Nick’s Walk

I had a really productive day yesterday. I had cryosurgery at 8:20 in the morning. Before you send me  flowers or plan providing meals during my recovery period, you should perhaps know that my cryosurgery consisted of freezing some “pre-cancerous” lesions on my bald head. It took about 3 minutes and was painless. I just wanted to use the word, “Cryosurgery.” I also wanted to use “pre-cancerous.” It sounds much more significant than “bumps.” I also cleared up the staircase to my office as a first step in office reorganization. I babysat the cable guy while he replaced my cable box. I had an hour-long and very satisfying conversation with an important client. I did lots of office paperwork. I helped Rosemary in the garden. I helped Tyler work on a toilet at Martha’s. This was mainly just holding the flashlight and paying for parts. I also managed to watch part of, and listen to part of, the UL softball team’s exciting one run win over McNeese. It helps that I woke up at 3 a.m. The Lord woke me with a clear direction that I should research the beginning of my blogging experience. It turns out in June […]

15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” 18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” 21 “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” 22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. Matthew 22 I hate April 15. I think I have justification. Each year on that date I write by far the largest check of the year, made out to people I don’t trust so they can do things I don’t believe in.  I know that the government is “necessary” and does […]

I have blogged since December 2009. The first post was a group of Christmas pictures from that year.  Sometime before that, I can’t seem to discover when, I started sending daily devotionals to my church prayer list. With my pastor’s encouragement, it grew from there. I don’t have a ton of followers. I now send my post through Facebook and Twitter as well as the website. Once you throw something into the internet you don’t know where it ends up. My original blogger site has been viewed 208,000 times. The best statistics I can get show that my most popular post was “Do All For the Love of God” posted on June 27, 2o11. It got 1465 page views. I’m not sure why. The posts have been viewed all over the world. I don’t give these facts to try to prove that the posts are all that great. I really want you to see that if you put something out there, it can really get around. So be careful what you post. You can make a difference. Someone is listening. I do it because I get a lot out of it.  For me, blogging is a Christian thing. I recognize […]

A couple of days ago I was working inside while my wife was working in the garden. I recognized her voice and then thought I heard a second voice. I wondered who was visiting but it turned out my wife was talking to herself.  I guess we do that when we think no one is listening. I was surprised that I mistook her voice for that of someone else. We have been  married for over forty years and I can pick out her voice, even her cough, in a crowded store.  It caused me to give some thought on the difficulties we have hearing the voice of God. Sometimes He must feel like He just talking to himself. Of course, we have to know the voice. As children of God know that God has something to say to us. We do need some practice to recognize that voice in the crowd of noises that fill our lives. My wife bought me a great set of ear buds for Christmas. These are clearly the nicest I have ever seen. I have seen plenty. Some folks say that I always have a pair stuck in my ears. Now “always” is a pretty strong […]

Over the past few years I’ve changed from being a news junkie to being a sports junkie. I used to have a television news channel on all day when at home. I would have a news channel on the radio while in my truck. Even while working, Fox News so I could be advised when something happened. This eventually wore me down. The news was never good. The good guys never won. After a while, it was no longer possible to tell the good guys from the bad guys. In my new sports junkie world, I am more likely to have one of the ESPN channels on the television and a sports channel on the radio.  One of the programs I listen to each day ends with this tag line: “May the good guys and the bad guys both get exactly what they deserve.” That seems right. What’s great about it is that I get to decide who the good guys and the bad guys are. There isn’t some vague morality line that separates the two. The good guys are the teams that I support. The bad guys are everyone else. I am somewhat able to keep up the fantasy […]

Yesterday my wife and I spent hours working in our yard. You would have to describe us as “spring” gardeners. When the good weather hits we work feverishly in the yard. We buy plants. Sometimes we even plant them. You see by the time the 70 degree days are gone and the 90 degree days arrive, we are burned out.  I am hoping this particularly beautiful spring will also be unusually long. We spend most of the summer admiring the outdoors from the indoors. This is the most beautiful spring in my recent memory. I don’t think it’s any accident that it follows one of the coldest and bleakest winters in my memory. A spring is particularly beautiful after a tough winter for a couple of reasons. One, I guess, is in the eye of the beholder. We are so happy to see spring it just seems more beautiful. However, I also believe that the colder weather does something to the plants that make them more color, vibrant, even stronger. I don’t know if the tough winter and glorious spring mean a long a hot summer. I hope not. Like most of our world, God designed it to remind […]

There is a movie out which I haven’t seen but people I trust tell me is worth seeing. God’s Not Dead. I guess for some folks it may seem that way. I don’t ever get the feeling that God is Dead. Sometimes it seems He is more distant that others. Sometimes I hope He isn’t looking too closely. Sometimes it’s easy to forget about God. Our days are filled with much business. Our heads are filled with  concerns over the things we need to do and the things that we ought to do. Today is not one of those days. Before you get caught up in other things. Spend a few moments outside with God. It’s one of those beautiful days He gives us as a quiet but powerful reminder that He’s there. Soak Him in and be blessed. Maybe catch the movie later.

But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” Mark 2:10 Yesterday we discussed the barriers to taking up our mats and walking. Today we look at the reason Jesus performed this miracle in the first place. When Jesus was first presented with the paralytic man, his response was to tell him that his sins were forgiven. He cured the man’s paralysis, restored his withered limbs and miraculously taught him to walk, all so that Jesus’ authority to forgive sin would be recognized. Jesus knows what we often forget, that we need forgiveness much more than completeness of body, fullness of life, or healthy finances. We are slow to learn that lesson. Join any group of Christians for prayer and almost all the praying will be for healing of some material aspect of our lives. We rarely pray for God’s forgiveness for ourselves or others. We almost never pray for help in forgiving others. All other miracles are performed to advertise the greatest miracles of all: restoration and sanctification. If the man had died a paralytic, it would not have prevented Him from spending eternity in the presence of God. His […]