Rick Nier...Woo!

There are many benefits of the job I have working for a Christian college. One of them is to pull out the trump card and say, I thought you loved Jesus , whenever they say something I don’t like. Ok, I’m kidding. I don’t actually say it out loud.  The real benefit is working among like-minded believers who know we are all in this mission together to serve the King. Oh, we surely forget from time to time, and we all have our levels of maturity in the faith. But when we stumble, we’re surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who can pull us aside and say, I thought you loved Jesus . (Kidding. Again, no one says it out loud.) But here’s something that, seriously, does keep us all grounded. The faculty and staff are encouraged to attend the chapel services alongside the students. Yes, we all have much to keep us busy and it would often be easier to keep plugging away on a project or two.  Yet there is no greater equalizer when people of different levels of authority g...

Have you ever paused to think about what we know to be true? If you are the type of person who is quick to judge, as I am prone, then you know that sometimes we only think we know what’s true. Oftentimes we have only to wait a little bit to be given more information. Something like this is happening in Luke 8. Jesus appears to be going non-stop from town to town healing people. In fact, for the people who lived this story out, that may have been the only detail they actually knew for sure.  In fact, He is on His way to the home of a dying girl, at the father’s request, when a woman intentionally touches Him and is healed. I say intentionally because it causes a scene.  If you can imagine the kind of roving mosh pit that was the crowd clamoring to be close to Jesus, then you realize many people would have been touching him. Because, you know, some people are close walkers.  They trip over your feet and accidentally bump you because of their proximity. Some...

All I wanted was a deep-fried candy bar. I took my 12-year old to the county fair last night. The teenagers were with friends, and so I was able to give 100% focus to one child. But let me be clear. I hate  the fair. If other people did not exist in my life, I would have absolutely no reason to ever go to the fair. But by going to the fair, you realize just how many people do exist. Seriously, where do some of these people, and their corresponding senses of style,come from?  Because it’s like someone said people of Walmart couldn’t get any stranger and the county fair said, “Hold my beer.” I digress. I am at the fair with my daughter. She wants to ride some rides. I am avoiding eye contact with the barkers wanting me to prove myself by squirting water into a tiny hole or toss a quarter on to a cooking-sprayed dish. All I want is a deep-fried candy bar. We buy some tickets for my daughter to ride the rides. Let me pause again and tell you I have been quite clear with fr...

We could read every verse there is in the Bible and always end up with the same question. Do you know what this means?!? But it wouldn’t be us asking as if we were confused. Sure, there are scriptures that confuse us. But that’s not what I am talking about.  Consider John 3:16. Half of you just stopped reading because you assume I’m trying to reach a third grade Sunday School class. The half that stick with me will, I hope, be thankful they did.  Truths That Should Leave Us In Awe John 3:16 tells us that God loved the world so much He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins. Any fragment of that verse is amazing to think about, but for the sake of time, I’ll assume you’re not glossing over the idea that the supreme, all-powerful, all-knowing God who created everything perfectly and that watched as His creation messed everything entirely up, still chooses to love us and substitute His perfect Son in exchange for our sinful. Selves.  You didn’t gloss over th...

Have you ever gone through a big change in your life and wondered how it would work out? Despite my history of working with teenagers, I’m not actually talking about puberty.  I think my biggest struggle with my current career transition is how I assume people will perceive my identity. ( Should my current colleagues read this, they should understand completely that this has nothing to do with them. They are an amazing team of people who are nothing but encouraging. ) This struggle is about moving from a church job to a non-church job. I imagine the struggle was going to come no matter what I found myself doing. After all, what surprised me most was not what I found myself doing, but I found myself not doing. I assumed I would be continuing as a youth pastor...somewhere.  When God opened up unexpected doors, it left me with gratitude...and questions.  Did I burn out? Did I become uncalled? Did I not have what it takes to be a lifer in ministry? Did I sell...

Disclaimer: I am writing this before I see the latest Marvel move: Avengers: Infinity War. I am doing so with a purpose. You can read this and know there won’t be any spoilers.  Having said that, let me tell you what’s on my mind. My family have been fans of superhero movies for a long time now. We watch them. We talk about them. We buy them. We watch and talk some more.  Because of this, we’re pretty attached to the characters, some of whom we have been watching for the past decade. So we actively avoid spoilers when a new movie is coming out. Yet we still see people’s opinions and thoughts posted on social media. My wife saw that several women were so shook up after the movie they needed cookies as a coping mechanism.  This is a little odd to me, but only because I do not need to be upset in order to need a cookie. However, I do understand being upset. In fact, if an entertaining movie can help us to feel emotion and consider truth, that’s a goo...

Contrarians. Who needs them? After all, they’re usually a disagreeable sort. The rest of us are just out here living our lives when we happen upon one. They get all up in our business with their thinking and their justified applications based on those thoughts. They think they’re better than the rest of us. Or, at least, that’s how it feels. Case in point. Imagine a group of people having a conversation, when two of them say the same thing, almost simultaneously. You already know what he of them is going to say, don’t you? Great minds think alike! Then some tool comes along and says something like, ‘No, great minds think for themselves!’ Now, are they being contrarian? Yes. But are they necessarily being obnoxious? No. I say this for a couple of reasons. First, I am the aforementioned tool who says great minds think for themselves. I’m not trying to be contrary. But I think it’s good to give people another perspective. And that is exactly what I’m getting from Larry Osborn...