Stories and other stuff

I'm watching a movie called 2012.  They just wiped out the Vatican.  Thousands of believers were praying and got dead when St. Peter's fell on them.  The Sistine Chapel crushed a bunch of priests.  During the show, one of the commercials was about a new reality show about "doomsday preppers".  Really? Here's the movie I want to see:  I wanna see Hollywood make the epic about the book of Revelation.  Not a low budget version, either.  I wanna see the special effects! Can you imagine explaining the rapture of the Church?  You're working and all of a sudden, Bob, the Christian guy you made fun of or held in contempt just disappears.  I mean he's just gone!  I wanna see that, then see the disastrous time of the Tribulation.  I think quite honestly, and done right, that would be an epic movie. I wonder why in "the earth is gonna end" movies, the possibility of the Bible being right isn't part of the plot.  It kind of gets...

I hope the last post didn't come across as boasting.  I gotta tell you, it was meant to be anything but.  I found myself shocked by the whole thing to tell you the truth.  It was me.  I could hear the words coming out of my mouth.  I know it was me because me ordered a Patty Melt for dinner.  But me didn't make that happen.  Me didn't change me. Believing on Jesus changed me.  God changed me.  The glory belongs there, not with me.  I was just telling a story about something inside that changed and I didn't even notice it did.  Someone had to point it out to me.  The second story was just as shocking to me because in the past, I've had a bit of a condescending tone toward people, could even act like I was trying to make someone feel dumb, or talk so snotty when it was the last thing i meant to do.  I'm also hoping that this new way of speaking is a part of my everyday life.  I didn't teach me that, although I know it...

I went to dinner tonight with the guys from work.  We do this every now and again.  I think it's a nice way to get to know the folks I work with.  We shared a few stories.  You know me, I have a million of them.  We had a conversation about beers of the world.  Me, I used to be a Budweiser man.  Not so much these days.  I'm more of an iced tea man.  I don't know what brought the subject up that I'm about to tell you about.  Maybe it's because the restaurant was quite crowded.  But whatever the reason, the guy sitting across from me said this about me: Dale must be dead.  He doesn't even look at the girls. I shared with you a verse from the book of Job a while back, where he talks about looking at other women lustfully when you're married.  Jesus also had some words on the subject.  I guess that's a lot of it.  To tell you the truth, I didn't even notice it, save for this one thing.  There was a table ful...

I'm broke.  You probably are too, or at least not far from it.  Our country is in the same boat.  To  illustrate my point, I'm going to use a very stark number and remind you about trickle-down economics.  The 400 wealthiest 400 Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150,000,000 million people combined! The country's population is about 330,000,000.  You do the math.   We're 15,000,000,000,000 in debt as a country.  That's what 15 trillion dollars looks like with all the zeroes.  Republicans want to gut government, lower taxes on the wealthy more, and we've seen what that looks like with Mr. Romney's disclosure of his taxes, and his tax rate.   The first number I shared with you should be proof positive that trickle down economics doesn't work.  It's been more like these folks have been on the narrow end of the funnel.  So, what's the answer? America is going to conquer the moon!  Who's gonna pay for that?  An...

Can you imagine what our country would look like if everyone who identifies themselves as a Christian actually was a practicing, believing Christian? And can you imagine what the consequences will be for our country if we don't repent, get back to God, and start living that way? If you haven't read your Bible lately, there are some pretty stark examples of what happens to godless people.  There's also an Old Testament story of God forestalling judgment (read the book of Jonah and what happened after he left the fish!). And if you're looking for a really good film metaphor about this, watch the movie It's a Wonderful Life.   Look at the stark contrast between Bedford Falls and Pottersville.  I think that one little contrast will kind of show you where we were as a country when morality mattered and where we are today when, sadly, it doesn't so much anymore. And just one more question for all of us? When did we as a people quit feeling shame?

