Nick’s Walk

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12 Something in a conversation I had today reminded me of Frank Peretti’s classic written in the 1980s, This Present Darkness. This was the first Christian novel I can remember that depicted the spiritual nature of the struggle described in Ephesians. As Christians, most of us believe in the reality of that struggle but it is incredibly easy to forget. After all, flesh and blood are so in our faces. Most of us would have to admit that our spiritual awareness is not what it should be.  When small things interfere with out good intentions, it’s easy to forget it may be spiritual. Why is it so much harder on Sunday to get everyone dressed and in church by 10 a.m. when we can get the kids to school by 7 and us to work by 9 five days a week? Why can we relate the details of the last episode of The Good Wife a week later, but can’t, for the life of […]

Most days are ordinary, one foot in front of the other, nothing really special. They pile up mostly forgotten into a heap we call our lives.  Yesterday I sat for a few hours with a special friend. He is recovering from knee replacement surgery. I have had the same surgery and he sat for hours with me and my wife as I recovered. Recovery from knee surgery is no picnic, but he will do just fine.  He has become a remarkably close friend in a relatively short period of time. We sat and talked about family and friends, folks we both love, the church we greatly love. The conversation was pretty strange because he would share a few sentences then the medication would win out and his eyes would close for a while. In those quiet times I would think about the hours he spent sitting like I was at someone’s bedside, just to be there. I would think of the hours of sermon preparation and counseling. Hours that were given joyfully, whether appreciated or not.  Friends would drop in and share a gift and a few encouraging words and then head off. Most of the friends are also […]

But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:13 The longer I live, the more I realize that life is really all about courage. Jesus knew that. He constantly encouraged his disciples to “fear not.” It’s not really the circumstances of our lives that form us, but our ability to act appropriately in the face of those circumstances.  It seems that all of humanity is divided into those who encourage and those who discourage. The encouragers seem to have one thing in common they view the glass as half full. They see the positive in every situation. They believe one person can make a difference. The discouragers, on the other hand, are half empty people. They see something to worry about, or fear in every situation, and seem determine to pass that fear on to you, to dis-courage. They believe nothing you do really matters. I watched a lot of football this weekend. I observed that the better teams, the winners, were those led by encouragers, positive folks who motivated their teams to greater effort and to victory.  The really […]

“Peace is not the absence of trouble but the presence of Christ.” (Sheila Walsh) Every time Jesus stepped into a scene he either instructed his disciples not to fear or to have peace. He didn’t change their circumstances but brought peace by His presence. Injecting peace into every situation is a sign of a truly great leader. During World War II, Roosevelt and Churchill led the free world less by their problem solving but by their dispelling fear and bringing peace. As Roosevelt famously quipped, “all we have to fear is fear itself.” Modern times present just as many, if no more, fear invoking circumstances as at any other time in history. Even as medical science advances, it seems we have greater challenges in illness. As our standards of living increase, our fear of economic collapse multiply. As we develop more powerful weapons for peace, our fear that they will be used for war expand. The circumstances seem overwhelming, but Jesus is as capable of bringing peace in the midst of it all as ever before. Our mission is not to solve the problems or to correct the circumstances, but to introduce the Peacemaker into the equation. As the […]

There is a crisis of leadership in our country and in the church. We need to do more than just shake our heads and moan. We need to identify new leadership, maybe by looking in the mirror. What makes a good leader? Ability to stand alone – Today leaders seem to focus on polls or what’s popular. A good leader needs to stand, sometimes alone, on what’s right.   Ability to see what others can’t see – Today’s leaders seem to suffer from near sightedness. A real leader can see beyond the confusion of today. He has a “higher” perspective.  Ability to think beyond today – A good leader doesn’t ask, “What now?” but “What’s next?” Ability to communicate a vision – True vision comes from God. He choses those who are able to explain that vision to others and make them want it above all else.  Ability to include people in the process – Great leaders are great delegators. They can identify where people best fit into the job at hand and know how to get them to do it. They give credit where credit is due and don’t seek all glory for themselves.  Ability to make the first move – Leaders show more […]

Our life situation is, in large part, a result of the choices we have made. When you think about it we face hundreds of choices each day: when to get out of bed, whether to go to work, what to eat for lunch, etc. We take the pressure off of having so many choices by forming habits. When faced with many of these choices we simply do what we always do. It takes the pressure off. Instead of thinking about whether we should brush our teeth each morning we just do it. Rather than thinking about whether we should go to work, we remember we have bills to pay and we go. Many of these habits are no big deal. In fact, they are necessary for the success of our lives.  But many of our habits have placed us in danger of failing to get everything from life that God intended. Just for one day give a little more thought to each choice as you are faced with it. Before you do what you always do consider, just for a moment, if there isn’t a different choice that could be made, one that might advance the kingdom of God […]

One of my Kairos brothers summarized the weekend this way: Final report from Kairos #56 at Angola State Prison. 32 residents started the retreat on Thursday 28 completed the entire weekend, and every single brother either gave their life to Jesus Christ or made a rededication to HIM. Although I’ve done so many of these retreats, it still amazes me to see what God does to the hearts of these men from Thursday to Sunday…to God be the glory…. I am still basking in the “afterglow” of my Kairos weekend. When  you see God move for an entire weekend, there is an afterglow. There is an afterglow, from just being in God’s presence. There is an afterglow from a weekend in which  you realize just how blessed you are. You are not incarcerated. You get to see your family on a daily basis. When  you get up in the morning, you have many choices on how to spend your day.  When you spend a weekend being used by God and seeing differences in the lives of folks, there is an afterglow. When you spend the weekend with the people of God, there is an afterglow.  Take a moment. Get up […]

I am in the middle of spending the weekend with murderers, rapists and drug dealers. It’s great. I feel no fear or even social discomfort. In fact, I feel very much at home.  I know saying it like that makes me seem very heroic or very much in need of therapy. How about this. I am spending the weekend with sinners who are struggling with their walk with God, some of them are residents of Angola and some are not. That may be the better way to say it. I am continually amazed by the inmates that come through our Kairos program. Almost without exception they are gentle, well-manner, willing to listen and hoping for change. I wish I could say that about the folks that show up at church on Sunday. No doubt these guys have made some terrible choices with often life long consequences, but haven’t we all. I have no trouble identifying with the inmates my age and thinking about “there but for the grace of God…” I can’t help looking at the younger ones, their lives incredibly turned down a bad path, and think of my grand children.  One of the great problems in modern […]