Author: Nick

Rosemary and I had one of those rare nights out at the movies. We had heard so much about I Can Only Imagine that we had to see it. It lived up to every expectation. It did a beautiful job of tying together themes. I loved the memories of eras of Christian music that have been so meaningful in my life. The challenge and power of forgiveness was vividly portrayed. It’s important never to give up on anyone or any dreams. Perhaps most powerful of all is the image of the title song itself: that great mystery and expectation of what it will be like when we take our last breath here and have our first moment with Him. It’s a thought that should underlie and motivate our every action. Satan tries desperately to push it aside as he distracts us with so much of life that is of no eternal significance but can seem so monumental.  I think tonight when I crawl into bed I will stick in my ear buds, and log in to some of my favorite Christian music, old and not so old and drift off to dreamland and try to Imagine.  

I spent a couple of hours yesterday at The Monastery. Not the one pictured above. The monastery I visited is better known as “Death Row” at Angola. “Death” doesn’t seem an appropriate name based on the residents I have come to know there.  I have met only ten of the eighty plus Monastery residents. I have no idea if these ten are representative of the whole. Perhaps, they are not. It would be understandable if the administration put forth the ten most impressive inmates to take part in the first ever Kairos in the facility. I’m pretty sure there are some meaner and nastier customers inside who are in no way followers of Jesus.  I was recently asked if I thought “any” of the ten had really given their lives to Christ. I am as convinced that they all have as much as I am convinced about the spiritual state of those in my church. These men are incredibly impressive. They are students of scripture and display an authentic love of the Lord they follow. I wish my prayer and share meetings on the outside came close to the ones in The Monastery. In the groups I am familiar with […]

Thursday of Easter week was big. Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples. He tied the traditions and prophesies of the Old Testament to the birth of the New. He demonstrated the importance of servanthood by washing the feet of those who would run away and deny him within 24 hours. He prayed with an intensity that pushed blood through his skin. He contemplated the betrayal and the most horrible of deaths to come.  We love Easter or as we call it now, Resurrection Sunday. Well, we should. Who can resist the victory over sin and death, the hope of eternal life, the bright sunlight on the rolled away stone?  We would do well not to skip over Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. They represent the struggles of a life of following Him. Our parades of homage are brief and rare. We are prone to honor Him one day and forget Him the next. His examples of servanthood are easy to trivialize and forget. The memorial of his body and blood is likely to become routine and habitual. Suffering and death are the things we most ardently and unsuccessfully avoid.  In the days before the joy of Sunday, let’s […]

I am so proud of myself. I went to church yesterday even though I knew the pastor was going to talk about money. It was a bold move on his part to talk about money on Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday has such great sermon theme possibilities: Jesus as King; the People as Fickle fools.  Like many pastors, ours only talks about money about once a year. We still have constant reminders. Every service includes the words, “tithes and offerings” and there is an obvious “passing of the plate.” Reminders shouldn’t be necessary. Someone has to pay for the buildings, salaries, utility bills and, hopefully, some outreach. If it’s your church, you should support it. The Pastor laid out three good money principles. It’s all God’s Anyway.  This is not the way the pastor put it. He likes the word “tithe.” He acknowledges we don’t tithe because it was part of the law in the old testament. He says it’s a principle. If we give God our best, he will give us more. He blesses our finances. There are lots of examples of that.  I rather say we need to acknowledge that it’s all God’s anyway. It’s not a question […]

I consider myself a Christian. I hope that most folks who know me would agree.  Except for a few I’ve blasted on social media. I love Jesus. I give to Christian causes. I attend church. I have been a pastor. I do prison ministry. I listen to or watch at least one Christian teaching a day. I avoid occasions of sin. I post to my blog often, usually about Christian topics. These are all good things. Right? Somehow I don’t imagine Jesus greeting me with “Well done, good and faithful servant” and presenting me with a spreadsheet that records my tithes and offerings, blog posts, church attendance, etc. I don’t think He will smile and say, “No disciples, but I set the bar a bit too high with that one.”  Wink. Wink.  My focus should be on what Jesus told me to do. He said to make disciples. I don’t know if I’ve ever done that. I have prayed with prisoners to “receive” Jesus. I have befriended and encouraged them. I can hope that some folks have read one of my blog posts and had their lives changed. Really? That’s the closest I can claim to “making disciples.”  Churches I […]

I came of age during the dawn of the Age of Aquarius, a time of hippies, love, rock and roll, drugs and protests. In those days, my contemporaries knew how to protest. At least at first, antiwar and pro-love demonstrations were spontaneous and effective. Most of the original protestors were authentic. They really were against war. After a while, they were joined by the cowards, who just were afraid of military service.  Like most movements, they were eventually taken over by special interests. Full disclosure: I wasn’t a protestor. I was one of the ones being protested. I was serving in the military in San Francisco during the 60s. I had garbage thrown at me when returning from Viet Nam. I know about protests.  This weeks school walkout was nothing like the protests of my youth. It was a manipulation of students by anti 2nd amendment interests. It was made to look like a 17 minute protest to honor the dead 17. Who could be against that? Then it became an anti-violence protest. Whose in favor of violence? When it was over it was painted as what it really was: anti-gun protest. Most of the kids who participated had no […]

For me it seems life is a struggle to remain in the present, breaking the chains of the past, unconcerned about the uncertainties of the future. It’s not just that I am obsessed with the past. My perceptions of it are wrong. An honest appraisal of my past is that it is filled with God’s provision. Rather than focusing on that and being thankful, Satan whispers in my ear that I should have done more with that much provision. Like most of Satan’s lies, they are founded in truth.  We can never satisfactorily respond to the graces of God. He has given us so much:  from the air that we breathe through the opportunities for service. Life should be like driving a car. The windshield is broad and the rearview mirror, narrow. Most of our time should be focused on where we are and into the future with only infrequent glances into the past.  My view of the future is equally warped. It is filled with concern that God will cease to provide as He has for 68 years. I know all about the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. I  understand I am more […]

I am still coming down from my time spent on Death Row at Angola during our recent Kairos. I’ve had some time to reflect and analyze. I guess what really blew me away was the joy and peace the ten inmates we dealt with enjoyed. There were clearly ten distinct personalities, but the joy and peace were common certainly by the end of the retreat and was still alive when I went back for a training session a week later.  Consider the things that tend to rob us of joy and peace.  History. Sometimes we just can’t get past our past. No matter how awful your past was it’s unlikely that it involved taking a life. These ten have this in common. Not just the death or deaths but all that comes with a trip through the legal system ending up with a death sentence. Top that. Circumstance.  We are often drugged down by the world around us. These guys spend most of their lives in a tiny cell coming out only briefly each day. The food isn’t great. There is little family contact. In the summer, the cells stay around 100 degrees until late into the night. Can […]