Year: 2013

1 Corinthians 2:4 New International Version (NIV) 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,

Our habits and routines are the frameworks of our lives. We don’t realize how much we are impacted by the things we do routinely every day. I am particularly subject to routine in the mornings. For years I have gotten up early, cleared my emails, checked Facebook and twitter and written my blog. I have been grossly out of that routine recently and it’s beginning to impact me. I haven’t posted to my blog in over a week and have done so only 6 times in January, even though today is the 21st. I have also abandoned my early morning habit of working out at the gym. I haven’t done that in weeks.  I think the problem is that I am not waking up as early as I have in the past and, I think, the reason for that is that I haven’t been sleeping as well as I normally do. Traditionally, I sleep like a rock. Not so lately. If that is the root of the problem, my analysis ends there. I don’t know why I’m not sleeping well. I do know that my blog posting and work out have become essential to my spiritual, physical and emotional […]

Yesterday was a bit of a disappointment. It was a Kairos Team training day. We were going to Angola for a mandated security briefing. I had looked forward to the ride there and back fellowshipping with my Kairos friends. I got the wrong word on leaving time and ended up driving alone. We also had a Advisory Council meeting set for after the training. Then I remembered that my three year term on the council has expired. I had no reason to be at the meeting.  I guess it was one of those cases of closing a chapter in your life before being able to move on to the next. I enjoyed serving on the council, but I need to move on to a different function within the ministry. On the good side, I returned home and had a wonderful afternoon and evening with my lovely wife. That was great.  A new chapter opens today as we meet to discuss prayer teams at Amana. I hope that it will turn out to be a fulfilling and useful ministry. Just because the weather isn’t great, is no reason to skip church. See you at services.  Be blessed. Nick

I just finished reading a great thriller. It was one of those page turner, hard-to-put down books. Although the book wasn’t huge it was broken into 100 chapters. Each chapter was well written and left you wanted to read the next one.  God organizes our lives that way. Our stories are broken into small chapters. God wants us to focus on the chapter we are in, not past chapters or future chapters. Satan, on the other hand, is the great historian. He keeps wanting to bring up the past: past mistakes, past errors, past stumbles, past fears. We have to get better about closing chapters in our lives.  God has written your story. The next chapter is always better. Dive in and Be blessed. Nick

It’s back to school and, for some, back to work day. The holidays are past and it’s back into the world. On Facebook this morning I saw more “Oh No It’s Monday” posts than usual.  Maybe we have had a vacation from dealing with people that make life hard for us: teachers, bosses, customers, folks with a chip on their shoulders.  We are coming off the season that celebrates love. Let’s start this working year off with a better set of spiritual eyes. When a person is gruff with us or unkind, let’s try to see beyond that to what might be going on in that person’s life that put that frown on their face. Let’s remember to pray before we react. Give a thoughtful, prayerful response to folks that seem bent on dragging you down. Saturday I spent much of the day in Baton Rouge at the first team training meeting for the Kairos which I will attend in February. It was great to see the faces of so many I love and to hug and get hugged. It was also great to “catch up” with what’s going on in the lives of others. But it served as […]

Matthew 19:26 New International Version (NIV) 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Since we are so eager to package Christianity so that it will be easier to accept, we have created a false impression that the Christian’s path is the easy path. If in doubt about this, ask the Christians in China or the Sudan.  We don’t follow Christ down a primrose path. We take up a cross and do in Him, things that are not possible on our own.  This doesn’t mean that being a Follower is a grim and joyless road. Quite the opposite. Since following Him is what we were created for, it’s the only really joyful path. Once we turn from sin and begin to follow Him, its like He opens a door to possibilities we would not have even considered when we were headed in the wrong direction.  The secret, of course, is to stay in Him. We must allow Him to do in us what He will and give up trying to do things on our own. There is probably nothing easier to say and yet harder to do. When He makes […]

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” Psalm 20:7 The holidays are over. The resolutions made. It’s time to get back to work. It’s time to plant our feet firmly on the ground and see where we are.  All the aspirations expressed in our resolutions and all the “Peace on Earth” felt in our holiday celebrations must now give way to grinding it out on a daily basis.  This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where we demonstrate who we really are. The politicians have “fixed” the fiscal cliff. Get ready to pay more and have less. All the bills for Christmas you put on your credit cards is about to come due. All that stuff you put off until, “after the First of the Year” has just moved to the top of your stack of to dos.  It’s time to really act like our trust is in the Name of the LORD our God. That’s easy to do when we are on holiday. It’s not a challenge when we are sitting at home watching football. It’s a bit tougher when we have to […]

Some days change your life forever. They form  the way  you look at things, your hopes and your blessings for the rest of  your days. On December 31, 1969, a pretty young red head was excitingly preparing to go out for New Years Eve. She had a new boy friend and a brand new outfit. She was looking forward to a great night out. She was pretty disappointed when the boy friend showed up at the door dressed very casually and obviously with a less spectacular agenda for the evening. It turned out to be a very important night nonetheless. The boyfriend decided that night that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life without the red head in it.  Rose and I have ever since celebrated New Years Eve by staying home. It was easy when the kids were young. It was tough getting babysitters on that big night out. When the kids got older, it was tougher as we stayed home and prayed, while they went out and partied. We developed other New Year traditions. I usually make the cabbage and black eyes. This year we will probably just eat out. Only she and I will […]