Nick’s Walk

  The sad thing about self-pity is the “self” part.  When we’re down, the cause is usually too much time looking in the mirror. It becomes all about me, my life, my pain, my problems, my situation. The problem with mirrors are that they seem to be accurate, but aren’t. Objects in the mirror are actually closer and uglier than they seem. The point is that we can’t trust the mirror that leads us to self-pity. In the mirror, the problems are never are distorted. They seem bigger, more insurmountable, unsolvable. Mirrors tend to focus our attention on details. We lose sight of the big picture. All we can see is the problem. We can’t see all that is good in our lives when gazing through the problem mirror. Mirrors have narrow focus. If we could just look around a bit we could see that our problems are nothing. We are the man with no shoes, forgetting about the man with no feet. We can’t afford what we want, forgetting about the millions who can’t afford to eat. We are ill in our bodies, forgetting those who are dead in sin. Instead of looking at mirrors, we need to gaze […]

Wouldn’t life be great, abundant even, if we could get in sync with God’s will and His timing? Much of the heresy in the church today arises from false teaching about God’s will and timing. We are told that God wants what’s best for His children. That’s true. He knows what is best; we don’t. What’s worse some believe that we can change His mind about what’s best or when things should happen. Much of our prayer time is spent explaining to God what He needs to do and when He needs to do it. God must smile and shake His head a lot. Abundant life isn’t a comfortable past and a “secure” future. It is the expectant joy in experiencing the surprising opportunities God presents us with each day. Life is exciting and satisfying not when God provides what we order up each day, but we experience what he supplies every day.

I have become irregular in my postings.  I think it’s because I’ve been so irritated. I find I am more easily irritated lately. I realize that there were plenty of obvious irritations recently, the elections, the effects of the flood which never seem to end, the heat, the humidity, the incredibly stupid fall television shows. I am hoping when the election and summer heat is over and the cool of fall and the holidays arrive, everything will be better. I think I may be fooling myself. For example, social media isn’t going to go away with a change in the seasons. I find social media is a great source of irritation: People who think that Hillary will be a swell president. People who think that Trump is great and not just the least offensive alternative. I am so sick of seeing posts that promise that “this changes everything” or “Hillary is done.” or “Trump is toast.” Even when the election is over I’ll have to hear how great and how awful whoever wins is. Social media is populated by people who feel it’s a great idea to tell me to “share” if I love Jesus, support the police, or  hate […]

Generally I have  not been a fan of weddings and funerals. I don’t like getting dressed up. I don’t like pretending to know people. I do enjoy avoiding getting people off the hook by saying who I am and how I am related to the guests of honor. Let ’em guess. I mean generally these events are not about me and so are no big deal. I enjoyed my wedding, the best I can remember. I’ll likely miss my own funeral. I had to attend a wedding and a funeral this weekend and I was determined to make the best of it. With the proper attitude the funeral turned out to be a blessing. I didn’t really know the deceased, but she obviously was a loving person who knew and served the Lord. The event helped me refocus on what’s important: service and family. The length of the race is unknown; got to just keep on running. The wedding turned out to be fun.  It was great to see an old family friend so happy. The service was nice and the food was great. There are truly beautiful women in my family who are a joy and blessing to […]

Watching the news this week, I found myself commenting how terrible it is that some have used a tragic death as an excuse to riot and loot. This got me thinking about excuses and how easy it is to fall back on them. If the Saints or Cajuns or Florida Gators lose on the weekend, I can make that an excuse to have a bad attitude to start the week. When my wife cooks a great meal, the excuse to overeat comes very easily. I felt very justified in getting angry when a woman in front of me in the check out line at Wal-Mart had way too many items to be in the 20 item line. I even counted her items under my breath as she checked out . Turned out she had 19. Our excuses are usually not valid or even factually accurate. There are way too many excuses floating around. A lack of good choices is no reason not to vote. A tough day is no reason to be unkind when we get home. A few bad eggs is no excuse to condemn everyone of the same color, faith, or philosophy. Probably most important of all […]

All of us have times when things aren’t happening. We usually say we are “waiting” for something to happen. Sometimes, we are just covering up our procrastination. Waiting is an honorable thing. We are waiting when we have done everything we can and the next move has to come from someone else. When that someone else is God, we are in a good place. Scripture often proclaims the appropriateness of waiting on the Lord.  When waiting our eyes are on God. Our strength is renewed. Peace reigns. Waiting often means that something has started. Things have been done. There is movement toward a goal. Waiting implies that we know the next thing that needs to happen and we are prepared to act when it does. When we wait we are prepared, ready and faithful that God knows best about timing. Procrastination occurs when the ball is in our court and we search for reasons not to take the next step. It focuses on our lack of preparation, readiness or faith. We doubt that anything is really in process. We consider that maybe we have taken a wrong turn or misinterpreted a word from God.  We spend a lot of time looking […]

Please don’t call me a Christian. I have many reasons for this plea. “Christian” has no meaning. People are called “Christian” because they once said a prayer or because they go to church or because they live in a “Christian” nation. Maybe they just claim the title. There are no standards for being a Christian. Christians have been embarrassing.  Some of these people who are called Christians have done embarrassing, sometimes hateful things that I don’t want to be associated with. Some of these things are mass sins like persecutions or enslavements. Others are personal like individual hateful words or hurtful acts. Jesus didn’t call me that.  Jesus didn’t call us “Christians.” He called us disciples or followers. He described us as salt and light. These terms describe our ability to grow to be like him through his power and grace and to reflect his goodness and glory.  Disciples are identifiable by what He has done and not what we accomplish. “Christian” has come to mean “holier than thou” or hateful. Jesus said we would be identified by our love. That’s based on how we reflect his light and love, not on what we say we believe. It’s risky […]

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 I am God’s masterpiece. He planned good things for me to do long ago, before I was born. That means since I am still alive there are still things that He planned for me to do.  I haven’t completed all that He planned for me to do and there is still opportunity to do those things. I notice that this verse is written in the plural. I suppose that means I am not intended to do these good things alone. There are others that I must work and serve with to get these things accomplished. So what are these good things that God created me to do? I guess I could look at my natural talents and abilities for clues; but I was created “anew” so that I can do those things. Whatever I am to do is only possible since I am a new creature in Christ. I believe, therefore, that the tasks I am called to are things I am unlikely to be able to do on my own. […]