Teaching through Advent

Happy Boxing Day friends!

Traditionally, today has been known as the day where employers have given gifts to their employees, servants, etc... so, if you own your own business and have non-family employees, or if you're just crazy rich, be sure to give your employees something today!

Well, with that out of the way, I wanted to give you a quick update on the goings on as of late. Since March, I have been serving as the youth pastor at Dexter Baptist Church in Dexter, GA. This past November, the pastor and I discussed the possibility of me teaching through the season of Advent. The church itself had been lighting the Advent candles for a couple of years, but never had really discussed the ins and outs of the season itself.

So with that, I set out on December 1st to begin a 4 week study through the season of Advent. We spent each week discussing a characteristic of the season (What is Advent? Why observe Advent? The colors of Advent. The History of Advent) and then we had a short homily from the Scriptures for each week based on the particular candle that we lit. Then on Monday, December 23rd (since people were heading out to visit family for Christmas) we had our Christ Candle service and celebrated the Incarnation of God in the flesh, Jesus the Christ. I really enjoyed preparing these lessons, doing the research and study, and presenting them to the church. I know that doing so really enhanced my celebration of the Advent and now Christmas seasons. Here are a few pics of the Advent Wreath, sanctuary, and me teaching on the Fourth Sunday of Advent.





I pray you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoy your season of Christmas!

Peace of Christ to all

~Nick

Return of the Married Man

I suppose it has been long enough now that I should probably post something, anything, simply to keep you, my readers, from forgetting about me all together. The thought of that seems a little vain, but I have recently started reading The Longing for Home by Frederick Buechner and (as is my habit when I begin reading a new author), I started pursuing the web to find out what book of his I should move on to next. This led me to a page of quotes, one of which best describes why I feel the need to blog more often (regardless if anyone really cares). He stated:  

"For as long as your remember me, I am never entirely lost. When I'm feeling most ghost-like, it's your remembering me that helps remind me that I actually exist. When I'm feeling sad, it's my consolation. When I'm feeling happy, it's part of why I feel that way.”

Now, I’m in no way saying that I NEED to blog, but I think it helps to remind you all that I do actually exist! ;)

Also, I have taken to reading little blurbs of “Today in Christian History” which I pass along to my youth from time to time via Facebook. One of today’s events comes from a few journal entries from Jim Elliot. As I read through the article, I was reminded how wonderful it is that we have the writings and journals from giants of the faith. Jim Elliot may not make the top ten list of giants of the faith (although I’m sure he would be on the list), but imagine what it would be like if we didn’t have the writings of the Fathers, or the Reformers, or the “Awakeners”. Imagine how much we would have wondered what led to the decisions at church councils if they were not written down. Imagine where we as believers would be if the Apostles had not felt compelled to write letters to the early church and to fellow believers.

My point is this, while my little blog may never amount to much more than the musings of a Christ lover, book lover, dog lover, pipe lover, science fiction lover with a strong desire to raise a family and a little garden (maybe some chickens), teach on the Scriptures, hike the AT, and possibly walk on the moon, I have felt convicted to journal more, to read more, to pray more. Hopefully my journaling will be a mixture of online and hand written, simply because I think handwritten journals are a treasure. It's also something that I’d love for my children and grandchildren to sit down and read long after I’ve gone to be with Christ.

That all being said, I’m back. Well, at least I plan on being back. I think to keep things simple I will try and update at least once a week, but I’m sure if I become more disciplined with there could be multiple updates a week. That’s the plan anyway, but I know that if I commit too much with everything else that Sharon and I have going on, the plans could go awry (the best laid plans of mice and men, right?). I have also started more of a website than what this is for reviewing books, authors, pipes and pipe tobacco. It’s pretty bare bones at the moment but you can check it out here: www.thepipeandthepage.weebly.com.

Grace and Peace,

Nick