Nick’s Walk

What a Blue Monday. I usually have Blue Monday feelings on Sunday night. I guess it’s in anticipation of Monday. But today is special. It’s the first day light savings time Monday. I had bad dreams last night and had trouble sleeping. I’m still burned out from my bladder infection. I missed church yesterday (more oversleeping) I over slept this morning. I twisted my ankle on my way out the door to greet a day gray with rain. Nicky went into the post office to help me by getting my mail. He dropped his iphone and cracked his screen. It’s not shaping up as a great day. I wonder if Jesus suffered Blue Monday syndrome while a man on earth. Were some days harder for Him to do what the Father called Him to do than others? Did He wake each morning with knowledge of the challenges He would face, the doubt He raise, the rejections of His message? I have to think He was in every way human, with the divine within that sometimes made His mission tougher rather than easier. For me I have to accept that I am subject to mood altering situations. Some days it’s […]

There are some steps required in coming to Jesus. There must be recognition and sorrow for our sinful state and an understanding that our state deserves nothing but punishment. There must be an acknowledgement that alone we are unable to justify this sinful state. That’s pretty much basic orthodox Christianity. What has been pretty simple and straightforward for most of human history has become complicated in this age of New Spirituality. In a society that doesn’t recognize absolute truth and puts the individual at the center, it is nearly impossible to come to a position of repentance. Without repentance, there is no salvation. Consider this definition of sin: “Sin is Being Out of Alignment With My Values.” Sorry wrong answer. God sets the standard,  not each of us individually. What societal chaos would result, in fact, has already resulted, from a general acceptance of that definition of sin. What of heaven/hell and award/punishment? Try this:  “If I’m true to myself and my faith then that is its own reward; when I’m not true to it, it’s its own punishment.” So, in short, I set the standard. If I don’t live up to it, I feel real bad. If I do, […]

The Rajun Cajun Basketball team is still playing basketball. They are in a postseason tournament. It’s not the NCAA tournament the winner of which is crowned National Champion. This is known as the Big Dance. It’s not the NIT Tournament. A Tournament which has been around for years. Let’s call it the Little Dance. This is a relatively new and unknown tournament, if you will, the Tiny Dance. But they are still playing and that’s great. It reminds me of life. I had planned to go to Angola today to participate in Prayer and Share with inmates. Let’s call it the big dance. After all, it involves big time sinners and great stories of conversion. I have a health issue this weekend and can’t make it. Well to be perfectly honest, I have a bladder condition and I didn’t have the courage to wear Depends to a Maximum Security Prison. I guess I’m not the bastion of courage I like to portray. God is good. He is continually providing us “dance” opportunities. They are not always big and dramatic. They are usually subtle every day waltzes. The waitress who serves you breakfast could use an encouraging word, “Play B11.” […]

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29 Have you ever considered that the disciples were not the “best and the brightest.” They were not the sharpest knives in the drawer or the cream of the crop. Now Paul was a really bright guy, but it was not his intellectual prowess which was his greatest witnessing tool, but his story of his meeting with the Savior that day on the road. His real testimony was his conversion from principal prosecutor of the church to its greatest apostle. His writings are wonderful, but we know they came from the mind of God. His real work involved dangerous and courageous travel through much of the known world, introducing men to Jesus.  We don’t have a collection of brilliant writings from John the Baptist; yet he accumulated a considerable following living a bare bones life in the desert. His words in John 1:29 contain his entire message: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We need to get over the intimidation of not being seminary graduates. We have to get past the excuse […]

During our Wednesday morning men’s meeting with listen to Our Daily Bread. Yesterday the topic was fragility. We can never expect to get through the next day without some threat to our lives. We are here for a short and very undetermined by us time. It was a pretty straight forward message and I felt like I got it. Apparently I need a life lesson. By ten am yesterday I was exhausted and things went down hill from there. I apparently have, at a minimum, a bladder infection. I solicit your prayers. LIfe is indeed so fragile and the older we get the more fragile it is. We spend way to much time worrying about and planning for tomorrows that may never come. All we really have is today and we should devote our energy and passions to the day we have been given. Living it as if it may be our last. The lives of those we love are just as fragile. Every conversation with a love one should end on a note we would never regret should it be our last. One look at the news should convince us that for all of us any day may […]

In the movie “As Good As It Gets” Jack Nicholson plays a socially inept older man who falls in love with a young waitress. He is no good at expressing his love and knows that unless he does so he will lose the girl. Finally, he tells her, “You make me want to be a better man.” It’s an “aw shucks” moment and the girl realizes that her love is really returned. What a wonderful description of our response to love especially the love of our God. If we truly understand what our salvation means and the price that was paid for us we can only respond that we want to be better men. It’s a humble recognition that we don’t deserve the love we have received. Of course, the grace of God is better than romantic love. His grace not only plants in us a desire to be a “better man” but empowers us to be a “better man.” What makes this love so powerful is that it is not dependent on us being better. He loved us when we were yet sinners. He loved us when we were unlovable. He loves us enough to want us to […]

As a race, we seem preoccupied with sin. Before we come to Jesus, it’s probably our conscience that points us to our sin. We may not call it that. We may even deny that these “sins” are a bad thing. We may be proud of them. But through the grace of God, our focus on them can bring us to the cross. Obviously, that’s a good thing.  At the cross, we get victory over sin. We find forgiveness for the sins we have committed, but we get more. We get joy. That joy comes from the relief which comes from forgiveness, but more. We remain imperfect. We are not yet as we will eventually be in the presence of our God in heaven. But He provides us with a focused light. As He is ready for us to clean up a part of our lives, He turns our focus on these things and with the focus comes the power to prevail over these newly revealed shortcomings. If we were completely, and at all times, aware of how far we fall short of perfection we would be overcome with frustration and hopelessness. Joy would not be our lot. Our loving […]

I heard a great teaching yesterday. Our Pastor, displaying great wisdom, asked our Children’s Ministry leader Heather to preach. She is not a “preacher” by profession but confirmed by her talk the truth of much I have long believed. We all have a story. Heather delightfully told the story of a mother of four struggling to do God’s will. Her story was full of honest tales from real life. They boldly set forth her own imperfections and the continuing ability of God to bring good out of all things. God shines through our imperfections. I am bothered by those who focus on our need to be “holy” and “perfect.” I read the scriptures to teach that while both are laudable goals; they are not reached in our lives here on earth and that’s part of God’s plan. His plan is not for us to feel like failures because we don’t measure up, but to rejoice that we can be used in our imperfection. Heather’s talk greatly illustrated this. It is important that we walk forward with the Lord. It makes a real difference to those around us. Although we won’t be perfect in this life; that’s no reason not […]