6-6-06

It's exactly 6:00 by my computer clock on the sixth of June in '06. Didn't mean for it to happen, but it just did. Something else I didn't plan that just happened: I purchased the next volume in the Mitford series by Jan Karon with a gift card from way back at Christmas that still had a balance on it. The bearded, bespectacled gentleman behind the counter scanned the card and smiled.

"There was plenty to cover the purchase," he said.

"Good. I was hoping." I returned his smile.

"And here at the bottom of the receipt is your leftover balance."

He took his ball point pen and drew a sweeping circle around the amount then looked over the top of his glasses at me, grinning with obvious delight. Somewhat puzzled, I waited to see what the joke was all about. I didn't have to wait through a pregnant pause.

"Your balance is $6.66."

I laughed loud enough for several in the store to look up from their browsing and investigate the sudden ruckus invading their cherished revery. Telling the gentleman this would be a story for my friends, I immediately made plans to have the card framed with a caption of the event beneath. If this was the Apocalypse, then the epicenter was a Border's off Barrett Parkway.

Today is causing quite a stir for many, but perhaps you were among the number who woke up this morning not aware of the date's significance and approached it as you would any other early summer day. Or were you as freaked out as those pregnant mothers whom I read about this morning in a friend's post who opted for a C-section on the 5th rather than chance their baby's birth under the Apocalyptic sign?

On today's infamous date:

–The remake of "The Omen" will hit theaters
–The Left Behind series will continue with the release of "The Rapture" on the 6th (but, hey, I thought I already saw it in bookstores???)
–Ann Coulter will unveil her book "Godless" today

CONSPIRACY ALERT…

Consider these mind-numbing statistics that people, who frankly have too much time to sit around between "Star Trek" episodes, have come up with:

–The '777' pattern is found in the London bombings (July 7, 2005)
–The '11' pattern is found in the bombings of the twin towers on 9/11
–The Madrid train bombings occurred exactly 911 days after the attack in NYC (March 11, 2004)

If we combine the dates of June 5th and 6th together (and why would we?), you have:

–222 days since the Muslim riots in Paris
–333 days since the London train bombings
–444 days from the second anniversary of the Iraq invasion
–555 days (hold on to your hats!) from November 28, 2004, which was the 333rd day of that year–33 days from the end of the year
–666 is the date pattern and in the pattern until the end of the Mayan calendar (not sure I get this…)
–777 days since the foiled Sears Tower attack (April 19, 2004)

Has your mind blown a (head) gasket yet? There's more…but I will spare you. You know, all this really has no hold on me. While I do believe there will be an unveiling of Anti-christ during a definitive end-time Apocalypse and that the end of human history will be marked, not by humanistic utopia but by an unleashing of hell's most diabolical furies which will pave the way to the Return of Christ, these things do not move me.

My wife, our church's worship leader, being moved by the Spirit, read to us from Psalm 46 this past Sunday. These words should be the anchor and hoisted sail of the Christian:

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not be moved, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. THERE IS A RIVER, the streams whereof shall make glad the City of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. GOD IS IN THE MIDST OF HER; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: He uttered His Voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us…be still and know that I am God…"
(Psalm 46:1-7,10 KJV)

Don't let '666' or '616' or '888' or any of these things move you. God has it all together and He is "very present" and "right early" when trouble surrounds us.

But if I get 666 blog hits before the end of the day, I'm ducking for cover…