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.