Roseau Times-Region - Serving Roseau County for over 100 Years - The Official Roseau County Newspaper

OK, so I've got this side gig doing sermons for the Pastor when he's out of town. I'm happy to do it although at times I've come up with the occasional excuse. I did spend some time in Seminary before realizing I'm not pastor material. I've thought about it at times, but it's just not for me. So I take the easy route. I give the occasional sermon and leave the day to day politics of pastoring to the professionals. And believe me you should hug your pastor because they deal with a lot more stuff than the average lay person knows. Everyone knows that wherever you go and whatever you do in life there are politics at play whenever human beings gather. We're all guilty.

I always fear that I screw up when to tell people to stand and sit. That part always terrifies me for some reason. Are we standing or sitting during the Lord's Prayer? I cower in fear getting that wrong. Well after the fact I'm told that the asterisks next to the different parts of the service in our church's bulletin means everyone should stand. And then there's the singing. I don't have a voice for radio let's just put it that way. I tend to sing softly or just lip sync. Pretty much the same as being in the pew. There are two things generally true about Lutherans. We tend to sing softly and sit in the back rows. Those brave souls that sit in the front pews singing loudly are truly courageous people indeed. I'm not one of them.

Flowers

Have you ever just taken a close look at a beautiful flower in the wild? It's stunning what pops out of the dirt. Even going into a farmer's field and seeing what grows. God's creation is absolutely stunning. Regardless of religious belief it's hard to say there's no intelligence behind it, that it's just a random product of the universe. Seriously just take a break from reading this column right now if you've never done that. Of course we've all seen flowers and for those of us men we had better seen them given to a beautiful lady. I'm guilty of not doing that on a regular basis and you guys out there know I'm right about it. We get lazy let's admit it. And we all get lazy about appreciating the beauty around us.

The Bible talks some about flowers. In Matthew 10 it says, "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you-you of little faith?"

Julian Assange and the

Assault on a Free Press

It was all the way back in 2010 that Wikileaks, run by Julian Assange, published secret government documents showing government corruption. Assange didn't steal them, but rather only published them. To this day, the U.S. government under both Democrats and Republicans haven't backed off trying to get him extradited back to the U.S. from Britain. Apparently they're close to doing it. Though the behavior in the documents clearly showed illegal activity, they still want to prosecute and jail the man. What signal would this send to journalists who are the only line of defense between corrupt government and the people? It would be no better than any third world dictatorship yet here we are.

The Founders were geniuses recognizing the importance of the freedom of the press. Under King George that could mean a death sentence to criticize the government. And the Founders were under death sentences themselves for forming a government recognizing such a thing. Corrupt politicians and government bureaucrats hate probing questions especially when asked about illegal activities. Now for certain the modern mainstream media has lost its way except for a few organizations out there. But they're disappearing. Media today mostly means putting out whatever gets the most eyeballs such as car chases and showing TikTok videos. Some even downright sell propaganda for politicians, completely ignoring important questions the public has a right to know. Take CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News for example. They're all selling an agenda.

If the government is successful prosecuting Mr Assange, it's just another sign we're descending into further government control of the information you receive.

The Imploding Submarine

If you've watched the news over the past week, it's been full of the rescue operation for the billionaire and his friends who paid $250,000 each to dive down 2 miles under the ocean to see the Titanic. It didn't turn out so well. Apparently it imploded because of manufacturing defects and sits in tiny pieces a couple hundred yards from the Titanic. The Coast Guard said there are no bodies to recover since the implosion lasted just a nanosecond with the intense pressure at that depth actually creating a moment where it's hotter than the sun as the gas gets crushed. Which means there's nothing left to recover of any bodies. They were vaporized.

If someone would have given me a free ticket to see the Titanic at that depth I probably would have said yes. Now? No way. If a billionaire can't get on a quality submarine that survives then I probably shouldn't either.

Mark Your Calendars for January 27, 2024

I'll finish off this opinion column by encouraging you to mark your calendars for a really cool event next January. A popular hockey website called therinklive.com wrote an article about the upcoming Hockey Day Minnesota event. The article states that "Warroad and Roseau, certainly the country's most historic high school hockey rivalry, will take center stage next January when Hockey Day Minnesota comes to Warroad."

Bally Sports North is putting on the event featuring the Warrior/Roseau game along with 3 other high school teams, a NCAA game between St. Olaf and Concordia, and a Minnesota Wild NHL game. It will take place at the Warroad Athletic Complex. The NHL game will be on TV from the Xcel Energy Center in St Paul. The games will also be on the Bally Sports North TV channel. I can't wait!