Rick Nier...Woo!

Do you know what would make a great name for an epic hero? Nimrod. That’s right. Nimrod. The name you might hear relatives and friends calling someone they find to be stupid. Oh, wait, that doesn’t sound epic, does it? It didn’t to me either. But at one time... “Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.” ~Genesis 10:8-9 Nimrod was such a warrior that the next few verses detail the cities he built and the kingdom he established. Warrior, hunter, hero. Thy name is Nimrod. Making Your Own Great Name One would assume the name of the first mighty warrior to walk the earth would still be revered. But go ahead and tell someone they remind you of Nimrod and see how that goes over for you.  via GIPHY See, unlike other biblical names which are hard to spell and harder to pronounce, Nimrod now has a negative con...

These days I am a substitute teacher. Given that I am wanting to work as much as possible I have made myself available for every elementary, middle and high school in our area. Some people, forgetting that I have loved being a youth pastor for half my life, cringe at the idea of subbing for middle and high school.  But I know teens to be awesome people. I digress. Let me tell you what I enjoy about being a substitute teacher. Variety. In one week I taught middle school p.e., a first grade class and a fourth grade class. If a sub doesn’t like first graders, just hold on for a day. It’ll change tomorrow. Variety means meeting lots of people and getting to touch the lives of many children. Maybe they struggle with their regular teacher and you can be a breath of grace filled air. On the other hand, I have no idea what to expect each day as I get up. Will the class be full of basically good kids or a room filled with untamed mutants? Will I find myself dealing with little child...

Here you and I are, just starting our day with a bowl of Cap'n Crunch, and people are out there making changes in the way we are governed. And there are other people out there studying the impact it makes on people.  So what changes and what impact are we talking about today? The impact made on high school students when states change the policies about same-sex marriages. You can read the article here for yourself , but here is a summary of their findings; This difference-in-differences analysis of representative data from 47 states found that same-sex marriage policies were associated with a 7% reduction in the proportion of all high school students reporting a suicide attempt within the past year. The effect was concentrated among adolescents who were sexual minorities. Translation: They asked adolescents who would identify as something other than heterosexual if they had attempted suicide before and after the legalization of same-sex marriages.  Please note, that w...

I wear a few different hats at my church. That may be understating things, but suffice it to say I get to know a lot of different people in a lot of different age groups. One of the benefits is the relationships I build with multiple generations and the vantage point from which I can see where our church is at. On any given Sunday, I will have lots of different people that I would like to catch up with as several people that might seek out my attention. Yesterday was one of those days. But I should mention that one of the areas I oversee is that of children. And children will get your attention....ummm...whenever they can. I was leading in our worship service, which will involve leading the singing as well as calling ushers to collect the offering. This year in our church, we have children collecting change for missionaries. So while the ushers are collecting money in an organized fashion, we have about 20 kids running around the sanctuary, shaking people down for their loose c...

Were there Associate Pharisees? I like to think I have some experience with being an Associate Pastor. Even though I've only worked at 2 churches, I have worked with 8 different Senior Pastors. Yes..., I know that's a lot . Yes..., I have wondered if it's me . But being an Associate means different things to different people. It means different things to the people working with the Associate and it means various things to each Associate. What I have discovered is that it primarily means being willing to follow the leader. Leadership comes from the top and to become a good complement, one must be willing to follow the vision being given from the top. So one day I wondered if there were Associate Pharisees. We read about these religious leaders all the time. Surely there were some junior members. There had to be someone to work with the kids, right? Someone had to lead those overnight trips with camel racing and Dodge Scroll. (The trick to Dodge Scroll is to avoid be...

People on the outside of the church think Christians are hypocritical. At least, according to one survey*, 72% of people who never attend church think those who do attend church are hypocrites. Hypocrites! I've been called lots of names, but this one, for someone trying to follow God, would have to be the single worst name you could be called. I'm guessing you may have been called names as well. As insulting as any of them might have been, to be told that someone thinks you're not really doing what you say you are doing would be, should be, near the top. So, take this stat for what it’s worth, but one study found 72% of people who don’t attend church believe there is a God, but the same 72% also believe the church is full of hypocrites. I know surveys can often be skewed, but let's follow the progression here. 7 out of every 10 people say they believe in God. It might be a good God, an angry God, a disengaged God or perhaps even a disinterested God. But if these 72% of ...

