Nick’s Walk

“Steady My Heart” Kari Jobe Listen to the song Wish it could be easy Why is life so messy? Why is pain a part of us? There are days I feel like Nothing ever goes right Sometimes it just hurts so much But You’re here You’re real I know I can trust You Even when it hurts Even when it’s hard Even when it all just falls apart I will run to You ‘Cause I know that You are Lover of my soul Healer of my scars You steady my heart I’m not gonna worry I know that You’ve got me Right inside the palm of your hand Each and every moment What’s good and what gets broken Happens just the way You plan You are here You’re real I know I can trust You Even when it hurts Even when it’s hard Even when it all just falls apart I will run to You ‘Cause I know that You are Lover of my soul Healer of my scars You steady my heart When we have shut up and shut out distractions, don’t expect God to start dictating instructions. Certain things have to be established. When we come to […]

If we are trying to hear from God, it’s imperative that we shut up just to start. That’s pretty tough for most of us. The second step may be even tougher. We must shut out distractions. God has blessed us with the ability to filter out sights and sounds. We would all be insane if we recognized and had to process every sight and sound in our environment. We have natural filters which prevent that. It’s all about focus. Our environments are richer than ever with distractions. Further, many of us believe that we can “multi-task” that is doing more than one thing at a time. Right now I’m watching the national championship football game and writing the blog. Actually, there is a lot of dead time during a football game and I’m writing in those blanks. Focusing on God in our distraction rich environment isn’t easy. God is gracious to His creatures respecting their free will. He doesn’t display His power or glory. Though both shine through in the wonders of His creation. We need to know ourselves. If we are honest we know what operates as a weapon of mass distraction in our lives. It could be […]

If you are doing a prayer and fast or just, like me, trying to listen for direction from God. Step one is still the same. Please.  Just shut up. I know that sounds a bit rude, but you know you’ve been told nicely that you need to be quiet to hear from God and you just haven’t listened. It’s incredibly important, so, I believe, a little rudeness is completely justified. Don’t judge me. Please. Just shut up. You can’t hear from God with  your mouth open. Whatever you are saying isn’t as important as what God is trying to tell  you. It’s the problem I have with fasting. Fasting becomes the topic of conversation.  Folks talk about how hard it is, or how easy it is or how much they are getting out of it or how they have manipulated the “rules” to make it not really fasting at all. Please. Just shut up. Think about it this way. By your constant mouth movement, you are not just making too much noise for you to hear from God. You are causing the same problem for those around you. We feel obliged to at least pretend to be listening so […]

We are now a week into the New Year and it might be a good time to take a step back and refocus on resolutions.  The above was a post card prepared by Bishop John H. Vincent, during World War I, a tough time for most. It is a wonderful combination resolution. It is intimidating, unless we remember the last words. It’s all done by God, through our child like trust in Him and not by our own efforts. Let’s look at it: A Resolve for Every Morning of the New Year  I will this day try to live a simple, sincere and serene life. Repelling promptly every thought of discontent, anxiety, discouragement, impurity and self seeking. Cultivating cheerfulness, magnanimity, charity and the habit of holy silence. Experiencing economy in expenditure, carefulness in conversation, diligence in appointed service, fidelity to every trust and a child-like trust in God. Wow if we could meet a bit of that. What a great picture of Christ-likeness. That won’t be achieved by annual resolution. We can’t just look at ourselves once a year and resolve to make changes. We are 24 hour cycle people. We need to renew our resolve daily. Just like we have a 24 hour work and […]

It’s the fourth day of the New Year. Have you made any resolutions? Have you broken any yet? Will  is Powerless.  New Year’s Resolutions are generally an exercise in futility. Eighty-eight percent of resolutions aren’t kept. Most believe this is because will power is weak and that our best chance is to keep it simple. They teach that we should pick one thing that needs improvement and not push our will power to the breaking point by resolving to lose weight, become wealthy, marry a movie star, and quit smoking. Resolution is complex. It’s more than a firm decision to do something. It is the act of solving or explaining a problem or puzzle. Remember being asked to give a resolution to an algebra problem. The teacher didn’t just want an answer. She wanted to see your work, how you got to the answer. Resolution also means: the degree of sharpness of an image or the number of pixels across and down on a display screen. It implies both close examination, down to the tiniest pixel, but also grasping the whole picture. Resolution is a process. A resolution is not simply a decision to do something. It is process of deep thought and meditation. It means a mental exercise in breaking down something into its essential parts and then coming […]

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34. The wisdom of God is amazing. He knows us so well. He has designed His creation for our benefit. He has broken unlimited time into twenty-four hours block. Segments with clear beginnings and clear endings. This is not arbitrary or unplanned. It seems we are capable of living well only in 24 hour tidbits. In each twenty-four hour block we need time to carry out the work of the day, so He provides us light and a warmer period for that. Each day we need rest, so He turns out the lights, cools things down to give us an environment for rest. The light slowly fades and slowly returns to allow us to acclimate to the new environment. Spiritually, we are designed in cycles as well. We should awaken with new hope and enthusiasm, but it’s time is limited. The worries and cares of the world wear on us and by nightfall, we are tired and discouraged and need a time of refreshment and rest. We are foolish creatures, however. We insist in trying to live in […]

I went to the gym yesterday. I refuse to call it a health club. I don’t go there for social reasons. I don’t list it on my resume’ like Kiwanis or Lions Club. I go there to work out. I go to this “gym” because almost everyone there is older than me and in just as bad shape. I don’t want to work out with guys who look like they could play in the NFL. I went because 2015 is calling. It was pretty crowded but not like it will be next week. Gyms are very crowded in January; not so much in December, or February for that matter. I know because I have been to them a lot in January. I wanted to beat the crowds. Let’s face it. It’s the time of resolutions, trying to re-acquire good habits and lose some bad ones. It’s an annual tradition. It’s just as much of a tradition to have forgotten our resolutions by the 1st of February.  Just about everyone I know is like that. They are all good folks, the people I hang around with. They don’t do a lot of bad things. They do good stuff. In fact, I […]