Rest

I don't think Americans are particularly good at rest...at least I'm not. I recognize that a solid work ethic is a good thing and I am thankful for that but as I get older I have found it more and more difficult to actually rest. What is interesting is that I long for rest and I know I need rest and yet it still seems elusive. I remember when I was in kindergarten we used to have to rest. We would all roll our mats out on the floor and lie down. Here we are at the holidays. This is a time where most of us have at least some time off to spend with families and rest. If you are like me you have been looking forward to it. And now we are here. Are you resting? Here at Christmas it seems we have created quite a few musts. Here at the Coffey house we must have a Christmas tree. We must have presents and a scavenger hunt to find the presents. We must have a family feast on Christmas afternoon. I love these musts. I think we should add another. We must rest. I think we should have Christmas mats with little trees and wreaths and pictures of tiny little mangers. I think at a certain time each day during the entire holiday period we should roll them out on the floor and have a mandatory rest. I think Jesus would like that. I have been thinking about the verse, "Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am gentle and meek and you will find rest for your souls." Rest is one of the things God knew we needed so when he sent Jesus he made it part of salvation itself. This Christmas go ahead and enjoy the wonder and mystery of the incarnation. Enjoy all the musts your family does. Eat the feast. And don't forget to rest. God loves you. He sent his Son. The heavy lifting is over. The price has already been paid for you. Roll out your mat and rest and worship with your eyes closed and your heart open.

Jose

My wife and I were married while we were in college. We had many of the same classes so while we saw plenty of each other we were pretty far below the poverty line. One night we decided to go to a concert on campus. The singer was Randy Stonehill. At one point in the concert Randy started talking about Compassion International. Compassion International supports impoverished children around the world. Karen and I were both touched and decided to support a child. His name was Jose Martinez and he was 2 years old. We taped his picture on our refrigerator and reworked our budget and began to send $30.00 per month to Compassion to help little Jose. We would receive letters with crayon drawings and updates regarding how Jose was doing in school. Each year we would replace the photograph on the refrigerator as Jose got older. In 1985 we went to Bolivia, South America for a 6 month stint and had the chance to meet Jose and his mother. We took some pictures and talked through a translator. In 1995 we received word from Compassion that Jose was old enough to matriculate out of the program and our obligation had run its course. For the last 15 years whenever I have heard about Compassion International I have thought about little Jose. Last week I received an email from Jose Martinez asking if I was his "godfather" who had supported he and his mother throughout his childhood. He said he had been on our website and compared the picture of me to the photo he still had from 1985 and he was sure we were one and the same. Jose is living in Spain now and wanted to get back in touch and tell me what a difference we made in his life. Little Jose Martinez had made his way out of terrible poverty, was now living in Spain, has access to a computer and is savvy enough to find me after all these years. When Karen and I decided to sign up for Compassion we didn't have any idea where we would get the money. God touched our hearts and we responded. Now 30 years later we can't think of a single thing we missed from giving $30.00 a month. Sometimes you never know the difference you make in someone's life. And then every once in a while God gives you a little glimpse and it makes every little thing worth it. May God give you glimpses of the miracles you have participated in and may it humble you and give you great joy this Christmas season.

The Gift of God- OH-IO

I am learning to like the weather in Ohio more and more. Sometimes I think we are disrespectful to God in the way we talk about the weather. There is a beauty in every season and every day of every season. The snow has been falling in heaps and the other morning I was out early shoveling. There must have been about 8 inches on my walkway. My breath came out in plumes of mist. It was just me and my shovel and snow and it was still falling gently on my shoulders. A car passed by and I looked up. It went by quieter than a car should. The snow had fallen and covered the earth like a blanket and like a blanket deadens the sounds around so the whole earth had become more quiet. I stood and stretched my back and let the quiet sink into my soul. My world is full of noise. God knows it is too much noise so this day here in northeastern Ohio he sent me silence and pushed me outside so I could hear it. I realize winter has just begun and I may feel differently in early April but I think we should all be careful. The God of the universe made northeastern Ohio and he allows us to live here. When he finished creating Ohio I think he stepped back and said it was good. Each season of the year laden with gifts for us. Winter has just begun, that is true. The gifts of this season are just beginning as well. Listen and look, smell and touch, for the King of Kings created it all and put you here. Your joy and noticing the gifts he has given gives him joy. Joy to the world, the Lord is come.

Bless the Lord O My Soul

I have been on a little bit of a reading binge. It has been great. I read a book titled, "Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus". It is a book about the jewishness of Jesus. There were several good insights in the book but none that has hit me like the Jewish prayers called "Berakhot". They are prayers of blessing that are said throughout the day to remind yourself of the gifts that God is giving you all the time. If you remember "Fiddler on the Roof" Tevia asks if there is a blessing for a sewing machine. The rabbi thinks and then says that there is a blessing for everything. That is the way of Berakhot. The traditional blessing over food is this, "Blessed art thou Lord God who brings forth food from the earth". The blessing over food is the one we have continued to use but it is only one of dozens. I have started to try to pray these prayers and it has brought joy and gratitude into my day. I will list out a few.
When you first wake up in the morning:
Blessed are you O Lord who gives sight to the blind for I have opened my eyes once again and I see.
As your feet hit the ground:
Blessed are you O Lord who makes the lame to walk.
When you put on your clothes:
Blessed are you O Lord who clothes the naked.
When putting on your shoes:
Blessed are you O Lord who provides for all my needs.
When you hear thunder or see lightening:
Blessed are you O Lord whose strength and power fill the world.
When you see a beautiful woman:
Blessed are you O Lord who fills the earth with such as these.
When something bad happens to you:
Blessed are you O Lord for you are the true judge.

There are dozens more. Indeed there are blessings for everything. I am learning to say a blessing as I step into the shower in the morning, sip my coffee, see my children, walk to get my paper. And what I have found is the more blessings I say the more blessed I am. Blessed be you O Lord who gives me blogs such as these.

Happy Thanksgiving

On this Thanksgiving I thought it would be great to encourage you with a true Thanksgiving story. A little more than a month ago I received an email from a man in our church who I didn't know asking me to pray. That is not uncommon. The prayer request itself though was the first one of its kind for me. The man was asking me to pray for his wife who was anonymously donating a kidney to a man she had read about in our local paper. It was an astounding act of compassion. I immediately started praying. As the story unfolded I realized the connections and the movement of God went deeper and deeper. I received this email earlier today.

Joe,

I wanted to take a minute and let you know how much Lynn and I have appreciated your support throughout the past month. I also wanted to let you know that you have truly made an impact on so many lives in this world and wanted to share with you how you impacted several people by one sermon. The following is an excerpt from a blog that apparently families of patients undergoing surgery can set up to keep others informed (caringbridge.org). The family of the recipient of Lynn's kidney posted this earlier this week.

We have some exciting news, yesterday we received a letter from Roy's donor. I know so many of you have been so curious about this. We both cried as we read her letter. Her name is Lynn and she is a 46 year old married mother of 3 daughters. She worked for ten years at Clev Clinic in heart surgery. It was there that she was exposed to patients undergoing heart, liver and lung transplants. She said it made her aware of how important donors were.

In church one Sunday, our pastor was speaking about how he wanted church members to really look at new ways they could serve each other and the community. She prayed along with the church that day asking God to "use me as You see fit". She said she left the church that day feeling God had big plans for her.

Several months later she returned from a vacation to a stack of mail and newspapers. She put the Hudson Hub Times aside in a pile, and several times thought about tossing them out - that she would never get a chance to read them. A few weeks later she picked up one of the papers and being a dog lover was drawn to a picture of a man, a woman, and a dog. She says as soon as she began reading the letter she knew it was written to her. Knowing she was O positive blood type it was no suprise thats what he needed.

She thought about the article and prayed about it. Then shared the article with her family and asked if they would be okay with her starting the process to see if she was a match. Her family gave their blessings.

Later in the summer, she happened to see a wedding announcment in the Hub. It was our daughter Heather. After she read this she found out that we not only have the gift of beautiful daughters in common, but that we also attend the same church.

She says that without God, she would not be at this point, and since the day she decided to do this had no doubts about her decision. She tells Roy ( I have only felt joy in my decision and look forward to being able to help you enjoy a better quality of life. My prayer for you is that this allows you to be able to enjoy your family more fully, with more energy and joy than ever. I pray that you are able to travel more freely, without being burdened with dialysis. I thank you for the opportunity to give and for changing my life. I look forward to meeting you.

We will never be able to thank our "Angel Lynn" enough, but we do know that it was not a coincidence, that God has brought us together. She has touched our lives and hearts in a way we do not fully understand. There are no words to express our gratitude for what she has given us. We cannot wait to meet her and her family.

Thank you for all you do.

