Nick’s Walk

The lines on November 4th in Louisiana, may not be like these, but we will be standing in line. We will face a complicated ballot with several important races and the dreaded Constitutional Amendments. Better have a plan. Know where to vote You won’t have to stand in line if you can’t find the right line to stand in. If you’re not sure where to vote, find out here. https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/Mobile/Main.html Get a sample ballot Don’ go into the voting booth with no idea about the decisions you will have to make. You don’t want to be a victim of “vote rage” which may occur if you face the ballot for the first time with a long line behind you. You can get a ballot for your precinct here:  https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/Mobile/AddressSearch.html By inserting your address, you can get a sample ballot unique to your precinct. Your homework is to get a sample ballot. After the surprises, you might be motivated to have a plan. Next time: The dreaded and usually unexpected Constitutional Amendments.

Only informed citizens should vote. You won’t be informed if you: Trust the media. Media outlets are businesses that need to make money.  They will run any ad and stir up any mess to get audience. They tend to fail to separate news from opinion from advertising. Count signs. Signs don’t vote. Do you really want to vote for the guy or gal with the most signs? Even if signs represented votes, would you really want to vote based on what the most think? Trust what a candidate says about his opponent. If you want to know what a jerk I am talk to my enemies. If you want to know what a saint I am talk to my acquaintances. If you want to know the truth, talk to my wife. It might be informative to talk to spouses of the candidates. Rely on the opinion of others. Really. Can’t you think for yourself. Be particularly careful about ads put out by groups not associated with the candidate. They may or many not express the views of the person seeking office.   Between now and election day I will provide information about how to be informed. I won’t try […]

Only informed citizens should vote. You won’t be informed if you: Trust the media. Media outlets are businesses that need to make money.  They will run any ad and stir up any mess to get audience. They tend to fail to separate news from opinion from advertising. Count signs. Signs don’t vote. Do you really want to vote for the guy or gal with the most signs? Even if signs represented votes, would you really want to vote based on what the most think? Trust what a candidate says about his opponent. If you want to know what a jerk I am talk to my enemies. If you want to know what a saint I am talk to my acquaintances. If you want to know the truth, talk to my wife. It might be informative to talk to spouses of the candidates. Rely on the opinion of others. Really. Can’t you think for yourself. Be particularly careful about ads put out by groups not associated with the candidate. They may or many not express the views of the person seeking office. So what can we do? If you get a chance to see, meet, or hear the candidate in […]

Today’s church is already wired, and if your parish isn’t taking full advantage of all of these ways of touching people throughout the week, it is becoming increasingly irrelevant. http://www.nicksigur.com/why-i-post-and-tweet/

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24 Sin – Let’s Talk I’ve heard complaints that we don’t talk enough about sin anymore. If that is said about me, I don’t want it to be justified. So I’m going to talk about sin. Get ready. Everyone reading this is a sinner. I don’t mean once was a sinner. I mean a sinner today. I include Mother Theresa, the Apostle Paul, Barrack Obama, and Rush Limbaugh. Okay, so those guys probably aren’t reading this, but I hope you get the point. Sorry if you feel insulted, but you are a sinner. I don’t care what prayer you might have said or if you had water sprinkled on  you or you got dumped in it. You are still a sinner. Those events were, no doubt, of great significance in your spiritual journey, and mandated by Jesus, but they didn’t make you a non-sinner. Saved and Sinning Perhaps you are confusing being a sinner and being saved from your sin. The death of the sinless one, Jesus, makes it possible (not […]

My pastor handed me a magazine after I met with him this week and was headed out the door. He’s always handing me things. I think he believes I have room for improvement. Silly man. It turned out to be an impressive publication. It has a profession, national look and feel, but is local in focus and distribution. Covenant Spotlight is distributed throughout the Lafayette area in businesses and churches. If you can’t get a copy at your church on Sunday, maybe you should change churches. Okay, that’s a bit severe.  Here are some places that have them. There is, of course, a web-site: http://cspotlight.com/  and a Facebook page. You can even follow them on Twitter.   If you get a chance to pick a copy, you’ll likely see someone you know or have heard about. You might even get blessed. My grandson was excited to see an article about his Sensei Micah at Cajun Karate. Last Saturday I watched his training session, that included workout, self-defense, scripture, positive reinforcement and encouragement. Nicky had trained before at a different facility. He hadn’t gotten that kind of Christian-based training. Sadly, some of us have gotten the idea that a “Christian” business is […]

A few nights ago my wife and I were watching Mrs. Miniver. I commented that the last scene would make great blog material. When I woke up the next morning I found that my wife had transcribed the short sermon from the scene and a copy was on my chair. That’s just the kind of partner I have. I was moved by the sermon because it reflected a nation brought to single purpose in response to an unprovoked attack from an enemy.  I was a bit jealous of folks who found themselves, at least for a time, in a united, single purposed nation even if it took a war to do it. We are, for all practical purposes, at war now. we are under attack but we stay as divided as the east is from the west. Folks on both the left and right nest in their own worlds where no contrary view or thought is permitted. If you doubt it, spend some time on Facebook, not with your normal “friends” but with some folks from “across the aisle.” It won’t be long before you will realize that  you aren’t in Kansas anymore. I know we can’t expect to be one, […]

A life hack is a strategy or technique adopted in order to manage one’s time and daily activities in a more efficient way. There are websites devoted to life hacks. lifehacker.com and lifehack.org or 1000lifehacks.com for example. I came across a great article this morning. It was written for pastors, but applies to all of us, just a few suggestions to make us more efficient. I could be more efficient, a lot more efficient. I have added my own thoughts, as usual. 1. Fill The Gaps With Meaning I have developed the habit of picking up my iphone when I have an idle moment. These include: At a stop light. (happens all the time) When my wife stops talking. (hardly ever happens) When the food takes more than 30 seconds to arrive. When a commercial comes on TV. (more on TV later) When the pastor gets a bit boring. (hardly ever happens when it does I hope people think I am studying my digital bible) When I’m in the bathroom. . . waiting. (use your imagination) I could use that time a bit better, for example: Praying. Talking to my wife. Reading a bible verse. Listen to worship music. Admiring our […]