Theology according to fireworks

Last night I got to enjoy the 4th on the Brazos fireworks spectacle with some of my wonderful friends from Truett. I've always loved fireworks. There's just something about boys and things that blow up. The funny thing was how things affect people differently. We, as grown ups, have been seeing fireworks for a long time. Most of us have grown accustomed to them and yet while we enjoy them, for us they no longer have the same impact that they once did.

However, for the little boys and girls that were seated directly behind on the little grassy hill we were sitting, these fireworks were the most fascinating and intriguing thing they had ever seen. Every flash and pop elicited a loud, piercing scream from on of the little boys. Every. Single. One. Such a piercing scream that one of our friends who shall remain nameless *cough* stephanie *cough* Sorry, got something caught in my throat there for a second. Anyways, one of our friends jokingly told the kids to shut up. I thought this was kinda rude and I told her as such. She said she didn't mean it, which I knew, yet as I told her the kids, who were very young, may not have known that she wasn't serious and she was trying to quelch the joy of what seemed to be the greatest night of their lives.

So this got me to thinking. How oh so much this is like our lives as believers. You see at one point we were the little four year old boy who screamed at the top of his lungs every time we saw one of the wonders of the Christian life, every time that God revealed something to us. We didn't care who was around or whether we were inconveniencing anybody else, we screamed at the top of our lungs to show how amazing we thought our God was. But the problem was we got older. We continued to see God work but our thoughts became "yea, we've seen that before God, when are you going to wow us with something really spectacular?" You see, we let God become routine and when you get into a routine, the monotony sets in. So no longer are we the small children who are elated at every flash and pop of wonder, we are the grad students who want the kids to hush because it's just fireworks.

So what then are we to say? Has God become less amazing because we have seen him work before? May it never be! Our God is just as amazing and wonderful as he was when we were the spiritual 4 year olds. It is time that we throw off this feeling of been there done that and embrace the fact that our God is just as exciting as the first day we saw Him work within us. So let us not shrug off the workings of the Lord as if they are no longer good enough for us. Let us embrace the fact that to us, God is still the greatest fireworks display we've ever seen, and one that will perpetually take us back to the time when our eyes were opened to these brilliant colors for the very first time.

Pastor Mama Coco

A New Name

Today I received a new nickname. Nicknames are an interesting thing. Everyone has been given a name by their parents or guardians. Yet for a large majority of people, what they are called by changes depending on who is talking to them and in what social circle they happen to be in at the time. Take me for instance. To the people that I went to high school with, I am Schibby, Schibster, Big Schib, Big Schibby, or pretty much any other variant of my last name. To my friends from my church back home I am simply Cory (what a concept, using someone's actual name to refer to them). To my newest group of friends I have become Coco or Pastor or Pastor Coco. Then today I was given the nickname Mama. Which has quickly transformed into Pastor Mama Coco. Now for those of you that are blind or do not know me, I am in fact a male, so the nickname Mama might seem rather strange. If you knew my roommates, you would probably understand a little better.

Now of course the normal reaction would be to get terribly upset at the fact that I am being called Mama by some of the my closest friends. But you see I'm not the same person I once was. This new chapter in life that has begun is a completely new me. And God revealed to me today that being called Mama is really an honor, nay a privilege. You see, my friends care about me enough to come up with new nicknames for me. If they didn't really care, they just wouldn't speak to me at all. So why not embrace a new nickname, however weird it might be. This has also led me to be reminded of what is most likely my new favorite song. It's by a band named Philmont (look them up on itunes, they are great) and the name of the song is Another Name. It talks about how we should begin to live without the blame of our old lives and take on a new name under the freedom of Christ.

You see, I figure since I'm starting a new chapter in life, a new nickname may not be so bad. Sure, I don't want to be called Mama, but if being called Mama is something that I have to endure to spend time with the people that mean the most to me in the world at this point, I think I can handle it. But by what name are we called? The name that we as believers have taken on for centuries was used as a derogatory term to describe us; look at all those little Christs, those Christians. And frankly, believers probably didn't like being called that at first, until they realized "hey, maybe it's not so bad to be called a little Christ; we are striving to be like him after all."

I see it the same way with this new nickname. You see, I don't really know where the name actually comes from, but I would like to think that my friends see me as someone who is going to watch out for them. The one who takes them into their arms when they are hurting, the one who will dry their tears if need be. Their guide and their protector, just like a mom. So if that is the origin of the nickname I have recently been given, then I whole-heartedly embrace it. Because that is the role I want to fulfill in their lives. To be a guide, and a protector, and one that they can trust.

What are you called? By what name do you answer? Have you received a new name? The changing of the name is an important theme in biblical stories and we can have a spiritual new name today. Let us listen, let us learn, let us embrace our new names.

Pastor Mama Coco