That is the end of the email. The movement of giving and receiving is the movement of grace. This Thanksgiving both Roy and Lynn will experience the afterglow of grace. An amazing gift both given and received. Find a way to participate in the movement and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

The Smell of God

I just arrived back in the States this morning. I spent the last week in Senegal, Africa. There is no way for me to communicate all that I saw or experienced there but I want to try to get something down for you. I remember walking through a street in Dakar and wishing everyone could see what my eyes were seeing. There are nearly 4 million people in Dakar. The dry season has just begun so the dust is starting to blow but there are still pockets of stagnant water in the slums left over from the flooding. It seems the poor just don't get any breaks and I suppose that is true around the world. Whenever I go overseas I come away loving what Jesus does inside of some people and wanting more of Jesus myself. The movement of the incarnation is to give up, go to, and be with. It is the movement Christians continue to make throughout the world and I saw it up close and personal this past week. As our missionary friends took us into the back streets of Dakar I entered into some of the deepest poverty I have ever seen. I have seen the very poor in villages in the Philippines and in India. But there is something that is stunning about urban poverty. It assaults all your senses. There is a smell so strong you can almost taste it. It lingers. A poverty so deep that when the wind blows the smell sticks to your skin. As I walked the streets the verse came to mind, " And yet for our sakes He became poor." I began to think of Jesus coming to earth. The original movement of giving up, going to, and being with. I wonder how our poverty struck him. All the rebellion and pride, all the hatred and injustice and greed...it must have assaulted his senses. And yet he emptied himself and became poor and lived right down here in our squalor and it was our type of poverty that beat the life out of him and nailed him to a cross. When certain leaves are crushed they give off a sweet fragrance that can fill a house. When Jesus lay dying on the cross a fragrance went out to all the world. And then I thought of my missionary friends who were picking their way through the streets and telling me dreams of ministries where poverty would be touched by the love of this Jesus. I heard of a Muslim teacher who when he heard of how a Christian woman had taken his student to the hospital and cared for him for 9 days said, "These Christians love muslims more than muslims love muslims."It struck me that while deep poverty has a distinct smell there is a fragrance that is even stronger still. It is the smell of God. It is the same scent that people smelled when they walked near the One they called the Christ. It is the smell people smell now when one of us walks so close to the savior that his scent comes off our skin as well. I have sung songs about wanting to see God but on the streets of Dakar I smelled him and it was just as good.

Mysterious Ways

I preached a series not too long ago called, Defeaters-Why People Don't Believe. There seem to be some common objections to the Christian faith that stand as roadblocks that can be difficult to climb over. My intent was to give some help in getting over those roadblocks. One of the sermons was on the problem of science. Science really has no beef with Christianity and Christianity has no beef with science. The conflict is really between two philosophies. The philosophy of theism (the belief in a personal God) and the philosophy of naturalism (the measurable world is all there is). Anyway, I found out that someone in our church sent that sermon to a family member who administrates a blog that is pretty much a forum for elevating naturalism at the expense of all religion but Christianity in particular. This administrator took offense to my message and sent it to everyone on his blog asking them to watch it and then send their critique so they could lampoon me. So they did. Many found it appalling, some called me a liar, others couldn't even stomach more than 10 minutes. It was fascinating to read their responses and their critique. But, here is the thing. They watched it. These are people who would never darken the doors of our church. They are a fairly hostile bunch and each one of them sat down and had to watch a sermon because the administrator asked them to because he was so incensed by the whole thing. I ended up registering on the blog and jumping into the conversation. I started by saying, "Hi, I'm Joe Coffey. I feel like I am walking up and sticking my head in a huddle of guys who want to beat me up." They have welcomed me into the conversation. So far, some of them have softened enough to be cordial and even friendly. Others are still calling me names. One of the challenges of being a minister is being able to develop relationships with people who don't believe the way I do. Almost all of my relationships are with people like you who are reading this. Now I have a whole new group of friends. Well, kind of friends. They are friends to me. I am talking to the God they don't believe exists every day about them. One of them told me his wife was pregnant and home sick. I immediately told him that I would be praying for her and for him. The next email I received from him told me not to worry about the caustic comment one of the bloggers had just written about me. I am on a cyber adventure with God. Very cool. The whole internet is a mystery to me but a greater mystery still is the way God works to bring himself front and center to those who believe he is a figment of my imagination. God has given them a cyber pastor and they never saw it coming.

Liam, Heaven, and Joy Without End

I just spent the last 5 days with my grandson. Sure, my daughter and son-in-law were up visiting too, I think, but my attention was on Liam. Will and Rach live in Virginia so it was a treat for them to be here for 5 whole days. Liam will be 2 years old this month. He is a ball of energy. The thing I noticed is his capacity to enjoy doing the same thing is enormous. He and I got into a game of running from my bedroom where I would pick him up and launch him onto the bed and then dive on him, to his bedroom where there was a bed made up on the floor for him, where he would throw himself down and I would dive on him and we would wrestle until he escaped to run to my room and repeat. Now, when I say repeat I mean repeat...as in do it again...and again...over and over...and repeat. Again, over and over. Now, I am in pretty good shape for an old guy. I think I was even wearing my official Ironman paraphernalia. Liam wore me out. We happened to be doing something that made him laugh and that was enough to keep him doing it for what seemed to be forever. It made me wonder what has happened to my ability to drain an experience of every ounce of joy. Liam was wringing the little game we created of the last drop. Something has become jaded inside of me. I looked in his eyes when I picked him up to tell him that he had had enough and it made me envy him. His eyes were as fresh as the moment we started the game. That got me thinking about heaven. I don't know about you but I have always wondered about what we will do in heaven. I seem to get bored so fast here on earth. What will eternity feel like? And then I remember Liam's eyes and I remember the line from Amazing Grace, "When we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing his praise then when we first begun." Liam will have no problem with eternity. Such is the state of innocence. Give him a grandpa who loves him and will launch him onto a queen size bed and he is good for hours. Give him a heavenly Father whose love for him fires the sun, who will launch him into a God-sized universe, and he will be good for an eternity...and so will I.

Loving to Hate

I have issues. I think I have made that clear. It is always fascinating to me what God uses to bring my issues up out of the recesses of my soul to the forefront. LeBron has done it this time. Well, LeBron hasn't actually done anything but the issue has come up inside of me because of what LeBron did by leaving Cleveland. It has made me examine what I love so much about hating. I could have easily used the Pittsburgh Steelers but I know some of their fans read this blog and they would just smile their smug little 5-1 smiles and be condescending the whole rest of the day so I won't use them. When LeBron made his announcement I was hurt and mad and everything everyone else was who lives in northeast Ohio. But as the months have gone on I have found that I get a strange kind of enjoyment out of being so angry. There is a lot of pride mixed in with this kind of feeling. It may be all pride. I just know it is not spiritually healthy and it shows a part of my heart that is not good. I remember reading a book by Frederick Buechner where he defines anger. This is what he says, "Of the seven deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back- in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you." (Wishful Thinking- A Theological ABC) So, I've decided to let the LeBron thing go. I am tired of chewing on it and on myself. If you have been nursing a grudge against anyone then this is for you. Remember all you have been forgiven and then ask the King who forgave you so much to give you one more gift. The ability to forgive.

On Being Generous

One of the best things we ever started at our church was the You've Been Gifted initiative. We use the holidays as an excuse to move out into our community with 5000 acts of random generosity. We will be releasing the cards next month. The stories that come back are amazing. Generosity is a powerful thing. I have used giving for years as a defense against the power of money. But generosity is something different. Giving is playing defense. If you are not giving regularly you are in trouble spiritually. You may or may not know it but you are. Generosity is playing offense. Being generous is like buying joy. Random generosity is like hitting a walk off home run. It is just exhilarating. One of the most generous people I know is my friend Tom Randall. The interesting thing is he is generous not just with his money, he is generous with his compliments, with his love, with his time, and with his life. It is not a coincidence that he is also one of greatest people to hang out with in all the world. Now, that is not to say you might not get killed hanging with Tom. I was nearly kidnapped in the Philippines. But I would have had the time of my life all the way up to the moment my life ended. I have decided I want to live life to the fullest. To do that requires a generosity of spirit. I invite you to do the same. I am writing about You've Been Gifted because the season has already begun for some people. This week I received two emails. One from a person who has never attended our church but has been gifted with groceries and help this past week while going through a really tough time. She felt compelled to tell me how great my people were and tell me she was coming soon to a service. The other email was from a husband requesting prayer for his wife. They are members of our church. She recently read an article about a man who needed a kidney and could not find a match in his family. She decided to go through the testing, is a match, and will be donating a kidney to a stranger in a week. She has taken gifting to a whole new level. Stories like that give me a glimpse of what God hoped would happen when he gave us his son. The hope was for a whole new race of people who are radically generous and filled with joy. Jesus said that he came that we might have life and have it to the full. I know one lady who will have more life with one kidney than most of the world has with two. Please hold her up in prayer on October 26th. And go begin living. Look for chances to be generous with your money, with your time, with your words, with your love, with your life. I have never known a single person who has regretted being generous.

One Year

One year ago today I sat cradling my dad in my arms on the bathroom floor. I remember thinking then, "So, this is how it ends. This is how I will say goodbye to the man to whom I owe the most." Several hours later a neurosurgeon gave us unexpected hope that dad might live after all. For the next few weeks and even months we watched my dad claw and crawl his way back to health from a stroke. Today marks one year. It is one of the greatest gifts my heavenly father has given me...more time with the man who taught me everything from how to throw a baseball to how to treat a woman to how to worship the true and living God. It has been a great year. And every year from now until dad finally sets off on his final voyage will be good. I told him today that he is now on extended warranty. It is true but who knows but you are as well. Live your life as a gift. Worship fully, give more, love all and be thankful.

