Hockey Night in Canada Memories

Today after church I had the privilege of standing around with my Dad & Ellie K as they reminisced a bit about their memories of hockey night in Canada.  I wish I had a recorder actually – as I often do as I listen to these type of stories, but here’s a few highlights I remember.  I hope they don’t mind me publishing for the world to see!  If either one of them reads this – I beg their forgiveness for my grammar and writing skills, I’m sure there will be a few places they could make improvements, since they are hockey fans but also long time grammar/spelling/writing critics!

Ellie (and Eloise just happened to be there and toss in a few words which was great) was talking about gathering around the radio with his family when he was young – the radio was run by two “B” batteries and one “A” (I think that was it) – I forget what voltage he said.  It took a while for it to warm up.  The battery would run out every few weeks (again – I think it was weeks not months but not sure) so he and his brother Bordy would carry it into town to get it charged.  For the few weeks when it was getting charged there was no radio and no listening to Hockey!  The batteries would also run out in the spring usually, and new ones were not bought until the fall.  I’m not sure if that coincided with the hockey season, farmwork, or some other factor.

Imperial Oil was the sponsor for Hockey Night in Canada, and sold “3 Star” gasoline. Ellie figures this is where the Three Stars of the game came from (wikipedia says the same thing).  It sounded like the Three Stars were a lot bigger deal in years gone by than they are today.

Another significant fact was that the first period (and for a while the first and second) was broadcast from Toronto.  This was likely similar to the “TV blackouts” of today, or maybe because Imperial Oil only wanted to sponsor one period!

The broadcast was always from Toronto, the Leafs against one of the other five teams.  I did ask Ellie why he (and therefore many of his descendants) chose Toronto to cheer for.  It sounded like it was a bit because they were the default team, and the one they always heard about, and there was also a local connection as a number of Leaf players at the time came from SK.  One neat story from our family that my Grandma told once was that each of the boys, Grandpa and Grandma all picked a favorite team from the Original Six.  Grandma was always a Leafs fan, my Dad cheered for Detroit, Uncle Glen for the Bruins, Uncle John for the Canadiens – and I can’t remember who Grandpa and Uncle Dave chose.

One last thing – the hotstove started with a bunch of guys sitting around a hot stove discussing the league – and I got the impression they were a little more respected than the Hotstove of today.

Great stories – seems like the more history I hear from men or women like this, the more gaps in my story are filled in….  anyone else want to add some pieces to the puzzle?

God Snack

Elijah on the way to church this morning:

“Dad I don’t need snack at church – I’ll have God Snack instead” (Him & I have been sharing communion together lately)

Random questions from Elijah

As we are just leaving for church Sunday morning:

ELIJAH: “Mommy, will I see you in Heaven? ”

and right after that…

ELIJAH: “Mommy, do we all have to die?”

 

Excuses

I found it here.

Stop “working on your relationship with God”

“I need to spend more time working on my relationship with God.”

I responded, “Why would you want to do that?”

Startled she says, “What do you mean?”

“Well, why would you want to spend any time at all on working on your relationship with God?”

“Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”

“Let me answer by asking you a question. Can you think of anyone, right now, to whom you need to apologize? Anyone you’ve wronged?”

She thinks and answers, “Yes.”

“Well, why don’t you give them a call today and ask for their forgiveness. That might be a better use of your time than working on your relationship with God.”

 

Christians don’t wake up every morning thinking about how to become a more decent human being. Instead, they wake up trying to “work on their relationship with God” which very often has nothing to do with treating people better. How could such a confusion have occurred? How did we end up going so wrong? I’m sure there are lots of answers, but at the end of the day we need to face up to our collective failure. I’m not saying we need to do anything dramatic. A baby step would do to start. Waking up trying to be a little more kind, more generous, more interruptible, more forgiving, more humble, more civil, more tolerant. Do these things and prayer and worship will come alongside to support us.

I truly want people to spend time working on their relationship with God. I just want them to do it by taking the time to care about the person standing right in front of them.

Excerpts from an article by Richard Beck - good thoughts I think.

Found the link at Mike Cope’s blog.

Rethinking Christmas: The Real St. Nick

This looks like a really cool idea for creating a bit of a different mood Christmas morning – I could use a way to think a little more outwardly during that time I think.  Anyone know a place in Regina who could use some used clean toys?

Quote from Michael

As I was helping the boys get dressed to go outside to play the other day…

TIM: “Michael, take your slippers off so I can help you put on your shoes”

MICHAEL: “But, but, but I have to wear my Spiderman slippers so I can save the day”

Go Read this blog! Get a lawn!

The Close family is back blogging, it’s a good read.  Oh yeah, they started up a business, and they can help you with your eco-lawn as well.

Funny picture

The Power of Music… some more

Here’s some interesting thoughts about the power of music from Mark Batterson’s blog – get the full deal here and more here:

….think about all the ways we use music. They range from putting babies to sleep to going to war. Almost every special occasion involves music. And that music sets the mood. We’re surrounded by music all the time. Whether we’re shopping or dining or stuck in an elevator, we’re being serenaded by music….
For good or for evil, I think music is spiritual in nature. It’s not a human construct. It dates all the way back to time before time. The angels, including a fallen angel named Lucifer, worshiped God with singing before the creation of man. And according to Revelation 4, there is perpetual singing on the other side of the space-time continuum.

and from the second post – great stuff…

All of creation is singing a worship chorus to God. And it’s not just the meadow lark with its 300 notes or the nightingale finch with its 24 songs. According to the German physicist and pianist, Arnold Summerfield, a hydrogen atom emits 100 frequencies which makes it more complex musically than a grand piano which emits 88 frequencies.

For what its worth, Pythagoras said: “A stone is frozen music.” Very interesting in light of what Jesus said: “If you remain silent the stones will cry out.”

My point? All of creation is singing a unique song to the Creator. And you are part of that universal chorus. No one can worship God FOR you or LIKE you. God has given you a unique voiceprint. There are millions of people praying and worshiping God in every language all the time. But your voiceprint is unique.