“Hello Canada, and hockey fans in the United States” … that’s the way Foster Hewitt would start the radio broadcasts of Hockey Night in Canada when I was a kid. We used to beetle out after church Sunday nights, grab the car keys from my dad and sit in our freezing car listening to the hockey game on the radio.

That’s what you had to do to keep up with your team. But that was then. Now, staying on top of what your team is doing is a whole new ball game.

I just got something that takes all the effort out of tracking your team’s goals and it came just in time for the end of the playoffs. My wife and kids bought me a Budweiser red light for my birthday. For those who don’t know what that is, let me tell you about it.

In hockey arenas, at each end behind the nets and the boards, is a red light that turns on when a goal is scored. Along with the light, in most arenas, a horn also goes off to announce a goal.

Well that’s what my family got me. And if you’re thinking it’s just a nice souvenir, let me tell you, this puppy is a working, fully functioning red light. It’s connected to the internet and when my team scores a goal, the light and the horn (sounding like a fog horn) go off.

Lily was testing it out and turned down the volume of the horn. I just looked at her, and shook my head. That was all she needed to realize the volume on MY light only has one setting and that will be on max. And it was right about then she realized, she may have made a mistake in getting it for me.

The beauty about this red light is you can choose which team or teams you want it to work for. And yes, that’s right, you can choose all 30 teams if you want.

I can just picture myself settling into bed on a Saturday night, and having the horn and light go off because the Vancouver Canucks scored a goal on the west coast. That would be awesome (but I’m not choosing them).

I was pretty excited to try it out and, since it was near the end of the playoffs, I didn’t have many games left. So I selected both teams in the running – Boston and Chicago – just to make sure it would go off during the game. In the three previous games of the series, the two teams had scored a combined total of 12 goals.

I was hoping for a couple of goals to see it work. But what happened made my day. It was beyond my wildest dreams! Chicago and Boston combined for 11 goals in game 4; my red light was working like a Trojan! … And I loved it every time it went off.

Here’s the thing: The amazing thing about God is that He wants to hear from us. In fact, I would say He is excited when we speak to Him. We call it prayer, and it happens all the time, all over the world. And like when my light lights up and it brings a smile to my face, when we start to talk to God, He can’t help but be pleased. Keep talking to Him; it brings Him praise.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What brings a smile to your face every time? Leave your comment below.