The Face

I found out last week I am losing a staff member. We have a wonderful staff at our church and we have been very fortunate to have a low turnover rate. This particular staff member is a tough one for me to lose. He is the one I worked most closely with so he has become a good friend as well. Dave is leaving to go and serve at a church in Austin, Texas. I think as a pastor I tend to be particularly sensitive to voluntary leaving. In our area it is not uncommon for someone to be transferred to another area. As a pastor and shepherd it always makes me grieve some when anyone leaves. But sometimes people simply leave the church. They aren't transferred, they simply decide to leave the church and go to another church or no where at all. That is a different kind of grieving because as a pastor there is a distinct feeling of rejection that comes with the grief and many times overshadows it. So in that case I grieve not for them but for myself. So, that is what I have been feeling with Dave. There is a profound self-centeredness in me and it comes out at the most inopportune times. I want God to just leave me alone in my own little pity party but he won't. It is times like these that God loves me too much to just leave me in my room. He calls me to himself and asks me what is wrong. As I tell him he looks at me until I finally look back. I think of the song that says, "His face is all I see." It is all I ever need to see. God calls to us in virtually every way. He calls to us through the laughter of life, through the beauty of his world, in the tears of grief, even in the moments of complete self-absorption. So, whatever is going on in your life right now, listen for the voice and follow that voice to the face because his face is all you need. It is all you have ever needed. And that is the gospel truth.

Love and Beauty

I am sitting in my office and looking out on a beautiful autumn day. My wife had occasion to come by the church earlier and I walked her out to her car. I told her I needed to blog and asked what I should blog about. She suggested the beauty of the trees and the changing of the leaves. It is beautiful but the thing that struck me as she said that was how beautiful she looked. I think certain seasons agree with certain people and the Fall has always agreed mightily with my wife. It also occurred to me that it was the Fall of my Junior year 31 years ago that I fell hard for a stunning young coed named Karen. Maybe that is why I like the season so much. There is much to like. One of the verses I like in the Bible is a verse that says, "God gives to His beloved in his sleep." There is not a season where God is not giving me gifts and there is not a season where the beauty of God is not shining for those who have eyes to see. Look outside today and behold the wonder of God. I could say that today but then again I could say that any day. The amazing thing is I could say that just as easily about the love of God as well. On your best or worst day I could say, "Stop and behold how great the love of God is for you." Today is the day I have noticed that the season has changed. I want to let the seasons remind me of the constant love of God for me even though I change as often as the seasons themselves.

CHOSEN

The doctrine of election seems dicey. It is the idea that you did not choose Jesus, he chose you. And he chose you way, way, way, before you even thought about choosing him. The reason it seems dicey is it seems like we choose him. I was talking to a woman last night. She has been attending the church for some time. She didn't grow up in church and is struggling to understand it all. I explained it to her and talked about her need to make a decision. It always seems like it makes sense to do that. And if they make a decision we then bow our heads and we pray together and let God know of the decision. As we talked I happened to ask her about how she felt coming to church. She said she loves coming but added that something strange had been happening as of late. Every time she comes to church she cries. She was smiling while she said it and started to tear up and it made her a little embarrassed so she laughed a little. She said she was not usually emotional but it seemed she had little control over the tears that would seem to appear out of nowhere and course down her cheeks during worship. I smiled when she said that. She had not yet made a decision to give her life to Jesus but after she told me that I knew she would. It is a story I have heard before. I had an agnostic orthopedic surgeon tell me the same thing and say, "I never cry and now I am crying every time I come to church. I want you to make it stop." He now plays the guitar in the worship band in the Cafe. For me it is like watching a little lonely child get picked on the playground. He looks up absolutely astounded that he has been picked and for the first time fights back tears of joy instead of tears of sadness as he runs as fast as his legs will carry him to stand by the captain who just shouted his name. I asked my friend last night at the end of our conversation if she wanted to take the final step to Jesus. It sounded like I was asking her to choose but make no mistake, she had been chosen. The tears of joy were already being shed and her legs were just itching to run to the Captain of her soul.

In The Middle of Pain

"It is always easier to go to a consistent extreme then to stand in the midst of biblical tension." This is a great quote from one of my professors. The reason we find it difficult to stand in the midst of biblical tension is that it hurts. I sat in my office with a couple of parents. Another great quote, "A mother is only as happy as her saddest child." I think that is true of dads as well. These parents were hurting because one of their children was choosing an alternative lifestyle. As we talked through the surrounding issues and prayed for wisdom two things struck me. The first thing was that I thought they were doing really well. When I told them that they found it surprising. They did not feel they were doing well. What I meant was they were not allowing the pain to change their theology. I have seen love shape both theology and morality. You probably have too if you think about it. It is what happens when a person believes sex outside of marriage is wrong until they fall in love. Anyway, these parents did not allow their love to change what they believed was right and wrong. And they were still committed to loving their child with all their hearts. They didn't allow their theology to dismiss the child. I have seen that happen as well. Think of Rectevia in Fiddler on the Roof when he refuses to speak to his youngest child again. I said above that there were two things that struck me. The first was they were doing really well and the second thing that struck me was they were in the midst of maximum pain. Moving to either extreme would have been less painful. I realized as I watched them reach for Kleenex after Kleenex that I was in the midst of two people who were reflecting Jesus. Very cool. The message that God wants us to be happy is a weak and flimsy faith. The call of God is deeper and stronger. It is an invitation to really love. A call to love God and love other people. It is what Jesus did and that pushed him right to the cross. Maximum pain. We don't often associate love with pain but if you show me someone who has a great capacity for love I will show you someone with a great capacity for pain. It is the heart that loves and the heart that hurts. I guess I wanted today's blog to encourage those of you who are feeling the pain and the tension. I want to encourage you in the midst of it. Do not allow your love to change your theology or use your theology to dismiss and distance yourself from the pain. Love the God who stretched himself out between two pieces of wood and in doing so showed us the way to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Lord of heaven and earth, increase our capacity for pain that we may reflect your heart and show your glory. Amen

NOT GUILTY

Some of you have followed this blog long enough to know about the Tom Randall kidnapping saga. Tom is an amazing guy who spent most of his life over in the Philippines as a missionary. He now is the Chaplain for the PGA Champions Tour but still goes over to the Philippines to minister several times a year. He has several orphanages there still. Tom has escaped several kidnapping attempts. I was with him during one which is one of my favorite stories. Very cool. But not now. Anyway, there has been a cartel that has been trying to figure out how to extort money from Tom since he has been the conduit for a lot of ministry including the building of orphanages and churches. It appears he has money. More than two years ago charges were filed accusing Tom of kidnapping and child abduction. It has been in the court, dismissed, raised it's ugly head again and been back in court. Tom has been to the Philippines, run around just ahead of the cartel and back home in the states. It has been a story worthy of a good spy novel. The Philippines works on a principle called Utang na Loob. I wrote a blog on it some time ago. It's a little like the Godfather movie where the Godfather does a favor but holds a IOU for a favor whenever he needs it. The recent elections have helped Tom Someone who is close to Tom has Utang with one of the elected officials with some real clout. All this to say, Tom called me today to tell me the case has been closed. He was found to be not guilty and the papers have been signed and he is in the clear. Good news for all except the cartel, which means it is good news for all. Thanks for praying. It goes to show that even in this crooked world the good guys come out on top sometimes. Utang is a good system especially if you have Utang with the God of heaven and earth.

The Outrageous God

If you really read the Bible and you don't just gloss over the stories you will notice that God seems pretty unreasonable at times. If when you read the story of when God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac you are not disturbed you need to read it again. It is messed up. Jesus is no less unreasonable. A wealthy young man comes to Jesus to ask how he can become an even better person. All the evidence points to this guy being a really amazing individual. Jesus sizes him up and says, "This one thing you lack, go and sell everything you have and give it away and then come and follow me." Who does that? Have you ever read the story and then been convicted and completely divested? We read the stories and we don't read the stories at the same time. Here is the thing. There is something at the center of your life. You know the answer is supposed to be God but today, right at this split second, it probably isn't. Maybe it is since you are reading my blog. That was a little joke I just made to myself. Whatever the thing is that keeps creeping into the center of your life is THE competition for God. It is also THE thing that messes your life up whether you realize it or not. The reason the stories about God seem so outrageous is that God goes after his competition and often these are things we see as being very precious. And they are, that is why they are competition to God. If there were stories of God telling people, "This one thing you lack. You eat too many burritos at Chipotles (don't we all?)" We really wouldn't be offended. If you are then you have serious Mexican food disorder. God loved Abraham enough to try to save him from making his son his god. And God loved Isaac enough to try to save him from having a father who would dote on him so much that he would completely mess him up. So God told Abraham that he had to choose. It was either the God of the universe who would be in charge or it would be his son, his only son. Abraham chose God and it saved him and Isaac at the same time. Jesus put the same equation in front of the rich young executive in Mark 10. He chose his portfolio. The interesting thing is that hardly anyone knows what has crawled into the center of their life until they are told to walk away from it. Here is your task for the rest of your life. Figure out every day what it is that is crawling, clawing it's way into the center and give it to God. It may save everyone involved. God may be outrageous but He is the only one who loves you enough to call you out and then save you.

