Rick Nier...Woo!

It's not going to come to that. That's what I told myself. I would turn out to be incorrect. I have been wrong plenty of times in my life, but in this particular instance, I was travelling south on I-65 with my family. We left northern Indiana for the middle of Tennessee, telling ourselves we would stop when we were a) close to Murfreesboro and b) tired of driving for the day. Having run into several traffic jams and being reasonably close to fulfilling both a and b of our requirements, my wife started to search for hotels on her phone. Her search turned into despair quickly as we realized that apparently everyone in the Midwest decided to travel south in I-65 on the same day. A few phone calls revealed there were no vacancies within 50 miles of where we were. At this point, we had reached Murfreesboro. I went into the last few hotels around, only to be told, "Sorry, we have no more room in the inn." It was like being told, "Welcome to your new l...

If someone were to make a realistic movie based on the book of Judges, no responsible parent would let their teens see it. That's how I started my discussion with my youth group last night. We looked at the life of Samson, a guy with such anger issues, he makes the Incredible Hulk seem rather friendly and docile by comparison, And let me just say how much fun it can be to introduce teens who clearly only think they know the Bible stories. Just telling the story of Samson left so many shocked looks on their faces, and his story is only 4 chapters long. Judges 13-16 if you want to read it yourself . I told the teens over and over again how we all have to make a choice. God vs BAE. For those of you wondering what BAE means, it's slang for before anyone else . We're discussing how each of us has to make a choice to put God before everyone, including the crush and the guy and the date and, yes, even the spouse. BAE gives you a narrow focus where you only have energy for ...

Jesus tells this story of a guy who gets beat up along the road to Jerusalem. Maybe you have heard the story. In case you haven't ever heard the story, here it is in a nutshell.  guy gets beat up and left for dead. Then, as Jesus tells it, 3 people pass along this road. Two of them claimed to be followers of God, leaders even, and they saw him and just kept walking. The third guy, a Samaritan, came along and helped the man.  Maybe you know the point Jesus is trying to make. I have heard, and even taught, many lessons distinguishing those who think they are religious from those who actually practice loving their neighbor.  But do you know what led to the guy getting beat up? What if the guy who got beat up made a poor choice that led to his downfall? Does that change how we see the situation? Do we at least understand how otherwise religious people might do nothing? See, it started out with my van getting towed, while I was in a restaurant, in another cit...

Acts 13 lists a guy by the name of Manaen and we are told he was a childhood friend of a Herod who would be King. Manaen is listed in Acts 13 among the prophets and teachers of the church in Antioch. If these two facts combined don’t raise some eyebrows, then maybe you’re not familiar with the name Herod. From the Bible, we’re not given anything more about the life of Manaen. He was a leader in church and he used to play tag with Herod, who was decidedly not a leader of the church. Can you imagine the background of Manaen? Did he go over to play at Herod’s house? What was that like? What did he overhear? Did he know about some baby Messiah? Were there rumors? What did this guy grow up believing about the world? About Judaism? About John the Baptist? About Jesus? Using other ancient texts, some believe Manaen’s family and Herod’s family had been connected for a few generations. Manaen was likely educated by private tutors along with Herod and his brother. What brought...

Here is the advice I gave to my wife yesterday morning.   Happy Leap Day wife!  Yes, I often call her wife.  It's February 29. This only happens once every 4 years. So take advantage of it. Live it to the full. It's a gift from God.  But if you feel like you need to correct somebody who comes to you expecting a little too much from Leap Day, then feel free to remind them that today is not actually an extra day. That's right! Today is not Leap Day! How can you say that, Rick? It's Leap Day. This day only comes along once every four years.  Assuming we are all going to survive this year, and yes I realize that's an assumption, today is not the extra day. For all of us living this day, we would have lived this day even in a non-leap year. We simply would have called it March 1.  If every year has 365 days, then the extra day we are given this year will be the 366th day. That would be December 31. So the extra gift is not coming our wa...

Have you ever come across someone who was really bold, but not necessarily in the good way? It's the person you agreed to give a ride to, and along the way they ask you if they can make a second stop. It's someone asking for money and then you watch them spend it on something they didn't need. It could be the child who comes to the dinner table and announces why they don't like what you cooked. Maybe it is the people who refuse to help, yet criticize the work being done. The nerve of some people, right? It's the guy being crucified next to God. This guy being crucified for being a thief. Yeah, the guy who, according to Roman rule, deserved to be there. We're given no indication that this guy, this thief, had anyone there who was about to miss him. That guy. He turns to Jesus and asks if he can get into Heaven.  Do you believe that? The only thing more incredible than his request is the answer he receives from Jesus.  Yes. Yes?  Are you k...

About once a month I go into our preschool and teach a lesson to a group of 2-5 year olds. There are about 60 of them, so question and answer time can be pretty fun. This year I am taking them through 1 Corinthians 13 and we're learning about love. Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not brag or boast.                          ~1 Corinthians 13 The next part of the verse we’re learning is ‘love is not rude.’ I asked them what it meant to be rude. One kid said when you blow someone up with a tank. Yes, I suppose that would qualify as rude.  Another way to say it would be that love does not dishonor. This means that we should treat people with respect and show them, by what we say and do, that we value them. I asked a volunteer to squeeze a tube of toothpaste for me until the tube was empty. I picked a sweet young girl, who squeezed until the tube was empty. Then I said, "Now I need you to put all...