Nick’s Walk

I awoke on the first day of our Arkansas adventure in the Palace Hotel in De Queen, Arkansas. It wasn’t what I planned. I had convinced my wife that what we needed at this point in our lives was an adventure, leaf peaking in Arkansas seemed like a good idea. I envisioned a one day drive from Lafayette to Northwest Arkansas thrilled by vistas of fall color. Man plans and God laughs. Turns out this is a very bad year for fall color in Arkansas. On the first day, we saw less fall color than is visible from our front porch back in Lafayette.  Oh well.  My wife and I are not aging in synch. For example, she sleeps more and I sleep less. On the first day of our trip I was up when it was still dark, my wife not so much. We didn’t leave Lafayette until nearly noon.  My diminished hope was to make it into Arkansas before dark. Texarkana seemed a fair goal. I learned that a new impressive interstate system makes it possible to pass very near to Texarkana without actually entering in its city limits. Pressing on – the next motel we found, […]

Yesterday I discovered a nursing home resident who was shocked to learn Hillary Clinton supported abortion. New information reversed her position on the presidential election. I suppose it’s not surprising that a nursing home resident is uninformed and was about to vote based on completely incorrect information. The sad truth, however, is that she is not alone. I’ve also seen interviews with college students who couldn’t identified pictures of Ronald Reagan or Joe Biden, but instantly recognized Kim Kardashian. Like the nursing home resident, these people intend to vote.  These are not isolated examples. Even recovering news junkies like me are ill informed. Consider this: When I step into the voting booth I will have to choose between 13 candidates for president, 24 for senate, and 12 for congress. I have only met one of these candidates who is running for senate and that was many years ago.  As a lawyer I am lucky in that I know both candidates for Supreme Court, but I know I am the exception, not the rule. Being a lawyer isn’t going to help me with the Constitutional Amendments. Unlike most folks, I have read the entire PAR analysis of the Amendments but […]

There are several ways you can receive my blog postings. You can read them on Facebook or Twitter. You can get them set to you by email or you can get a link texted to you. Some folks are getting multiple emails or texts.  Please let me know if you would like to be added or removed from my email or text lists. You can, of course, always friend/un-friend me on Facebook or follow/un-follow me on twitter. Thanks for your help in cleaning up my lists. I always appreciate comments and prayer support. Nick email: nsigur@gmail.com text: 337-205-2353

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  Colossians 3:1-2 A heavenly minded person is best described as: a. Drifting Dreamer b. Judicial Judgmentalist c. Lousy Loser d. Radical Realist Last time we looked at the phrase: “too heavenly minded to be any earthly good.” We decided, at least I did, that Christians are, surprisingly, supposed to be heavenly minded. Today we consider what it means to be heavenly minded. Drifting Dreamer – If you chose “a” you are probably in the majority and totally wrong. Most folks believe the heavenly minded have their heads in the clouds and just don’t get the realities of life. The problem with this view is that this world is not all there is. In fact, it’s heaven that is of eternal significance and it’s very wise to have one’s mind planted there. Judicial Judgmentalist – If you chose “b” you are probably a unrepentant sinner. Sorry about that. These folks think the heavenly minded look down on everyone else from above and wrongly find fault with […]

Who said, “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.”? a. Jesus b. Paul c. C. S. Lewis d. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. a. Jesus – If you picked “a” I’m a bit embarrassed for you. Jesus didn’t say this or anything like it. You might want to pick up a red-letter bible and read the parts in red. I think you will conclude that Jesus wanted his followers to be a lot MORE heavenly minded. Our problem is usually that we are too distracted by the earthly things that surround us. b. If you said “b” that’s not as bad as “a” but not really good. Paul said things like “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:2, ESV). Frankly that’s just the opposite of the familiar saying. Check out those letters Paul wrote. You will see what I mean. c. C. S. Lewis is a better guess but not much better. He’s a theologian who wrote lots of things, but not this. In fact, he wrote: “A continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of […]

Psalm 1 1 Blessed is the one     who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take     or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,     and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,     which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—     whatever they do prospers. This morning I attended a men’s bible study led by Ty Cook, Senior Pastor at Lighthouse Family Church.  Ty spoke on the first three verses of Psalms 1. That got me thinking about plants, particularly trees. The Great Flood of 2016 left our back yard in shambles. The nasty bayou back up water stayed for a couple of weeks. After it finally receded, most of our yard looked dead. However, fall had also arrived and some of the brown might be attributed to that. It has become an issue to distinguish between the dead and the dormant. We got some pretty good advice. We had two options. We could wait until spring and see what turns great or we could cut into the […]

My dear wormwood: Make sure the patient remains completely fixated on politics. Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis, 1942 Angst is a feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world in general. Anger is a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility. Angst is defensive and general. Anger is offensive and specific. Angst sees the problem “out there.” Anger finds the solution inside. Angst inhabits cowardice. Anger motives courage. I don’t think Jesus ever felt angst. I know He was sometimes angry. I am moving from Angst to Anger and I think it’s a good thing. My angst is based on disgust with politics and disappointment with the church. I have long wondered how a nation couldn’t come up with two candidates better than what we have. I am beginning to realize that we are getting what we want and deserve. There’s a feeling of satisfaction in thinking that we are morally superior to our elected leaders. It’s an excuse for not being better. It’s like my attitude about the church. It’s easy to see that the church is not compassionate enough, involved enough, or doing enough. It’s harder to recognize […]

I recently read an article giving advice on how to deal with this election with your children. It’s a great article. Then it dawned on me that most of us are being child like in our treatment of the election. The candidates are acting like children. I guess we shouldn’t expect to be any better. I am angry about the choice we have for President in November. I’m a Republican and my party rejected men with high moral standards and went with an egotistical, no class reality star. My Democratic friends couldn’t find anyone better than Hillary, who wouldn’t know the truth if it bit her and who believes that a child has no rights and can be murdered until the moment of birth and that I should have to pay for it.  I realize that those are my issues and don’t project then on everyone else. It’s my anger and that’s what it’s based on. Maybe I need a perspective reset. Maybe we all do. 1. Fear Not. Most voters aren’t thrilled about their candidate, they are “afraid” of what will happen if the other candidate wins. I’m okay with having no faith in the government, but the […]