My feelings would be in another universe if the Stars and Oilers were tied 2-2 heading into tonight’s Game Five. My sports heart would be in such a positive place: “We just need to win two out of three, and two of them are at home!” Instead, trailing 3-1, my head knows that Dallas has to win three in a row, and one of them is in Edmonton. That’s a whole different deal. In all of NHL history, the teams that go up 3-1 eventually win the series 92-percent of the time. My heart wants to believe that Dallas can win at home tonight, and that will put pressure on Edmonton. It will force the Oilers to have to win Saturday in Canada to avoid a deciding Game Seven back in Texas. And maybe that pressure will get to the Oilers and benefit Dallas. And then, anything can happen in a Game Seven! Especially at the AAC! But my head knows the Stars are going to become the first team in NHL history to appear in three straight conference finals without winning a Stanley Cup. It may not happen tonight–I expect Dallas to win at home this evening and force a Game Six in Alberta. But it’s already over.
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“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” ~Galatians 1:3-5
Yes, we are still living in the present evil age. And it’s hard for people living in the U.S. in 2025 to see it. Because the current age doesn’t seem so bad.
I’ve got both hot and cold running water inside my house and central air-conditioning and heat and streaming digital TV in four rooms with unparalleled clarity in picture and sound. I’ve got a job, two cars, and a nice backyard. I’ve got a leather couch, a couple of recliners, and some nights I’ve got pizza rolls in the oven. Most of the time, for me, the present age seems pretty sweet. What’s so evil about it?
Well, we know the world is evil. Just pull back a little bit. We know how broken the world is. It’s evil. There is vulgarity and violence, racism and sexism, lying and lust. There’s poverty and disease and death and wars and threats of more wars. You and I–all of us–are negatively impacted by that.
On a more personal level, you and I know that something in this world is going to take you down. Something is going to wreck your life. It might be a tornado or a fire, heart disease or cancer or Alzheimer’s. It might be adultery, divorce, or the death of someone you can’t imagine living without.
There’s no fixing what’s wrong with this present age. The world is broken and we know it. We’re broken. And all the ways we try to fix ourselves and the world are also broken. We can argue about the things we see that aught to be changed and we can fuss about whose party and whose leader needs to be in charge of the change; we can spend our whole lives rearranging the furniture on the Titanic; and maybe we’ll have some success in making life a little more tolerable for our fellow passengers; but we know we can’t stop this ship from going down.
We all need rescue.
There is only one solution for this evil age; there’s only one thing that can fix what’s wrong with creation.
“Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.” ~Galatians 6:15
The only answer to what’s wrong with this world is a whole new world. Not better leaders or stricter laws, not bigger churches or tighter rules, not better science or more technology. The only solution is new creation, a brand new physical and spiritual reality in which the only law is the one Paul states in Galatians 5: one command, one single command, he writes–love your neighbor as yourself.
Only Jesus gives us new creation. And it’s the one thing that counts.
Peace,
Allan
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