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. ~Romans 8:31-34 In my opinion, this is one of the most powerful scriptures that we seldom take to heart. That's right. There are many great truths in the Bible. Many we ignore, others we choose not to obey and some we don't yet understand. But Romans 8:31-34 is simple for us to comprehend, something we've likely heard in a worship setting (probably before a power anthem), and not difficult to obey. Yet we don't live out the implications of this truth. Who is he that accuses? You...

You young kids may not believe this, but there was a time when there were only two X-Men movies. There was a time when live-action superhero movies were just beginning to overtake our universe. And since there were only a couple of X-Men movies out, we were being introduced to people. Who they were, what they could do and why they were the way they were. There is a line from X-Men 2 where Magneto asks a young guy named John what his name is. When John answers with 'John', Magneto asks for his real name. It's Pyro. Not surprisingly, he can play with fire. Magneto affirms his powers and encourages him. This could have been a real made-for-TV kind of moment until you realize that Magneto is amassing an army. Oh, and he's the bad guy, despite what he may tell you. So Pyro isn't going to be making any campfires for s'mores anytime soon. But Magneto's point is clear - don't hide from your real identity . I believe that is key for all of us to remember. We p...

If you’ve never heard the story of Hosea before, you’re missing out. Hosea was an OT prophet who was told to marry a prostitute. (I bet nobody thought I’d start out sex and dating month that way!) God told Hosea to marry Gomer, a prostitute. They had some children together. A daughter they named Lo-Ruhamah, which means ‘not loved’. I don’t know what your name means, but I imagine you’d get the message if your name meant ‘unloved’. Then they had a son and named him Lo-Ammi, which means ‘not my people’. It’s kind of scandalous when you consider a prostitute having a kid and naming it ‘not mine’. (It would be like your parents giving you a name that meant ‘ugly one’. Thanks Mom and Dad!) All of this was at the command of God. He told Hosea to marry Gomer and He told Hosea what to name these children. Why? Because God is trying to communicate to the nation of Israel the curse they were under. They had turned their back on God, so He was letting them know the consequences. Our names have si...

After their fateful bite the first thing to hit Adam and Eve was knowledge of good and evil. Knowledge…of evil. It broke God’s heart to describe us as “knowing good and evil.” We tend to gloss over Genesis 3:22, where God describes us as knowing good and evil, and assume the biggest problem was our disobedience. That was a problem, yes, but not the primary problem. The big problem is that we became very much like a toddler spending our first night in a big-boy bed, or a big-girl bed. We assumed that since we were not held back by the restraints that a baby-cage offers that we were ready to come out whenever we wanted. But just because you can do something does not mean you should do something. I remember when one of my daughters was first in a big-girl bed. Oh how she loved the power. I can get out of my bed anytime I want to . But what she discovered was that her parents liked to celebrate putting children to bed by having a bowl of ice cream. Why can’t I have ice cream, mommy? I want...

So many times man wants to know what the rules are. What can we get away with once this game starts? How close can I come to cheating before it is actually cheating? I see good. I see evil. Now I want to know where the line is between the two. I want to know how close I can come to the line without crossing it. We do this with God. We ask these questions in many different ways. We ask it differently because we don’t want God thinking that we sometimes desire evil, as if He doesn’t already know our thoughts. But we ask; What must I do to be holy? What must I do to gain eternal life? What do I have to do to keep on God’s good side? How many committees do I have to sign up for to make sure the pastor is off my back? It’s like a young teenage boy asking how often he should write love notes or get flowers for the girl he loves. Son, if you have to ask, you’re not in love. But we treat God so differently. How often do we have to do devotions? How often do we have to pray? Can’t I miss ...

Every once in a while I have to remind myself regarding my identity. And by 'every once in a while', I mean every moment of every day. My identity is not found in the number of people who laugh at my jokes. It is not found in the number of people who show up to things I plan. It is not found in the number of followers I have on Twitter, the number of people I am LinkedIn to, or the number of friends I have on Facebook. (It's a good thing, too.) My identity is not found in the number of people who comment on my blog, take time to say hi to me in a day, or by the number of emails I get from people who were just thinking about me. (Again, it's a good thing.) My identity is not found in how many things I can check off my to-do list, by the number of things accomplished or by the number of people impacted by what I do. My identity is not found in how fast I can run, how many baskets I can make in basketball, how much my Fantasy Football team can score, or even by how...

