Cool Is Overrated

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This is the Music Makers podcast where I read things out loud to you and then offer my unqualified opinions Cool is Overrated by John David Butler. When I think about starting a new church, there's a lot of pressure to want to make everything cool. I want to make the website cool. I want the messages to be cool, the music to be cool, the pastor, I. E.

Me, to be cool. I mean, if we can't make church cool, then how are we gonna get people who think church is old, stuffy, and boring to come? Right? We all like it when things are cool, but cool is overrated. I know that I've met and even been friends with lots of cool people, And I know that I've seen lots of really cool events and places.

The thing is, I can't really think of anyone or anything that really made a difference in my life because it was cool. When I think about the people and the places that changed my life, cool people don't come to mind. One of the people that does come to mind is my high school youth pastor, Todd Marple. I remember when our church brought in different candidates for the youth pastor job when I was a freshman in high school. I was hoping the church would hire a really cool youth pastor.

I remember there was one guy who even played the drums and lit something on fire as an illustration. Both of these things move the cool meter. But I don't remember the point of his illustration or anything else about him because the Church didn't hire him. They hired Todd. Todd wasn't the coolest guy who our church interviewed for the job, but he was the best guy for the job.

When you first meet Todd, he can kind of freak you out. He gets right in your face and tells you how pumped he is to meet you. Todd wouldn't always say the coolest things either. He pronounced Nike shoes, Nykes, without the e sound at the end. We tried to tell him how to say it, but it never seemed to stick.

He was always excited about everything. He always approached every youth service, every event, every conversation with this unbridled enthusiasm and joy. He never played it cool. But Todd loved the people in our youth group. He loved us with that same unbridled, unrestrained, and enthusiastic intensity, and he was authentic.

You could ask anyone who was a part of that youth group during Todd's time there, and all of them would tell you that he loved us. He didn't just say it to us. He showed it to us. He lived out Jesus' love for us. I'm so glad that Todd was my youth pastor because he taught me to live out Jesus' love.

Don't get me wrong. I like cool. However, I know that at the end of the day, cool is not what counts. I won't lie on my deathbed thinking about all the cool people I saw on TV. I'll be thinking about the people who loved me and the people I loved.

I wanna create a church that lives out Jesus' love. Bottom line, it's the only thing that really counts. So don't spend too much time thinking about being cool. Find out how to live out Jesus's love. That's the kind of thing that will make people remember you forever.

At one point or another, we have all gone through a phase in our life where we've tried to be super cool. I think it's implicitly taught in junior high. It's passed down from the older kids. You gotta be cool. That's what's most important, which is exactly what makes being a youth pastor so hard because you're getting them at the exact age that they're learning they have to be really cool.

I was a camp counselor one summer, and I had 8 8th grade boys in my cabin. And there is no group of cooler people in the world than 8th grade boys. Now one week, I had 6th graders, and I had a kid run-in with goggles on and tell me he was gonna dunk his head in the toilet. 6th graders don't care about anything. 8th graders, though, are very, very cool.

Along the way, most of us come to the same realization that the author of the article comes to, and that being cool is overrated. We realized that play it cool is generally bad advice. Life is too short to play it cool. If you like the girl, tell her that you like her. Don't play it cool.

We realized that being cool is not better than being nice. Being cool is not better than being enthusiastic or excited. And being cool is not better than looking like a dummy to show someone that you love them. The author hit the nail on the head when he talks about cool versus loving or cool versus caring and nice. He thought he wanted a cool youth pastor, but what he really wanted was a youth pastor that cared about him.

We think we wanna be friends with the cool people, but, really, we wanna be friends with people that care about us. This is one that I've had to practice because I like to be sarcastic. I like to be funny, and sometimes that can just come off as mean. I had to look at my motives and say, am I trying to be cool, or am I trying to be nice? And most of the time, I was trying to be cool.

I was trying to be funny. And I realized it's just so much better to be nice. Don't take every opportunity to throw in a joke or to point out some inconsistency. It's cool to be witty, but it's better to be nice. On the topic of cool versus enthusiastic, I have a great audio clip that I want to play for you.

The link is in the show notes, so you can watch the whole thing. But I'm just gonna play a portion of it. And to set it up a little bit, you'll hear a man's voice. He's the reporter. And a woman's voice.

She leads whale watching tours. And the thing I want you to listen for is how excited this guy gets when he sees the whale. He interrupts the lady.

Doris, this Doris, you've been working here for 35 years here at Moss Landing. I mean, this is your home turf. What we're seeing here now, is this a remarkable moment in time?

This is a remarkable moment. This has been a remarkable year. I've been leaving daily whale watch trips out of Moss Landing for 6 years.

Oh, I'm so so sorry. I I don't believe what I've just heard. This is incredible. I've heard word that we have on our helicopter a blue whale. It it is to the south of us, absolutely clearly at the surface.

I could see it now.

And then he doesn't stop. He starts to nerd out about whale facts.

The largest animal ever known to have lived on our planet larger than any of the dinosaurs. It's here. It's in the bay right now live. This is one of the most extraordinary things I've ever seen. If my boat was alongside this, it would be dwarfed by it would be at least double the length of this boat.

Some of these blue whales have been the size of a jet plane without its wings, as much as 200 tons, 34 meters in length, and it's here in the bay drawn into this gathering. And this whale right now is taking deep breaths. They're at the the surface for an average of about 2.7 minutes, and then they'll dive for as much as 15 minutes, dropping down into the big blue in search of krill. Krill that is here in abundance because of this fabulous ecosystem, because of the canyon that we are over the end of right now.

And listen to the way that he signs off.

Matt and Liz, this is one of the most extraordinary things I have ever seen live.

You know who's not playing it cool? This guy. This guy didn't play it cool for a single second, but somehow we love him for it. We love that he's so excited about whales. If he had given a very controlled, very metered explanation of the blue whale, would anybody care?

Would I be talking about it right now? No. This this guy freaks out. He is so excited, and he's not afraid to show it. Good for him.

Good for this guy. He is doing his job well by being so excited. Are you ever afraid to show that you're excited? Are you the guy at the concert that just stands there and nods his head when you really just wanna be losing your mind dancing? You should dance.

Nobody went home from that concert and said, you know what? I saw a really cool guy who was nodding his head. Don't be afraid. Show your excitement. It's better that way.

And there is a group of people out there that totally understand this. And from what I can tell, that group is dads. Dads are totally willing to make fools of themselves or to dress up in ridiculous costumes. Imagine a park, and there's one dad who's sitting off to the side being real cool and real quiet, and then there's another dad running around playing pirate ship with his son. That cool dad is really missing out.

The dad that's playing pirate ship may look like a fool, but he is the king of the world in his son's eyes. And isn't that what really matters? Why is being cool so important? What is trying to be cool holding you back from? What are you afraid to be enthusiastic about?

What are you afraid to express your excitement over? Life is too short to play it cool. The Musicmakers podcast is released twice weekly on Mondays Thursdays at 10 AM CST. Here's a sneak peek from the next episode: Stop Taking Yourself So Seriously. Then I go to the gym every day.

By the end of week 2, I invariably give up. You can subscribe in iTunes by searching for The Music Makers, or visit us online by going to musicmakers.fm. And as always, you can reach me at aaron@musicmakers.fm.