Without a Conscience

I watched a fascinating drama unfold yesterday. I was sitting outside Starbucks facing Kinkos. There are two ways into the Starbucks parking lot and one is a cut through from the Kinkos lot. I watched as a lady parked her car in that cut through. It never dawned on her that all the other parked cars had curbs in front of them. She parked her car blocking half the cut through and walked into Kinkos. I watched as cars slowly made their way past her car. Each driver looked confused as they inched around her to try to get to either the bread store or Starbucks. She walked out one time while a car inched by her. I thought she would notice and quickly move her car but she didn't. Instead she got in her car, sat for a moment, popped her trunk and went back into Kinkos. She came out another half dozen times only to do the same thing. It really was pretty amazing. She never had a clue that she was causing other people all kinds of problems. It made me think what we would all be like without a conscience. God gave us a conscience so we would have a nagging feeling that something was wrong in our world and the thing that is wrong is us. It really is a great gift. I have heard shame called the immune system of the soul. If my finger is swollen and red it is letting me know that something is wrong deep down. Shame works like that. It lets me know something is wrong deep down.My conscience is part of that immune system. Today I invite you to thank God for your conscience. Without it you would not only be a mess you would get on people's nerves in a way you can't even imagine. But don't stop there. Go ahead and ask God for forgiveness. An immune system is an amazing thing but the thing that makes it wonderful is the healing it triggers. Let your conscience trigger confession and then forgiveness and then spiritual health. And then pay attention to where you park.

The Man in Yellow

When I ride my bicycle I use a little rear view mirror. It fits on my sunglasses so it is really pretty small. Mostly it lets me know if a car is going to pass or anything else that is scary. I was riding the other day and passed another cyclist in a bright yellow jersey. Passing in cycling is probably not that much different than passing in a car. You kind of want to be decisive. It can get ugly if you pass someone and then slow up and they pass you and then you feel like you need to pass them. Anyway, I passed this guy fairly decisively and checked to see where he was in my mirror. He was 100 yards back or so and fading so I thought all was well. After another couple of minutes I looked back again and the guy in yellow was closing the gap. I thought about whether it would be a good thing or a bad thing to have this guy catch me. I decided it would be a bad thing. So I stepped it up. This all sounds like it was ego driven and that I am going to give a little lesson on pride. So far, this is not a run away ego, it's just normal testosterone. Go ask your husband. Sure enough, the guy in the yellow jersey dropped back and finally out of sight. I kept pushing pretty hard and didn't think much more about the man in yellow. About 15 minutes later I glanced in my mirror and I could see the yellow jersey. It was pretty far back but he used to be completely out of sight. I thought to myself, "Inconceivable, the man in yellow is gaining on me again." This time I pushed myself right to the red line which at my age is where the little ambulance symbol comes up on my heart monitor. I got to my next turn around and started heading back ready to come face to face with the man in yellow. What I found was a bunch of yellow bushes about two miles down the path. The man in yellow had turned off long ago and the thing I thought was him had been some yellow bushes reflected in my tiny mirror. Here is my point. Half the time I am running from something that isn't even real. The idea that I have to succeed or have to be right or need my kids to get certain grades or a dozen other things that push us to our limits. What keeps you running so hard? The man in yellow may just be a bunch of yellow bushes. The God of heaven has already declared that He loves you more than you can imagine. Take a rest. Enjoy the ride. It is your only time down this path.

A Wedding Reception for Them

Jesus told a story of a wedding. The wedding had been planned and the guests had been invited but when the day came the guest weren't showing. The call was sent out for guests to join in the celebration and a new set of guests arrived. They had been brought in from the streets simply because the King wanted them to share in his joy. It is a very cool story. Yesterday I was sent a news release of this story happening in real life in Lexington, Kentucky. Tanya Ferguson and Christian Torp are getting married. They are followers of Jesus and decided to move into one of the poorest sections of the city. Christian is an attorney who offers low-cost to free legal counsel. Tanya serves the children of the neighborhood by providing food and programming she has created herself. They live in the William Wells Brown neighborhood. Their wedding and reception will be held at Duncan Park and they are inviting the whole neighborhood to attend. They want to treat everyone to a great meal and instead of the guests bringing gifts the bride and groom want to give away canned goods and joy. They are renting inflatables and carnival games for the kids of the neighborhood. How cool is that?!! Tanya said, "We want to fill their hungry bellies and provide their hearts with love."
I don't know when I have heard a better story. Ok, here is where we can participate. The couple is accepting donations of food and clothes and canned goods. If you want to give money then know your money will be used to provide these "party favors" for the wedding. Donations can be sent to P.O. Box 861, Lexington, Kentucky 40588. Let the party begin.

Sacrifice, Tears and a Thank you

I was in Chicago celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary and we went to the lake shore to watch the air show. Pretty amazing stuff. We were sitting right where the sand begins so we were pretty far away from the water itself. I noticed some people standing and clapping near a path made of wood that went from our cement boardwalk all the way to the water. Coming up the little wooden path was a stream of wheelchairs being pushed by volunteers in blue shirts. As they got closer I realized why people near this small river of wheelchairs were standing and clapping. This was the beginning of a group of 400 World War II veterans who were ready to go home after watching some of the air show. I happened to be right next to where the wooden path met the boardwalk so I stood and began to clap. These were the men who had fought the great war. They were old now. Old and broken and in many ways forgotten. But not this day. This day they were cheered again. As they wheeled up the ramp several looked at me and mouthed the words "Thank you". I could only tear up and mouth back, "No, thank you". I fought back the tears and this is what struck me. I am moved and choked up because these men I don't really know sacrificed so I could experience the freedom I have. I am not sure how much each one of them had to do with my freedom but I have some inkling. Some day when we see Jesus walking up to us we will sob. We will be undone. If a WWII vet can make the tears well up in my eyes for the small sacrifice he made for my finite freedom, what will my seeing my Savior do to me. I can't wait but I can tell you this, I will be a mess. This was the first time I realized how much I will need a handkerchief in heaven. If you see one in my coffin you will know why. I realize the Bible says there are no more tears in heaven but I think tears of gratitude and joy are a different kind of tear. I think they will be as welcome as we are. So, here's to how sacrifice heals our hearts and brings tears to our eyes. Some day I will mouth the words "thank you" to the One who deserves it the most. It may be the only thing I can say for an eon or two.

30th Anniversary

Thirty one years ago almost to the day, a young co-ed breezed by me in the lobby of Sammy Morris Hall and took my breath away. Her name was Karen Heasley. A year later she became my wife and has been taking my breath away ever since. I officiate quite a few weddings. During one part of the ceremony I will give a charge to the groom and a charge to the wife. When I talk to the bride I say something like, "I want you to be his greatest fan. No man marries a woman because he wants a critic. He marries a woman because he wants someone who when everyone else has run away still believes in him. I want you to create a home inside of yourself for your husband so when you walk into a room and he sees you he will feel as if he has come home. He will be stronger for having you there." Every time I give that part of the ceremony I am thinking of my bride. For 30 years now she has been one of God's greatest gifts to me. She has encouraged me, strengthened me, comforted and loved me. She stood by me during two bouts of unemployment and still believed. She followed me to Bolivia, South America with babies in tow while I tried to figure out if God wanted us to be missionaries. Monday will be 30 years and this is just a shout out to a woman who has filled my life with grace. Thank you dearest Karen.

Life, Golf and A Savior

I once read a book on humility. I know some of you are thinking I probably should have read more. Hey, they are hard to find. Who is qualified to write a book on how to be humble? Anyway, it was a good book with many great truths but one of the practical suggestions he made surprised me. If someone really was serious about developing humility the author suggested...golf. When I read that it made me laugh at first. I have since had time to think about it. I don't play much golf and I think that is more a defense mechanism and not lack of opportunity. I think the author is on to something. Golf is a sport that exposes and displays my weaknesses. In other sports I feel like I can hide some weaknesses. If I could not shoot a left handed layup in basketball I could cover that and avoid it. In golf, I cannot avoid my weaknesses. If I am lousy out of a sandtrap then tough. My playing partners will get to watch me spray sand like a gopher until I am covered with the stuff and my teeth are on edge the rest of the round. Golf tempts me in ways no other sport does. If I can barely ski down a hill, I wouldn't all of a sudden head toward the half pipe to try to emulate Shawn White. But in golf I can find myself behind a row of 90 foot trees. I got there by hitting a horrible shot that should have been easy. My solution is to try a shot that Tiger Woods would not attempt in a practice round. I am like the guy in debt up to his ears heading to Vegas because it seems like a good idea. Golf is a sport founded on the honesty of the player. In other sports there is a referee that enforces the rules. If the ref misses something you play on. No harm no foul. You don't stop play and call a foul on yourself. In golf you do. I think that was built into golf at the beginning because nothing makes you want to lie or cheat more than golf. The foot wedge, the gimme putt, the lost stroke. They are all lurking around the golf course because golf is so brutal on the ego. Golf reminds me that I am not nearly as good as I want to think I am. Humility is not just a good thing to learn. Humility is the only way to find grace. Humility is one of those things nobody really wants to get. It requires too bright a light. The blemishes are all on display. But the only blemishes grace can cover and heal are the ones on display. So, the next time you play golf take your lumps and then be thankful for a game that reminds you how bad you are and how great your Savior is.

