Nick’s Walk

Last time we considered how God is indescribable. When Jesus came in human form, we saw God as fully human. A form we had some chance of understanding. It’s important that we realize Jesus isn’t a lesser form of God. He is as fully divine as he is fully human. If we spent every moment of our lives, getting to know Him, we would still fall short of complete knowledge. That’s why heaven will not be boring. It will take us full eternity to have any real knowledge of God. We should not miss the opportunity to know Jesus in this life. Our knowledge is principally based on our experience. In my life I have known Him as provider. He has healed me of a damaged knee and of the pain of a lossed child. He has revealed Himself to me in the beauty of His creation and in the move of His Spirit among the lost, particularly those in prison. I have learned of Him through the experiences of others. I have seen addictions melt away. I have seen lives of complete self-centeredness become useful instruments of His love. I have been blessed to witness the power of […]

In March I will be doing another Kairos Retreat weekend at Angola State Prison. I am really looking forward to it. I thoroughly enjoy each of these retreats for many reasons. 1 It’s a chance to see God work. I’ve never attended one of these without seeing a great move of God. 2 It’s a chance to visit those in prison. That’s one of the things that separates the goats from the sheep. Me, I would prefer to be a sheep. 3 It’s a chance to be with friends. Some of my closest friends are the volunteers in Kairos and the prisoners at Angola who have gone through Kairos weekends in the past. 4 It’s a chance to minister with the whole church. Kairos draws its volunteers from different denominations and races. It’s a chance to act as the church as God intended, universally. 5 It’s a chance to minister. Sadly, Christianity is too often a spectator sport. Kairos allows us to actually minister, one-0n-one. The great commission isn’t just to pray for the ministry of others or to write checks. It’s a call TO GO. Why not join me Saturday? We have our first training in Baton Rouge. […]

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 31:34 Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. John 14:9 Jeremiah’s prophecy that one day we would all know God has not been perfectly fulfilled. It’s not possible now to know God completely and therefore accurately describe our God. If you need a reminder, watch Louie Giglio’s video. Or listen to Chris Tomlin’s song. One problem is trying to describe the eternal with natural words. For example, we call Him, Father, but we are limited by our own, sometimes negative, experiences with fatherhood.  Jesus told His disciples that if they had seen Him they had seen the Father. Jesus is Divine, but packaged in human form so that we might in some small way be able to comprehend and to relate. Since Jesus, we can know God like never before, but still not perfectly. Our God is indescribable. Our experiences of Him are spiritual and incredibly personal. We can best, and only, describe Him as He has affected us, as we have experienced Him. Because […]

  I recently wrote an article on unity for an upcoming issue of Covenant Spotlight. It made me think about unity and division. The church is, in many ways, greatly divided. We have thousands of denominations and differ with each other on many theological points. I don’t think any of that reflects our most serious divide. I think the Great Divide in Christ’s church is the divide between clergy/laity, full-time/part-time, paid/unpaid, staff/congregation. This divide exists and is a problem in every fellowship. Don’t get me wrong. I love pastors. I especially love my pastors. I even think they, and all of our staff, are grossly underpaid. If we are going to have paid ministers, I think they should be adequately paid.  I just don’t think that was part of the original plan. It’s one of the many man-made elements of modern church. We are in the era of the priesthood of the believer. We are all called to follow and serve. The great divide does not foster that. When we have paid ministers, the rest of us expect them to do the ministry. After all, isn’t that what they get paid for? The paid feel an obligation to do most […]

It’s amazing to me how many roles we play in life; how they change through the years. We have spouse roles and child roles, parent roles, friend roles, and job roles. We are customers, fans, users and gamers. It’s also amazing how easily we forget that everyone has multiple roles. It’s easy to consider people only in the limited role they play in our lives. Our mailman has a family and a complex life outside of his job. Our physician’s sole focus in life is not our blood pressure, weight or cholesterol level.   Obviously we can’t, and probably shouldn’t, be involved in every aspect of the lives of all the people we know. Boundaries are important and we are limited. There should be exceptions. Shouldn’t we be aware of and appreciate all the roles our spouse has to play, for example. Even if we can’t fully participate, shouldn’t we be sympathetic to the struggles our spouse is going through as parent or employee or just as citizen of an increasingly confusing world? Shouldn’t we realize that there is more to our pastor than his Sunday sermon? Shouldn’t we consider that a grumpy word and sour face may come […]

So you have shut up and shut out. Your heart is steady and your question to God is open-ended and limited to today. Still nothing. It’s as if the sky were made of lead. You are hearing nothing. Maybe your problem is sin and sin residue. “Of course, that’s my problem. Isn’t it everyone’s problem?” You reply. Certainly, sin is the problem. Sin, however, doesn’t keep God from hearing us. It wasn’t God who hid Himself from Adam and Eve in the garden. They went to hide. If we don’t feel forgiven, if we can’t seem to forgive others, it can block out our communication with God. He hears us fine. We just can hear Him. The essence of sin is self focus. Sin is all about us. Hearing from God is all about God. Sin is about our control. Hearing from God is about believing that He has a better plan and control in his hands is the best idea. Even if we put sin aside, confess and accept forgiveness, sin can leave ear plug residue. Sin puts us off the path, damages our relationships, limits our potential. When I spend hours working outside, sitting down and resting […]

We have food stored all over our house. We have drawers of canned goods, buckets of dry goods, and a closet full of sweet goods. We never seem to have anything to eat. We make daily trips to the store “for something for supper.” We say things like, “I’ll go find something to eat” as we head for the kitchen, like we were on an island. What’s wrong with us? In the desert, Moses and his people got manna every day. It was only good for a day. It was all they needed. When His disciples asked Him how to pray, Jesus said, “Pray today for what you need today.” Bread is basic. It’s the bare essential to get through the day. Most of us don’t pray daily for our “daily bread” because it’s already been provided. It’s already in front of us. Instead of being thankful and enjoying it, we worry about tomorrow’s bread. It’s as if we were blind to the fact that we have our provision for today. It’s right there in front of us. If you’ve tried to hear from God, don’t expect Him to come back with a 5 year plan. In my experience, He […]

When things are tough and we finally decide it might be time to turn to God, we usually prefer to present Him with a multiple choice question. We have considered our options and can’t decide between a couple. The problem with this approach is that we probably haven’t considered all the possible options. We may have eliminated options as being too difficult or too risky. We may not be creative enough to think of the best option available. We are left with relatively safe imperfect alternatives. The God of the universe is infinitely creative with the power to make seemingly impossible alternatives work. When we are not hearing whether we should turn left or right, it might be because the best alternative is to go straight, to back up or to wait. We can’t limit God, but we can sure limit His ability to guide and lead us. At the beginning of this football season, Cardale Jones was the third string quarterback at Ohio State. The two guys ahead of him were potential player of the year candidates. I don’t know if he consulted with God, but Cardale decided to do the tough thing, keep working and stay at […]