kingston

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A Tale Of Two Cities … Or Something Like That

Today I have a tale of two cities. Well, that book has already been written so mine is a tale of two arenas.

A tale of two cities ... or something like that

In the book, the story is played out in the two cities of Paris and London. In my tale, there are also two cities but, to be fair, one is a city and the other is a town. … Just the same, the story plays out in these two places.

That is the only similarity between my tale and the well-known Dickens’ novel, but there is an equal amount of intrigue and mystery to figure out. 

I live in the city of Kingston – an old city by Canadian standards. It was even going to be the capital city of Canada until the Queen of England stepped in and declared Ottawa the capital … there’s some drama right there. 

I’ve been playing hockey in my city for 24 years at a number of arenas, with largely the same group of guys. We played at noon several times a week, for one hour and twenty minutes.

Since COVID, things have changed dramatically. 

There is now only a couple of arenas open; several others don’t even have ice in them.

I’ve written about having to come to the arena dressed to play (you can read about that here). I’ve basically been putting on the majority of my equipment in the rink parking lot. And as the temperatures drop, this will get more and more uncomfortable. 

But recently some of the guys I’ve played hockey with over the years started playing in a town just down the road. It’s literally 20 minutes from where I live. 

At the arena in that town – Napanee – you can get dressed in the change rooms and you can even leave your equipment bag there. You can even take a shower after you finish playing. 

You still have to where a mask before and after hockey, and you do have to clear the dressing room 15 minutes after the game.

Two cities: 20 minutes apart – different rules. 

In my town, we can’t even leave an equipment bag in the dressing room while we play. We have to take everything to the bench. 

You might think that these two different cities make their own decisions, but both places are within the same health unit. And right now it’s the health units that call the shots on what can and cannot be done for the health and safety of its citizens.

One town looks at the rules and guidelines laid down by the health unit and has determined how they can abide by the rules, yet still make it viable for people who want to play hockey. 

The other city looks at the same rules and guidelines and determines how uncomfortable they can make it for people to play hockey. 

Guess where I’m playing hockey these days?

Here’s the thing: We all live under rules in this life. We can either interpret them our own way or follow how God has set them out for us. Either way we get to live life here on earth. But just like putting hockey equipment on in the parking lot will become unbearable as the weather gets colder, there will come a time when following your own interpretation of life’s rules will become unbearable. Don’t wait until then to follow God because that option won’t always be available. Choose to follow Christ now. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What change do you need to make right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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A Secret Is Not Secretive Here

In Canada – for that matter, North America – we have a funny way of being secretive.

At one time secrecy meant that no one knew anything about what was being kept a secret. But it doesn’t mean that anymore.

In my town we’ve just had a terrorist threat diffused (literally).

Kingston, the very heart of Canadian power and wealth and knowledge, had someone making and planning on setting off an explosive designed for the purpose of terror.

Twenty or thirty years ago, we would never have even known that there was a threat. But now the public has a right to know. And the media has a right to investigate, ask questions and publish what there is to be known. 

Secrecy is kind of in the open now. 

This particular incident started with regular town’s folk noticing a plane circling the city, at low altitudes in the evenings. 

Social media was a buzz with people wondering what was going on. As the news media started to make it known to everyone, well, that’s when the RCMP were forced to admit that it was their surveillance plane … but that’s all they said about it. 

The word “surveillance” should have been enough for people to conclude, “Okay, something is happening and we need to let the authorities do their job and not draw any more attention to it.” 

But we don’t think that way. We want to know why. We have a right to know what they are watching and who they are watching. 

When arrests were finally made, a press conference was held to inform people what had taken place and what was happening next. 

… It’s all fine and good to be telling everyone about your top secret operation, but unfortunately then the terrorists also get in on what the authorities are doing when everything’s made public.

To be fair, the RCMP didn’t divulge information that would be crucial to the case, but I’ll bet other would-be terrorists will be checking the skies at night to look out for surveillance planes in the future. 

At one time my dad had been a mason, and I remember once when I was in my early teens, my older cousin grilled him on how he could identify other masons in a room. My dad hadn’t had anything to do with the organization for decades, but he still would not tell the secret. 

Government and security officials can’t keep secrets that way. There has to be transparency because we don’t trust them to do right things when they keep secrets.

Maybe it’s for the best that we don’t let CSIS or the Secret Service be too secretive. 

When I was a youth pastor we would play a game where I would tell a secret to one person. The secret would then be passed from person to person around a circle until the last person heard it and repeated it out loud. 

It was never the original secret. It was always some crazy line that was just plain nonsense. 

Hey, maybe that’s what the RCMP are telling us. Now that would be smart!

Here’s the thing: God has never kept secrets from us. He has made Himself known in nature and through the Old Testament scriptures. He clearly identified and made public His plan through His Son, Jesus, and the disciples recorded it all. Down through the ages, men and women of all nations have announced God’s presence and plan. … Maybe He should have kept it a secret. Then people would insist it’s their right and demand to know it. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What secret should you share? Leave your comments below.

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The Real Winner At Ribfest

Last weekend my wife, Lily, and I went to the ribfest in town. Anything with ribs in the title grabs my attention, so we go every time the tour stops in Kingston.

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If you’ve never been to one, you’re probably not much of a meat lover.

The main show is the huge structures that advertise each of the different rib venders all in a row.

It’s a friendly competition of who has the best ribs. Each vender has a table full of trophies, and their signage tells the story of which cities think they’re the best.

The ribs are good, but it really comes down to the sauce. We tried ribs from two different booths:

“Crabby’s” and “Smokehouse” and the difference was their own special sauces they put on their ribs.

Each vender hopes you will try their ribs and give them the best rating. They are looking for another trophy and more advertising they can put on their massive signs.

We’ve been for the last three years – the first two years involved a significant amount of rain which kept the crowds down and the atmosphere something less than electric.

This year it was sunny, warm and the place was hopping. Crowds covered the open field; it was tough to get a seat at a table.

But I have to say that, though all the signs and attention were focussed on ribs, they should really call it the onionfest.

In fact, I bet that’s what the “Colossal Onion” mobile fryer owner calls the festival – secretly that is … at the end of the night, by the warm glow of his fryer, as he counts his money.

While all the attention is focussed on ribs, the guy who has the biggest profit margin is the onion truck owner.

Unlike the rib venders who just sold you a half rack of ribs for $13 and a full rack for $23, the onion guy sold a blooming onion, onion rings and spiral fries each for the cost of $10.

I think the ten bucks was mostly to make it easy for the gentleman who was taking the money. This way, if the bill was purple, he just kept it and if it was green, well, he had to give one of those purple bills back to the customer.

The thing was the line up at the Colossal Onion was longer than any of the rib vender lines. People just kept getting in line to eat something alongside their ribs.

So you paid thirteen dollars for a half rack of ribs, and ten dollars to get a deep fried onion. The way I figure it, meat these days is costing a little bit more than what farmers are charging for the onions growing in their fields.

That means the onion guy is rubbing his hands in money … cha-ching!

It was all good though; we had a great time, and we’ll be back next year for onionfest, I mean ribfest 2016.

Here’s the thing: Some parts of life shine brighter than other parts. We get drawn in to the parts of life that are attractive and attracting. But there are parts of life that are more valuable – more valuable in some cases than the parts that shine. Don’t get sucked into living for what shines bright. Seek out what is most valuable and be sure you spend your time there.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you consider most valuable in your life? Leave your comment below.