It turns out this article I am linking to is written by Anonymous. I believe that Anonymous is normally a very good writer. Sure, there are times when Anonymous has nothing good to say, but this is not one of those times. And, in case you're like me, and you'd like to meet Anonymous or thank him for his words, then we're missing the point. Anonymous has chosen to remain so, if even only for this article, which is something all of us should be striving for. So go check it out.   Woo!

Greetings are important. What we say and how we say it will determine where the conversation goes. For example; If I say:                                                  "Hey!" very largely and with a smile, you might assume I’m very excited to see you. "Hi", mumbling and very softly, you might ask what’s wrong. "Oh, it’s you guys…again", you might assume I don’t like you. "Sup?" while coolly nodding my head, you might assume I’m cooler than I actually am. Greetings are important. Which is why I think Paul was purposeful when he began his letter to Tim. In the very first verse, we learn who Paul is and what he is about. 1 Timothy 1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesu...

I don't know if you ever have trouble reading through the entire Bible. Sure, you might like the extreme action, but perhaps you struggle to read the more flowery parts. I wish I knew how to help you because I love the entire Bible, even the boring parts . But there is benefit to reading every word, even the hard-to-pronounce names. You shouldn't skip these parts, even as a pastor. I would certainly never recommend a pastor changing his text simply to avoid Old Testament names. Again, I don't know anyone who would do that... If you wander by Isaiah, at times both flowery and confusing (double win!), you can find this interesting story. Then the Lord said to me, “Make a large signboard and clearly write this name on it: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.”  I asked Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah, both known as honest men, to witness my doing this. Then I slept with my wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said, “Call him Maher-sha...

The quietness is about to get loud. The silence will be no more. Like the half hour discussed in Revelation before the seventh seal is broken, things are about to start happening. I like to tell people that news of my demise has been greatly exaggerated. Not that anyone was talking about my demise...unless, of course, you heard something? The point is, I have more to Woo about. I have more questions to ask. I have more scriptures to point out. More ways to tell the world how it's not about me. I liken it to that moment when my wife's headache is about to totally go away, when all my children decide to burst through the door. It's not about me...but I'm back to regular posting. You've been warned!

Is it possible that at the same time God reveals truth about Himself, He is also revealing the truth about us? For example, I've always read the story of Samuel anointing David the same way. While God is busy rejecting David's older brothers, He tells Samuel that man looks at the outward appearance while God looks at the heart. The focus is on God. He's more focused on the inside and all that. I wrote that as if it's no big deal and everybody gets it. Understanding that we do not, let's move on to the point I want to make. Why are we so often surprised when people judge us by our outward appearances? Didn't God say that man looks at the outward appearance? He might not have said He was okay with this way of viewing people, but at least God warned us. It's like being surprised when someone tells you a certain type of food is hot. It doesn't seem to slow us down from popping it in our mouths and then turning red in the face and searching for wat...

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. ~Psalm 8:3-5 When it comes to all-time great questions that we should be asking, this one by David should rise to the top. What is man that God should even think about us? Now I could wax eloquent about what a great question that is and I could attempt to break down many reasons why an infinite God doesn't need a finite creation, but I'll skip to what should be the obvious omission from this song. David never asks this question in the opposite way. He never questions the value of God or wonders why we, as people, should pursue Him. That's because David was not stupid. God has inherent value simply because of who He is. We should never forget that.

It's really too bad that the word epic has been overused and likely lost some of its power. It's also a shame that when I tell you Numbers 16 is epic, most of you will roll your eyes and choose not to believe. But this would make for some really cool scenes in a movie. Here it is; Moses is being opposed by his followers and this time it's not about food and water. This time it's old-fashioned jealousy. The main guys opposing Moses are Korah, Dathan and Abiram. The Levites can't stand that Moses is so holy. Moses can't stand their whining, so like every smart child, they take it to the parent, in this case, God. So God sets up a showdown. Everyone lights a censer, though they won't be needed, and are told to appear at the entrance of the Tent. God shows up and tells everyone to step away from Korah, Dathan and Abiram. It's at this point that one has to assume it's either because they are super-holy and no one should stand near them. Or it's becaus...