Nick’s Walk

I get the feeling that our world, through this pandemic, is being changed forever. I have been working out of my home for decades. After this is over, I think it’s obvious that many will work “remotely” from now on. It will be a dramatic change in the workforce. As employers and workers both discover that much can be accomplished with great efficiency through remote employment. I am also convinced that many will learn that “working from home” is not for them. It takes a certain personality to work remotely. One has to be self-motivating. It’s also necessary to be able to work at all hours and on any day. The work is determined by the need and not just the calendar. The work world will change. The social world will change as well. We won’t hug or shake hands as readily as we once did. We will, perhaps forever, view others as potential sources of disease. Sports events won’t be the same as we shy away from gatherings of perhaps thousands of germ-infested humans.  Eating out will be rarer. As will shopping. The easy of remote dining and shopping will prove too addictive for most of us. I […]

  On that original Palm Sunday, crowds came out and greeted Jesus like a hero prophet. They covered the path before Him with their cloaks and waved palms in His honor. This Palm Sunday there were no parades. No shouting of “Hosanna.”  Palm Sunday started a week gloriously that ended up in apparent tragedy. This week promises grimness as well. Even with the lack of parade and homage paying to Jesus, it’s more important than ever to recognize His Kingship, to live with the knowledge that He is in control and security in knowing He will see us through this storm as He has so many times before. This week we will likely see death. We will see finger-pointing. We will see exhaustion and maybe even despair in those trained to care for the sick and save lives. We may begin to see doubt in the young that the old are worth the financial sacrifices they are making. We will see the old missing the smiling faces and touches from those they see far too infrequently even in good times. The “adventure” of “staying home” will begin to be much less exciting and more exhausting. It will be more […]

My daily routine is pretty simple. I get up. Have a cup of coffee. Go for a swim. Eat breakfast at one of a number of breakfast eateries. Then I go into the office for a couple of hours. My swim place and breakfast places are shut down. Take out breakfast isn’t the same.  Even my office is encouraging work from home. I am realizing that I am going to have to make some life changes. I’ve given this some thought and here are my plans. Take more day trips. I know this sounds contrary to the social distancing thing, but consider: This isn’t New York or San Francisco. We can leave our homes without making social contact. My plan is to select a drive-through I either haven’t been to in a while or have never patronized. Leave the house, tank up at a self-service gas station, enjoy a ride in the country, pick up drive-through lunch and head home. I know me. I am not going to be able to sit in my house for weeks. So that’s plan one. There are some other possibilities: Plant a garden.  I have done a bit of gardening in the past. […]

I’m getting pretty tired of living in an “abundance of caution.” They canceled my favorite sporting event, March Madness. They want me to work from home. The only reason I work is so I can get out of the house. Now they are saying all of us old folks just need to stay home and die. Well, I added the “and die” part but you get the idea. It’s not that this virus is the worse thing ever to hit mankind. It’s just that “man” kind has become unmanly. We are a society of wimps. Look at the facts: This thing is far from the worst virus ever. Relatively few die. Most recover. Many don’t even know that they are sick. We have decided as a society that no one should have to suffer because of this. We expect to be paid even if we don’t work, to make a profit even if we close our doors. We demand a reliable “test” to comfort ourselves that we are not sick even if we have no symptoms.  We close our schools but require them to continue to provide meals. Have our parenting skills come so low that we don’t feed […]

I sit down to draft a blog and realize that I haven’t posted since February 16. It’s not like nothing has been going on. On Monday I drove to Angola with a dear friend and shared with the Kairos men on death row. It would be better to say they shared with me. We go mostly as observers as they work through studies with open sharing. Their growth in the two years I have known them is impressive. If men on death row can grow in love and dedication to the Lord, what should we be doing? I knew it was going to be a short week since I was out on Monday and will be out today as I have two teeth pulled. Time moves so quickly. It’s so easy to fall into patterns. I had a pattern of posting each day. This week I fell into a pattern of not doing so. It didn’t take a dramatic event or even a deliberate decision. It just happened. “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. […]

After practicing on my own for decades I recently joined a firm. I have been enjoying that experience. One of the great benefits is having others to counsel on difficult issues. The lack of that was one of the toughest things about solo practice. It’s also one of the reasons Jesus stressed that following Him is a group activity. It so easy to stray when we are on our own. What may seem God-inspired may just be a personal wish. Others can often see the difference when we can’t. There is, of course, a danger when seeking advice on our plans and ideas from others. We have to make sure the advice we are getting is wise. Here are some hints on getting W I S E advice. W – Willing. Seek advice from those willing to share and to share honestly. The best advice often comes not from those who have succeeded but from those who have failed. We need to learn from failure and its a lot easier to learn from failures of others than having to go through falls ourselves. Someone who has learned from their successes and their failures is an incredibly valuable resource.  I […]

I love to go into Albertsons this time of the year. It’s amazing how many flowers, boxes of candy and Valentines Day cards can be packed into the “seasonal” section of the store. It’s also fun to park outside on February 14 after 5 p.m. and watch the guys hustling out with their Valentine’s Day tribute. Breathing heavily and with thankful faces that they “remembered.”  St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, beekeepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travelers, and young people. I’m not sure how the beekeepers fit in. The actual “facts” behind St. Valentine have always been pretty sketchy. Apparently there are nearly a dozen guys named Valentine who have been sainted by the Catholic Church. So maybe Valentines Day is a commercial holiday promoted by florists, greeting card companies, and jewelers. Maybe most guys participate out of fear and social pressure. Or maybe most of us guys realize we by luck or grace ended up with a good wife and that’s a good thing. That’s me. Had a great Valentines Day for the 50th time. Thank you Lord for Rosemary Sigur.  

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18 This verse seems to suggest we do the impossible. How can we see the unseen?  We can’t, not with our natural eyes. We are asked to look beyond what we can naturally see. We are called to “see” with eyes of faith. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1. God wants us to place our hope in what we can’t see, because what we can’t see is of eternal significance. What fills our natural eyes is not.  This is not to say that in the natural world there are things that energize our faith. In the natural beauty around us we can “see” the magnificence of the glory of God who is otherwise invisible. In the warmth of feeling that rises in us when we hold a loved one or see them happy, we get a hint of a God who loves us in ways we can not comprehend.  Sadly these glimpse of glory are fleeting. In Corinthians we are […]