Nick’s Walk

I am watching the unbelievable unfolding story of what occurred during the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.  For not the first time in history it appears that the men on the front lines demonstrated incredible courage in the face of cowardice on the part of their leaders.  To act with courage or cowardice is a choice we face in our daily lives a lot more than we care to admit.  We face incredible problems in our nation and most of us in our personal lives. We can no longer wait for the folks “in charge” to “do something.” We must act individually. I must admit that I have become more a spectator than a participant in life. This has to end. We have to be involved. Nothing is going to change unless we do something. God is on His throne; but we are His hands and feet. There are just a handful of days until the election. It’s time to stop watching it unfold on television and get involved. At a minimum, we need to be informed voters. Have you even considered what you will be asked to vote on? Have you encouraged those upon whom you […]

October is Pastor Appreciation Month. I think we can honor our pastors best by being honest about what we should expect from them and what they should be able to expect from us. 1. Don’t expect them to be perfect. They are human, just like us. 2. Don’t expect them to have every spiritual gift. We need to know where our pastors are gifted and be prepared to supplement their gifts with our gifts. Ministry is a shared job. 3. Expect them to have a personal life. It’s unbelievable how intrusive we can be on the lives of our pastors. They know that it’s not a nine to five job; but please give your pastor some room to have a life. 4. Expect them to need encouragement. It’s okay to tell the pastor what’s right as well as what’s wrong. It’s okay to complement him on a good sermon or a special effort. We all need encouragement, even pastors. 5. Don’t expect the pastor’s spouse to be anything but the pastor’s spouse. A church hires a pastor not a dynamic duo. Most pastor’s wives are an extra benefit to their spouse’s congregation; but don’t expect them to do everything […]

After my post this morning urging everyone to vote, and vote correctly, I was asked, “What about the Constitutional Amendments?” I am always discouraged when I see that once again we have constitutional amendments to consider and they always seem to be way too complicated. I don’t think our State Constitution should  be so detailed that it has to be amended for every little change in circumstances, but we have what we have.  There is an excellent source of unbiased information about the Amendments. The Public Affairs Research Council puts out an explanation of the amendments and the pro and con arguments. You can find it here.  I have reviewed the document and can tell you I intend to vote “yes” on all of the amendments. I am, however, open to arguments against any of them and will let  you know if I change my mind. I would enjoy, I guess, receiving your comments and thoughts. Obviously, my opinion is important only to me and the persons who asked what I thought. For the rest of you, you know where your “delete” key is. Be blessed. Nick

It’s obvious that the upcoming election is going to be very close. The candidates are working hard to convince what has to be a very small group of “undecideds.” But they are also working hard to make sure that every voter who would vote for them actually does vote.  If you have decided not to vote  or have not decided for whom to vote for president, please take a look at this website. This is part of a blog written by Randy Alcorn. He points out that there is a difference between the candidates, that neither is perfect, but one is a better choice than the other. Please check it out if you have any doubt about what you need to do on election day.  Be in prayer. God is in control, but he works through His people. Be blessed.  Nick

I have been listening to David Jeremiah’s teachings on Heaven and reading Francis Chan’s Erasing Hell. I am much more comfortable listening to talk about heaven than I am reading about hell. I guess that puts me in the same category as most Christians. Roughly 9 in 10 Americans believe in God.  At the same time, only 7 in 10 profess belief in the Devil and in hell. That’s a bad case of biblical cherry picking. Obviously it’s much more pleasant to consider there’s a heaven than it is to contemplate hell. But scripture teaches the reality of both. It’s interesting that studies show that the knowledge of hell is more likely to keep us on the straight and narrow, than are just thoughts of clouds and angels. Someone actually did a study which revealed that people that believe in hell are less likely to commit crimes than those who believe only in heaven. Check it out if you think you can follow a psychological study.  I have to wonder about someone who would decide to do such a study.  Of course God is way ahead of psychologists and sociologists. He filled scripture with references to both heaven and hell. He also […]

Romans 8:38-39 New International Version (NIV) 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,nor any powers, that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Does it sometimes seem God is mad at you? I hope you said, “yes.” There is some comfort in knowing that I am not the only one. I certainly sometimes feel that God must be mad at me. I feel that way now. I know it’s not very spiritual. I know it’s not theologically correct.  The problem is that feelings are not directly connected to knowledge. It doesn’t do any good for someone to tell you that it’s not so. That doesn’t change how you feel. I guess part of the problem is that if I was God, I might be mad at me. It doesn’t do any good to know that I am not God and God is much more loving than I am.  I can tell you that God isn’t mad at you. If you don’t feel that, I totally understand. Be blessed. Nick

  Our Pastor had a great sermon on Sunday, “Synced with God.” I have never been above stealing good stuff for my blog so I do so again today. At least I admit my thievery. I figure that until Pastor Jason starts blogging his stuff is fair game. Most Christians operate in “airplane mode.” In that mobile phone mode, there is no outside communication. Everything that is already on the phone is available but nothing new comes in. But God wants to communicate with us daily. He has fresh words for us. He wants to speak life into our hearts. We want to be on the same page with God, don’t we? If that were all the sermon was about, it would been great. But Pastor went on to suggest how we can be synced with God. 1. We need to be spirit filled – baptized in the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that if we simply ask for the Spirit it will be given. Don’t make it more complicated than that; but don’t skip this step. Spirit communicates with spirit. We can’t be synced without the Spirit. 2. Lean into the truth. In the midst of the political season […]

I have been sorting and editing the 246 pictures we have taken thus far on our vacation. Most of them taken by the kids. We have been overwhelmed by the fall beauty around us.  I wanted to provide a representative pic to accompany this post. I finally settled on this scene. It’s what we see standing on the deck of our cabin. The kids have played in the river apparently unaffected by the chilly fall temperatures. The sound of the rushing water has worked its calming  magic on all of us.  As we discussed yesterday with Nick and Sammie, how can anyone upon seeing this beauty, still not believe in God. We are surrounded by evidence not only that there is a God, but that He is a great God. Consider that what we see is but a filtered view of His greatness.  I love an old Keith Green song in which he marvels at the beauty of the earth and speculates on the magnificence of heaven considering “He’s been working on heaven for 2000 years.”  Our Lord You are Great. And greater still when we consider that you consider us worth dying for. We are overwhelmed and well […]