Nick’s Walk

It’s been over a week since I posted anything. It’s amazing how time is flying. My excuse is that I have been busy. I have had real work to do and that’s a good thing. I wrote three articles for Covenant Spotlight. I have led a connect group on Sunday nights which involves preparing a teaching and a PowerPoint presentation. It’s been wonderful but time-consuming. I’m filling in for Pastor T, our Senior Pastor, next Sunday. Rose and I just finished doing two nursing home visits a week while Bill and Anne were out-of-town. We are planning a getaway to the beach. I just exhausted myself. The truth is that I got out of the habit of posting every morning. It’s incredible how difficult it is to begin a new “good” habit and how easy it is to abandon it. I enjoy posting daily and would appreciate  your prayers so that I may get back into the habit. Something I saw on Facebook this morning forced me out of my dry spell. I will steal what I read because it precisely expresses my feeling, “I’d like to introduce my dear friends the Reauxs (Jonathan, Megan, Lyla, Jed & Gabriel). They […]

I really enjoyed War Room. Apparently I wasn’t the only one. According to USA Today, it topped the box office for the Labor Day Weekend. “With War Room at No. 1, the summer box office is ending on a blessed note. The Christian drama topped the four-day Labor Day weekend with $12.6 million in just over 1,500 theaters, according to box-office tracking firmRentrak. Made on a budget of just $3.5 million, the PG-rated film has earned $27.9 million in just two weekends of release.” Not only was it an entertaining movie but it has motivated me to animate my prayer life. I wonder how many closets are being cleaned out around America. I’m not cleaning out one. I don’t have room anywhere else for my stuff. I’m also not the kind of guy who sits in a closet with sticky notes on the walls. I’m more of a “in the cloud” nerd type of prayer dude. My first thought was that there must be an “app” for this. It turns out there is. There is a War Room for Prayer app.  I checked it out, but wasn’t really impressed. Plus it costs $.99. I did find an app for my […]

Last night I say War Room with my wife and a bunch of friends from my church. I highly recommend it.  Here’s why. NO SPOILERS It’s a good movie. The story is engaging. The acting is great. The production is superb. The characters are interesting. The plot is relevant. It’s funny. It’s touching. It has an important message. That equals a good movie. It’s got a great message. Here are just some lessons about prayer I picked up while eating pop corn and snuggling with my sweetie. Prayer works. Prayer starts at home. There are lots of problems out there, but there are lots of problems with home and family. The enemy wants to steal your family, your life and your joy. It’s a war. It’s a spiritual war. Your friends and family are not the enemy. Writing down the promises of scripture helps make them real. Writing down the things we are praying about documents that God answers. It’s not that God doesn’t know our problems. It’s that we don’t. Problems are the doorway to time with God. Prayer is contagious. Your kids might even catch it. It’s okay to pray for your spouse. Your other movie choices […]

It’s the Labor Day weekend. Most of us are at least a bit excited. Why? Because this weekend we will do something at least a little different, even if it’s just not going to work on Monday. Different is good and exciting. “We are what we repeatedly do.” Aristotle. We are creatures of habit. Consider how much of what we do each day is what we did yesterday and what we will do tomorrow. When we rise, when we go to bed, what we eat, what we wear, what we say… all habits. It’s kind of discouraging to consider just how unoriginal we are. We consider it a good or even exciting day, when we just do something different.  Much of what we do, many of our habits, we aren’t really thrilled about. We have habits not always because we’ve discovered the best or most satisfying way to do something. It’s just what we do, because it’s what we always do. Frightening how little sense that makes. Most us feel our lives could be better. We could be doing a better job of whatever we believe we should be doing. For example, as Christians we believe we should be growing […]

Summer is over. Praise the Lord. I know that’s not “official” and there are many hot days left, but when school and football starts, summer is over. I’m glad to see Summer 2015 go. It was one of the most miserable I can remember. The weather was dreadful, hot and dry. Our family seemed to be under constant attack on many fronts. It seemed the life we have lived for many years was threatened. Trouble. Trouble. Trouble. Then there were Wednesdays. God never gives you more than you can handle. There are always bright spots in the dark, cool oases in the desert, vacations from stress. For me, it was Wednesdays. My wife and I agreed to fill in for friends, Bill and Anne, doing their nursing home ministry while they travelled out west to be with family. My wife soon emerged as the teacher on Wednesdays and she and the residents of the nursing home in Abbeville quickly grew close. We would leave home early each Wednesday, travel to Abbeville and Rose would meet with the residents. I would wait outside in the car playing lawyer on phone and ipad.  We would spend the rest of the day […]

Christianity is a hard sell these days, at least the way we package it. Followers of Christ face marginalization and even persecution. We suggest folks should face this and give up the fun of today for the joy of a distant future. The sad thing is that we paint this picture because it’s what we believe and have experienced. Before we can share “good news” we need to fully experience it. I’m not talking about the “accept Jesus and get rich” lies. I am not suggesting a life of perpetual good health and no problems. Life is hard and even more so for those who choose to follow Him. There are crosses to take up. However, let’s consider what we do have now. We have forgiveness now and the grace to leave our pasts behind. We have graceful power to live as God intended. We have an advocate before the throne of the Almighty God. We have assurance of eternity. We have the knowledge that any problem or trial is temporary, while joy is permanent. We know that we are never ever alone, out of his mind or hand. We forget that we will live one day on a […]

Sometimes it takes a combination of events to get a message through my hard head. Motivated by the great weather my wife and I enjoyed a fun and active day yesterday. It seems I was busy “doing” all day. I observed lots of road work, but with many of the workers taking breaks, sitting or lounging on the side of the road, checking their phones. I read an article entitled “Why Sitting Too Much Harms Our Bodies.” All this got me thinking about how important it is to move from thinking about things to caring passionately about them, to doing something about them: from head to heart to hands. Recently there has been renewed interest in  the life and writings of Francis of Assisi, principally because the new Pope chose to adopt his name. Francis shook up the church of his day with his emphasis on doing over meditating and contemplating.  As Richard Rohr has noted: Those who have analyzed the writings of Francis have noted that he uses the word doing rather than understanding at a ratio of 175 times to 5. Heart is used 42 times to 1 use of mind. Love is used 23 times as […]

What an absolutely glorious morning. I know this even though just the first hints of dawn are peaking through. I am doing something I almost never do. I’m sitting on our patio drinking a cup of coffee and absorbing the cool dry air. From where I sit I can watch as the light begins to fill the eastern sky over Bayou Tortue. I can hear the birds as they begin to stir. They must be female birds, talking so much so early. A day like this has to be filled with wonderful promise and all good things. I didn’t feel like this when I laid my head down last night. I was tired, discouraged, and drained. I fell asleep wondering what new horror the next day would bring. I needed rest and refreshment. I get it by falling asleep with Christian radio playing through my earbuds. The night alternates periods of restorative sleep with minutes of encouragement and hope piped into my soul. The combination performs the miracle of night. The prosperity teachers are such liars. The Follower isn’t promised an easier life. I have observed that the more we strive to follow Jesus the harder, not easier, life […]