A People Watcher

Have you ever found yourself somewhere that you could just sit and watch people? My Grandpa was a people watcher. Mom would take him to the mall, she and grandma would go shopping and he would sit in the middle of the mall on one of those uncomfortable seats and just watch people. I guess I take after my grandpa. I have discovered the joy of people watching. It’s really quite amazing.

People; all different shapes and sizes; personalities and quirks; hair styles and clothing options; you can even tell a little about their religion. A young Arab girl is wearing the usual head dress but definitely American clothing; slacks and a sweater instead of the long flowing wrap-a-round gown. An Asian man walks in and the only way you can tell he is of Asian descent is his skin color and eyes.

What an amazing invention; people. Sometimes you wonder, “What was God thinking when He created humans?” With all the destructive evil in the world like the Fort Hood massacre. But when you sit and watch people you find there really is a lot of good in the heart of most. Every now and then you still see a man hold a door open for a woman. (You may even see a woman hold the door for a man) I see people helping one another. What an awesome dream God had when He created people!

Of course God’s dream for people should have played out differently that is has. His initial design was for us to be like Him full of love and compassion for each other. Adam and Eve’s poor choice in the garden lead to a fallen world. And there is a lot of hatred in the world because of it, but I think there is still a lot of love to go around. When the family of a brutally murdered victim can look at the murderer and say “I forgive you” that’s one of God’s best traits coming through. A trait He originally put with in people. It’s still there deep down in every person. It just takes His presence living in us to bring it out. That’s a trait of God that without it we people would be in a lot of trouble because when we ask Him, God forgives us unconditionally.

Take a little time to thank God for His love and forgiveness. Stop to gaze at the people God created; and be amazed. People really are most “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

A People Watcher,

Pastor Nick

Waiting

Today I'm spending the morning in the hospital waiting room. My wife is having a tonsillectomy. They say it's harder on an adult that it is on children. I'm thinking that as we get older we become wimps when it comes to pain. Kids have got to be in just as much pain, they just don't know it's supposed to hurt that much. For those of you who have had your tonsils out as an adult, you know how she is going to feel. And I don't mean to offend anyone with this pain issue. I'm sure it hurts very much. I was about 8 years old when I had mine out. I don't even remember it.

Anyway they say she will be down for 10 days to two weeks. When the doctor came in to see her before they took her back, he told her they would give her some real good pain medicine. I asked what he was going to prescribe for me for the next two weeks. He just laughed and said that was a good question.

In my role as a pastor, I do a lot of waiting in hospital waiting rooms sitting with parishioner families. Today I'm by myself (which is really okay, I prefer it that way). I'm was sitting here thinking and working (I can do that because my job is somewhat portable); I find the waiting the most draining part of my job. I'd rather be doing physical work than just waiting. I started thinking about how much time God spends waiting on us. He longs to visit with us and just hang out in relationship with us. And yet we get so busy that we go about our "business" and God just ... waits. It must be really draining on Him to wait so much of the time for us to come around.

I'm determined not to be that busy. I don't want God to have to wait around for me. I want more than ever to "hang out" with Him in relationship. I know how tiring it gets to wait. I don't' want God to get tired of waiting for me.

Waiting, but no longer asking God to wait on me,

Pastor Nick

Traveling...

The month of September was one of those months when you wonder what happened and where did the month go! Our son and daughter-on-law had our first grandson. They live in Texas. I know from experience it is 1,014 miles from my driveway to theirs. I also know from experience that it takes 15.75 hours to drive it stopping only for gas and potty breaks.

We left the day he was born; I left my wife there for two weeks, came back home alone (15.75 hour drive) spent two weeks working on a little project for the new "kids" room, then 1,014 miles back to deliver the project and bring my wife home. In between I had other meetings out of town (day trips).

What a month!

I discovered something in all the rush and travel. Even though I know God watches over me, I realized that in my business, I failed to seek His protection and He was there anyway. I know we should always ask Him for His help and protection, but sometimes (too many times) we just go and ...

I'm glad I serve a God that wants me to ask, but wathces out for me even when I get too busy to stop and ask.

What an Awesome God!

Pastor Nick

Good Start

Just thought I would share this little prayer with my readers. Some time ago one morning when I woke up I had this prayer going through my mind. Every since then, when I wake up in the morning, I sit on the edge of my bed and pray this prayer before I start my day. I find it helps to keep me focused. With this little prayer, I can start my day with my heart right before God.

Lord, thank you for this day. This is your day. Give me wisdom and discernment for this day. Give me ears to hear your voice. Give me lips to speak your truth. Give me eyes to see the opportunities you place before me. May everything I do bring honor and glory to you. Amen.

Feel free to pray this prayer as you start your day. If you pray this from your heart, I believe you will find your day to have more purpose.

God bless,

Pastor Nick

Coffee Up

I'm sitting in an Atlanta Bread Co. in Lexington this morning drinking a cup of coffee and waiting for the rain to fall. It's supposed to rain today, but the sky right now is blue and sunny. A few clouds here and there, but...

I'm here killing time waiting for my wife to get done with a doctor appointment. It's one of those 3-1/2 hour appointments she has every 6 weeks or so. So I come to the coffee shop and wait it out. I rather enjoy it because there is no real coffee shop in my little town.

