Nick’s Walk

A Methodist pastor friend of mine lost it on Facebook this week. He went after the non-denominational churches questioning whether folks who go there know what the church  believes and accusing some of these churches of “sheep stealing.” As one Facebook post said this week “It’s now what you believe, but whom you believe.” What you believe is important, but if you believe the right one that works itself out. Further, they are not our sheep. They are His. It’s easy enough to understand his frustration. Main line denomination churches have lost folks for years.  Lots of reasons have been given. They have become too liberal or too political or not political enough. Some blame the secularization of America. The free love period of the sixties had an impact. Church scandals haven’t helped. Now even some “conservative” denominations are feeling the pinch. The Catholics are feeling a bump aided by a new pope who seems to get it in terms of what people are looking for, but may not get it in terms of theology. Some churches are doing great. The ones that do often get targeted as being “seeker friendly” or watering down the message. I think that’s […]

We all have our favorite sins. In fact, I believe we have two categories of favorite sins. We have our favorite sins that we like to commit. We don’t believe they are really bad sins. In fact, we may not think they are sins at all. They are really just little missteps. We don’t think they really hurt anybody so they are of the no-harm-no-foul variety. We know we would be better off without them, but there are certainly much worse sins out there.  One of these days we will get around to stop doing them. Probably when we are old and they aren’t so much fun. Some of us call them venial sins. “Venial” means “slight” or “pardonable.” These sins tend to be sins of the mind or perhaps sins that occur in private. That’s one of the reasons they are our favorites. We really don’t like people to know we have sins, or should I say faults. We like to keep such things private. They are really nobody’s business. That brings us to the second group of favorite sin: the sins others commit. They tend to be much more public and everybody’s business. After all that’s how […]

5 The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. 1 Timothy 1:5 The one thing we all really want is love. We want to love and to be loved. We may try substitutes of all kinds but nothing else will do. What we really want sometimes seems unattainable.  It doesn’t seem like a big thing, but three big things keep us from it. Who we are. What we’ve done. Where we’re headed. We spend our lives trying to change these three things about ourselves. We know who we are and we know we are unloveable and incapable of really loving others. We know what we’ve done and no matter how deep we bury that or how much dirt we shovel into the hole, we can’t cover that up. We know that we are headed no where. We know that no one would be willing to join us on that hopeless journey. As to number 1, who we are, we seem to have only a couple of options. We can improve ourselves or we can lie about who we are. The problem is […]

We waited for three hours last night for word on my grandson’s visit to the ER. It all turned out well but most of us are not very good at waiting. It seems like we are always waiting for something. The issue is what to do while waiting. Here are some thoughts. Don’t just wait. There’s often much we can do while waiting. Watching the clock is not a useful activity. We often say we are waiting on something, when it’s just an excuse for not doing all the things we really should be doing. Most of us have “smart phones.” We can check our email or read some scripture or maybe just turn it off and pray. Why.  Delays often have a purpose. A couple of weeks ago while I sat for 6 hours at the Lafayette airport. It occurred to me that sitting there might just be better than flying in bad weather. Encourage someone else.  Waiting seems so awful because it’s a time of self-concentration. Trying focusing on someone else. Look at what others are doing. Trying talking to them or even better listening. Trust God. Things happen in God’s perfect time. Just because we think something […]

This year we made a vegetable garden. We got tomato, eggplant, pepper and herb plants. I made a raised  bed and we planted and fertilized and watered. The plants are doing great. In fact they are very fruitful indeed. We also bought a fig plant. We couldn’t figure out where to plant it. So we didn’t. We just placed it next to the raised bed. It gets the same sun as the vegetables and the same watering. It isn’t doing anything. It looks fine, but it isn’t growing and there seems no chance we will get any figs this year. The Christians I know are like that. I don’t know all of my Christian friends’ theology on eternal security. I do notice this. Some of them are well planted, watered and sunned. They are very secure in who they are and who they are in Christ. They are very fruitful. Others I know are not planted. They tend to roam about without any roots. They get water and sun but they aren’t very secure. They are not fruitful at all. Is it possible that first comes justification, then assurance, then sanctification with the fruit that goes along with that? […]

It was Thursday night at VBS. Anyone familiar with VBS programs knows that’s a big night. It’s the night of the special time, the quiet moment, the invitation time. This year it was handled in great fashion by Della (the lady with the neon hair). It’s tough to pull off an altar call and get kids to all of a sudden take you seriously when your hair can be seen all the way in Abbeville. Nonetheless, it was a great success. At the proper time many little hands went up. Many precious prayers were spoken while almost all eyes were closed. Alright, I know it was supposed to be every eye closed. I was in the back row. It was hard to miss. So sue me. I consider myself the press and inquiring minds want to know. Lots of thoughts come to mind at a time like this. Special. Precious. Moving. Worth all the hassle. Thank God tomorrow’s Friday. Other thoughts creep in. Young. Don’t really understand. Following the crowd. I already had some thoughts over the last few weeks. Repentance. Conversion. Justification. Sanctification. Assurance. Cheap grace. Words from scripture come to mind. Love. The whole world. Whosoever. Will be […]

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24 And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Matthew 19:28 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Mark 10:21 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12 We worry that we haven’t done enough and stress in trying to do more.  All because we aren’t doing what we are called to do. We are called to follow Jesus. In order to do that we have to stop following whomever and whatever we are following, or we need to stop wandering aimlessly. Sometimes we call that repentance. […]

I am really looking forward to next week. We get to spend every evening with our great grand. We are volunteering for VBS at Amana and each evening we will pick Kaydence up and watch her have fun and bring her home. We will get to see Jess and Tyler each night, but that’s just a bonus. We will get to have the pleasure of serving with our family at Amana, but that’s just a bonus. We will get to see Pastor Jason do something funny, but that’s just a bonus. We will get to sow some seeds in the lives of some kids, that’s a really great bonus. It’s not too late to sow some seeds and to have some fun. Join us for VBS at Amana every weeknight starting Monday.