Rick Nier...Woo!

The other day I was talking with my neighbor, and we were discussing all the raking we had been doing. (Needless to say, I have done more, but that’s not the point.)  I wondered aloud what it would be like if God had designed all the leaves to fall off the trees at the same time. The thought of being under a tree when all of its leaves came down in one big lump amused me. Can you imagine the trauma it might cause kids who are playing outside? The thought amused me even more.  My neighbor, who takes care of his yard to a degree that most of us can only aspire to (and then some) commented that we’d all have dead grass. Thanks, Johnny Raincloud. He might be right. Seeing a pile of leaves waist-deep would be very discouraging and might keep more of us from all the raking that we do. After all, we still rake all the leaves, but the work has been spread out over weeks.  Yes, I’m getting tired of my rake now, but a pile consisting of every leaf my trees ever held would feel insu...

So, I haven't posted in a while...again...it's not corona, it's life keeping me busy. But I have something for you today, but it wasn't written by me. It was written by my wife, Jennifer. When she talks, I listen. Be encouraged! Dealing with Disappointment Is anyone else feeling it?  Day 17 of quarantine.  Social distancing.  Stay at home.  Church online.  School canceled.  Events canceled.  Spring Break trips canceled or put on hold.   This spring break my family had a big trip planned, which hasn’t happened for us in a very long time.  It’s our oldest daughter’s senior year of high school and we wanted to make it special and take a trip we’ve never taken before.  Flying to Orlando (which my children don’t remember ever flying as they were ages 6, 4 and 1), and fun in the sun for an entire week.  We booked the trip 8 months ago and have planned, planned and planned u...

Do you know what a whipping boy is? I looked it up. It's  a person who is blamed or punished for the faults or incompetence of others.  The problem with a whipping boy is that he is whipped so often people begin to assume he deserves it. Or the boy just accepts his fate and acts into the very nature of who people believe he is.  But who is defending the whipping boy? Who is taking a second look and asking if the boy really deserves all of the ire he is receiving? Today, it’s me.    via GIPHY Social Media is the Whipping Boy  Social media is just entering its adolescent years, and like many adolescents, it is acting in some strange and unconventional ways that make people question what is going on.  Many words have been written about the dangers of social media, none the least of which would be the supposed separation from real life interactions. But it doesn’t take a highly educated look to put some things together and no...

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.  Can you believe that? via GIPHY The only thing more incredible than his request is the answer he receives from Jesus.  Yes. Ye...

Quiet. It's been so quiet. For someone who has been in youth ministry for almost 20 years, quiet is not something I am accustomed to. Not at work and not even at home. Because, oh yeah, my own children are exceptional at being loud. Even when I am alone with just one of them, I sometimes have to remind them that I'm not deaf yet....despite growing up on 80's rock. Low-talkers my family is not. So you'll forgive me if I tell you that peace and quiet is not something I have experienced a lot of. And now that it has been exceptionally quiet, I'll admit I'm not sure it's always peaceful. See, I ask a lot of questions in conversations. This is a habit people down't always admire in me. Just ask my teenage daughter, who is simply trying to tell me a little story. But I want the details! Which friend made the comment? What did their face look like when they said that? Where were you standing? It's also how I read the Bible. I read these stories ...

I'm leading my college ministry group through a fantastic book right now. It's called Think, Act, Be Like Jesus by Randy Frazee. He connects what we think to how we act and the outcome is a lifelong virtue. Here's the latest section our group covered. Who am I? Can you describe yourself in 5 words? Perhaps you've been asked that question before. If you're like me, your answers have varied, depending on whom you were with, how you were feeling about your life, or what you had for lunch that day. Slightly different question: which description of whom we are in Christ means the most to you? (a child, a temple, a new creation, a member of the body of Christ, a citizen in Heaven, etc.) How does this description change how you approach each day? I believe how we see ourselves impacts everything else; how we live our lives, how we treat one another. If we live fully in God’s grace, we’ll be the most willing to pass that grace around. If we try to accomplish things on our o...

A bronze shield. Who would have thought so much discouragement could come from a bronze shield? But when I read 2 Chronicles 12:10, which tells us King Rehoboam of Judah put bronze shields in the royal treasuries, I immediately thought of how discouraging that must have been. You wouldn't think so, would you? After all, a bronze shield would defend. It would protect. It would do what it was made to do. And yet... If you flip back a few chapters, to the description of King Solomon's reign, you read of excessive opulence. We read of vast riches and people living in the lap of luxury. Foreign Queens visit and swoon over the organization, the ritual, Solomon's wisdom and yes, the riches. For a few chapters we read of all the wealth Solomon had, including a fleet of ships which seemed to have no other purpose than going around getting Solomon more stuff. 2 Chronicles 9 tells us the ships would come back into port every 3 years loaded "with gold, silver, ivory, apes and pe...

I preached recently from the book of James, where Jimmy was talking about faith and deeds. He foolishly believes the two should line up. Actually, I am just foolish enough to believe the same. But as difficult as it might sound to actually do what you say you believe, faith is harder than that. See, I think faith should actually translate into how you hope for things. This is where I've struggled lately and I've been appreciative of some people who have reminded me so. I believe in God. But more than that, I believe God has great plans for me and for the church I work with. This is not me saying I believe in my best life now or some pie-in-the-sky romance novel version of my life. You know the kind; where money always rolls in and you achieve everything practical and impractical, all within a nice abbreviated version of what reality would ever afford. But I do believe my faith in a BIG God should move me to hope BIG. To dream BIG. To expect BIG. This only makes sense if I actua...

