Just & fair

On a personal note...I read today's devotional on Our Daily Bread and it talked about being "just" and "fair" as a business owner. I ran with that thought and applied it to my job as a manager in my department at work. I  interviewed someone today for a position we are going to fill in our work group and it wasn't until I read this devotional that I began to think about the responsibility that God expects from those who have people who report to them. Yeah, of course I'm fair and just, that's just the kind of guy I am :)

But it's more than that...do we really show people we care about them, encourage them, or even pray for them? What??? Pray for a co-worker, are you kidding me? Well, the simple answer is yes we should, even though that simple answer can be very hard to carry out. We all have or have had one of "those" co-workers. You know, the one who makes your job miserable some days. The one who has to one-up you around the boss or does anything they can to get under your skin.  

As a manager who professes to be a believer, are the people I work with seeing Jesus in me on a daily basis? Not just on the good days, but every day... quite a challenge for me this week.

And this isn't just directed for "managers". We all come into contact with different people every day, whether it's a work or at the grocery store, the mall or at your favorite eating joint. Are people seeing the Jesus who we say we want to be more like?

Take care and hope to see you Wednesday. Call, text, or email Tamra or me if you have questions.

Todd Nince

I hope you are taking just a little time in the morning to have a devotional. I guarantee it will make a difference in your day. 

-Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. —Colossians 4:1

See you on the other side...

This week I experienced some amazing medical technology. I've had some issues with my heart just taking off and then a couple times where I had to go to the ER to have them get it under control. So, I decided to have a procedure done that would fix the problem.

Basically, the doctor does some stuff to get the heart stirred up and acting up. They run a wire through a vein starting in my thigh, up to the heart, and then use radio frequency to "zap" the bad piece of wire so it doesn't cause a circuit loop anymore. Fascinating stuff...

Those of you who know me well, know I worry a lot. I worry a lot about things I can't control. And so you can imagine how much I was worrying. Well, believe it or not, I didn't do much worrying about the procedure that morning.

I could tell you I had sudden spurt of spiritual growth and purged the "sin of worry" from my life...but I can't.
What I can tell you is that I had a ton of people praying for me, and because of that, I had a peace about the whole process which can't be explained. If you are a believer though, I think you might know what I'm talking about.

Prayer is a tool we often take advantage of instead of "relying" upon. Yeah, it was easy to pray "Lord, please take care of me and bring me through the surgery without any complications." And I did pray that. But as they had me laid out on the table and were about to give me the happy/sleepy stuff, I also prayed that if the time for me to go "home-home" was now, that was okay too.

Don't get me wrong, I was relieved and happy when I woke up, opened my eyes, and saw my wife and family there in the recovery room. Also, I don't want to over elaborate this procedure. It wasn't heart by-pass surgery or something where they give you a 50-50 chance of making it through, but I do think it's one of those points in your life where you put an asterisk* beside this paragraph of your life timeline. It makes you step back, re-assess, and hopefully put the things of God and the things of life in perspective.

My Pastor and friend shared Psalm 40 with me before I headed into surgery. Here's a piece of it for you to read:


11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord;
    may your love and your truth always protect me.
12 For troubles without number surround me;
    my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
    and my heart fails within me.
13 Be pleased, O Lord, to save me;
    O Lord, come quickly to help me.
14 May all who seek to take my life
    be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
    be turned back in disgrace.
15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
    be appalled at their own shame.
16 But may all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
    “The Lord be exalted!”
17 Yet I am poor and needy;
    may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
    O my God, do not delay.

I continue to learn about the goodness of God. My life journey continues on and not only do I learn about God's goodness, I'm beginning to recognize and "see" His goodness. It's more real to me than ever before. God is good, all the time.

-- 1 Chronicles 16:34 - Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Life Matters...Committed to a cause

You ever think about what you are really committed to in life? First off, I'd have to say I'm committed to my family. As a husband and dad, I'm committed to working to pay the bills so we can have a place to live, food to eat, etc. And I'm committed to my work. It seems you have to be committed to work, I mean after all, you spend more that 1/3 of your time at work. I do like my job, like what I do, but sometimes it can overwhelm you. There are times when it feels like work is taking over who you are.

The basics...but what about people who are really committed to a cause.

I don't know that I'm really committed to a great "cause". Sometimes I feel like I'm living in Safe Mode. Which in America really isn't that bad of a thing, I'm just not sure that's the way God wants us to live. We've become so comfortable with our way of life, we make God fit into our life and not the other way around. Think about it...we want such and such for a car (or nice little red truck). We need to live in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. We need to work for a company that provides great benefits like good pay and health insurance. Oh yeah, we need to also be stashing away money in a 401k for that early retirement we are planning on.

