Author: Nick

I sit down to draft a blog and realize that I haven’t posted since February 16. It’s not like nothing has been going on. On Monday I drove to Angola with a dear friend and shared with the Kairos men on death row. It would be better to say they shared with me. We go mostly as observers as they work through studies with open sharing. Their growth in the two years I have known them is impressive. If men on death row can grow in love and dedication to the Lord, what should we be doing? I knew it was going to be a short week since I was out on Monday and will be out today as I have two teeth pulled. Time moves so quickly. It’s so easy to fall into patterns. I had a pattern of posting each day. This week I fell into a pattern of not doing so. It didn’t take a dramatic event or even a deliberate decision. It just happened. “We are what we repeatedly do.” Aristotle. We are creatures of habit. Consider how much of what we do each day is what we did yesterday and what we will do tomorrow. […]

After practicing on my own for decades I recently joined a firm. I have been enjoying that experience. One of the great benefits is having others to counsel on difficult issues. The lack of that was one of the toughest things about solo practice. It’s also one of the reasons Jesus stressed that following Him is a group activity. It so easy to stray when we are on our own. What may seem God-inspired may just be a personal wish. Others can often see the difference when we can’t. There is, of course, a danger when seeking advice on our plans and ideas from others. We have to make sure the advice we are getting is wise. Here are some hints on getting W I S E advice. W – Willing. Seek advice from those willing to share and to share honestly. The best advice often comes not from those who have succeeded but from those who have failed. We need to learn from failure and its a lot easier to learn from failures of others than having to go through falls ourselves. Someone who has learned from their successes and their failures is an incredibly valuable resource.  I […]

I love to go into Albertsons this time of the year. It’s amazing how many flowers, boxes of candy and Valentines Day cards can be packed into the “seasonal” section of the store. It’s also fun to park outside on February 14 after 5 p.m. and watch the guys hustling out with their Valentine’s Day tribute. Breathing heavily and with thankful faces that they “remembered.”  St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, beekeepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travelers, and young people. I’m not sure how the beekeepers fit in. The actual “facts” behind St. Valentine have always been pretty sketchy. Apparently there are nearly a dozen guys named Valentine who have been sainted by the Catholic Church. So maybe Valentines Day is a commercial holiday promoted by florists, greeting card companies, and jewelers. Maybe most guys participate out of fear and social pressure. Or maybe most of us guys realize we by luck or grace ended up with a good wife and that’s a good thing. That’s me. Had a great Valentines Day for the 50th time. Thank you Lord for Rosemary Sigur.  

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18 This verse seems to suggest we do the impossible. How can we see the unseen?  We can’t, not with our natural eyes. We are asked to look beyond what we can naturally see. We are called to “see” with eyes of faith. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1. God wants us to place our hope in what we can’t see, because what we can’t see is of eternal significance. What fills our natural eyes is not.  This is not to say that in the natural world there are things that energize our faith. In the natural beauty around us we can “see” the magnificence of the glory of God who is otherwise invisible. In the warmth of feeling that rises in us when we hold a loved one or see them happy, we get a hint of a God who loves us in ways we can not comprehend.  Sadly these glimpse of glory are fleeting. In Corinthians we are […]

My wife and I are convinced that more than once in our lives we encountered angels, unaware. That is, we didn’t realize that they were angels until after the encounter.  Scripture confirms that angels move among us. This raises some interesting questions. How do we know that it was an angel?  That’s a good question. In our personal experience, we decided it must have been an angel based on a couple of factors.      The being appeared almost miraculously.  We were in need of help and someone or something appeared.        It was someone we did not know, had ever seen before and never saw again.  Why would God send an angel?       My smarty-pants response is that no humans would accept the mission. Lots of times I have felt the call to go somewhere or do something with the distinct feeling that the urging was coming from God and I did not respond. God often has a plan B, C, or D… Maybe when He gets to Z, he sends an angel.       There are lots of examples of Him sending angels in scripture.       The function of angels is thought to […]

  There are lions outside. There are good reasons to stay secure in our hideouts. It’s a rough world out there. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 1 Peter 5:8. Everyone will understand if we don’t go where it’s dangerous.  The truth is that the “lion” is not as dangerous as he sounds. His roar is worse than his bite. Further, we don’t go out there alone. In fact, the battle is already won. Yet He counts on us to act. He waits for us to make a move, before He engages the enemy. We live in enemy territory. We reside in a battle zone. As the end draws nearer, the fighting becomes fiercer.  There is a lion out there but it’s no big deal. Go confront him.  

As Christ Followers, we are supposed to have a story. I remember a pastor, years ago, saying that we need to keep it simple: Before Jesus. Jesus. After Jesus.  The problem is that, for me, the story isn’t that simple. There is not a clear, clean rescue. There isn’t a one-time rescue. There is rather a series of rescues.  As I look back upon my life I see multiple rescues. I see times when I knew I should turn left and He rescued me and pushed me to the right. There were times when I made a wrong turn and wandered for a while before the Rescuer came, but He always came.  There are probably those who have a classic: Before Jesus. Jesus. After Jesus story. I suspect that they are in the minority. Many of us can point to the “big” rescue, but our lives are stories of drift from the path, then rescue.  Zach Williams song, Rescue Story, seems to capture this. He talks about “battles” plural. He refers to “songs” plural, of redemption. He remembers “every time” that he ran away.  Most importantly, he knows, “you never gave up on me.” Don’t be confused if, like […]

Sometimes when I’m feeling silly I like to watch different news channels on the same day. You would think they are reporting on completely different events. When I was a kid the “news” used to tell us what happened. It’s true there was some editorializing based on what stories were covered and which were not. Today the “news” does that but more. The talking heads leave out pertinent facts, add their own spin, or just out and out lie. You probably think that there is some news source that you can trust and that you rely on, but the truth is that source probably is just better at telling you what you want to here. It seems no one gives us The Whole Truth. As Christ Followers, we are supposed to go to His Word for The Whole Truth. Even there we have to be careful. We can’t pick and choose what to read. We can’t filter out what we don’t like. We can’t just focus on what we believe are the good parts. When we do that we become our own newscasters, telling ourselves what we want to hear, failing to absorb The Whole Truth. If we focus […]