Nick’s Walk

I recently purchased a new recliner. I got it for comfort. I let my wife choose the color. I didn’t care about that. For me, it was all about comfort. Much of what we do is about comfort. We hang around with people we are comfortable with.  Our political and social affiliations are guided by our comfort levels. We go to churches where we are comfortable. Churches are designed to make us comfortable. Now they have coffee bars, comfortable seating, and feel good programs. I don’t think Jesus meant for us to be so comfortable. In fact, we are designed to be UNcomfortable. We grow and learn in discomfort. We are meant to get our comfort only from God. Jesus promised to send us a Comforter, the Holy Spirit. If we make ourselves comfortable we perceive no need for Him. We need to live in challenge. We need to live in recognition of our inadequacy without Him. We need to move out of the comfort and into the discomfort zone.  In Jeremiah 1, we learn how we are designed from before our birth to fulfill a need. That design doesn’t include obvious attributes that make us perfect for our […]

Here’s an article I provided to Covenant Spotlight for Father’s Day. Grab a copy of the June Issue or check it out online for more Father’s Day thoughts. https://www.cspotlight.com/# I think most dads today are grossly undervalued. I count some of these guys as my twenty-first century heroes. Most moms are great; but so are most dads. There are some subpar dads and there are, yes, some subpar moms. Let’s be fair. This latest generation of 20 to 30-year-old dads seem particularly good. The ones I know help at home, take the family to church, are faithful to spouse and God, and work pretty hard in a stress and temptation filled environment. Well done guys. No doubt there are far too many single-parent families, most of them headed by women. There are numerous examples of abandonment and unfaithfulness. Those ladies deserve credit and support. Let’s not forget, however, the men who are doing great. More than ever before men are taking a fatherhood role with children of other men. Often their roles are part-time and their authority often doesn’t match their responsibility. Well done guys. Most men come home to households in which mom is as tired as they are; […]

One of the biggest knocks against the Bible is that it is full of contradictions. I don’t find “contradictions,” but I have to admit that there are some pretty severe tensions. The first and greatest may involve the principal reason folks turn to scripture, to answer the question, “How can I be saved?” Everyone wants to know about eternity and, frankly, fear of hell may be the greatest fear of all. On one hand, the answer seems simple enough. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This has to be one of the most popular scriptures. It is oft-quoted and we see it referenced in the stands at sporting events. It’s simple and straightforward: You want eternal life? Believe in Jesus.  Jesus’ most frequent greeting, “Fear not” seems consistent with this simple message. If we are to be fear-free, the greatest free of all, eternal damnation, needs to be dealt with. There needs to be some level of assurance that, like the “good” thief, we can be sure that on our death we will be “with Him in paradise.” Causing […]

This morning I drove from New Iberia to the Broussard exit on highway 90. I encountered 45 lawyer billboards. Really guys? Give it a rest. I have made a living practicing law for the past thirty plus years. Every so often I have to vent. Today is one of those days. Here is my advice to those seeking legal help. Take off your list of potential lawyers, all those who have billboard and television ads. There are reasons they are spending small fortunes on ads.  You can do so much better. Try to get a personal recommendation over trying to test a flood of ads. Here are truths to remember if you are in an accident. You don’t need an “accident investigation team.” That’s what the police are for. Any lawyer will consult with you for free and will wait until there is a judgment or settlement to get any money. It’s called a contingency contract. You will give the lawyer from 25 to 40 percent of any settlement for his work and advice. Any lawyer will do that.  Lawyers who mass advertise often conduct “factory” practices. They take in as many cases as possible, do as little work as […]

Take a break with me. I mean really do it. Stop a moment. Close your eyes. Take a deep break. Hold it. Let it go. What a gift! Every breath is a gift from God. Consider all the years of breaths he has given, allowing us to experience all that we have. Every breath is an opportunity to experience His wonders and to play some small but important part in His plans. Today, Memorial Day, we remember those whose last breath was selfless, often happening alone in hot jungles or cold wastelands. We have not always honored or even appreciated their sacrifice. Such sacrifice seems less common or real in these days of me, me, me. In honoring, the all-important sacrifice of others, we need to recommit to important use of the breaths we have left. We need to take advantage of the opportunities they never had.  The continuance of this marvelous gift means that He still has things for us to experience and to do. We still have a purpose and a reason for living. As we get older this becomes harder to realize. We tire more easily. Everything we planned for has not happened and the truth that […]

     In the 21st century, Christianity amounts to Going to Church. Pollsters separate us as “churched” or “unchurched.” We are the “churchgoers.” Does “Going to Church” qualify one as a Follower of Christ?  Keith Green used to say, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to MacDonalds makes you a hamburger.” Are our churches retreats from the world? Jesus commanded us to “go” not retreat. A church can be comfortable. It’s always nice to be among others like ourselves. The world is cold, hostile and threatening, but that’s where the battle is and where we are called.  More than retreats, churches aren’t really efficient at growing followers of Christ. Going to Church falls short in several ways. Primarily Church in 2018 isn’t church as portrayed by Jesus or lived out in the first century. Consider: Delegation      Church members are divided into two classes. The Ordained/unordained, Clergy/Lay, Paid/Unpaid distinctions in the modern church are unbiblical. We are called to be a Kingdom of Priests. The Great Commission is personal. The temple curtain has been torn. All His children have access. With that personal privilege comes personal responsibility.      Nearly 80% of unchurched people […]

Mother’s Day isn’t a great day for many. There are kids who have lost or never knew their mothers. There are mothers who have lost or never knew their children. There are women who prayed for motherhood and never saw that prayer answered. There are mothers struggling to raise children alone. We are greatly insensitive to the demographics these days. I remember a few years ago attending a Mother’s Day church service. The pastor asked the mothers to stand and then asked their husbands to stand with them. What an idiot. Had he no idea what life is like these days? There are mothers and children whose relationships are strained or even broken who will go through today pretending or avoiding each other altogether. There are mothers who are convinced their kids never listen. There are kids too proud to admit what a difference their mother’s words have made. We should greatly honor all mothers today. We should also forgive those mothers who haven’t been perfect. If we are honest that maybe most of them. We should be sensitive to those for whom this day is bitter. I am blessed to have great mothers in my family. They know who […]

GQ Magazine published an article recently: 21 Books You Don’t Have To Read. The list included many classics. The editors said these books were racist, or sexist, or just boring and provided alternatives. The Bible made the list. Here’s the reason:  The Holy Bible is rated very highly by all the people who supposedly live by it but who in actuality have not read it. Those who have read it know there are some good parts, but overall it is certainly not the finest thing that man has ever produced. It is repetitive, self-contradictory, sententious, (to folks like me who didn’t know what sententious means; it is “given to moralizing in a pompous or affected manner), foolish, and even at times ill-intentioned.  If I wrote a book that made it to this list, I think I would be proud. It’s GQ.  The Bible’s place on the list is really more a slam at Christians and less a critique of the collection of books. (The Bible isn’t a book; it’s a book collection, but I wouldn’t expect the editors of GQ to know that.)  Right off the editors go after those who “supposedly live by it” that would be us Christians, but who […]