Nick’s Walk

I have lots of beautiful wonderful women in my life, starting with my wife and including my daughter, grand daughters, great grand daughter, daughter in law. I don’t want to think of them in combat.  It’s not that I don’t think they are capable. Maybe I’m just way too old fashioned, but it just doesn’t seem right. To be truthful, I’m not too thrilled about anyone I love being in combat. There are way too many wars. I understand that life is combat, particularly on the spiritual level. We are at war and women are in the thick of it. But there is just something about outfitting ladies with weapons and setting them out on battlefields that doesn’t seem right with me. When I was in the Navy, women were just starting to have a more significant role. The problem in those days was that they were limited to shore jobs. So they tended to take up those positions, making it harder for the guys to ever draw any land duty. I wasn’t happy with that scenario either. I know it’s great that women have the vote and equal rights in employment and all that. It seems these days […]

Feeling appreciated is one of the greatest needs we have. When you share with someone your appreciation and gratitude, they will not forget you. Appreciation will return to you many times. Steve Brunkhurst My grandson, Nicholas, is spending the night with us. He is hoping to attend the David Thibodeaux Stem Academy next  year. He will be old enough and his mom teaches there so it would be convenient as well as a great learning experience. Attendance requires an application including recommendations letters and an interview. We picked him up after school yesterday to get him a haircut in preparation for the interview. He had two of his teachers’ recommendation letters. They were glowing. Upon careful reading, they were also completely accurate. I sometimes forget how great a kid he is.  Would it be wise to consider all the great attributes of the friends and family members who complete our lives every day? Maybe we should sit down and write “letters of recommendation” for our spouse and kids. Maybe we would increase our appreciation for the great gifts they are in our lives.  I know there is one kid I appreciate a lot more this morning. Be appreciative and […]

Matthew 6:19-21 New International Version (NIV) Treasures in Heaven where moths and vermin destroy, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

We  can all look back on times in our lives when we see the hand of God. There was the near medical disaster or the storm that didn’t blow us away or the financial disaster that didn’t materialize. We can see the special people that became part of our lives and without whom we would not be the same. We call these things, “miracles.” These are miracles because they show the intervention of a powerful God in the lives of ordinary men. But the real miracle is God’s constant intervention and involvement in our lives. We live in a state of perpetual dependence upon Him. We just don’t always recognize it. We don’t always see that every breath we take is a miracle. We don’t acknowledge that every bite of food is provided by Him. Saddest of all, perhaps, is we let slip by the miracles of opportunity that he serves up to us every day of our lives.  It is His plan for us that we live lives of perpetual dependence on Him. Nothing we do on our own is worth anything. Every good thing comes from Him. Surely there are big events that shake up our worlds, […]

Now you are the body of Christ,

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