JoJo, A Groundhog, and Yoda

My dog JoJo and I struggle with our relationship. I know there are dog-lovers out there who love their dogs unconditionally. No matter what your dog does you continue to love them. I don't know whether to respect that or make fun of it. I named my dog JoJo to remind myself that it was my idea to get this dog. Some people think I am like the famous boxer George Foreman who named his four boys George and one daughter's middle name is George. I used to laugh about that until I talked with an old boxer named Scott LeDoux who actually knew Foreman. He told me he had asked George why he named all his kids George. George said, "I never knew my Daddy's name. I wanted my kids to know their Daddy's name." I liked that and have not made fun of it since. Anyway, the other day I heard JoJo making a ruckus outside. That is never a good sign. I went out and found JoJo in a life and death struggle with a groundhog. JoJo was nearly out of her mind trying to get this groundhog who was circling and trying to keep from being dragged off by this crazy dog. JoJo is a Jack Russell Terrier so she and the groundhog were about the same size. I was shouting at JoJo to cease and desist. She was in a zone and I could not break through. I was afraid the groundhog might get the better of her. He looked like he came from a rougher neighborhood. JoJo was barking her head off and circling, the groundhog was spitting and biting and circling, and I was shouting and yelling and circling. Finally JoJo got close enough to me for me to grab her and take her inside. It was one of those times that my adrenaline was pumping and I was frustrated that JoJo would not listen. My dad came in a few minutes later. He had witnessed the whole thing. He said simply, "JoJo was doing what she was made to do. She was trying to protect us with all she's got." That is all he said and then he left. Living with my dad next door is like having Yoda as a neighbor. He's old and wrinkled but wow, he has some wisdom. I am glad he hasn't started talking like Yoda yet, "Protect us she must." After dad left I looked at JoJo and my whole demeanor changed. I picked her up on my lap and looked in her eyes. I think she really would lay her life down to protect me if she could. She really does just do what she is wired to do. I think I project myself onto her sometimes. I am the one who rebels against my Master. So, I am thankful for three things. I am thankful for a dog who is more giving and sacrificial that I am. I am thankful for a Master who loves me unconditionally even though I do such silly, stupid, and rebellious things sometimes. And I am thankful to have Yoda next door to remind me of truth when I have ears to hear.

The Wallet Purge

The first time I met John Durfee was on a mission trip in the Philippines. It did not take long for me to really like John. He is extremely bright, so much so he would be dangerous if his heart had not been so changed by God. John's heart is very soft. As soft as anyone I know and I love that about him. John and his wife both have put their money where their heart is and invested in ministries all over the world and even brought the needs of the world into their home through adoption. Anyway, John called me some time ago about a friend he met in Guatemala who was running an orphanage while pastoring a church. I find it tough enough to do the one. John brought Pastor Jacobo up to visit and we met in Starbucks two days ago. They were heading to Charlotte to meet another friend of mine who has a heart for orphans and the means to make a difference to many. At the end of the meeting at Starbucks we prayed together and as they left I felt compelled to do something. I grabbed John and emptied my wallet into his hands and sputtered something about gas money for the trip. I did it in part because my friend Tom Randall gives every missionary he meets a hundred dollar bill. He keeps several of them tucked in his wallet at all times in case he meets a gaggle of missionaries. I could be putting him in danger but since he hangs with mostly professional golfers I think he is safe. The other reason I did it is because of John. Love is a strong elixir. The purer the love the stronger it impacts people who are close to it. John's love for Jesus and the children Jesus loves made me love too. Sometimes it is good to allow someone to inspire you to love and then empty your wallet completely. I think everyone should do it a couple of times a year. Call it a love inspired wallet purge. I don't care how much money you carry in your wallet, what the purge will do for your soul is worth every dime.

A Drop of Grace

My son Jeremy is home and that means I have my bicycle riding buddy back. We are not exactly recreational riders. We don't stop to smell the roses or anything else for that matter. We rate a good ride not on the basis of the beauty of God's creation but on the volume of sweat that the ride produced. Anyway, the other day we were riding on the paved bike path. There were a couple of ladies riding toward us and Jeremy glided in behind me so we would be single file. The ladies were busy talking (imagine that?!) and did not move to single file. Three bikes passing on the bike path can be a little dicey especially when two of the riders don't recognize it is about to happen. So, Jeremy and I are hurtling toward these unsuspecting chatter boxes at about 22 mph. The gap closes surprisingly fast at that speed and I wait until I cannot wait anymore and yell for them to get over. It is hard to gauge a yell on a bike because you are moving one direction and your voice seems to be grabbed by the wind and heads in the opposite direction. I am sure a physics person can explain it. Anyway, the woman hears me yell and looks up in time to quit talking and get her bike over just in time for us to rush by like a train. Jeremy is a man of few words so he moves up next to me and we just look at each other and roll our eyes. We don't say anything but both of us are thinking, "Those crazy women. How hard is it to look ahead every once in a while to see if someone is coming?" We rode in silence for the next few miles but it was like a dark cloud covered us. We weren't saying stuff out loud but the thoughts themselves were dark and that was enough. We kept riding to our turn around place and then started heading back. As we headed back it occurred to me that we might pass the ladies again and sure enough I saw them around the next bend. They were side by side again happily chatting away. They would later be sorely disappointed at the amount of sweat their ride produced. We rode up and as we did I found myself feeling a little uneasy. We hadn't said much about the ladies but I had yelled and we had thought plenty of bad thoughts and even bad thoughts have an impact. We yelled up ahead that we were going to pass and as we did the one lady looked up and yelled, "Sorry about that guys." That is all she had time to say. We were long gone. But that is all it took. Jeremy pulled up next to me and we looked at each other and nodded and said, "Those are some nice ladies." A single drop of grace and she not only redeemed what we thought about her but she unknowingly released us from a cloud of dark thoughts. Today, I have already had opportunity to use a drop of grace here and there. It is some powerful stuff and if enough leaks out of you it will change everyone around you today.

Saviors, Lovers, and Good Old Cleveland

I keep thinking about the LeBron thing. I have a lot of thoughts. There are a lot of layers. There is the action of LeBron, the reaction of many fans, the re-reaction of other fans to the irate fans, the response of Dan Gilbert, the reaction to the response of Dan Gilbert, the response of people who see this as a symptom of what is wrong with our country. The whole thing is pretty amazing. Here is my thought. Whether LeBron intended to be or not, he became a savior of sorts. He was going to put all of us on his back and bring us to the Holy Grail of a Championship and release us from the dungeon of sports losership where we have languished since the 1950's. I hope I have mixed enough metaphors. That was exhausting. Ezekiel 16 is an allegory. It is very raw and if it were not in the Bible it would be profane. In the allegory there is a groom who courts a young woman. He does everything for her and makes her ravishing in her beauty and her apparel. She uses that to attract other lovers and has sex with one after another breaking the heart of her husband. At the end of the chapter God comes out to say the allegory is about him. He is the groom and we are the unfaithful woman who looked for love everywhere else. Then God says that her lovers will come and cut her to pieces. It is a strange thing to say. God isn't the one who will cut her to pieces. All her lovers will. God warns us that we are prone to give our affection, to place our hope for self worth on things that are not worthy and will not last. He tells us that those lovers will eventually turn on us and break our hearts. I saw photos of people sobbing at the news that LeBron was leaving. I have sat in my office with grown men who are inconsolable after being fired from a job they had given their lives to. I have seen mothers sob over a child who is breaking their heart. If you are as old as I am you have felt your heart break and sometimes it is a greater and deeper breaking. It is a lover coming back and cutting us to pieces. It is someone or something we have made into a Savior. Someone or something that will make our lives worthwhile. I keep thinking about LeBron but I keep thanking God for the One savior who promised me he would never leave and never forsake. And here is the good news...He is still in Cleveland.

The Messiah Has Left the Building

I realize everyone who reads this blog is not a Cleveland Cavalier fan but unless you are from another planet you know what has happened with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. I have found it fascinating for a long time how advertisers have made such a conscious effort to cast LeBron in a messianic role. From the 50 foot billboard with his arms outstretched as if on a cross to the black "Witness" t-shirts the message has been clear. LeBron James would bring sports salvation to a city that so desperately longed for redemption. I just heard a Sportscaster say that LeBron has crushed the collective Cleveland soul. Well, LeBron decided to go to Miami in pursuit of his own agenda. His explanation kept going back to the same theme. "I just need to do what makes me happy." Not exactly a messianic tone. It has me thinking of what a wonderful Savior we actually have. Imagine If Jesus ever held a news conference to tell the world that he was just going to do what made him happy. Last night reminded me how rare a Messiah really is. Let's be honest. You are not one and nor am I. We are all much more like LeBron than we have ever wanted to admit. The good news is that is no surprise to the real Messiah. He knew all along what we were really like and yet he went ahead and sacrificed for us. Not just his chance at a championship, this One sacrificed everything. And we are witnesses.

Malawi, a Surprise, and Glory

My daughter Becca has been on a mission trip to Malawi, Africa for nearly a month. We had not heard from her since she was in a very remote area. She started the trip home early Thursday morning. She would be flying into Indianapolis and then driving home. We decided it would be a good surprise to have our son Jeremy fly to Indy to meet her and help her drive home. We found a cheap one way flight that arrived about an hour before Bec was scheduled to arrive. It was a perfect plan. Late Thursday night we received our first communication from Becca. She left a voicemail telling us they were stuck in Ethiopia and would not be home Friday. With some luck they may get home on Saturday. This was the first sign of a crack in our wonderful plan. We had Jeremy stay in a hotel Friday night. It was a two star hotel which was one star more than he needed. Early Saturday we received another call from Becca. They had arrived in Washington D.C. but the first flight to Indy was at 10:35pm. Poor Jeremy. Bec said they would try to find other flights. She called later to say she had found one that would bring her directly to Cleveland. Rats, talk about good news, bad news. We Coffeys are big on clinging to our surprises until our ears bleed so we told her she still needed to bring her car home. There was silence on the other end of the phone as our youngest daughter tried to figure out why her family had quit loving her during the month she was gone serving the Lord in the middle of Africa. She is a trooper and said, "Well, ok. I will go on to Indy but I may have to sleep some before I drive home." We said, "Hey, your a Coffey. Drink some and drive on home." Ok, maybe it was me who said that. She ended up finally arriving in Indianapolis and Jeremy jumped out to surprise her. It was another Coffey surprise success. Jeremy drove her home and they finally arrived early this morning. Total hours for her trip home was a new Coffey record. 67 hours from leaving Malawi to her bed here at home. When I gave the commencement talk for her senior class I told them to spend the next year pursuing Kabod. Kabod is the Hebrew word for glory. I wanted them to go after the glory of God they find when they serve him with all their hearts. My daughter Becca came home bone tired but aglow with the glory of God. And for the first time in a month her mother slept well.

