Nick’s Walk

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35 The Church is in the business of love, not in buildings or sermons or or worship teams or great Sunday productions. “But,” you say “I thought we were in the business of telling the world about Jesus.” The world doesn’t care about Jesus. It doesn’t care He was God. It doesn’t care that He died for them. It doesn’t care that He’s coming again. It really doesn’t care when He’s coming again. The plan is to make them care. We make them care by demonstrating something so amazing, so attractive, so life changing that they come on their own. That they ask, “What have you got? Who is this Jesus?” But loving is not what we do. We do the sermons. We build the buildings. We pray. We teach. These are certainly all good things. But we don’t use the key that Jesus gave us, love. Why don’t we? Because it’s hard. It doesn’t come natural. Oh, we are use to loving so we will be loved; but we don’t know how to love like Jesus loved, unconditionally, expecting nothing in […]

24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25 I had a great week, but I find myself drained. It could be spending most of it with a ten year old and the rest of it with a 2 year old and a puppy. But I don’t think that’s it. I think its because I missed church last Sunday because we were travelling. I missed the worship service and our Sunday night gathering. I also missed my Wednesday morning men’s prayer. In fact, I missed that the week before. No wonder I am drained. These verses from Hebrews are great advice which we ignore at our peril. It’s not just that we miss the worship or the teaching. It’s more than that. As the verse says the gathering allows us to “consider” one another to stir up love and good works. Does absence really make the heart grow fonder? I think it makes us forget the negatives and recall only the positives. When we gather with saints the […]

Kaydence came to stay with us for the weekend last night. It was good to have her back although she was a bit fussy. Admittedly we were very indulgent with her, letting her have too much sweet stuff, keeping her up too late. We will have to get her back on schedule today. On mornings like this we can question our God. But, it occurs to me that God is often indulgent with us His children. He provided a multicolored world when black and white would have worked. He provides days like today with crystal blue skies and perfect temperatures. He gives us precious children and loving family and friends. Like our children we become spoiled and conclude that we have a right to such indulgence and become upset when “bad” or tragic things, like earthquakes happen. Although we are the beneficiaries of our Father’s great love and indulgence, we are also subject to His justice and intentions for our lives. We are here for a purpose. He could choose to take us home when we become His children, but we remain with a great commandment and commission. Father, thank you for the blessed reminders of your love and […]

I write this sitting at home. The quiet is amazing even though we are babysitting a puppy. The smell of home cooked chicken pot pie wins my wife the Good Housekeeping seal of approval. I offered to help, but she said, “Just rest.”   You might think four days with a nine-year-old isn’t restful, I was surprised to find it was. We didn’t take this picture on our trip. But it well describes “rest.” The last few days were great but it is also great to be home. And it’s at home that the real work must be done. Nick like all my family has to be loved every day. The special times will always be special; but the best memories and the strongest foundations are built on unplanned and ordinary times. Love is truest in the ordinary times and the daily grinds in putting out the garbage, walking the dog and helping with the homework. I hope I will be wise enough to continue to invest daily as I have the last few days. I know the rewards will be as important if not as instant and dramatic and restful. One of the problems of plowing back into the […]

The Third day of our Adventure is wrapping up in Hope: Hope, Arkansas. Today we did the Mid America Science Museum and TRex Jurassic Golf. By 2:30 this afternoon we realized we had done everything on our “What We Want to Do In Hot Springs” list. Wanting to cut short our on-the-road time tomorrow, we hit the highway and got as far as Hope. That’s a good way to end any time together. It was a great period of relationship renewal, but the hope is that it will be just the beginning of a new, improved relationship. I have learned quite a bit, including much about my grandson and some stuff about me. For example, I am getting old. Not just older, but old. I was most comfortable this week when taking a nap and I had trouble keeping up with a 10 year old. Growing old is just a part of life. It’s amazing that God has designed us so that as we age we should stare our mortality in the face as we function less perfectly.  The train is leaving the station. Our time for accomplishing anything in His name is limited. We should learn the lesson […]

Day two of our Arkansas adventure was better than Day one. We went to the tops of the mountains surrounding Hot Springs and went up the observation tower. We took in a movie and went to an Aquarium. We ended the day watching DVDs in the big king size bed and falling asleep.My principle observation from Day two is that Nick is a good kid. He is well mannered, never meets a stranger, up for anything and willing to pitch in. He unloaded the car when we arrived. He has complained about nothing and has been enthusiastic about everything. I know these traits will help in greatly in the years ahead. But I also know it will not be enough. Human goodness is, well, good. Further, those who display human goodness are often taken advantage of by those not as good. I pray God’s protection over Nick. But human goodness is not enough we need the holiness that only God can provide. Nick is well on his way on that path two. He feels free to talk about the things of God and shows a knowledge and understanding that are a credit to his Mom. I pray he will […]

The first day of our adventure was great. We left Lafayette at 8 a.m. Stopped for a great Mexican lunch in Hope.  (The Clintons declined our invitation to dine.) We arrived at the Alpine Inn at 3 p.m. Nick told the Inn Keeper it was the best Inn he had ever seen. Adding that it was the only Inn he had ever seen. We topped off the day with a steak supper at Outback. We are enjoying a movie bundled up in the King Bed. We listened to an audio book and played video games (Nick played. I drove) on the way up. It would have been a perfect day; but the Cajuns lost. It was a good game and very exciting but not satisfying. However, as Nick says “More time for fun things.” We plan to visit the Science Museum tomorrow and check the view from one of the surrounding peaks. My memory of the day was Nick’s overall enthusiasm. He frequently made comments appreciative of what we were seeing or doing. I tend to get down pretty easily and it is a great lesson to be with someone who is almost always up. Looking forward to more […]

Sing along with the Great Adventure.This morning I’m off on an adventure. My grandson and I are headed up to Hot Springs, Arkansas for the Sunbelt Tournament. Win or lose, we will stay until Wednesday hopefully watching basketball and having fun. Trips, large and small, have been an adventure for me since I was a child. Our family didn’t travel much. We had 9 kids and, for much of my childhood, no car. But my godmother would take us on great trips. I remember going to Colorado, Mexico and Tennessee. I remember the adventure started days before the trip with packing, buying clothes and general anticipation. It was great fun to see new places and to do something different from the daily routine. This adventure started the same. I didn’t even sleep very well last night in anticipation. I think the life of a Christian was meant to be an adventure. Jesus certainly was one to travel and to live every day to the fullest and with much adventure. The mundane course of most lives isn’t the natural way. We fall into routines because they are safe and require little faith or imagination. We should awaken each morning thinking, […]