Author: Nick

I was greatly blessed yesterday by the Saints. Oh, the New Orleans Saints beat the St. Louis Cardinals and that was cool; but it’s not what I’m talking about. I spent the day being blessed by the saints of God. Early in the morning I drove to Baton Rouge with Saint Joe, whose testimony and fresh excitement about his life with Jesus is a great blessing. Then I boarded a bus with over 40 saints and road to Angola. Just being in the presence of excited, happy saints was a blessing. We toured Angola. One highlight was being led in prayer by a saint who has been incarcerated for (I believe he said) 37 years; but whose joy in being a saint of God was contagious and inspiring. Then we moved into the death chamber where just days ago Gerald Bordelon died, executed for killing his 12 year old step daughter.  In that room, the saint who was Gerald’s family’s pastor and now serves as chaplain at the State Penitentiary, tearfully shared the details of his part in the execution and the “rest of the story” of the family tragedy surrounding Courtney Leblanc’s murder. The presence of God in […]

I don’t understand God. When I think I begin to understand Him something like Haiti happens. While others suffer and die in situations beyond my imagining, I am surrounding by signs of His blessings in my life and trying to decide whether to wear Black and Gold today.There isn’t any comfort in knowing that I am not alone in my confusion. Some of the things I have heard this week rank among the dumbest statements of all time. Try this one, “Well, that’s the best place for something like this to happen, because those people don’t have anything anyway, so this doesn’t really change much.” That from a Christian. Or the reminder from a prominent Christian that Haiti was dedicated to Satan years ago and has been suffering ever since. The truth of that aside, how about a sense of timing? Or the worry about the handful of Americans there? As if their inconvience is of a higher order than the suffering of some, not American, laying in a pile of rubble for days. Or the political infighting about how fast we are responding?Of course, there are positive responses of great concern and generosity. Already there is a problem […]

I’ve got a new truck. It’s a Honda Ridgeline, like the one pictured. I love my new truck. It’s well…new. I had my old truck for seven years. It had lots of miles and it was…well old. Old is bad; new is good. Right?We can get excited about things new; like new life. Things like “old” and “death” we’re not so excited about.When OC talks about “white funeral” today we don’t get excited. In fact, I got a little creeped. What is he talking about? As Christians, the concept of being “born again” is well known. And although a bit of a strange concept to us and Nicodemus, it’s essentially a good thing to our minds. But birth implies death.  Verses about seeds dying so an eventual harvest can take place are not so popular. But as usual OC has a point. Sometimes we translate “born again” to “second change.” We’re fine with getting a new life; but not so willing for our old self to die and to leave our old life behind. Most of us can point to the day we “accepted Christ” or talk about our 2nd birthday. OC notes we should be able to specifically […]

We took my grandson last night to “Walking with Dinosaurs.” My experience was not good. It wasn’t the fault of the production, which was, to the best of my knowledge,  pretty impressive. But a family of little “brats” sat behind us. They never shut up and kept kicking the back of my chair. My polite pleas for quiet and requests not to be “beaten” were all for naught.  In short, I was so distracted that I could not  absorb or “hear” the production.We’re all familiar with Mathew 22:14, “”For many are called, but few are chosen.” Have you thought about what the difference is between the “called” and the “chosen?” All are called; some just aren’t listening. The “Chosen” are the ones who are listening. Some have no capacity to listen. The capacity to listen comes when we are born again. The New Man can hear what the old man can not. But even the New Man must practice his listening. We believe we hear God. We respond. We see that it was Him. The next time we are a bit more confident that it’s His voice we are hearing.But sometimes, even when we have heard His voice, even […]

I am the oldest of nine children. One of my sisters died a few years ago. One lives in California; another in Texas. The rest live in Acadiana. I remember being close to my brothers and sisters growing up; but I joined the Navy when some of them were still young. I was in the Navy for 11 years and after that Law School at the University of Florida (Go Gators) and a year practicing in Florida. When I finally returned to Lafayette, our lives had moved pretty far down different tracks and I kind of lost track of my siblings particularly the younger ones. We get together once a year a Christmas, but I don’t get to spend much time with each one during that event.Recently, I have gotten close to my brother Jim. That’s Jim behind my girls, Allison, Jessie and KK. He’s the youngest of my siblings. We share a passion for Cajun basketball. (Yes, even during this miserable season.) We would see each other during the games. Before my dad died last year, I would take him to the games, but Jim would often come sit with me and dad.The last few years, I sometimes […]

“You don’t know me.” That’s been my reactive thought and sometimes verbal response when someone says something that strikes real deep. Like most reactive thoughts, it’s not true and misses the point. It’s another aspect of “Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me.” On a surface level, we think others don’t know us and if they did they would understand why we do what we do. The truth is we don’t really know ourselves. Others often know us better. And what we do know of ourselves, we’re not exactly excited to share.  And often others all too well understand why we do what we do.Do you remember the first time you heard yourself in a recording or saw yourself on a video? Others hear us and observe us every day. We don’t have that privilege. If you’re like me you shy away from mirrors; too much truth. When we do look at ourselves in a mirror; it’s usually in a posed, unnatural, shot. We often have a distorted, self-created view of ourselves, usually based on a long ago version that was better looking, better acting, younger, and smarter than we are now (and, in fact, than we ever really were.)For most of […]

Last night at Amana we honored the volunteers whose efforts keep the church wheels turning. It is amazing what it takes and more amazing how God makes it all work. Pastor pointed out that oft quoted statistic that 20 percent of the folks do 80 percent of the work. The reason for that, obviously, is that 80 percent aren’t doing what they should be doing.  But we need to look deeper than that. Why aren’t the 80 percent pulling their load. For many, it is no doubt that they don’t believe they have a load to pull, they don’t listen to God, or they are just lazy. But for some of the 80 percent, they perceive that the 20 percent like being the 20 percent and really prefer that the 80 percent stay the 80 percent. Humans have problems with ownership and pride. “This is my ministry and no one can do it like I can.” We also have problems with self-flagellation. “Poor Poor Pitiful Me.” That’s more than lyrics from an old Linda Ronstadt song.  It’s a refrain we love to sing.Today OC talks about how obedience to God often costs others more than it costs the obedient […]