Today's post is inspired by a photo of my friend Jim standing by an exit sign that leads to a small town which I think is in New Mexico.  The sign said Truth or Consequences. I've written about putting God in a box before.  I hope you'll keep that concept in mind as you read this.  God, just for a reminder, doesn't fit into that box some, like me, try to put Him in.  A Chief Master Sergeant I used to work for told me once, "The truth is anything you want it to be."  He was correct in a sense and I want to share how that can be true to you by telling you a story about a conversation I had with two young ladies who were at the time standing on my doorstep, trying to tell me about the LDS Church.  I wasn't buying what they were selling, but the same would have been true no matter who would have been on my doorstep trying to sell me religion.   As they left, one of the young women looked at me and said, "Brother Cooper, we speak the truth."  My re...

I haven't made eclairs in almost two years.  I thought since it's the guys' turn to bring treats to church for after the service that I would make a couple of dozen.  They're not hard to make by any means, especially if you have the stuff to do it.  I didn't, but as of this morning, I do now.  I invested $17 in some new tart pans, a pastry bag, and a squeeze bottle for the filling. What else I don't have anymore is the recipe for eclairs.  I found one from a famous TV chef I thought I'd try.  The basic recipe for the shells is pretty simple.  It's a stick of butter, a cup of water, a cup of flour and about a half teaspoon of salt.  I always added just a bit of sugar to mine so the dough would be a little sweeter.  Run them through a pastry bag, and you've got eclairs. The other recipe I used called for milk instead of water and baking power instead of salt.  I'm sure on TV they came out great.  In my kitchen, not so much.  ...

Every now and again, I get something right.  Not often, it seems, but every now and again.... The tool I use to write the blog comes with some fancy features.  I can't drill down to IP addresses or locations other than countries where folks are from that view my blog or what time of day, but I can tell what posts are being read.  Surprisingly to me, one of the more popular posts is the one I wrote the day that Simba, (RIP Ba) passed away.  I titled the post An object lesson in loving your enemy. Apparently there aren't a lot of object lessons on loving your enemy out there because if you do a google search for this subject, my blog pops up and someone will read that post.  I'm thinking of rewriting it, because on the day it was written, it was written just to the regular blog audience who I'd written about Simba to before.  Y'all knew the story of him trying to poop in my shoe.  You already knew the loathing this pussycat had for me.  Y'all k...

First of all, I have to start out by saying that I am not a Rocky Anderson supporter. Yet.  I don't agree with him on everything, but whatever you think of the former mayor of Salt Lake City, I think he's due some respect because he was a good mayor for the city.  And he wasn't afraid to speak about his beliefs or convictions.  My favorite thing about him was that when Mr. Sean Hannity went after him for his participation in an anti-war protest, he didn't back down, and by all accounts, including mine, took Mr. Hannity apart in a debate about it. So, Rocky's running for president.  Good for him.  I hope he gets his message out there. Time to switch from Mr. Anderson to our good friend and savior of the olympic games in 2002, Mr. Willard "Mitt" Romney. I'm not a Romney supporter and let me tell you why:  It's not because he's changed his mind on this issue or that.  It's not because of his religion, nor his money.  It's simply beca...

I got yelled at last month about my house being dirty.  Cluttered, maybe a little bit, but dirty?  Hardly. I also understand the standard of clean it was being compared to and as I looked around last week, I realized that the joint needed some spring cleaning. I have a lot on my mind this weekend and cleaning the house has been something to take my mind off of things.  So, I spent some time today on oiling the woodwork and scrubbing my bathroom.  I dumped a whole can of scrubbing bubbles on the shower and it looks pretty good. I have a gadget for cleaning.  I bought it for the wife but she hated it.  I love the thing.  It's called a scumbuster and as I looked in the shower, there was a bit of scum to be busted.  Not anymore.  I scrubbed that thing today.  Hard. I also cleaned out the china cabinet and oiled the wood.  I've learned that polishing ain't enough.  I'm to oil the things.  I still have to oil the walls. ...

Dear ruling class, Like you, I want to be a job creator and you can help me.  Here's how: I have a very large home that needs some upgrades, but like most in America, right now I can't afford to hire the folks I'd like to or buy the materials I'd need to do the things I'd like to around the place, so here's my proposition: If each of the candidates or their supporters would throw $10,000 my way instead of buying just one 30 second ad on television, I promise to take that money and create some jobs. I'll hire a contractor and make sure he uses only American citizens to do the work around the place.  That's gonna cost me a bit more money, but I'm willing.  I'll need a furnace guy to move things around downstairs.  I'll need a backhoe guy to come in and dig around the foundation, so the concrete guy can come in and cut bigger window holes in the foundation.  I'll need the window well guys to come in and put new window wells in said w...