Two Saints Times Two Copper Coins

A good friend who has moved away read the blog about the two copper coins and emailed me this...

"Your blog made me think of a story I head of a gentleman from our church here in Dallas. At the time they were just starting their family- and just starting his career- this man and his wife had determined their financial situation would not allow them to give as much as they'd like to the kingdom.
They decided at the time that they would give 1% and it would be well received as from their hearts. At their first anniversary, they agreed that they would give more; 2% to the church- though it hardly seemed like doubling it. They continued adding 1% each year, and by ten years of marriage, they were up to their goal of 10%.

But they weren't finished yet! They gave 11% their eleventh year. Then twelve. Ultimately, they would decide to give 1% per year of their marriage, and to keep it up for as long as they could.

God is faithful. He is now 78 years old, she's 76, and their marriage has never been stronger after celebrating their 54th wedding anniversary. And, now they are giving fully 55% to the church. He says he has never missed it- even now, when well more than half is given right back as an offering to God."

I love reading stories of hidden saints who remind me I have a long way to go in trusting God and living in the midst of the joy he is calling me to.

Two Copper Coins

In the Gospel of Luke Jesus is standing near the place in the Temple where people gave their offering. It is interesting he stood close enough to see what they put in the baskets. I often wonder if it would change what I put in if Jesus was sitting next to me and watching. Anyway, he saw a widow put in two small copper coins. It was not a big offering and yet it touched Jesus. He made her an example to his disciples of what really mattered to God. I have thought about that woman a lot. I wonder how her life went after that day. My guess is God found a way to let her know that what she had done pleased him. We started something a couple of weeks ago here at the church. We started a campaign to become debt free as a church. After the Saturday service this past week two women approached me. It was a woman with her mother. The mother could not speak English very well so the daughter helped her communicate to me. The mother pressed an envelop into my hand. The envelop was crammed with cash. It was $980.00. The daughter explained that it was all the money her mother had been saving for vacation. She wanted to give it for the debt reduction. She told me she wanted it to be an even thousand so she could bring me the other $20 next week. I was speechless. In my heart I wanted to push it back in her hand and add another grand and tell her to take her dream vacation. And then it hit me. If that is the way I felt, how did God feel right then. If what she did made my heart swell up with love for her then what was going on with the great heart of the universe. And when my heart swells there is no relief until I give. It is the same with your heart. And with God's heart. I can't wait to see what God is going to do for this woman who gave all she had saved. People have been telling stories about the woman at the Temple who gave two copper coins for more than twenty centuries. What stories will we be telling about this woman on Saturday night? What stories will anyone tell about you or about me? Oh God, make my heart swell with love toward you until the only way to find relief is to give and then let the love begin to flow between us stronger than ever before.

The Pay is Great

Let me start by saying that I love Ohio. I think northeast Ohio is one of the best kept secrets in the States. With that being said I am in an amazing place right now. I was asked by a good friend to officiate his daughter's wedding. I have known her since she was little so it was a great privilege to do this. It is a destination wedding that has brought my wife Karen and me out to Telluride, Colorado. Everywhere I look the scenery is breathtaking. I am reminded of a story my friend Tom Randall told me. He knew some missionaries who on their way home from the field were able to stop at a chalet in the mountains of Switzerland. It was owned by one of their supporters who had insisted the family take a few days and stay there as a treat after the long hard months of ministry in a foreign land. After standing on the veranda looking out onto the pristine beauty of a mountain lake the son turned to his parents and said, "To stay at a place like this you have to be either really rich or a missionary." I love that. God has deep pockets and anyone who has been in ministry knows it. Actually you should know it too. As I sit and sip my coffee looking up at the bluest sky I have ever seen and mountain peaks still dusted with snow, I am reminded that being a child of God is an extraordinary thing. When one of the disciples said to Jesus, "We have given up everything to follow you", Jesus told them that anyone who really follows him always receives way more than they give up. That has been true for 2000 years and it is just as true today. Serving the King of Kings is no sacrifice.

Sam

This past Sunday I had a friend at church. His name is Sam Tushabe and he is from Uganda. I was giving a message on vision and talking about where we have been as a church, where we are, and where we are going. God has used our church to do some wonderful things around the world. I am convinced God wants to do more. I think everyone who was there on Sunday was looking around and thinking the same thing. Anyway, Sam was visiting me. He had been driving the last 6 weeks from San Francisco to Maryland and he was coming through Ohio so he stopped to see me. We met in Uganda several years ago. Sam took in an orphan from the street 15 years ago when he saw her eating out of a trash can. Now, 15 years later, he has over 5000 children he cares for in Uganda. He has thousands more in Zambia, Kenya, Botswana, and Ruwanda. Sam is doing some amazing work as an ambassador for Jesus. He had been trying to make contacts with american churches to raise money for his kids. During the last 6 weeks he had spent most nights in his car, a 1989 Cadillac. He didn't want to waste money on hotels. Being with a man like Sam is very humbling. Anyway, I talked a little on Sunday on what kind of impact we can have on ministries and on the world if we become debtfree and then give like crazy to bring the kingdom of God here to earth. At the end of the second service someone mentioned I should make the bucket I was using as a prop a bucket for Sam in case anyone was moved to help him. I did just that for the third service. At the end of the service I said, "Someone suggested I make this Sam's bucket so if anyone wants to give something to Sam after the service you can drop it in the bucket." I closed the service and people lined up. One lady asked if she could sign her paycheck and just drop it in. She did just that. Others gave all the cash they had. It was wild. Yesterday afternoon I got to call Sam to tell him the total. It was a little over $10,000.00. I love it when the church acts like Jesus.

The Best Compliment Ever

This is just a short personal post. Tonight I received the best compliment I have ever received. My daughter Becca mailed a letter as she left for Africa. She wanted to make sure I got a Father's Day card since she will be incommunicado for the next month. In it she thanked me for raising her to experience life and love adventure. She talked some about the privilege of going to Africa. Then she said, "Dad, thank you for loving God more than you love me." That is the best compliment. Becca made my heart sing and my love grow for both her and God. Today is a good day.

Va a Con Dios

A few minutes ago my youngest daughter Becca left for Africa. She will be gone for nearly a month working with an orphanage in Malawi. Ever since she was a little girl she has had a deep desire to go overseas and serve in some ministry to children. She was the child that begged to go with me no matter where a mission trip was taking me. Last year she went to Indonesia. This year it is Africa. She has warned us that she will probably not be able to contact us at all while she is gone. So, those of you who go to our church and know my wife, do me a favor. Don't ask Karen how Becca is doing. It will just remind her that we haven't heard from her. Wherever the orphanage is it is very rural. She had expected to be housed in a tent but now knows she will be in some kind of building. The team leader told them that didn't mean there would be less bugs but it did mean there would be more rats. One of the questions Becca was asked during the interview process for this trip was if she was willing to eat a rat. Evidently rat-on-a-stick is their equivalent to a corndog. One of the things I really like about a mission trip like this is that it reminds me that my sense of control is an illusion. When my Becca is home I feel like somehow I have enough control to keep her safe and sound. It is an illusion. As she heads to a country I scarcely can find on a world map I am under no such illusion. Today I sat with God in the early morning hours. We talked about Becca leaving and I reminded God that he was now responsible for her. I think he smiled at that. I told him I was just kidding just in case he thought I was serious. When my daughter Rachel comes to visit it is a wonderful thing. When she leaves she leaves with her husband Will. I am convinced Will loves Rachel as much as I do. If it is possible he may even love her more. I still miss her when she is not here but I know she leaves with someone who is willing to give his life for her. I prayed with my Becca this morning and I put her in the care of God. He is one who loves her so much he did give his life for her. I will miss her while she is gone but she could not be in better hands. Neither could you.

He Knows You

Families are interesting organisms. Everyone is a part of one and the one you are a part of is bigger than you think. When I think of my family I think of what is called my immediate family. But once I move away from that I go to extended family and it is hard to tell where that one ends. I was just in Dallas, Texas at the high school graduation of my niece. Ok, try to follow this. She is the daughter of my wife's brother. While there I met her grandparents on my sister in law's side along with an uncle and aunt. I was there with my wife, her parents, and her sister Susan. I had extended family coming out of my ears. It was the first time I had met some of these people and we were related...sort of...twice removed...or something. While we were there my sister in law Susan was getting texted(The most popular form of communication in the 21st century)by her twin boys. She said at one point," I pride myself in being able to tell who it is without them telling me." I thought that was very cool. It made me think as I sat in the wee branches of my family tree that God is like that with every one of us. I never start my prayer, "Hey God, this is Joe Coffey from Hudson, Ohio in the United States." I don't have to. He knows as soon as He hears my voice that it is me. He knows your voice as well. I was reminded this weekend that I don't even know a fraction of my own family. But God has no extended family. All of his family is immediate family. Every once in a while God breaks in at the most unusual times to remind me how cool He is. In the middle of blazing hot Dallas was one of those times.

