Nick’s Walk

I saw a fascinating video on Facebook today. Someone had placed a blackboard and chalk on a street in New York City. At the top they wrote: What do you regret? At the end of the day there was a commonality to the many regrets written on the board: the word, “Not.” It was much rarer to have a regret for something done, than for all the things left undone. There is something sad about “not” doing something. It is likely the great mystery of wondering what might have been. For the things we’ve done, even the stupid things, at least we know how they turned out. Perhaps we learned how to do things better the next time. We know that we tried. For the things we never do, we don’t have that.  We give up that when we don’t do something. “Not” is the product of fear. We don’t do because we are afraid.  Our current situation, no matter how dreadful, is at least known. We are somehow convinced that whatever else is out there has to be worse. I was in the Navy for eleven years. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t great. There was a guaranteed paycheck […]

Mardi Gras caught me by surprise again this year. I realized it was upon us  when  the UL Basketball game was rescheduled to avoid conflict with Mardi Gras. Heaven forbid we have Mardi Gras conflicts. I don’t do Mardi Gras. The reasons are many. I don’t drink. My wife suffered through an alcoholic father and to honor her and to avoid bringing up painful memories, I don’t drink for Mardi Gras or anything else. I don’t find it fun anyway. From what I can see of Mardi Gras, drinking is a key part. I wonder if people would dress up like they do or act like they do during carnival if they were sober or if they could see what they look like to sober people. I don’t dance. I never have. Seems dancing is an important part of the whole thing. Of course, many of those I see “dancing” can’t dance either, but don’t seem sober enough to realize it or care. I’m not a Catholic. In case you don’t know, Mardi Gras is supposed to be an opportunity to let it all hang out before the austere days of lent. Funny thing is I see a lot more […]

Consider how our view of life is formulated by how we view God. Is he a formidable bearded old man seated high upon a throne? Is He sitting there with a note pad making plus and minus marks for every moment of our lives? It is difficult for mortal men to form an accurate image of our creator. It’s one of the reasons that God became a man. When we consider God we need to visualize Jesus. It was important to God that our image of Him be something we could relate to. After all, we were created to be in relationship with the creator. That’s tough if we can’t envision Him. One day we will see God as we are changed at the end of days. We will be in a form capable of comprehending and loving His incredibleness. For now, we need to understand Him as loving enough to become man and to die. We need to see Him and understand Him as what we need now,  as healer, and savior and lover. Satan and a world that doesn’t love God continues to try to distort our vision of Him. They want to make Him distant, formidable, […]

I can’t say that I’ve ever heard the audible voice of the Lord directing me. When we read in scripture about the Lord “speaking” to  men we assume an audible voice was involved. I’m not so sure. When Abram was told by God to leave his home and go to a land the Lord would show him, was there an audible voice involved. I bet not. Imagine Abram explaining to his family that they should pack up and move to an undisclosed destination. It seems Abram was successful where he was and there wasn’t any rational reason to leave. He was dealing with a voice from a God that neither he nor his family was familiar with. I think much more often God speaks to us in a still small voice. Sometimes it’s really not much more than a “feeling” that we should do a certain thing or head in a certain direction. It’s often accompanied by situation changes that close or open doors in our lives. Sometimes it’s just that our current situation feels uncomfortable or “not right.” I think hearing the voice of the Lord is an act of faith. If he spoke to us in clear […]

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16 The Gospel of Jesus is a powerful thing. Scripture tells us so. We don’t act like it. We must not think it’s powerful because we add things to it or try to “modernize” it or reform it to make it more palatable  to this generation. We treat it like an old car that needs an engine additive to make it roar down the highway, or last season’s outfit that needs a bit of sprucing up. If you have experienced the power of the Gospel, you don’t need any explanation. If you haven’t, or you’re not sure, here are some things to consider: Does the Gospel you have heard, or living or are preaching: Motivate you to soup it up or tinker with it, if so you are dealing with “another” gospel. Make you feel all warm and fuzzy and inoffensive in that Jesus is A way to God, but not necessarily THE way, if so you are dealing with “another” gospel. Motivate you to tell everyone about your […]

A couple of nights ago my wife and I lay in bed and took an online personality profile test. You young people can look forward to this kind of late night excitement in the future. The test consisted of lots of questions. The results produced a personality profile that was disturbingly accurate. The really disturbing thing was that for each of our profiles we were provided with a long list of people who had matching profiles. Some of these folks were admirable; others not so much. It was amazing that such a motley group of folks had matching personality profiles. Obviously what we do in life is only partly determined by our psychological makeups. Obviously some people have more opportunities or “luck” than others. The real difference seems to be in the choices that were made. “Successful” people choose to focus on their careers often over family or leisure. Some chose careers in business or professional fields, while others chose arts or sports. Choices made all the differences. I am convinced that it’s not just the major life direction choices that are important. Of greater significance are the choices we make each day. Consider that each morning we can […]

But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. Romans 7:6 By the time most of us come to Jesus and begin to draw life from the vine, we are well tangled up in chains. Sin doesn’t end with conversion so chain addition continues. For some of us, we come to Jesus because of the pain of a chain of sin. We often experience instantaneous relief from such chains at the time of conversion. These dramatic conversions often produce the most effective followers. If we could see our complete chain involvement when we come to Christ, we would likely be overwhelmed by it all. Instead, the Holy Spirit shines the light on our chains one-by-one. He brings them to our attention so we can apply the power of grace to them and experience freedom. It’s important that we recognize the totality of our chain involvement from sin. Chains arise from the sin itself, drawing us into a habit of sin. The harm of sin causes its own chains, binding us to damaged relationships, guilt, […]

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 We were created to be in relationship with God. Jesus illustrated this as a vine and branches. The vine relationship is life-sustaining and power giving. When we are not in that relationship we tend to substitute other connections which are not life-sustaining but are restraining killers. They are chains. This generation doesn’t like to consider sin. Liberals will say there is no sin or that we define for ourselves what is sin. On the right we tend to pick out certain sins, usually the ones that don’t confound us, and make them the worst infractions. Modern man, therefore, tends to consider sins as a list of forbidden activities, established by an arbitrary God to test us. In fact, God defines for us those things which are harmful and not life-sustaining. The things which are chain producers in our lives. Atheism is now rampant, particularly among our youth. It is fueled by the idea that God is an old-fashioned, out of date, irrelevant idea. It is believed that sin […]