Author: Wick

I remember attending NYC 1999 with the Nazarene Church.  As I write this, the day before taking a trip with my teens to IYC (Free Methodist version) in San Diego (yup, totally wrote posts ahead of time, knowing I wouldn’t have internet in California.  I’m a nerd.) , I think back on our time in Toronto as a teenager..

 – Inviting tons of people to a giant bubble bath that took place in our hotel room.  Only to have myself and one other guy (bathing suits of course) take advantage of such fun.  Of course, many came…but without proper attire…their loss.     🙂     I’m pretty sure pictures still exist of this somewhere….

 – Wearing a full on polyester plaid suit and bowtie going with my group to see “Phantom of the Opera” in Toronto.  The original Cat-Woman (from the TV show) was in the audience.  On the way there, I gave a rose I’d been given by a vendor to a girl who struck my fancy at random during a brief encounter.  My wife just so happened to have the same story, from the opposite side of things…(she received a rose from a hyperactive nice guy in an odd suit while walking with her group in Toronto that day) …crazy, eh? 

 – Playing “Simon Says” with a deaf girl, only to find out after she’d lost the game, and I’d sat with her for about 30 minutes talking…that she hadn’t been able to hear me the entire time.  God spoke to me in big ways about “listening to others” that week after that.

 – Opting to listen to someone else later that week, I found myself getting medical attention for them…which whisked me away to a backstage area, where I got to meet Audio Adrenaline in person before they took the stage!  Woot.

 – Solidifying the calling I felt to be moving into a life of youth ministry, and looking forward to beginning my college journey toward that goal.

 – Being featured in a local Toronto paper as one of many teenagers who were there for a large Christian Youth Conference.  They highlighted that I “Only listened to Christian Music, except the Sesame Street Dance Mix”, but when the article was published – they put a picture of my friend, Tom.  Yup, I totally had the cd my kids love back when I was in high school.  I win.

 – My first and only major train ride, from Detroit to Toronto, and trying to meet every single person I could from ours and other groups along the way.  I’d taken my youth pastors’ wife’s advice, and begun showering and using deodorant….it was amazing how much more people would want to talk with you after that!  Thanks JoLynn!!! 🙂

 – Over-all had an amazing time, and moments of transformation I can still point to in my life today.  I pray that similar experiences are filling the week of our teens even as you read this…and that God is moving in a way only He can.  May it continue well after we return to God’s work here in Decatur and our communities beyond.

This past week, a clear illustration of why it’s rather silly to buy a hockey jersey of your favorite player occurred.  Brett Lebda, who a few years back struck me as the kind of defensive player who could become a great, and became a free agent this summer…signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

And so, my “LEBDA” jersey, #22 on the back, road colors so that if I went to a game, we would match…becomes a piece of Detroit history.  A history of a player talented enough to become a great, but held down and snuffed out on a team already full of defensive greatness.  With names like Lidstrom, Kronwall, Rafalski, and Stuart above his own…he could be trained.  He could grow.  He could be challenged to perform on levels most defensive players never reach.  But he couldn’t shine.

And so, a salary cap already tight on a team that doesn’t really need what he seems to offer, he was encouraged to look somewhere else.  And he did.

Last year, Lebda made about $850,000 playing deep on the defensive line for the Detroit Redwings.  His newly signed contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs offers him $1.45 Million per season, for a guaranteed two, possibly more after that.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who noticed his value being under-utilized/developed.

But as the Wings secure names like Lidstrom (one more year at least!!), Drew Miller, Patrick Eaves, and are courting names like Mike Modano – it’s obvious that losing Lebda will not impact their ability to compete for the cup next year.  Let’s bring it home, now that Chicago has had a party.

So now the question, for a fan such as myself without the means to go around buying new jersey’s for every “might be” Redwing long timer…..who to buy next?

Franzen?  Abdelkader?  Rafalski?  Right now I’m leaning Rafalski…especially after an incredible second half of this season, his impact on the 2010 Olympic team, and all around seeming like a solid hockey playin’ man.  He signed a 5 year contract in 2007, and perhaps they will re-sign him when that comes up?  That’s the risk, I suppose…

Finally catching up with some notes on a few weeks ago.  We heard from the story in Luke where Jesus confronts “Legion” (the evil within the demon-possessed man) in Chapter 8:26-39.  The immediate question we often hear, is something to the effect of “Why don’t supernatural happenings like this occur today?”  Perhaps you have experienced something like this, or something that seemed like this.  Even so, it’s rare in modern Midwest living for sure.

The point was made that in the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:1-15), there were many reasons why the seeds did not grow well.  Only in one case, did that involve the devil.  The seeds that were “trampled on”.  If we look around the globe, the places where “supernatural” forces of evil seem to be stirring up trouble, are those places that have been “trampled on” by the rest of the world.  Poor nations, 3rd World Countries, where unfair labor practices, debt interest, and power mongering presses down on the backs of its citizens.  Where we live, how hard does evil need to work….when the culture/environment we live in does so much on it’s behalf?

Even so, there are important things we can take from what happens in theses verses.  The forces within the possessed man BEG to be sent into the swine, rather than being sent back to “ABUSSON” (the abyss).  This is the same abyss referred to in Revelation 9:1 (Satan is given the key to it’s shaft, but not the actual abyss).  Sometimes translated as “bottomless pit”, but in the Old Testament was very closely related to how the world was before God created things (Genesis 1:2).  It’s an existence apart/separated/without from what God is doing.

So they get what they asked for, and are sent into the pigs.  What happens immediately?  The swine run off a steep bank and are drowned in the lake.  We aren’t told what happens to demons after the pigs they possess are drowned, but my guess is the evil spirits aren’t still hangin’ out with fish at the bottom of the water.  My guess is they ended up in the “abyss” anyway.

What do we learn here?  Evil is always moving toward death,  Moving away from God.  There is no rational thought, no wise-maneuvering toward winning some sort of cosmic game of chess.  The very nature of evil, is to be moving away from God…towards death.  To the point where even when one situation appears to go their way (being sent into the pigs), they cannot escape their very nature….toward death.

May we not be the swine they beg to be sent into…:)

(for more on Luke’s emphasis on revealing the Truth of Jesus dominion over evil, check out “The Demise of the Devil” by Susan R. Garrett)