Nick’s Walk

                        It was a wonderful weekend. Tensions and stresses just melted away. Everything that was planned worked out beautifully. Everyone who participated had a great time and was a blessing to everyone else. It was the kind of weekend that was so great that you memorized and memorialized it. You took lots of pictures and posted many brags to Face Book. After a while you tried to analyze it, hoping that if  you could discover all the critical elements to such a wonderful weekend you could recreate it anytime you wanted in the future. However, your analysis didn’t work. Wonderful weekends have wonderful weather. The weather forecast for our weekend included 100 percent chance of rain and flash flood warnings. It turned out that the rain never prevented anyone from doing just what they wanted including spending several hours on the beach. It was an anniversary weekend which is meant to be spent alone by the couple celebrating far away from everyone else. This weekend included our favorite  young couple and their five-year old. This isn’t the formula for a romantic get-a-way but it worked. Don’t get me wrong. Rose […]

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26 Tomorrow night is the NFL draft. Professional football teams will select college players for their teams. For those selected it means the fulfillment of dreams of money and fame and, I believe most of all independence. The state of not having to rely on anyone or anything is what most of us strive for. I think the lucky selectees will quickly discover they haven’t achieved the independence they dream about. Their football careers will likely be short. Each day will be filled with dread of a career ending injury or something else that will steal their star status and their independence. For most, the dream of independence takes the form of riches. We seek to be “independently” wealthy. We want to have enough to be secure and independent. I have known folks with an awful lot who were not independent. They check their “net worth” several times a day and live in fear of a market or bank collapse. I did notice on Facebook […]

I read an article a few days ago. It was so bad it has haunted me. The title was something like “Ten Things We Should Never See From the Pulpit.” It was obviously addressed to Pastors. Most of the Ten Things were okay; but a couple were horrible. The writer, a well-known pastor, said one of the things we should never see from the pulpit is someone struggling with doubt. He said if you have doubts, you shouldn’t be preaching. The other thing we should never see is someone struggling with temptation and sin. Wow. Here’s a truth: Christians struggle with doubt and sin. Pastors are Christians, so we can assume they too have these struggles. Let’s be real. I read another article recently about what people are seeking when they come to church. When they don’t find these things they move on. I know we are supposed to be careful about being “Seeker Friendly.” That’s just stupid. Are we supposed to be Seeker Unfriendly? Folks come to church seeking. They are seeking acceptance, love, truth, and God. What they often find is talk in a language they can’t understand, a holier than thou attitude, watered-down-truth, and no sign […]

Next week is our forty-fourth anniversary. We are considering taking a few days and getting away. It’s not an easy process. First, where to go? Last year we rented a hotel room in the French Quarter in New Orleans. It was a big mistake. It was noisy especially at night. We are not really party people, but everyone there was. Everyone was having a great time, while we were trying to sleep. We could go to the beach. We aren’t really beach people. We don’t go out on the sand, too hot and sandy. We lay on the balcony and listen to and watch the water. We did that last September. So going to the beach has a kind of been-there-done-that feel to it. It might be too soon to do it again. We have a favorite hotel up in Branson on the lake. We haven’t been there in several years. So that sounds like fun. There is much to do up there but Branson is kind of far. It really takes folks like us a couple of days to get there and a couple of days to get back. It seems like too much trouble. Then there is the issue of all […]

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. Genesis 12:2 I have reviewed and edited my blog posts beginning in the middle of 2008. It didn’t take me long to notice that I end nearly every one with “be blessed.” I’m not sure why I started doing that and after seeing it hundreds of times, I’m beginning to wonder if it’s right. I love it when I’m checking out of a store and I’m told to “have a blessed day.” With that I know I’m in the presence of a believer. Some days I feel really alone as far as that goes and it’s a nice thing to hear. When I greet someone and ask how they are, it’s a good thing to hear that they  are “blessed.” I want my postings to be a blessing. I’m sure some are; others not so much. After all can we really do anything to “be blessed?” The blessed state isn’t something that we control. It’s all in the hands of God. Aren’t we all, especially Christians, blessed? Isn’t the thing under our control what […]

As Christians I think we do a disservice by the phrases we use. There are many examples. “Lord of my life” is the one that comes to mind today. We say Jesus is “Lord of my life.” That makes him sound a little like a concierge’, someone who has the duty of keeping our life straight. It sounds like his “job” is to make sure we are healthy, wealthy and wise. It also seems to make Him the responsible party when things don’t go right. If we are sick or unemployed, can’t pay the bills or parent like a drunken sailor, we think, “that’s okay, Jesus has this.” We sit around waiting for things to happen, for our ministry moment to arise “consoling” ourselves with the thought that it’s just not Jesus’ timing yet. I think we say “Lord of my life” instead of “My Lord” because the later phrase puts some responsibility on us. It acknowledges ownership and not just a right of organization. Jesus is more than our calendar keeper and preparer of our to-do list. I’m not saying Jesus isn’t “Lord of my life.” I’m saying He’s much more.  He’s Lord of everything. We make it […]

Yesterday Rose and I made one of our traditional Spring day trips. We drove up Interstate 49 toward Alexandria getting off at the LeCompte exit. We headed west to Forest Hill. Forest Hill has the largest collection of nurseries perhaps anywhere. Our favorite is Doug Young Nursery. It is a wholesale nursery spread over several acres. They allow retail shoppers and its fun to drive over their extremely substandard roads and marvel over the variety of plants. You just stick what  you want in the back of your vehicle and pay on your way out. The place isn’t really designed for the back yard gardener, so don’t expect great customer service or detailed answers to questions. After we gathered up the plants we wanted, we headed back toward the interstate and crossed over to east side and into the town of LeCompte and Lea’s. Lea’s has made great plate lunches and wonderful pies since 1928. Since the inter state was built, it’s business is down, and it’s now about the only reason to go into LeCompte. We have pieces of pie and the coldest glasses of milk anywhere. We buy whole pies to take home and head back. A […]

“If anyone causes one of these little ones–those who believe in me–to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.” Mark 9:42 Last night Rose and I watched The Parent Trap with Samantha, the original version from 1961. In case you are too old to remember, Haley Mills played identical twins who were separated by their divorcing parents as infants and who meet each other at summer camp. The girls discover they are sisters and plot to get their parents back together. It was a shock to realize the movie was filmed 53 years ago, in a very different time. In one scene the girls discuss their anger at their parents for denying each of them a parent. The twins remark how terrible divorce is and how they both have friends who have suffered from it. One of them says if this keeps up one day soon there will be more divorces than marriages. The line drew a laugh in 1961. However, the writer turned out to be more of a prophet than a comedian. The divorce rate started a sharp rise soon after […]