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

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

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