Yesterday morning was much like other mornings.  I was fiddling around in the kitchen, and the local radio station was playing in the background.  The morning talk show team was interviewing one of the players from the hockey team here in town.  At the end of their interview, they said that they were going to give away some tickets to the next game.  The fifth caller to the show would win the tickets.  As I heard this, I thought to myself that it would be interesting to go to the hockey game, and that Michael would probably enjoy it.  So I casually picked up my cell phone and dialed the radio station.  Busy.  I dialed again.  Busy.  This time I let the phone do it’s redial thing, and I waited.  Much to my shock, I heard a short ring and then a friendly voice said, “You’re caller number five.  What’s your name?”  I stumbled over my name as I gave it.  I couldn’t believe I was actually going to get tickets to the hockey game!  I was so excited and very eager to tell Michael.

When I called Michael, he was surprised that I was inviting him to a hockey game, but of course he was happy to be my date.  Then we had the dilemma of who else to invite since we had four tickets to use.  As I was talking on the phone to Michael, suggesting people we know who might like to go, Isaac was dancing next to me, jumping up and down, waving his hand in the air.  Finally in exasperation I turned to him and said, “WHAT!?”  He said quickly, “Aunt Katie likes hockey.”  Oh!  That’s right!  How could I have forgotten?

What fun it was to make plans.  A babysitter was arranged, Dave & Katie were invited, and Michael and I were looking forward to the game.  Neither of us have ever been to a hockey game, and I’ve never stepped foot inside the local coliseum.  This would be a true adventure.

As we headed out for our date tonight, I was so excited.  Not only was it an interesting thing to do, but it was free!  We claimed the tickets at the ticket window and headed inside.  Dave & Katie met us there, and we found we’d been assigned great seats!  I was tickled to see the Zamboni circling around the ice.  I felt like a little kid.

The hockey game finally started, and it had my attention from the very beginning.  Everything moved so fast, and the hockey players seemed so intense.  The opposing team scored early in the game, and for the rest of the time the two teams fought for dominance.  No more points were scored for the rest of that period or the next one.  Finally, the game was nearing the end, and the score was still 0-1.  With only half a minute to spare, our team finally scored.  The whole place erupted in wild cheers.  We couldn’t believe they had actually tied the score, and now were heading into overtime!  Overtime is five minutes, done with only 4 players per team, and it’s “sudden death” (meaning the first goal wins).  We were on the edge of our seats!  To our surprise, with less than a minute on the clock, our team scored again.  As you can imagine, the crowd went totally wild.  What an exciting end to a tight game.

As we drove home, we kept commenting on what an interesting game it had been, and how amazed we were that our team had won.  It was really a cool evening and a fun date, and it’s all thanks to some free tickets from the local radio station.  God works in surprising ways to give good things to us.