Nick’s Walk

I have to admit that it just doesn’t feel like Christmas. I’m not sure exactly why that is. It could be the weather. Frankly in south Louisiana none of us expect a white Christmas but temperatures in the eighties, rain and tornadoes? Ho, Ho, No. Maybe it doesn’t seem like Christmas because life isn’t exactly jovial. This year has been a great challenge and 2016 doesn’t look better. Our family has dealt with a lot and will deal with a lot more and I know we are not alone. How did Christmas get so connected with winter weather, fabulous food and spending too much on gifts?  I grew up in south Louisiana and the Christmases I spent away from home were in places like California and Vietnam. No snow,  sleigh rides or fabulous feast on those Christmases past. The good Christmases I do remember involve wearing out the Sears catalogue trying to decide on the one gift Santa could afford that year for me and my eight brothers and sisters. There weren’t a lot of extra presents under the tree, a box of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups from Nan Mil was about all you could be sure of. Lots […]

Do you ever listen carefully to the songs of the season? Sometimes the words give cause for pause. Take Come all Ye Faithful. This is one of the oldest Christian Christmas songs. Written in the 1600’s by monks, originally it was sung in latin, Adeste Fideles. It’s certainly one of my favorites. It’s the opening line that has me thinking. Come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. It’s a call to come and worship the Christ child. The strange thing is that the child is just born. Where could we expect to find “faithful, joyful, and triumphant” folks before God’s salvation plan was executed? The world was dark and lost and in need of a savior. Even now, two thousand years after Jesus paid the price for our sins, faithfulness, joy and triumph are rare. As I write this I can see a Christmas card set up on our kitchen counter with a single word on it, “Joy.” It comes across not so much as an experienced reality, but a hopeful possibility. I have experienced times of joy, great joy in fact, but it’s not nearly my normal state. Joy doesn’t describe my daily life, but rather something I experience […]

A follower of Christ is centered on him. He is “in Christ.” Satan’s game is to distract us from Christ. It doesn’t take much. While swimming last Friday I hit one of my hands on the rope that separates the swimming lanes. I apparently lodged a tiny piece of the rope in the area near my  nail. It’s been very painful and even got infected. It’s certainly not a horrible injury to look at but it has been completely distracting for a week. It doesn’t take much for Satan to distract us: a minor injury, an unexpected expense, a disagreement at home, a tragedy in the news. It doesn’t even have to be something negative: sports, hobbies, friends. Any moment the enemy can get our eyes of Jesus is a moment when we are not growing more like him, not advancing the kingdom, not being truly blessed or a blessing. We are all sometimes distracted. It’s a loud and busy world out there. Our task is to keep distractions to  a minimum and to keep them from becoming afflictions. An affliction is a state of pain, distress, or grief; misery. Put another way, an affliction is an obsession with a distraction. A distraction can become so intense […]

Most of the football fans around here have suffered through disappointing seasons. The Cajuns who went to and won four bowl games in a row couldn’t beat anyone this year. LSU, at one time rated Number 2, ended up almost firing their coach. Then there are the Saints. How far the  mighty have fallen. On the other hand, the Florida Gators had a great season. They ended up in the SEC championship game and will play Michigan on New Years Day. Now the gators lost three games so far, just like LSU. The difference is expectations. LSU hoped to contend for a national championship. Florida figured it was going to be another rebuilding year. No one expected them to do as well as they did. The difference between satisfaction and disappointment isn’t so much fact but expectation. Fourteen people in California expected to have a nice time at a Christmas party and ended up dead. The family of a teenager in Lafayette expected a fun basketball game and ended up with a dead teen age son. We expect to be safe in our daily lives. We expect our kids to outlive us. It doesn’t always happen. Perhaps we need […]

I was in San Francisco in the late 60s, the age of Aquarius, hippies, love children, flowers, peace and love. I went to concerts at Golden Gate Park. I was where the anti-war action was. Sadly, I was part of the military complex, a sailor in the Navy. I didn’t exactly fit in. There is a lot today that reminds me of those days: a war poorly defined by the national leadership and weakly supported by the people, a great distrust of government, recognition that the “normal” life doesn’t offer lasting satisfaction. In the 60s the “revolutionaries” sought alternatives in drugs, sex and rock and roll. The thought they were trumpeting in a new age. They weren’t. Those years also birthed the Jesus Movement which helped launch the charismatic movement. That kind of petered out as well. Perhaps there was too much focus on miracles and the gifts of the spirit and not enough consideration of His fruits. Every generation seeks Peace and Love. They don’t always look in the right places. Isn’t it interesting that’s exactly what Jesus offers. He provides a lasting real peace, not just the absence of war, but the presence of God in daily […]

I enjoy every issue of Covenant Spotlight, but the December issue deserves your special attention. Please pick one up. There is much about Christmas, heartwarming stories, helpful hints, and good Christmas devotional stuff. There is a terrific set of articles on Islam. If you are a bit unclear about this fastest growing religion, the December issue is a great place to pick up the basics and to get some direction for further study. Check it out. Well worth your time.

Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Genesis 1:8 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. Genesis 9:1 “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 15:15 My winter garden experiment continues and the fruit is being to show. Some plants just didn’t make it but some beans, squash and tomatoes are doing great. It’s amazing to see huge fruit filled plants growing from tiny seeds. It’s the purpose of all creation to be fruitful and multiply. Scripture makes it abundantly clear it’s our purpose in a special way. There is a reason that there is no worse feeling than that of being useless and unproductive. It’s no surprise when someone who has worked all their lives dies soon after retiring. Under their understanding of productivity, their purpose has ended. Sadly, they were mistaken. Our multiplication and fruit production is more complex than making babies and making a living. It means adding bounty to the Kingdom. That means making disciples, more multipliers […]

I had a strange dream last night. I was a player on an African basketball team. The team apparently was going through tough times. One of the players made a speech asserting that we needed to take a stand. Everyone on the team got all pumped up. I think I woke up them. I really don’t know where dreams come from. I’m no basketball player and have never been to Africa. Surely this dream has no meaning or relevance to my life today. Or does it. The more I consider it, taking a stand is something that needs to happen. It seems so  much is slipping away. Our country is less safe, less God dependent, less loving. We seem to be losing control. Our ability to control our own lives or to decide to put control in the hands of God is under attack. Satan has been stealing our stuff. He’s a smart thief. He’s taking a bit at a time, not grabbing everything all at once. That way we don’t notice the losses. It clearly is time to take a stand. What stand should we take? We need to take a stand on Jesus. He needs to be […]