But is that what God really wants for us? Is that how we as Christians should be living our lives?To be comfortable all of the time? Jesus didn't live a comfortable life and neither did the guys that followed him. He gave up everything. They gave up everything. I've got a lot of questions about this subject and not a lot of answers.

Life Matters...what do you call God?

I just started reading a book this summer, along with my two girls. It's by Craig Groechel and it's called "Christian Atheist". One of the things he talked about was the relationship we have with God and what do we call him. When we talk to him, how do we address him? Is he "Provider"? Or "Father"? Or do you call him "Friend"?

This was interesting for me to think about. God wants us to talk to him all of the time. Not just when we sit down for dinner. Not just when we are in a pinch or need something. He wants us to talk to Him all of the time. "God, what do you think about this?" "God, how should I handle this?" He wants all of us all of the time. Let's try talking to Him and see what happens...

Todd Nincehelser

Life Matters - Life as I see it...

I haven't posted a blog for quite some time. It's been a struggle finding the extra time to just sit down and put my thoughts into words. So, I'm going to try and get back into the swing of things and hopefully I can be more consistent. At least for a little while... :)

Do you ever feel like life is passing you by? I'm 45 years old now and I kid you not, it just seems like a couple of years ago I was in high school playing basketball, driving up and down Main Street in my Mustang, living in the moment.

Now, twenty plus years later, my kids are growing up right before my eyes. My son doesn't shoot baskets with me anymore. I no longer have my little girls crawling up on my lap when I come home from work. There was an instant peace I felt when I sat in my chair and just held them. I miss that.

Even so, I'm excited to see what God has in store for me in the future. While the older I get, the more I look forward to His ultimate return, my earthly desires want to see my children grow up and have their own families.

God has so blessed my family and me. I take it for granted and really shouldn't. While things don't always seem to go the way "I" think they should, hind-site has proven God to be true to His word and His promises. He never fails to prove to me He is in control and knows what He's doing. Do I question him? Yep. Do I doubt? Yep. Thankfully He forgives and forgets.

**For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

~ Hebrews 8:12

Life matters...and so does tennis

Hey folks,

How’s your week going? I hope it’s going good. It’s Thursday and we’re on the downhill side to a three day weekend…woo-hoo!!

My daughter and I went over to the lake yesterday and played tennis and it brought back some fun memories. I really like tennis. The first time I played (I was probably in the 5^th grade) was when my neighbor took his boy and me over to the tennis courts off of 21^st street by Hi-Crest Community Center. This is how old I am…we played with wooden racquets..ugh. That doesn’t even register to the younger folks. It’s like saying you rode a horse & buggy to school or you communicated on a telephone via “party line”.

Well, after a few times playing, I talked my dad into buying me a real aluminum racquet and he & I would go play tennis at the junior high. What I really remember about playing back then was my dad would come home from working 10 hour days (he was an electrician) and there I would be waiting holding my racquet ready to go play. I can remember only a couple of times when my dad said he didn’t feel like going. I’m sure there were more times than that when he didn’t “feel” like it, but he did anyway. As a parent, I think about that often. I hope I’m as giving of “my time” as my dad was.

All of that just to share a good message I read this week from the New Rebellion devotional. It’s called “Imitate That Serve”. (Get it? Serve? Tennis?...)

Basically what the devotion talked about was that people usually imitate the people they admire. Our kids can quite accurately emulate their parents. Teens model their piers in dress, talk, and values. Young professionals climbing the corporate ladder find a leader and imitate them. But Paul said that we need to follow the example of Christ and His passion for the world.

There are many important things Jesus did, and as Believers, we should be imitating the things of Christ:

Compassion, willingness to give up personal comfort to reach the lost, prayer life, discernment, passion for the truth, faith of miracles, reliance on His Father, joy during hard times, kindness, relationships with friends.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2

Have a great rest of the week!!

Todd Nincehelser

Ps – My youngest daughter is pretty good at tennis. She’s the only member of my family that can hit it over the net consistently and not make me feel like a ball boy at Wimbledon. : )

http://www.shawneeheights.org

Various thoughts

Various thoughts...

Hey folks...in Sunday morning Fear No Evil Bible Class, we'll be finishing up the "God is Compassionate" chapter and moving on to Chapter 3 - "How Long, O Lord?" A little more study on suffering and evil from the old testament books that include the Prophets and Writings. Hope to see you there Sunday morning @ 9:30.

Pray for our country...we are living in historic times. Our country needs God...

Pray for people who have lost their jobs.

Pray for a chance to share the Gospel with someone...soon.

Below is a link to a short video. It's called Plastic Jesus. I think you'll "get it" after you watch it.

http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=e52499be711fb54303ff&utm_source=newsletter0826&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weeklytopvideos

Have a good rest of the week!

Todd Nince

http://reslehecnin.blogspot.com/

http://www.shawneeheights.org/