Sometimes life is like that. What I mean is, sometimes when you are expecting a storm in life, you brace yourself, close all the doors and windows, shut yourself up and wait for it to hit. Then for whatever reason, the sun comes out, the clouds move away, and there you are all hold up inside yourself. And if you're not careful life will slip by and you'll miss all the excitement around you.

I find that when I sense the storm coming, rather than holding up and shutting myself in, it's better to just grab an umbrella and talk a nice walk. I'm talking about a life storm here; so the umbrella isn't really a "bumper shoot" type of umbrella, but the word of God. I find that if I take my Bible and begin to read it and take a walk through the pages of scripture, I'm actually more prepared for the storm when, or if, it hits. And if it doesn't hit...well I've had a great journey and didn't get stuck in doors.(or inside myself which is a dangerous place to be since it can get pretty lonely by myself)

Here's a suggestion. Next time you feel like a life storm is coming your way, take a walk through the Word of God. Sometimes the storms come to drive us closer to God. Sometimes they come to make us lean on Him more. Maybe, just maybe, the storm could be avoided if we went to Him first. Just a thought.

I think I'm going to go for a walk.

Pastor Nick

Magnolia Tree

Wow it's been a long time since I've written anything here. I got distracted doing too many things since...April? It's been longer than I thought.

I planted a Magnolia tree in my front yard this spring. I became a fan of magnolia trees when I went to TNU to get my graduate degree. Coming from Michigan it was the first time I had ever really seen one. I really like the big flowers they get and the fact that the leaves stay that shiny green all year long. So for years I have wanted one in my own yard. We live in southern Illinois and never got one there. Moved to east central Kentucky and after 2-1/5 years finally it's planted in the front yard. I had read that you may not get flowers for a couple of years after planting. I had one within the first 2 months. Now I'll probably not get one for a couple of years. It sure is growing though and looking great. New leaves coming on all the time.

I was reading in Genesis chapter one this morning in my personal devotion time. It's all about God's wonderful creation. I was reading from the New Living Translation. The interesting thing was something that I've known all along, but just needed to be reminded in a different sort of way.

It says that when God spoke, it happened. I mean God said let there be light and there was. No questions asked, just... there it was! When reading further into chapter 2 we find that it almost seems as though God slowed down when he came to creating humans. Human beings are mentioned in chapter 1, but chapter 2 takes us into more detail as to how he created us. Everything else God created was done with a word, but humans were created with his touch. God formed the man from the dust of the earth and the woman from the rib of the man. God; actually using his hands to create us!

Think about it. If you make something that you want to be extremely proud of, you take extra time to make it right. God made us as his most prized creation and took extra time to create us with his very hands. That should really change the way we think about ourselves and others. If we are that precious to God, then shouldn't we consider ourselves important enough to take care of? I mean, why do we do things to ourselves that destroy our bodies; our health? Why do we do things that hurt other people who are so precious to God?

Wow, do we ever need to get a different view of who we are. We need to get out of this world view that says people are a commodity to be used by those who are more powerful, into a God view that says all people are important and treasured. We need a God view of his most precious creation.

The next time you look in the mirror, take a closer look. God made you just like you are and he loves you. You are his prized creation. Then when you see that person on the street, or at work, or at the store, or wherever, remember they too are God's creation and he loves them as much as you, no matter who they are or what color their skin.

He didn't just speak you into existence, he formed you with his own hands. Isn't that just amazing?

Have a God filled day,

Pastor Nick

Flood the Altar

I didn't realize it had been so long since I last blogged. I've been on the road a lot this week so I've listedned to some CD's in the car. One of them has a song I hadn't listened to for quite some time. It's about Elijah and the prophets of Baal. You'll find the story in 1 Kings 17-18.

Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a test. Make a sacrifice and call on your god to light the fire and I'll call on my God. Which ever god answers is the true god. Well obviously Baal couldn't do it. So when it was Elijah's turn, he first had the people pour gallons of water over the altar, wood, sacrifice and even fill a trench he had dug around the altar with water. Just to make sure it was good and wet and that a fire couldn't be started by him. Then he prayed and God sent fire from heaven and burned up the wood, stones, dust, and even the water in the trench!

Make note here that there had been a drought for three years. No rain, dew, or any kind of precipitation. The land was very dry. Water was an extremely scarce commodity. Water was very precious. It was a big deal to pour water on the ground.

The song says, "Sometimes you have to flood the altar before He sends the fire." Sometimes in our prayer life we have to flood the altar with that which is precious to us. Sometimes we have to let go of that which we hold very dear, we have to flood the altar (you might say lay it on the altar) before we'll see the answer to our prayer.

We also have to realize that sometimes the answer to our prayer is different than what we were thinking. In the early church of the book of Acts, the disciples prayed expecting God to answer. The difference between them and many of us is that when they prayed expecting God to answer, they didn't look for the answer to be what they were thinking of. They just expected God to answer, period! We put limitations on God with our expectations of what the answer ought to be and then when God answers differently, we miss the answer and think He didn't answer at all.

Silly us! God answers ALL prayers of the Christ follower. We just need to let Him answer them in His own way. When we do that, I think we will see more of our prayers answered. Not because more of our prayers are being answered, but because we are seeing the answer as God intends the prayer to be answered. Does that make sense? I hope it does.

Flood the altar with that which is precious to you. Watch for God to answer in HIS way, and expect it!

"Sometimes you have to flood the altar before he sends the fire!"

God Bless,

Pastor Nick