Daily Light’s ‘Gentle Giant’ remembered

John Hicks: July 10, 1967-Feb. 24, 2006
From Sunday’s WDL

Neal White
Editor/Publisher

Words cannot begin to describe the loss we all are feeling at the passing of Daily Light Sports Editor John Hicks.
John’s sudden death on Friday at the age of 38 has left us all in a state of shock and overwhelming sadness. He leaves behind a family including two young children, Connor, 10, and Shelby, 7, scores of co-workers who loved him as a brother and thousands of fans in the Ellis County community.
He was loved and respected by everyone he met.
For both his physical stature and gentle, giving nature, John was a giant among men.
He was devoted to his children, dedicated to his work and genuinely cared about everyone he wrote about. From the smallest rec league players to the high school and college athletes, in his eyes and in his heart, all the kids he covered were “his kids” and he took great pride in reporting their accomplishments.
For the past several weeks, John often talked about the Lady Indians’ current playoff run and his desire to cover the team in the state championship game. He longed to see the team hold up the state trophy — he even had headlines written and ideas on how we could design the front page.
John so loved the students he wrote about in the Daily Light and talked about on the radio as a guest commentator with Ken Roberts at KBEC.
His dedication to his craft and passion for those he covered was evident in his work. An award-winning journalist, John has received numerous awards for his work, including the Texas “Sports Writer of the Year” honors from his peers in the newspaper industry. Throughout his tenure at the Daily Light, John consistently ranked among the top three sports writers in the state for newspapers in our division, having earned more than a dozen awards for excellence in journalism.
Standing six-feet, eight-inches tall, John cast a commanding presence, yet because of his humble, compassionate nature, he had a way of making every-one feel at ease. He was indeed a gentle giant. Through both his words and deeds, John left everyone with the impression his towering figure was always striving to reach up to Heaven and touch the hand of God.
“Everybody loved John,” said Ken Roberts, KBEC vice president as we spoke to him following Friday’s Lady Indians playoff game. “He was the nicest, most gentle man you’d ever want to meet.
“After all these years of covering games together, John would still come up to me the press box and ask if it was OK if he sat beside us. Even though we always saved him a seat, he never took anything for granted,” Roberts said. “I can’t tell you how hard it was to call (Friday’s) game with that empty seat beside me.
“John was one heck of a sports writer,” Roberts added “We loved having him on the show. He knew the stats and he always looked for the positives, always finding something good to say about the players and the coaches. Everyone at KBEC extends our heartfelt condolences to his family and everyone at the Daily Light.”
Several WHS coaches have called to share similar comments, extending their condolences and praising John’s work over the years.
It needs to be said that John was more than a co-worker — he was like a brother to us all. As difficult as this is for our Daily Light family, our hearts and prayers go out to his immediate family as we share in their grief over John’s unexpected passing. May we all find comfort in knowing that John died peacefully in his slumber as God reached down to take his hand and bring him home to the Kingdom of Heaven.
We spoke to John’s parents in Shreveport, La., who are in the process of handling the arrangements. As details of the service arrangements become available, we will share that information with the community.
Without question, John touched so many lives in such a short time.
He made a difference in every aspect of his life.
Godspeed, Big John.
You will be missed.

Another open letter to the Christian Sub-Culture

Dear Christian,
I hate to write this to you in such a public maner, but you’re still making a fool of yourself in many public places.
You’ve been writing letters to the local paper condemning the “immoral heathens” in your community, saying you would be “floored” if they had the “audacity to show up in a church.” It’s surprising you don’t have a bouncer waiting at the door to expell the sinners amongst you.
Just like Simon wanted to expell the woman from his house in Luke 7, you seem to hope the sin drenched people of the world avoid your church entirely.
Yet even as Simon squirmed in his seat, knowing that a known sinner was in his house, Jesus assured Simon, “He that is forgiven much, loves much.”
Jesus spent time accepting the sinner, not casting them out.
The writers of Radical Hospitality write, “Acceptance. Now there’s a word loaded with meaning. We tend to confuse it with tolerance or even approval. But acceptance is about receiving, rather than judging. The father, who will not visit his son because his son is living unmarried with a woman, or even another man, might say he doesn’t want to condone his son’s choices. We feel for him, but we know it’s a cover-up because we, too, have rationalized our avoidance of things and situations we would rather not have to face. Then we hide the dissapointment, cover the anger, and justify the rejection. We struggle in our best efforts to hold back judgement and just accept. Acceptance is not about condoning; it is about embracing. When we accept, we take an open stance to the other person. It is more than pios tolerating them. We stand in the same space and appreciate who they are, right at this moment, and affirm the Sacred in them.”
I know it’s easy to judge.
I know it’s easy to throw stones.
And I know it’s easy to say, “You’re not welcome here” when a person makes you uncomfortable.
But keep in mind, the people you’re rejecting are the same people who need Christ the most.
Maybe we can take some lessons for the few who seem to be on the right track.
Last year, a church that was robbed posted the following message on their marquee, “To the person who broke in – God loves you.”
The United Church of Christ made headlines in 2004 when their TV commercial featuring a bouncer at the gates of a church and a voice-over saying, “Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we.” was rejected national TV networks.
A friend recently told me about a church who had gladly welcomed an athiest into their fellowship. Members of the church invited her to visit and she was overcome by the friendliness and attitude she saw.
She wasn’t judged or condemmed because she didn’t believe, she was accepted as another lost soul. She didn’t believe what they believed, she didn’t fit the Christian mold, but she was welcomed into the fellowship.
After several visits she asked the pastor to allow her to work in the nursery, simply because she wanted to be a part of the loving group.
The Apostle Thomas struggled with his faith after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
All of the other disciples had seen the risen Lord, yet Thomas had not and doubted their accounts.
But scripture tells us, the disciples allowed Thomas to continue his fellowship with them.
He simply hung out with them for eight days before Christ personally came to him.
What if Thomas or an Athiest came to your church?
Would they feel the love of Christ abounding? Or would she feel like an “immoral heathen” for not believing the message of a risen Savior?
And what if despite their doubt, their curiosity made them stay? Would they be welcomed or told they must conform or leave?
Samuel Escobar with The New Global Mission writes, “The church exists for mission, and … a church that is only inward looking is not truly the church.”
I write all of this to say, “It’s time to wake up.”
It’s time to start being known for your love, not how pro-prayer, pro-life or pro-Jesus you are.
It’s time to stoop down and reach out to those hurting and starving around you.
It’s time to check your attitude and maintain an attitude as that of Christ.
It’s time to be a relevant example of Christ — 24-7 and stop judging the sinners around you.
Because if I were “one of them,” I’d have given up and ignored you and “your Savior” a long time ago.
– Signed
Christian

Blogging relationships

I meant to post on this a few weeks ago, but forgot.
I just saw it again on the blogger.com blog.
NPR recently reported on how blogs are changing relationships, including married couples.

Bill and I now judge events in our lives as to whether they are blog-worthy. When we’re together, we have an unspoken agreement as to who gets to blog about whatever cool thing we encounter. … And he’s crestfallen if I haven’t read his entry before we go to bed. A remarkably specific ettiquette is emerging in this uncharted land.

The blogger.com entry has links to the story and audio version.