When the Saints Go Marching In

As Kirsten and I approach living in Buff Bay for two full months, it is funny the things we miss that remind us of home: 1) the smell of trash trucks instead of the smell of burning plastic in a field across the street, 2) boneless chicken in a pre-packaged container, 3) dark chocolate, and 4) football (American football, that is)!!!  

For weeks, we have been trying to think about how we could watch the Superbowl without skipping church.  We are used to going to church on Superbowl Sunday to rush out and catch the game on our pastor's Tivo!  However, without a TV or Tivo we seemed to be in a bit of a bind.  We had actually been praying about how great it would be to watch the Superbowl (silly right...)  While at prayer meeting though on Wednesday night there was an announcement that almost made Kirsten and me jump out of our seats: there would be no church Sunday night due to a members meeting.  Therefore, because we are not members...we are free to watch the game!!!  I had been scrambling online to find out how in the world we can watch the game through the internet and ultimately went through the NFL Network to get a live stream of the game.  Our computer screen isn't big, but we didn't care because we were going to finally get to watch some real football!   

We found out Friday night that we were going to have company, though.  As our good friends and partners in the work from North Shore Baptist Church arrived on Friday afternoon, they too were curious as to how the game was going to be viewed.  We were glad to invite them, but qualified - there is a catch.  14 people would have to watch the game on a 12 inch screen!  The group being Buff Bay veterans (some coming for over 20 years to serve in Buff Bay), they knew exactly who to ask for help.  They enlisted Pastor Allen's son LeMarc to work on getting us a TV to be hooked up to the computer.  LeMarc came through.  The pictures below are some of the team members watching a great game on a 32 inch high definition flat screen!  

It is amazing what a good game, real chocolate, and American advertising can do for a little homesickness!  It is also great that God is present not only in church on Sundays but at all times.  It is His grace that we celebrate, not the Superbowl, and it is His constant provision we rejoice in, not a Saints' win (although Kirsten was quite happy with their victory).  Now we just have to figure out how to get used to the smell of melting plastic...