Author: Nick

Watching the news this week, I found myself commenting how terrible it is that some have used a tragic death as an excuse to riot and loot. This got me thinking about excuses and how easy it is to fall back on them. If the Saints or Cajuns or Florida Gators lose on the weekend, I can make that an excuse to have a bad attitude to start the week. When my wife cooks a great meal, the excuse to overeat comes very easily. I felt very justified in getting angry when a woman in front of me in the check out line at Wal-Mart had way too many items to be in the 20 item line. I even counted her items under my breath as she checked out . Turned out she had 19. Our excuses are usually not valid or even factually accurate. There are way too many excuses floating around. A lack of good choices is no reason not to vote. A tough day is no reason to be unkind when we get home. A few bad eggs is no excuse to condemn everyone of the same color, faith, or philosophy. Probably most important of all […]

All of us have times when things aren’t happening. We usually say we are “waiting” for something to happen. Sometimes, we are just covering up our procrastination. Waiting is an honorable thing. We are waiting when we have done everything we can and the next move has to come from someone else. When that someone else is God, we are in a good place. Scripture often proclaims the appropriateness of waiting on the Lord.  When waiting our eyes are on God. Our strength is renewed. Peace reigns. Waiting often means that something has started. Things have been done. There is movement toward a goal. Waiting implies that we know the next thing that needs to happen and we are prepared to act when it does. When we wait we are prepared, ready and faithful that God knows best about timing. Procrastination occurs when the ball is in our court and we search for reasons not to take the next step. It focuses on our lack of preparation, readiness or faith. We doubt that anything is really in process. We consider that maybe we have taken a wrong turn or misinterpreted a word from God.  We spend a lot of time looking […]

Please don’t call me a Christian. I have many reasons for this plea. “Christian” has no meaning. People are called “Christian” because they once said a prayer or because they go to church or because they live in a “Christian” nation. Maybe they just claim the title. There are no standards for being a Christian. Christians have been embarrassing.  Some of these people who are called Christians have done embarrassing, sometimes hateful things that I don’t want to be associated with. Some of these things are mass sins like persecutions or enslavements. Others are personal like individual hateful words or hurtful acts. Jesus didn’t call me that.  Jesus didn’t call us “Christians.” He called us disciples or followers. He described us as salt and light. These terms describe our ability to grow to be like him through his power and grace and to reflect his goodness and glory.  Disciples are identifiable by what He has done and not what we accomplish. “Christian” has come to mean “holier than thou” or hateful. Jesus said we would be identified by our love. That’s based on how we reflect his light and love, not on what we say we believe. It’s risky […]

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 I am God’s masterpiece. He planned good things for me to do long ago, before I was born. That means since I am still alive there are still things that He planned for me to do.  I haven’t completed all that He planned for me to do and there is still opportunity to do those things. I notice that this verse is written in the plural. I suppose that means I am not intended to do these good things alone. There are others that I must work and serve with to get these things accomplished. So what are these good things that God created me to do? I guess I could look at my natural talents and abilities for clues; but I was created “anew” so that I can do those things. Whatever I am to do is only possible since I am a new creature in Christ. I believe, therefore, that the tasks I am called to are things I am unlikely to be able to do on my own. […]

There is a traffic sign in our neighborhood that I’ve learned to ignore. It suggests I yield to a street that has almost no traffic. At best I slow a bit to make sure no one is coming. I certainly don’t stop. I guess one day I will get caught, but it hasn’t happened in nearly thirty years. I’m feeling pretty confident in my civil disobedience. We daily face a spiritual “yield” sign as well. I often blow by it with as much indifference as I ignore the sign in my neighborhood. I often take God’s instruction to yield as a “suggestion” not a command. Sometimes I ignore it because it’s not specific enough. “Yield what?” I ask. I know the answer is “everything.” I don’t know why I even ask. I know I could at least start by yielding something. Our failures to yield, I believe, are the reasons we have floods, economic downturns, personal tragedies,  and political chaos. They are God’s attempt to get us to pay attention to the”yield” sign. It’s like posting a motorcycle cop on the corner where the “yield” sign has sat all these years. Why don’t I understand that the command to […]

I can’t help but think that we are moving into a Season of Discouragement. We had some significant rain Wednesday night so the water is back up a bit. It’s like a plug in the bayou is preventing any more draining. Still no threat to the house, just more delay before I can get out there and start to clean things up. Still so much better off than many others. I took a ride to check out friends in Crowley and Kaplan then back to Broussard. There are miles of streets with piles of personal belongings and damp carpet at the roadside. Actually putting out the ruined items is the quick and easy part. I decided to file an insurance claim on my Honda truck yesterday. The air conditioning isn’t working and the electronics are acting wacky since it sat in flood waters for a couple of days. I really didn’t think the water had gotten deep enough to hurt anything. It started right up, but hasn’t been acting right since. We have moved the truck and our car out of the water and onto the dry end of our driveway to prevent any further damage. We found out […]

My plans for last weekend were to spend some time with my grandson working in our yard and catching up on the weed eating. That didn’t happen. Instead I now am eligible to wear a tee-shirt which reads, “I survived the Great Flood of 2016.” It is somewhat miraculous that I survived the Great Flood of 2016. Our home is the lowest in our neighborhood. It is 15 to 20 feet below the level of most of our neighbors. The lot floods for every “rain event” although water has never gotten into the home, which is on piers. Once again, although the water got higher than we have ever experienced, the house remained dry inside. I hope I have learned some lessons from the survival of the Great Flood of 2016. If I have to be marooned with anyone, I just as soon that it be Rosemary, my wife of 46 years. We are used to quietly enjoying each other’s presence even in silence while winds blow, waters rise and sometimes power ceases. Love you babe. Tragic circumstances illuminate character. I have seen very impressive responses to the flood from many people: relatives and strangers I watched on TV. […]

God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles… Galatians 1:15-16 There is an entire wing of the Christian Library of Theology devoted to being “in Christ” or “Christ in me.” I wonder sometimes if we forget the purpose of indwelling Christ. As Paul said, the Son is revealed in us so that we might preach him. If Christ lives in us we should begin in some small way to reflect His character and His heart. “36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”” Matthew 9 Consider this, when Jesus looked at the unsaved people of his day he saw their sin and their lost state, but he was not moved to disgust nor did his turn his eyes away, he instead was moved to compassion “because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Someone in the  sinful […]