Author: Wick

So unless your one of them, you’ve probably seen the FLDS sect in Texas that has been all over the media recently. Accusations of underaged children being forced to marry and bear children, etc…has urged local law enforcement to remove the children from the compound.

Over 400 children have been removed from their homes/way of life….and need to be lifted up in prayer right now. Hopefully we can all agree on that.

Definitely not agreeing with the way of life supported by the FLDS community there. In fact, it’s eerily similar to The Village. To see the lack of emotion shown by these parents who have “lost” their children….I know I’d be freakin’ out quite a bit more…and might even shed a tear or two.

But on the news last night, in an interview with one of the men…a thought struck me. Those of the community who honestly believe in the concepts/way of life set forth for them, must be really confused. Why?

– Your world is suddenly opened. You see things outside your walls you’ve never seen before.

– You see a culture where 13 year olds are encouraged to dress like 30 year old prostitutes, even on children’s TV channels.

– You see Political candidates/parties fighting and causing division among people, all in the name of leading them eventually.

– You see sexuality, and a selfish money/power grabbing lifestyle pimped out in almost every advertisement, song, movie, tv show….and a “do anything to succeed” mentality running the world.

All of this….and YOU are the one accused of being “immoral”.

Not saying I support the FLDS way of life…quite the opposite. But I hope this at least makes those of us who are pointing a finger think more about the word “immoral”, and wonder what we can do to change our “acceptably immoral” way of life.

For now….be in prayer for these children.

Oh, and watch hockey tonight. Game 7 between San Jose and Calgary will determine who Detroit plays in the 2nd round. Woot.

GO WINGS! BOOM BABY…2nd round here we come. Nashville was just the appetizer.

Sidenote…according to Google Analytics, I average about 30-50 hits on my blog each day (from between 20-35 unique users). I realize there are 18 people who subscribe to my blog via e-mail. Of those, probably 10 are my mom trying to be supportive…hehe. But still…I’m kinda excited that even though I’ve posted about hockey recently, my readership hasn’t died down.

So either you’re simply checking back to see if I’ve posted a “real” blog…or you’re actually curious about how the Wings do…no worries….I’ll be updating both.

Speaking of “real” blogs. How about that end of the world, eh?

Just saw a book that was recommended by someone I know, written by John Hagee. Now, admittedly I don’t know much about the guy, except the people in the video on that website scare me.

After reading through his book for a while, I hurried to the front of the book, to make sure it had been published like in the 1960’s or something. No such luck. Copyright 2006. Wow. Really? Hagee has a church of over 18,000 active members…and with several other books, is influencing quite a few followers in the evangelical community. I’ve heard of people who have the inflated self-importance to think that the entirety of scriptures is about revealing to OUR generation exactly how God wants US to survive the events ahead of us. People I’m pretty sure I disagree with on several levels, like the Zionists, and the Dispensationalists, etc. But surely those people are only a few, right? But seriously?

We’re studying the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (otherwise called “Revelation”) in Youth Group on Sunday nights. When we brought it up, there was excitement…some teens even told what they knew, based on what others had told them, about how the world “was going to end”, and the “anti-christ” was going to sneak into our lives.

I think we still have a few interested, as we continue our study. But I gotta be honest and say, it seems the enthusiasm died down a bit…when it was revealed that we weren’t decoding God’s message to the people of 2008 on how to avoid missing the “rapture”. Instead, we actually talked about how God was revealing Himself through these passages…about the natures of God…and the conditions of this world. There is an amazing amount of hope, redemption, etc. found in these scriptures.

But it’s scary/confusing to many people these days. Why? Maybe because we’ve given so much air-time to those who scream the loudest about their “expert” interpretation of secret biblical messages. Maybe because most pastors are afraid to even approach the topic, knowing either they’re one of the screamers, or perhaps too afraid to offend their followers.

Do you remember the last time you heard a pastor preach from the book of Revelation?

I think it’s about time for followers of Christ to reclaim it from the likes of Hagee and others. There’s a lot more about Jesus, and hope, and redemption, and life in there than they’re shouting about.

So as December 12th, 2012 draws near….sleep soundly.
There’s a whole lot more to Jesus than the “end of the world”.

One of my favorite elements of playoff hockey…and yet one of the most tense situations in a game 5. Detroit led last night 1-0 for almost 3 full periods. During the last minute of the game, Nashville tied it up 1-1. That took the game into sudden death overtime. First team to score wins. But after nearly 50 minutes of no scoring, I didn’t think it would happen anytime soon.

But the Mule was on fire.

Johan Franzen was able to get the puck on a breakaway only a couple minutes into overtime. He knew he would go for the deke before even reaching Ellis (Nashville’s goalie). Ellis had stopped 52 shots so far in the game, as opposed to Osgood only having to stop 20…..so even though it stinks to admit it….he’s one pretty solid goal tender.

Thankfully, Franzen comes through in just such occasions. Ellis committed too early, pads down…and left Franzen the time and room to backhand it into the net. That’s 2 goals for the Mule during these playoffs. Detroit now leads the best-of-seven series 3-2.

That makes it 10 playoff games in a row that Nashville has not won on the road. Nashville hasn’t won a playoff game on the road since like 2003.

Game 6 will be tomorrow afternoon….on NBC at 2pm CST. You have no excuse to miss it. If Detroit can win the first away game of the series….they’ll seal a 2nd round spot. If they lose, well…..we all know Nashville can’t win on the road…so we’ll seal it Tuesday night. But let’s go ahead and win tomorrow….just for fun. 🙂