Nick’s Walk

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Ephesians 6:10 Maybe before reading this you should spend a few minutes listening to a song. The first thing Kaydance asks when she sees me for the first time in a while is, “Pick me up.” As independent as a three year old is, she wants to be held and her instincts scream at her to find a greater source of strength. Somehow Thursday night she ended up on the floor by her bed. She lay there crying although she was completely capable of getting up on her own. She wouldn’t stop crying until I picked her up and crawled into bed with her. It’s good to be stronger than someone, even if that someone is only three. It’s good to know when we fall, there’s someone to pick us up, crawl into bed with us and comfort us. It’s as true at 62 as it is at three.  We know there is a spiritual war going on around us. There is no avoiding it. When spiritual warfare is discussed, Ephesians 6:10-20 is usually the center. These verses are the instruction manual. They are meaty and need to be […]

In the 1970s, a talented comedian named Flip Wilson, made the phrase “The devil made me do it” famous. He portrayed characters like the “Rev” and Geraldine who liked to blame things on the devil. If you have forgotten or you’re too young to remember you can watch this segment. I have to think Satan loved Geraldine. She helped in both of his strategies: to get credit for things he didn’t do and to be made such a comic character that no one would take him seriously. Hollywood has helped him out often. Who can forget the sinister movie, the Exorcist? To those who are too young, I won’t help you with a video clip…too scary.  When we begin to consider spiritual warfare we will run into both of Satan’s schemes. Like so much in life, balance is what is required. Satan wants you to sin, but sometimes you want it yourself or the temptations of the world are just too strong. Yes, demonic possession and lesser levels of influence do exist. Satan is real. But just because you’re not spewing forth pea soup and your head is not spinning around 360 degrees, doesn’t mean he’s leaving you alone. […]

1 John 2:5-6 New King James Version (NKJV) 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. When we focus on what Jesus said we tend to drift into theological discussions that can distort his message. We would often do better to focus on what. he did. If we live like Jesus did, we can know we are like Him.  Those who preach a prosperity gospel should consider that Jesus didn’t seem to own anything and even noted that He had no place to lay his head. Those who urge political correctness, being nice, and not offending; would do well to consider Jesus’ anger at the Pharisees, and his physical violence when offended by the money changers. Those who just hang around with Christians and go no where but church, would do well to consider where Jesus went and with whom he talked and ate. Those who believe that the bigger a church’s building the more efficient the ministry, might consider Jesus preached on hillsides and in […]

I know about the reality of war. I served two tours in Vietnam. But that’s not where I gained war experience. In fact, I spent those war years in a legal office in the belly of an aircraft carrier. I killed no one and saw no one killed. I weep with those who did and then came back home not to ticker tape parades but to the jeers of hateful demonstrators. I gained my war experience at home where the enemy is more deadly and more cunning than the Viet Cong. In this war the enemy is seldom seen. He has the ability, it seems, to get into the heads of his enemies and confound and confuse. He can turn combatants against each other. You seldom see his missiles coming or hear his footsteps in the night.  Leave him alone and he doesn’t seem to notice you. Yet he honors no rules regarding noncombatants. In fact, he seems to relish injury and pain in the weak and innocent. He has no concept of fair fighting nor has he heard of the Geneva Convention. He fights fearlessly and relentlessly though his cause is lost and his defeat inevitable.  He counts his victories […]

Luke 8:40-56 New International Version (NIV) Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman  40 Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. 41 Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house 42 because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.    As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. 43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,

I’m fond of ending my correspondence with “Be Blessed.” I like that as a greeting as well. It’s even become a kind of code word among Christians. But I’m thinking that maybe I need to modify it. After all, we are blessed. That’s not in dispute. The real issue is do we realize we are blessed. For me, I feel blessed sometimes, but lot’s of times…not so much.  I find it good periodically to review my blessings. Here are just some: 1. Friends. Friends are those people you can tell anything and they can do the same to you. Your blessings are multiplied if your friends include your family and you’re over the top if you can count your spouse as a friend. I can. I’m blessed. 2. The world. I know to us Christians, the world, is a bad word. But I’m talking about the beauty of His creation. How can you walk about the last few days in this gorgeous weather and not be overcome with a feeling of blessing. 3. Your capabilities. You can’t do everything, but you can do something. With a painful knee recently it has been easy to focus on what I can’t […]

This week I had an adventure. It didn’t involve travel or danger. It didn’t happen in a far away place. It occurred in my own home. I cleaned out my office. If you’ve never seen my office you can’t fully appreciate this adventure. My office had become so clutter and disorganized, so much more a store room than an office, that the thought of entry kept me away. But armed with determination and Tyler, an energetic twenty something, the adventure began. In a couple of hours we had piled together enough throw aways to fill the bed of two pickups. Just getting rid of stuff that should have been thrown out years ago was refreshing. But the real excitement came in discovering stuff I had forgotten I had. I found a Lafayette phone directory from 1954. That alone could provide a day of adventure. I found enough folders, envelopes, paper clips, etc that I won’t have to go to Office Depot again, ever. Well maybe that’s over the top. I also found marvelous electronic devices that were disturbingly out of date. A hand held GPS that I thought was so cool when I got it, an electronic bible, a […]

This week we’ve considered spiritual warfare. We’ve determined that there are spirits, good and bad. Satan exists; but he’s not as powerful as God. In the end, we win. We know that there is a war going on. We try to understand that  much of what we see on the natural level is the result of what is being played out in the spirit realm.” For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12.  We are called to participate in this war. We have a place. “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” So where do we start? How do we enlist? How do we get into the game? PRAY. I know that we think of prayer as a sideline activity. We think that’s something the spectator does while sitting on the sideline. Maybe that’s because we don’t understand prayer. We still think of prayer as words we say or petitions we make. Sadly that’s often the extend of our prayer […]