If we, as Americans truly believe that our President is the leader of the "free world" and it's the most powerful office in the world, who do we really want to hold that office? Not an average guy.  Personally, I want the brightest, bestest, smartest, most educated and experienced person we can get.  Don't you? I'm kinda going someplace with this.  And it has everything to do with the content of the man's character and how he lives his life.  It has to do with being willing to compromise, to lead, to follow and serve, and to put country first. The bad part of this is that this man, this above average man, happens to not be very charismatic, kinda boring, from Utah, and a Mormon. I've been listening a lot the last week or so about the people that are supporting Jon Huntsman, like the Boston Globe newspaper.  There are lots of pundits that think Mr. Huntsman is the most qualified guy in the race and I tend to agree with them.  I never voted for Mr. H...

The genesis for today's post comes from a remark our pastor made during the service today about people and their testimonies.  I thought about this a lot tonight, for various reasons, and I wanted to talk about this. You know my story.  I've shared it with you.  I will again.  Not because I'm proud of it.  It's because I'm not and I hope that by sharing with you from time to time, it'll keep someone from doing the selfish and stupid things I did.  You don't want my testimony.  Trust me. I have new heroes.  Who are they, you might wonder?  Well, they're the average Joes of the world.  The guys who don't have testimonies of salvation from a life filled with sin.  They're the guys who married once, paid their bills, raised their kids, worked a job, served their God.  You probably know these guys.  They're getting harder to find, but they're out there. These were the guys that were smart.  They accepted Christ early...

If your finances are like mine, you're constantly juggling them.  You give up this for that, X for Y.  Sadly, this year, giving is going to take a huge hit; mostly because I gotta dig myself out of the mess I got myself into.  I keep waiting for the mystery check to show up in the mailbox, but the only thing that keeps coming are bills. I was thinking about this, though, on a grander scale.  I wonder why if having a balanced federal budget is so important, why nobody will put forth a balanced budget.  Personally, I understand why nobody does so it's kind of a challenge to the candidates.  I'm gonna send President Obama's campaign this question, too. Why not show Americans what a balanced federal budget will look like for 2013 and explain the effects it would have on our economy? We're grown-ups.  We can take it.  Just show us what parts of government would go away.  Let us take a look at what programs would have to be cut and who it wou...

Most of us know what the Ten Commandments are; you can usually find them vividly portrayed during Easter in the movie starring Charlton Heston.  But in the world we live in, how often do we break them; more importantly, at what cost? Thou shalt not commit adultery.  That's a biggie and one I seemed to have forgotten a couple of years ago.  Sadly, I have to admit that I believed the lies about this that permeate our culture.  A REAL man does not do this... ever, and sadly, I was not a REAL man.  Forget the machismo.  Real men love God and keep His commandments.  I chose to talk about this today (I'm going to get to more of them, trust me.) because of a Bible verse I stumbled on from the book of Job, backed up by Proverbs Chapter 7. The NLT translation of Job 31 9-12 reads:   If my heart has been seduced by a woman or if I have lusted for my neighbor's wife, then my my wife belong to another man; may other men sleep with her.  For lust is a...

Writer's block?  Me?  Really? The man with a zillion stories can't come up with ONE for a fresh post on this thing? Yeah, it would seem that way.  Oh, I've written five or six.  One was about a very strange coincidence(?) that happened tome on New Year's eve.  This one, though, I think was just that.  I think. I wrote another one about changing my marital status on my Facebook page from what it is, to "it's complicated". In the end, though, regardless of what it is, or isn't anymore, legally and in God's eyes I'm still married.  While the circumstances may be complicated, they don't change that one simple fact.  I was going to draw a parallel comparing marriage to something else, but thought better of it. (and thankfully Facebook posts come with a delete option!)  You see,  I have this heathy fear of the Almighty God, so I'm not dating anyone, not seeing anyone.  I respectfully joke about this, but know it's all too true. ...