Cope Report

Category: Thoughts

  • Autumn Falling

    Autumn Falling

    For a very large part of my life, I observed endless summer. As the autumn season, also known as fall, is set to begin I yearn for the crisp air and colorful foliage once again. Yet I wonder if the emotional state of our society will stop to observe the wonders of our world. Will folks get outside and enjoy it as I hope to? Will people enjoy each others company?

    There has been so much darkness in recent weeks, months, and years. Division is ramping up. Tribalism is dominating friends and family. Fewer and fewer people seem to value each other. The discouraging news articles about “how to deal with your political uncle at Thanksgiving” will be making the rounds again.

    I work in technology. I like technology. I appreciate how social media allows me to stay connected with old friends hundreds or thousands of miles away. What I do not like is how it has evolved. My Facebook feed has devolved into the algorithm shoving pages and personalities into my face that I never asked to see. I try to trick it. When I see reels of nonsense, I start to click on something less discouraging. For example, I spend 10 minutes clicking on cat videos. Before long, most reels return to cat videos. Until the nonsense eventually returns and I need the cats to save my visual space.

    In some way, I feel like the American experiment is entering its own autumn. The bleak winter is coming. What we’ve sown recently is a sour harvest. Blight is infecting everything. We are going to reap what we’ve sown. It will not be enjoyable.

    Winter is coming. But can spring come again? Chauncey Gardiner would tell us, if the roots are good, spring will come again. Yet, how much more poison can our roots endure? How long until we are in our final autumn before the bleakest winter arrives? A winter that eliminates the roots and nothing grows back?

    In a Christian sense, victory is already here. Hope is always here. Hope will never die. The roots of Christ’s sacrificial work run deeper than our sin. In the end, yes, spring will come again. All rot will be defeated. We need to remember this and search for Christ in the bleak winter that is coming. The darkness in the world wishes for us to forget that the victory is already won. Holdfast and don’t let yourself become ensnared. The Lord will show Himself to us again.

    So, escape the digital world. Seek to reconcile with those around you. Get outside. Look for the wonderful colors. Love one another. Try to find the right mindset going into the bleak winter. Spring will come again.

  • The Forgotten Blog, The Forgotten World, The Forgotten Commandment

    The Forgotten Blog, The Forgotten World, The Forgotten Commandment

    A lot changes in life. Passions sometimes evaporate. They get lost. Forgotten in time as a busy season becomes a busy year becomes a busy era. You look back and wonder how you even wandered so far down the road. You have been chasing the wind. You cannot catch the wind. It is futile and meaningless.

    Since escaping the endless summer of Florida, I find myself in a new place. That is true of physical location and spiritual location. Yet some things don’t change. Sometimes you have to simply do things differently to bring about change. Yet you wonder if that may still be chasing the wind or if you should trust the process.

    One of the last community group Bible studies we had in Orlando was on Ecclesiastes. That also then became a sermon series a few months later at church as I was pivoting to a new course in life. This also was the first book I read in earnest after becoming a Christian, as I simply opened the Bible and read from the middle section I’d landed upon. The mood and themes of Ecclesiastes still resonate. There is much meaninglessness and chasing the vapor. Yet some level of encouragement, and warning, from the last two verses, chapter 12:13-14 (ESV):

    13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

    A recent community group session brought forth a similarly resonating scripture from Matthew 22 (ESV):

    36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

    In returning to the blog, I want to explore how we can grow in our humility. I want to explore how we can love our neighbor. I want to explore how we can connect with the world, the real world, and escape the dangers of a false, and harmful realm. I think it is something we must do if we want a better community.

    The things that have helped me in recent months is exercise. It is exploring the natural world around me. It is capturing imagery in artistic ways. It is reviewing the past and understanding what I’ve done wrong with a hope to do right. It is embracing God’s word and truth to repent and forge a better, hopeful mindset. It is engaging in positive community with accountability.

    Hopefully my creative energies can be turned more positively as I continue down this path. Hopefully this blog will help express what I’ve learned. Maybe it will help someone other than myself. Or maybe it will just help me stay thoughtful and reflective.

    Alas, welcome back to the blog.