Calling All Big Scoopers

If you are a church goer you have probably noticed that some sermons stick to you longer than others. Those are usually the sermons that feel like they are directed toward you and only you. Just so you know, most preachers don't do that. We find it doesn't work the way we see it working in our heads. Usually the one you intended the sermon for will inevitably come out of the sanctuary, shake your hand, and with complete oblivious sincerity say, "Pastor, that was great. I hope those people heard it." It is crushing. Anyway here is something you may not know. Some sermons stick longer to preachers. My last one has been like that for me. I preached on being a "big scoop" person. The message was taken from the parable Jesus taught where he said "by the measure you use it will be used to you." I said there are two measures we use. A little tablespoon and a big scoop. We normally give the tablespoon measure away and reserve the big scoop for ourselves. We are miserly with compliments or with money or with encouragement or with our time or even with our love. Jesus wanted to create a bunch of big scoop people. People who would be wildly generous with their time, their love, their money, with everything. I have decided I really want to be a big scooper. So, the last week or so I have been trying. I think I am especially small with my time and with my compliments. I hope not with my love or money but everything is up for grabs right now. It is hard to change habits but I long to be a big scooper. I guess I am just inviting you to join in on the struggle. Some of you are great at it. I love you guys. Keep it up. You inspire us who are not so big scoopers. For those of you who are like me, find someone and something to be generous with. Find a friend and tell them they are doing a great job with their kids. Pick up a check. Give a hug. Forgive a grievance. Do something just because God has been so outrageously generous to you. I want to start a big scoop revolution and I want to start it with me...and now you.

Daddy's Adventure

I don't know how many things I did right as a dad. I know the best thing I did was marry well. But one thing I am glad I did was what we always called "Daddy's Adventures". I wanted my kids to see life as something to dive into fully. I didn't want them to be afraid. Fear makes us miss out on too much. So, from the time they could walk and even a little before I would take them on Daddy's Adventures. We have hiked in blizzards, walked the beach during thunderstorms, walked across fallen trees a ten feet above a river bed, and jumped off of cliffs into lakes in a dozen different states. The Coffey cliff jumping record stands at 60 feet. We always jump in order of age. That means my youngest jumps last. It is awesome. This summer my son Jeremy was on his way from Atlanta to a wedding in North Carolina. He realized he was ahead of schedule and saw a mountain just off the highway. He pulled over, locked the car and began running up the mountain. He texted me to let me know he went on an adventure. Half way up the mountain he said he thought to himself, "This is (I thought he would say that he thought this was crazy or silly but what he wrote next made me laugh out loud) AWESOME"! He told me he got to the top in about a half an hour and had a beautiful view and then ran back down and got in his car and finished the trip. I loved it. My daughter Rachel is coming in tonight to run the Cleveland marathon on Sunday. It will be her first. That is her adventure. My youngest, the one who always had to jump last off the cliff, is heading to Malawi, Africa this summer for a month to work at an orphanage. That kind of adventure is my favorite of all. I always wanted my kids to make the connection. Actually it is a transfer. The adventure Becca is going on is an adventure with God. As their earthly father I wanted them to get used to what it felt like to live life trusting themselves to someone bigger and hopefully a little smarter. That would be me. I wanted them to taste what life felt like when they were on the edge and trusting someone else. I wanted them to feel the rush of doing things not many people would ever do. But the reason was always so they would end up connecting the dots and live their lives like that with their heavenly Father. Someone asked me today if I worry about Becca going to Africa. I just smile and say "not really." But inside I am much more excited than afraid. I have watched her from the water while she decided to jump off a cliff to join me in the lake. When she jumped my heart would swell and when her head would finally pop up on the surface we would laugh and hug and wait for her eyes to quit dilating and her heart to slow up again. That is the daughter I prepared for God the Father. Now he is the one who will wait in the water and he is the one she must look at when she is scared at the top of the cliff. She is ready. He is faithful. And I am smiling. This is the Daddy's Adventure I always wanted her to have.

Stuck With Pesos

I went on a whirlwind trip to Haiti this past week. We stayed in the Dominican Republic and went on two forays into Haiti. I exchanged some money in the Dominican since we came back there at night. I used some of it but not all. I arrived home last night with one Dominican bill in my pocket. I can't use it here. I wish I had given it to someone...anyone. It reminded me that I am only traveling through this world. I will not be here forever. That much I know. Some day I will leave and it will be sad if I feel the same way about my money as I feel right now about the pesos. The old saying is that you can't take it with you. I wonder if God will let us take it with us just so we can see how foolish it was not to give more. I will stand with stacks of bills around me that mean absolutely nothing in heaven. The angels will look with curiosity at the bills and wonder what the big deal was. It will be like someone looking at my peso. Actually it is 500 pesos. In the Dominican it would have made someone's day but here it means nothing. I realize we must all live on something and it is more complicated since we don't know when we are going to leave this world. We can ballpark it though. I guess I am just reminding everyone that we are all gathering pesos of one kind or another. Jesus does give us some hope. He seems to say we can exchange our currency into the treasure of the kingdom. We only do that by giving it away before we leave. It is God's currency exchange program. The amount I am willing to give away is a concrete expression of faith. Do I really believe I am going to die and go to heaven some day? Do I really believe Jesus meant what he said about storing up treasure in heaven? Arriving at my house and pulling a 500 peso bill out of my pocket reminded me that the wrong kind of money here is worthless. For some reason that increased my faith. I enjoyed giving today at church more that usual. I hope you did too.

My Friend Linda

Linda says Karen and I were the first Christians she ever met. I was a youth pastor and she was a 15 year old sophomore. She came to an outreach we called the mud bowl. Linda was a mess so she was the perfect person to introduce to Jesus. She is at my house now. She is on her way to a Muslim country to serve as a missionary. She has been a missionary for almost 20 years and preached to more people than I ever will probably. She has traveled by foot from village to village in India. She has started a Bible school in Malawi, Africa. The list is long and her walk with Jesus has been marked with adventure that has taken her to 30 different countries. But going to bring light to a closed Muslim country has been her dream. This is what she was made for. I have known for a long time the Gospel is powerful. Powerful enough to radically change lives. But it always good to be reminded. Linda is one of my clearest reminders. I wish you all could know her. But the problem is you wouldn't be nearly as impressed as you would be if you knew her when she was 15. I think that is the way it should be. It is the way of the Gospel. The change takes place over time and the further back someone knows you the more they should be impressed at the change. Today you should find someone who just met you and tell them, "I realize I am not very impressive now but I hope we meet in 20 years. You won't believe how much more I will be like Jesus." Just make sure you let Jesus have his way with you and take you everywhere he wants. That seems to be Linda's secret. I think it is something that would work for any of us.

Cool and the Dead Sea

Floating in the Dead Sea is a pretty amazing experience. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal. I didn't think it would be. But there is a feeling of weightlessness. It is like being an astronaut. I could sit like I was sitting in a chair and rub the mud off my feet. I turned over on my stomach and put my arms out in a superman pose and it just made me laugh out loud. Anyway, when I was done I went up to a changing room. I was one of about 7 men in the room. No one knew each other and it was pretty apparent we were all different nationalities. One guy close to me who must have been around 60 years old suddenly said, "Does anyone here speak English?" I was the only one who spoke up and I said, "Yeah, I speak English." I thought he might have some kind of clothing emergency or something. Instead he just looked at me with his eyes wide with boyhood excitement and said, "WAS THAT COOL OR WHAT!!?" That's it. That is all he wanted to say. He needed someone to share with and that person needed to be able to understand one sentence. It made me laugh out loud. Here was a 60 year old man who was so excited he just had to tell someone. I happened to be the one. It made me wonder how many times that happened through out Israel when Jesus walked the earth. Men walking along after the feeding of the 5000 and suddenly turning to someone, anyone, next to them and saying, "WAS THAT COOL OR WHAT!!" Healing a leper or a blind man or turning water into wine, or all the other things Jesus did had to have hundreds of people looking for someone to share with. The morning after the Dead Sea I received an email from a friend I had been praying for. He was letting me know that he finally took the step of asking Jesus into his life. He said he was "all in". After I got the email I looked around for someone to tell. I found several. Jesus is still doing things that compel us to respond by finding someone to tell. My guess is if you keep your eyes peeled then before the end of the week you will have something happen to you where you will need to find someone and say simply, "This is what Jesus did. Is that cool or what!!" I think it still makes Jesus smile when we do that.

Meditations on Israel: Water

We are now in Jerusalem. We drove down from Galilee. Yesterday was my birthday. I climbed up the cliffs of insanity (that is from Princess Bride for you movie buffs) to Masada. Masada is the fortress Herod built in southern Judea and was the last hold out of the Jews who revolted against the Romans in the first century. It is a fortress built on the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing around. After Masada we swam in the Dead Sea. All in all it was a great 51st birthday. The thing I started to notice was how many times our guide talked about water. He talks about ancient wells, about sophisticated irrigation, about annual wet seasons. He shows us every cistern and every irrigation pipe. This is a dry and weary land. Today we were near the temple mound. We talked about the feast of harvest when at the climax of the feast they take water and pour it out on the Temple floor. It is an offering of abundance and worship of a God who has provided the land with enough water for another harvest. It was at this time that Jesus stood up and shouted, "If any of you is thirsty let him come to me. I am the living water and you can drink." It is an astounding statement. Today I thought for the first time that every one who heard Jesus say that was thirsty. You can't live in this land and not get thirsty. Water is the first thing you think of in the morning. I stand in the shower and wonder if I should turn off the water to soap up. There is just not enough water here. Jesus invited the thirsty to come to him. Every one was thirsty and of course that was his point. It was an invitation to everyone and it still is. You are thirsty even if you don't feel it right now. The thing you are thirsty for is God himself and it is God himself who is offering to slake your thirst. Go ahead and drink deep. For once there is more than enough.

