Author: Wick

Everything has changed. A new way of existing is possible.

Appropriately enough, the way hockey happens from here on out this season has changed also. 🙂 (you knew it was coming)I’ll defer you to this great article for a complete run-down for every match-up in both conferences.

For my readers, I’ll simply give a quick glimpse.

There are 8 teams left in the Eastern Conference, and 8 teams left in the Western Conference.

Detroit, Chicago, and Saint Louis are ALL in the playoffs!! None of them face each other in the first round (each round is best of 7 games). But there’s potential that Detroit could face Chicago in the second round.

The games begin Wednesday (but as the regular season is over, playoff beard growing begins now), and will last through late May/early June. Playoff beard season will be impacted slightly by two weddings I’m performing – so it may be trimmed to a goatee deemed acceptable by my wife. But I will shave as little as humanly possible. 🙂

Detroit will begin their 18th straight playoff appearance against the Columbus Blue Jackets. This is Columbus’ first playoff appearance ever. These two teams played several times in the regular season. Columbus even beat Detroit twice in regular time, and once in overtime. Detroit won a few times in regular time.

My guess? Detroit wins in 5 games…giving up one win in Columbus.

On a personal note: This is my first playoff season without VERSUS at home. If you have the channel, and want to hang out sometime during..

GAME 1: @Detroit, Thu. 4/16, 7 p.m. – ON VERSUS
GAME 2: @Detroit, Sat. 4/18, 6 p.m.
GAME 3: @Columbus, Tue. 4/21, 7 p.m.
GAME 4: @Columbus, Thu. 4/23, 7 p.m.
*GAME 5: @Detroit, Sat. 4/25, 7 p.m. – ON VERSUS
*GAME 6: @Columbus, Mon. 4/27, TBD
*GAME 7: @Detroit, Wed. 4/29, TBD – ON VERSUS
* if necessary; all times Eastern

…then let me know. 🙂

Draw back the curtain!! SEE that all things are different!!! NEW LIFE! NEW CREATION!!

See beyond the bunnies, eggs, fancy new dresses, pretty hair, and annoying photo opportunities with well-dressed family and friends.

TODAY we celebrate WITH ALL OF CREATION, the inauguration of the Kingdom of God!!! A new way of existing. A new way of living. A new way of everything that was previously broken. The promise that God has begun, and will continue until completion – a work of redemption/restoration for the entire cosmos that includes us as it’s agents/path.

So CELEBRATE! Dance, sing, do things that Free Methodists don’t do on our behalf, and thank God for what He has done, and continues to do!!! Love, without expecting anything in return. Forgive, without reserve.

Be raised to NEW LIFE, and LIBERATED from the chains that have held you back. Try something new and exciting this week – that you never thought you’d be willing to do. Color outside the lines. Go to the altar before (gasp) the call comes. Stand up and thank Jesus during the sermon, because you couldn’t hold it back…

“Using historical arguments for Jesus’s bodily resurrection as ultimate ground for the truth of Easter is like lighting a candle to see if the sun has risen. The curtain must be drawn back, and when the light pours in through, changing our perspectives on everything…it’s not that we don’t value the candle anymore, but simply is has been overtaken by the larger reality from which it borrowed.” (paraphrased from “Suprised by Hope”, N.T. Wright)