I thought this post was timely and appropriate. Well written, Max Lucado. It seems that in the dozen years since our country’s heart and skyline were ripped apart, we still struggle with how to spend this day that represents such pain and, even to this day, fear. 9/11 has come to serve as a day of remembrance for the many trials we have endured as a nation over this past decade. The continued threats and anxiety created by ongoing terror threats have become, if not normal, an ever present stressor. We wonder if we’ll ever be free of that sense of unease in our daily lives. The Boston bombing served as a reminder of this new reality. Violence continues to tear at our country from within – the mass shootings in Arizona, Colorado, and Sandy Hook. The unthinkable stories of the innocent victims and instant heroes in these situations have seared our consciousness, leaving us reeling with grief and disbelief. Natural disasters like Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Sandy, and other ...

The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. ~Hebrews 7:18-19 It seems like such a simple equation. Create something good + man's involvement = imperfection guaranteed. Don't get me wrong. It's not that I dislike us humanoids. I'm a fan...really. It's just that we have a tendency to muck things up. It's not really a problem as long as we have the right expectations. For example, if I come home from work expecting a steak and lobster meal and my 3 children to be dressed formally, my wife would guess there is something drastically wrong with my expectations. For starters, she's never cooked lobster. Ok, that's actually a stupid place to start for starters. The point is, my expectations would not be anywhere close to the reality I live in. Not even in the same zip code. However, if I come home expecting supper to be somewhere clos...

Sometimes I like to imagine what it was like to be a 19-year old Israelite when the spies were sent in to explore the Promised Land. If you read the account you will see that only 2 of the 12 spies came back with good reports. Everyone else was afraid and refused to go in and claim God's promise. So God brings judgment, which you can read in Numbers 14:26-35. In a nutshell, everyone 20 years and older is going to die in the desert. Which brings me back to imagining life for those 19-year olds. I have to believe their first response is a brush of the hand against the forehead while breathing a sigh of relief. 'Whew, we just made the cut-off.' I imagine this was quickly followed with disdain for the 20 and older crowd. After all, there was to be 40 years of wandering in the desert because of the rebellion. God said it would be 1 year of desert wandering for every day the spies explored the land. I think I might wish for God to smite them all so we could just get on with it. A...

Last night I called my children up from the basement to supper. Jerica, our precocious 4-year old, said, 'I don't want anything yucky.' Ahhh, expectations. You should know that she would define 'yucky' as anything not on her pre-approved list of meals. That list would include peanut butter, grilled cheese and McDonald's chicken nuggets. So yes, by comparison, supper was 'yucky'. But she ate it. Expectations are funny things. An experience can be shared by many people, but interpreted differently depending on what each person expected. If you show up to a U2 concert only to find out that Bono is sick and The Wiggles are filling in, you will likely be disappointed. On the other hand, if your wife dragged you to a Wiggles concert and U2 came out instead, your experience would rise above your expectation for the day. I think something similar is happening in Genesis in the story of Abram and Sarai. Abram has received some pretty big promises from God. You...

I woke up very early this morning. I saw a sky full of beautiful stars. I love mornings like this. Less than two hours later, the stars had disappeared. But I didn't worry about where they went. Though I can't see them, I know they are still there. I do look forward to seeing them again. I can picture them in my mind. There is a Morning Star which I have seen. Though I cannot see Him now, I am not concerned. I know He is still there. I see evidence and can still picture visions of Him in my mind. I long for the day I can see Him again. Face to face. No more veils. He is the Morning Star (Revelation 22:16). He shines bright.

Without hope. It is a very scary feeling. Ever felt it? Ever seen it in someone else? I used to think that 2 Kings 25 was the most depressing chapter of the Bible. It details the last days of Jerusalem before falling to Babylon. It is depressing. After all, with different kings coming and going, the people had probably still held on to hope. Hope that this king might be different. Hope that people would start to reform their ways. Hope that God would once again bless their nation. But I think hope left the building a bit sooner than that. I'm reading through the prophet Ezekiel, who was one of the first to be deported, before the fall of Jerusalem. It doesn't take all that long for God to begin giving him the bad news. Just 8 chapters in, Zeke proclaims God's judgment on the wickedness happening in His own temple. "Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them." ...

The last member of an ancient tribe that has inhabited an Indian island chain for around 65,000 years has died. Boa Sr, who was around 85 years of age, was the last member of one of ten distinct Great Andamanese tribes, the Bo. I don't study indigenous tribes much, and obviously I did not know Boa Sr personally. The article talks about how her people's ancient language died with her. The finality of it all struck me. I tried to imagine this scenario being played out with Americans, or even just my family. It caused me to think of 2 Chronicles 36:15-21. This is the fall of Jerusalem. These verses talk about how God had warned them again and again. It was kind of like when your dad finally does pull the car over. It never seemed like it would come to this. Sure, you have been kicking his seat for the last 300 miles, but who knew he was serious? It's a reminder that things come to an end. Your fun, the reign of Israel, or even a tribe from India. And yet... Hope remains. If o...

Do you ever get that feeling that your life is just waiting for the next turn or dip, like on a roller coaster? Or perhaps you're fearful that the car you're in will just fall off the tracks. I don't think I'm about to fall out, as I'm securely buckled in, but my knuckles seem to be white as I hold on. The problem is I have some 7-foot giant in front of me, so I can not see what is coming. I remember, as a kid, going to some podunk little theme park. The workers gave the instruction that if the ride was getting to you, you could just raise your hand, and they would let you off. The only problem was that once the ride started, their girlfriend showed up and they were clueless that we'd been spinning on the tilt-a-whirl for 20 minutes. You know, it's really hard to hold your hand up while you're dizzy and the person next to you is throwing up in your lap. So even though I sometimes want off the ride, you can understand why I may be a bit slow to raise my h...