Meditations on Israel: Neighbor

Karen and I have been in Israel for almost a week. It is difficult to decide what to blog about. Today we drove from Galilee to Jerusalem. Our road ran parallel to the ancient Roman road connecting Jericho and Jerusalem. It is a desolate and dangerous road that winds through a landscape similar to the Badlands of North Dakota. It is that road Jesus referred to when he told the parable of the Good Samaritan. The question was “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responded with a story about a man traveling the road to Jericho where he fell among thieves. That part was easy to picture. In the story a Levite walks by and doesn’t stop. Then a priest walks by and doesn’t stop. Then finally a Samaritan walked by and stopped and helped the poor man paying for his housing and care out of his own pocket. The stories of Jesus always had surprises and were nearly always offensive to some. After listening to our guide talk about the trouble with the Palestinians and the Syrians, the Jordanians, and the Egyptians, it is not hard to imagine the reaction of Jesus’ audience. The idea of loving your neighbor when your neighbor is of a different race is as foreign an idea as ever in this land. Maybe it is still foreign to us as well. I hope not. Two kids from church who are studying here in Jerusalem told us about Palm Sunday in the Holy City. They said there was a huge throng of people shouting and singing up and down the road into the Old City of Jerusalem. They said there were people from every tongue and tribe and people and nation. Danny looked at me and said it was as close to seeing what heaven was going to be like as he had ever seen. I think he is right. Yesterday I baptized some people in the Jordan River. There were people getting baptized all over the place. There was a Filipino congregation baptizing near us. There was an Indian couple who asked if we could baptize them since their pastor was not there. Several other ethnic groups whose language I could not recognize were singing and baptizing just down the river. Here in this land of deep history and even deeper scars and pain there flows a power that is deeper still. Jesus came to give people a life different than what most people have. He came to unleash a power where we really could love our neighbor no matter how different, no matter what the history. The power Jesus unleashed was bought at a tremendous price. Tomorrow we will walk into the Garden of Gethsemane. Tomorrow evening we will hear from a couple who are serving Jesus together. One is Jewish and the other is Palestinian. They are bound together by a Savior who gave himself for them and filled them with a love for the people of this land. They are two who have learned to love their neighbor. In this place, there is only One who can give that kind of love. His name is Yeshua.

The Sting is Gone

One of the things that makes the ministry an interesting profession is I get to be involved in people's lives at significant moments. I am in the loop when children are born, I am there when people get married, when they are struggling in that marriage, when people are sick and then when people die. This week I officiated at the memorial service of my friend and neighbor Joanne Gough. Joanne was an amazing person. She died after a battle with cancer and the church was filled with people she had touched with her life. I mean filled. Joanne had lived her life smack dab in the middle of her faith and her community. When there is an overlap like that the number of people who are touched is large and the spectrum of people who are touched is wide. I always think that is very cool when there are whole groups of people at a funeral who don't know each other. I liked that about Joanne.
Yesterday I sat beside Rich Jackson and held his hand as he labored to breath his last day. Marge,his wife of 67 years held his other hand. His daughter and son in law stood by the bed. Rich had been in church for Easter and would be with his savior before the sun would set. We sat and talked about how Rich had lived his life. It was a very sweet time. There were more smiles than tears during those few moments.
I guess I tell you this to remind you of the wonder of your life. There are people you are living with or around or touching every day. Some day people will gather by your bedside or at your funeral. Let them tell tales of how you lived a life of love and dedication. Let them tell how you loved your Lord and served the people he brought into your life. This week more than most has reminded me that day is coming. It is fitting this week followed Easter. At every graveside I am reminded that Christ took the sting out of death. It has been gone ever since the women heard the angel say, "He is not here. He has risen just as he said." Rejoice, live, love someone today. Live your life so as to be missed.

Eyes to See

There is a strange story in Mark 8. Jesus is healing a blind man. He touches his eyes and asks him what he sees. The man says, "I see men walking like trees". He sees but he does not see clearly. Jesus touches his eyes again and then he sees clearly. It is a strange story because it seems like Jesus didn't quite have his healing wattage high enough to completely heal the man. Jesus is always using his miracles to teach. The disciples were very slow in their understanding of Jesus. In Mark 8 they were starting to understand who Jesus was but their sight was blurry at best. Jesus might have been giving them hope. Anyway, the story got me thinking about what I see and what I don't see. There is an insurance commercial where people are sitting in a circle and it is a sort of intervention. They are rehearsing all the costs of one person driving without insurance. The person had driven without insurance but did not see what the consequences were going to be. I think Satan approaches temptation like fishing. We are the fish and the bait is something that appears delicious. Embedded right in the middle of the morsel is a steel hook. I have begun to pray for eyes to see the steel. It is there...always. And there is always a glint of steel if we take the time to look. I am praying for eyes to see the steel. I am also praying for eyes to see Jesus clearly. Today marks the beginning of the holiest weekend of our calendar. Pray for eyes to see clearly the beauty and the wonder of the greatest story ever told. It is a story with power. Let your eyes let it in and let what you see transform your heart this Easter weekend.

ENOUGH

I was talking with someone the other day who had read a great quote in a book. He said it was the root of every temptation that mankind has ever had. It is the first thought that Satan uses to worm into our minds. Are you ready? Here is is. YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH. That's it. My friend told me that several weeks ago and I have been thinking about it ever since. I think it is true. It was the original temptation in the Garden of Eden. It must have been a hard sell. Adam had everything. He had a great job, a beautiful wife, he ate the best organic everything, drank pure spring water, he had it all. And Satan still came and convinced him it was not enough. He needed the one thing God had forbidden. So, what is it in your life? When you look at all God has given you. You have been born into the 20th century. You could have been born in the middle ages in some hut in the middle of Uzbekistan. You ate something this morning you probably wanted to eat. You have freedom and choice and luxuries 99% of the people throughout history could only dream of. And yet, you feel somewhere in your soul, you don't have enough. Root that thought out and throw it as far from you as you possibly can. I think the only way to root it out is through gratitude. Be thankful. It is part of human nature to miss the majority. I stub my toe and I think of nothing but the bad luck of stubbing my toe. I do not immediately think of all the other parts of my body that don't hurt. I do not thank God I haven't stubbed my toe yet today. So, today be thankful. Let it fill your heart. Do not believe the lie that you do not have enough. You have Jesus and he is more than enough for today and every day from now until you sit with Adam and both of you realize you always had enough.

Utang

Early on in the movie The Godfather there is a scene at a wedding. It is the Godfather’s daughter’s wedding and different people are coming to him to ask for favors. An undertaker comes in and asks for revenge to be taken on behalf of his daughter. It is a famous scene. The Godfather ends up granting the request but he also tells the undertaker that someday he may ask for a favor and at that time it will be the undertaker’s responsibility to comply. The undertaker was in debt to the Godfather.
In the Philippines there is a cultural understanding that is similar to the indebtedness the undertaker carried. It is called Utang Na Loob. If someone does something for me that is extraordinary I tell them that they now have Utang with me. That means that if there ever comes a time when they need something they can call me and tell me it is time to fulfill Utang and I am obligated by honor to do everything I can to help them. Utang is like calling in a marker. If you have Utang with me and call it in then I might need to go to another friend I have Utang with and call in that favor to fulfill the Utang I owe you. Once the process begins it is hard to tell where it will end.
Tom Randall is a giver by nature. He also likes to do extraordinary things. He is also an ardent follower of Jesus Christ. Those elements have combined to give him more Utang in the Philippines than just about anyone. A colonel flew up from another island to meet Tom at the airport to provide him with protection as he arrived in Manila. A half dozen others provided him with safe houses while he was running around in the Philippines trying to figure out what was going on. Each one risked getting involved and ending up on the wrong side of some very bad people. A worker at the airport let Tom in a back door so he could avoid the crowds where kidnappers might spot him. All of this was Utang. Lawyers calling to find out how they can help. The closest thing we have is the movie It’s A Wonderful Life where the townspeople find out that George Bailey is in trouble and they all come running to help.
I like the idea of Utang. All Christians should. As followers of Christ it should be our normal experience to be living in such a way that we collect Utang like a Florida retiree collects sea shells. Every couple of days we should be serving someone in such a way they look us in the eye and say, “Utang na Loob”. If you ever need anything please let me be the one who you call. So, this weekend, make sure you do something in the name of your savior that collects Utang. Not because you might need it someday, but because it is the only way to really live.

Update on Tom Randall #4 Good News

Here is another update about Tom from his wife Karen.

Dear Friends,

This is just a short note to let you know that Tom is scheduled to arrive in LA around 11:30 am today, Sunday. He’ll be home here in Oklahoma by 6:30 tonight. We were able to get him an earlier flight out of the country but were reluctant to share too many details publically.

Things are not completely settled with the case but we felt it was better for Tom and for those trying to protect him to get him out the country. Tom may have more details to share once he gets home.

We cannot thank you enough for praying for Tom and Toto. Like I said, it’s not over yet but we feel the crisis is past for a little while. You could pray for Toto and all at Sankey when you think of them. This whole situation makes everyone nervous!

Because of Christ,

Karen