my wife came home today and shared with me that the son of a lady she works with committed suicide last night. ive never met him or the lady and yet i was caught in a moment of complete anger and sadness. i had to step outside for a few minutes and just grit my teeth. this was followed by several minutes of staring blankly at the grass and weeds that need to be cut.

i caught my thought about needing to mow the yard by the tail as it raced through my head and i realized something. [i]that[/i] young man didn’t just end his own life. he killed a piece of his mom and the rest of his family too. he snapped a green branch and changed the life of the whole tree forever.

i want more than anything to hug a family ive never met right now. i have nothing to offer them bc there is no verbal consolation in such a time as this. i want to cry with them and shake my fist at God with them and grieve with them and help them reconcile – but i am helpless. so i grit my teeth and stare at the grass that is still growing.

been thinking alot about this recently. many people talk about hell being separation from God. yet more often than not those same people believe God is omnipresent - which would mean he is in hell and that those people are not separated after all.

so im curious what your ideas of hell are and whether or not God is there. looking forward to your thoughts.

ive gone and created a forum for all of us (and some others) to be able to congregate and have discussions on. i realize that many of us are already involved with some forums but i think this one may give us a very unique blend for discussion.

if this is a really bad idea or if it doesnt fly thats cool. i just wanted to give it a shot.

enter the holy wild forums

in January i walked into my biblical backgrounds seminary class and found an open seat next to a guy who looked like he could pulverize everyone in the room with one arm tied behind his back. i met him and we talked for a while. his name is Rob Vaughn and as it turns out he is studying to be a chaplain. nothing too extraordinary so far right?

in the course of our conversation we talked about our respective ministries and come to find out Rob doubles as a professional wrestler. you heard me correctly. this easy going friendly guy sitting next to me in a seminary class spends nights and weekends thrashing people in the ring as "Jesus Freak" for the Christian Wrestling Federation.

i grew up watching wrestling and was a big fan of Rick Flair and the Four Horsemen, The Road Warriors, Sting and Dr Death Steve Williams as well as many others. i used to stay up late on Saturday nights after my parents had gone to bed and watch Mid South Wrestling on Houstons channel 39. i can still recall Jim Ross screaming at the top of his lungs every time someone pulled some sort of trickery in a match and ill never forget the image of former wrestler and Mid-South Wrestling promoter Paul Bosche sporting dangly earrings in a commercial for IW Marks Jewelers.

so anyway i was curious to say the least how a guy studying for the ministry could also be a wrestler. arent wrestlers charlatans? isnt the whole wrestling world full of debauchery and sinfulness like what is so often portrayed on Jim McMahons World Wrestling Entertainment?