Category Archives: Life in General

30

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If you’re on my Facebook, you’re probably aware I had a birthday today. I don’t have my birthday publicly displayed, so I thought I could fly under the radar.

It didn’t take long for people to break the silence.

Today definitely didn’t go as I expected it to. But, that’s a good thing. I’ve reached an age milestone in reaching 30, and I thought I would have this thought in my head that told me, “meh, look where you are now: 30, single, and sleep deprived.” But, apparently, God had something different planned for me.

Something that I’ve always known became very clear to me today: I am here for a reason. Age is just a number. I’m single because the time isn’t right for me not to be. I’m sleep deprived because I try to squeeze everything I can out of my every waking minute. Being single has allowed me to do things with those waking minutes I might not be able to do otherwise. I get to spend a free evening playing guitar with a student I’ve known since he was little. I get to, on a whim, head across town to my sister’s house to play hide and seek with her kids. I get to volunteer to coach an indoor soccer team. I get to follow around that same soccer team in the fall in their outdoor season giving high fives, baking cookies, and jumping and cheering like a fool in the good times and bad. I get to spend time with my youth group kids in Wooster. I get to make silly videos to promote the youth events. And there are many more things I get to do.

I’m not going to lie and say there haven’t been times where I wondered what the point is of me doing the things I do. When I get to those points, God ends up doing something to show me that there is a reason for it all. And today, I guess He decided he was going to pour on all kinds of love.

This is me trying to publicly thank everyone who showed their appreciation for me today. My co-workers who put together a cake and ice cream gathering without my knowledge, one of my best friends putting my face on a picture of a silly bobblehead for the frosting of said cake, my family for always being there to love and support me, my friends I’ve had for years who always remember me, my church family who loves and supports me as well, my soccer sisters who seem to know when I need a kind word to give me confidence to keep moving whether it be photography or coaching, and the rest of my new friends and family through the soccer program at Clear Fork…

…thank you all. I am the man I am today because of the collaborative effort of you all standing beside me and behind me with your love and support.

Thanks for reading,
Jon Cole

Communication

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How easily a message gets lost.

By not speaking, many times a message is conveyed completely incorrectly. Dad and I went to lunch today, and we talked about things that are happening in life. The most interesting part is things were assumed on both ends because words were not exchanged to begin with.

I’m frustrated. What is it about small churches that keeps them small? Are they afraid to let others come into their little group? Or is it scary to do what Jesus asked us to do, which is to go intoall the world? I see too many churches who say they want to make an impact, but don’t do anything to show it. At the senior high retreat, the message I kept writing down during the sermons was “we need action”. The things I’ve been learning over the last several weeks is that words mean very little when you don’t back them up with action. That’s why so many unbelieving people call Christians hypocrites. As lame as some of you may think the intro to D.C. Talk’s What If I Stumble is, it’s so true.

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and don’t honor Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.

I can tell people all day long that I’m going to get the pictures I took for them processed and sent to them all day long. But if I don’t do it, what good is that (James 2:16)?

Thanks for reading,
Jon Cole

Relationships

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Tonight I had the opportunity to spend time with some friends at their young adult family dinner. As I looked around the room at the many people I didn’t know, I started thinking about how I’ve viewed relationships over the years.

This dinner was held at the church building (when the family dinners started, it was held at one of the church member’s houses, but the group has grown significantly). As I approached the building, there were three guys outside smoking. After I got inside, I heard a guy introducing a pregnant girl to someone he knows saying, “This is my girlfriend.” I saw people of all shapes, sizes and styles.

I couldn’t help but think about how earlier in my life, I would have thought, “Man…how screwed up are some of these people.” But you see, that’s the attitude that gets Christians their “judgmental and unforgiving” label. There is no way I can make Christ relevant to a person if I am going to let a person’s imperfect stand in the forefront. Heaven knows I have imperfections. And I’m sure people could point them out and condemn me as well.

Read Mark 2:15-17. It’s pretty wild when you think about it.

Thanks for reading,
Jon Cole