How do you define cool?

Blogging, Googling, Texting, Networking, Surfing... I find myself using terms and doing things of which I knew not of a decade or so ago. Some of the teens at church have discovered I can text, that I'm on facebook, and that I can IM. They have commented to me that I am cool. Wow, it's good to be cool again. I had been out of the uncool arena for so long, and it is great to be rediscovered.

Yes, I love to blog. I am by calling a communicator, and I do so orally and via the pen, or as in this case, the computer. I also have discovered how to text on my cell phone, how to send and receive instant messages, and how to google, or research by the search engine.

My wife, Trish, does little of the above said things. She doesn't blog, doesn't IM, doesn't facebook. She does some research via the google search engine, but it is limited to what she needs. And yet, when I think of the term cool, I think of Trish. She challenges me with her prayer life and her devotion. She stirs me with her passion and hunger for God. She keeps me balanced. She has managed through the years to raise four kids with little help from me. (Sorry, but it's true). She did this on a limited income and she did it without complaints. She has carried in her bosom the difficulties of being in ministry without ever wishing we were doing something else. In good times and in bad times she has been constant. She is a prayer warrior.

This is how I define cool. Yeah, I love the compliment, especially when it comes from the youth. I am flattered. But when I examine their idea of "coolness" I realize I must help them redefine what cool is. It is not necessarily that I can text, IM, or am on facebook. I want it to be because I can pray, touch God, love on them while at the same time stir them and challenge them. I want it to be because they see the fire of heaven in my life.

That is my definition of cool. By the way, I have some "cool" teens and for that fact, adults and children. And they align with my definition- sold out and on fire for God!

Blessings,
Pastor Ronnie