave me this shirt. I forgot I had it on, I was just looking for a black one this morning.” Then she rambled on a bit, and we got into a short but great conversation. Doing good really does break down the barriers.

Her name is Amy, and she went to Westmont College – an evangelical school in Santa Barbara. We discussed the change in her journey and beliefs, and I was able to leave her with a Cottonwood Church pen with our website on the side. I wish I’d have thought to pray with her, I’m sure she would have been good with that.

So, if you can spare a minute, please pray for Amy. A bad battery in Jemez Springs when the only help around was 8 lion-hating Christians can’t be a coincidence.

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Daughter’s Awesome COMPASSION Post

On By danielcooleyblogIn Fav blogs by others, Missions1 Comment

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This was posted on my daughter Megan’s blog. If you don’t follow her, you should. We were able to go see our compassion child – this is her take on the day, way better than I could write it.

Compassion Sunday: Bregard’s Story

Posted on July 11, 2014

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This Sunday at our church is Compassion Sunday (For more information visit Compassion International).

Last week I was able to visit my family’s compassion child, Bregard in Port au Prince, Haiti. As we drove out to his house we passed a place where the body of my friend’s brother  was left on the street only a few days before. It’s a bad area. I couldn’t help but think, “How close does Bregard live to here?”.

Byron, our friend who’s lived in Haiti for 7 years (with mcmhaiti.org) told us this was the same route he used to take to drop off the trash at the dump. He quit taking it there after a gang started making him pay to use the road. He said if the car would stop on the street people would climb into the back of the truck and start going through the trash. I couldn’t help but think, “This is my 4th time here, would Bregard have gone through my trash?”

I’ve read people’s opinions about Compassion both positive and negative. Here’s what I learned to be true for Bregard.

1. Before Compassion called his father to say he had a sponsor, his father was looking into orphanages to place him because he could no longer provide for his son.

2. Before Compassion the family was separated. His mother and siblings were living in the mountains, his father in the city looking desperately for work. Due to his limited education, construction is the only job he could apply for and because he has asthma, this made finding a job in an already difficult economy, impossible.

3. After the earthquake, Bregard and his dad were living out of a tent.

Bregard's house. (center one). I promise you, that hill is MUCH steeper than it looks!! Slice my ankle nicely..

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4. This year when we visited, we found the whole family together again. His father has a job and the family has a sturdy home built on a hill. The placement of the house allows a breeze to run through it, which keeps the home cool and the mosquitoes to a minimum.

5. Without Compassion, Bregard WOULD be an orphan without an education and without any healthcare. Something else I learned is that if Bregard has any health issues, Compassion pays 80% of his expenses.

IMAG14086. Before we left his house we swapped prayer requests and prayed for each other. I asked Bregard to pray for one of my friends who has cancer. I had a prayer bracelet and gave it to him. I told him it was my reminder to pray for my friend and now it’s his reminder.

7. I believe that because of Compassion, Bregard is my friend. My friend has a whole family. My friend has a good  education. My friend has a bright future.

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Caleb English Camp Teacher

On By danielcooleyblogIn MissionsLeave a comment

10487607_791059824262247_5339136374009682334_nYou can watch an extremely SHORT video of Caleb Cooley teaching at mcmhaiti.org English Camp here. I thought there was much more recorded, but that’s’ what you get with an old man operating a smart phone.

We are all back, all healthy, no one got the “bent man” disease, and we even got the old Isuzu Trooper running – potentially a greater miracle than that of Lazarus.

Enjoy!

UTube The (Insane) Love of God

On By danielcooleyblogIn Confessions of an Idiot Pastor, Missions1 Comment

For those not on Facebook, here is the link for the Haitian ladies singing The Love of God in Creole. My dad used to sing The Love of God beautifully – he sang it at Megan’s Child Dedication. Anyhow the Haitian ladies we work with sing it at morning devotions and it brought back good memories. For the insane reference, read the lyrics through to the end.IMG_0177-002

Lyrics – in English!

  1. The love of God is greater far
    Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
    It goes beyond the highest star,
    And reaches to the lowest hell;
    The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
    God gave His Son to win;
    His erring child He reconciled,
    And pardoned from his sin.

    • Refrain:
      Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
      How measureless and strong!
      It shall forevermore endure—
      The saints’ and angels’ song.
  2. When hoary time shall pass away,
    And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
    When men who here refuse to pray,
    On rocks and hills and mountains call,
    God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
    All measureless and strong;
    Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
    The saints’ and angels’ song.
  3. Could we with ink the ocean fill,
    And were the skies of parchment made,
    Were every stalk on earth a quill,
    And every man a scribe by trade;
    To write the love of God above
    Would drain the ocean dry;
    Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
    Though stretched from sky to sky.

Verse 3 was penciled on the wall of a narrow room in an American insane asylum by a man said to have been demented. The lines were discovered when they laid him in his coffin.

One Small House

On By danielcooleyblogIn Confessions of an Idiot Pastor, Missions1 Comment
20140701_112403Megan and I were able to visit one of our Compassion International kids yesterday. We went to the office first where we met Bergard, our sponsored child, and his dad. I had met them once -before the earthquake. Their house collapsed, but they were not home at the time. They were in a tent for a long time, but now have a house.
Anyway, we got the Compassion talk, met the director and office staff, and took off to go see the rest of Bregard’s family and new house. It was LONG drive, we had to go by citi soli, which is pretty sketchy. He now lives real close to the house we built a few years ago. His house is the long one with the red tin in the center most of the way up the hill. It is large enough for two rooms. U walk into a room with a dining table, chairs stored underneath so there is room to walk around it. Behind it is the bedroom. Made from rough machete cut 2x4s and tin.
I have a good friend here named James, who I’ve been able to work on cars with and give lots of clothes to, as he also has that skinny tall physique. Anyhow you can pray for him. His brother died the other day, the funeral is tomorrow. A gang held the body for ransom. WE drove by the spot his body was at, under tarps on the side of the road, on the way to Brigard’s house.
Jon and I replaced a generator/city power 2 house switch this morning – with the city power running. They have no cut-off switches here. Even if it had been Winnipeg cold I think I’d have been sweating.
Thanks for your prayers,
Dan
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