Nick’s Walk

27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. John 14 I have been considering making 2012 better than 2011. Yesterday  I looked at making sure I have a Paul, a Barnabas, and a Timothy in my life. Today, I focus on making His peace the theme of my life.  Jesus talked more about peace and the absence of fear than anything else. He spoke the above words hours before His crucifixion. If our lives are going to mean anything, if we are going to accomplish anything for Christ, we are going to have to get past fear and on to peace.  If I can make certain truths real in my life, I can have that peace.  God is in control of everything. Without this assurance, the world is a scary place. Everything seems so chaotic, only because we forget He’s in control.  Relax. He’s got this.  He loves me and will see me through every circumstance, no matter how difficult or painful it may be. Most of our misery comes from believing we are not loved and the crazy things we do to get that love.  Forget it.  The God of the universe loves […]

As we approach the new year, we review the past and plan for a better future.   Let’s consider our relationships.  One of the legacies of the Promise Keeper movement is the concept that we should all have a Paul, a Barnabas, and a Timothy. Paul was a missionary to many regions of Greece, and eventually to Rome. Barnabas, which means “Son of Encouragement” was one of his partners in the missionary work.   Paul also trained Timothy to take over from him.  Paul was Timothy’s mentor.  In order to live an effective life, we need to learn from someone wiser than we are, have one or more friends who can encourage and work with us, and to pass on our wisdom to someone else who can continue our life’s work long after we’re gone. So who’s your Paul, your Barnabas, your Timothy? Before this year ends, identify these key folks in your life and commit to developing those relationships in 2012. These things don’t happen by accident. Be intentional and be blessed.  Nick 

It was a good Christmas. Lots of family time, good food and fellowship, memorable moments, and some fun gifts. We ended the day around a fire with good conversation and some expressions of exhaustion, even a couple saying  “glad it’s over.” That’s kind of sad.  It seems to me we approach Christmas much as we do Christ. We can’t seem to accept either as a free gift. We have to make both a project. For Christmas, it’s like we are trying to recreate some ancient memory from our youth, or a scene from a favorite Christmas movie, maybe a picture from a magazine or a recipe from the Food Network. We exhaust ourselves for something that just needs to be treated for what it is, a free gift.  We do the same with Jesus. With our universal type A personalities, we believe that it is all about us and what we do. We make salvation into a project. And, like our Christmas fantasy, we doom ourselves to failure.  Next year we have another chance to just relax and enjoy the free gift of Christmas. With Christ, we don’t have to wait a year. We can decide today to accept Him […]

A couple of days ago I brought tears to many of my family by considering how our parents got Christmas right. Our family gathered last night. A good time was had and I got another opportunity to consider my parents. I was unhappy in my failure to nail down how they were able to get Christmas right.  So there is no confusion, although I grew up in the 50s, my family wasn’t Father Knows Best, or Leave It To Beaver, or even The Waltons.  My parents were real people with faults and “issues.” They were sinners, if you will.  We had many of the problems that haunt modern families. After much thought I realize that the difference was that my parents stayed together. Through poverty and drug addiction and even crime, I don’t remember one time thinking my parents might separate. It was beyond the realm of possibility. Through all that happened to us, and much did, that truth produced a stable and assured generation.  Split Christmas was unknown to us. Today too many kids will spend Christmas in two different places. Because of divorce, or no marriage, their parents don’t live together. Christmas Eve isn’t the time to […]

Christmas is a big deal. It is strange how big a deal we make of it. Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead, but that was years later.  At his birth, he just lies there, doing nothing. He is a baby. That’s the big deal.  Jesus did it all during His life. He saved us. But in this season, we don’t even get to that, the marvel of all He did.  We stop and marvel at who He is.  And He is the eternal Son of God, who took on our human nature in order to save us.  “Come, let us adore him.” “What child is this?” All we can do is kneel in awe, then celebrate, gather with loved ones, and exchange gifts and gratefulness. We will have plenty of time to marvel at what He did.  For now, let’s just marvel at who He is.  That’s a really big deal.  Have a blessed Christmas.  Nick

Yesterday I recalled how great our parents were at doing Christmas. Today I saw an article called “16 Daddy Christmas Tips” by Pastor Mark Driscoll on Dec 19, 2011 in Parenting.  I though I would take what he suggested and twist it to my own strange views.  It’s only a couple of days before Christmas and likely your good intentions of Keeping Christ this year are faded.  Maybe it’s not too late. Here are some thoughts.  We need a plan for the holidays to ensure family is loved and memories are made. What’s your plan? Check local guides for fun holiday stuff. My grandson and I went to a basketball game. Not your traditional Christmas fare but we had a great time together. That’s a very Christmas thing.  Mark time for sacred events and experiences to build family traditions that are fun and point to Jesus. Go to a Christmas eve service at a different church from yours. Expand your holiday horizons.  Give as a family. One great way to do this is to serve and love a hungry family through Food for the Hungry. Schedule a big Christmas date with someone special? Help mom. Nicky and I are hitting the supermarket with a shopping list from Rose. Help […]

This will be my sixty-second Christmas. Anything you do 62 times, you should get right. But I still seem to have trouble getting Christmas right. Maybe I have improved in my approach. For many of my initial Christmases I focused on what I was going to get. As the oldest of nine children, looking back, I didn’t get much. My folks were poor. We didn’t have a car until after I graduated for high school. For years we lived in “the projects.” I will never forget spending hours looking through the Sears “Big Book” for the one thing I could ask for. I remember plotting with my siblings to make sure we didn’t make the mistake of asking for the same thing. I guess I’m way past that. In fact, this year I haven’t given any thought to what I might get for Christmas. I understand from those who love me that I am terrible to buy for. I like to think it’s because I’m a wonderfully complex person. My wife says it’s because I just go out and buy anything I want. Maybe that’s a product of growing up poor. I do spend a lot of time and […]

How often when asked how things are going have you responded “fine” when life was anything but fine. It’s easier to be nice than to be honest. Frankly, when we ask how things are going, we often really don’t want to know. We certainly aren’t looking for a detailed response. Much of our conversation is so superficial. That’s probably acceptable in general, but in our special relationships, it just won’t do. In the fourth chapter of Ephesians, while discussing Christian maturity and growing up into Christ, Paul uses the phrase, “speaking truth in love.” That phrase expresses the balance we need to strive for in our serious conversation. While we need to be honest, the truth can be painful. It must be delivered “in love.” Loving honesty is a trait of the mature Christian. It’s not enough just to say, “I’m telling you that you are a worthless, ugly person, but I’m doing it in love.” Describing our intentions doesn’t make it so. There are elements of loving honesty. First, there needs to be a loving relationship. For there to be loving honesty, there needs to be love. We can’t expect to dive into stark honesty with strangers and expect […]