Rider fans, Black Friday and friends

So our time, with familiar friends is coming to a close and tomorrow we leave for LA. Our community experiment will continue with a new family in downtown LA as we spend time with World Impact observing and learning from their ministries. With friends comes courage to tackle one of the biggest sales events of the year: Black Friday. I've heard about this day before from fable and Conrad Dueck, perhaps the greatest sales seeker of our day...so my wife, who is a reluctant shopper at best and with an endurance rate of about an hour, woke up at 2am and with Kim attacked the stores with vigor. The cold weather gave the Canucks the edge in the early morning, and it wasn't till 8am that they bounded back into the house with their treasures. Our great finds: 5 seasons of the Office (a show that has had us laughing frequently), and some toys for Nate. Next up, was the Arizona Cardinals Monday Night football game. For those of you who watched it, you know how much of a disappointment the game was, but still quite an experience with over 70,000 people in attendance. The best part of the game was running into several Rider fans, proudly wearing their green jerseys. Only Rider fans can enter a random stadium and make themselves completely at home with their green cape and mask to boot. The guy in the picture ended up having a conversation with the cops, something about 'we'll win next year'. The guy had a strange resemblance to pastor Al from GMC, especially the way he screamed and waved his cape and ran down the corridors. People down here are not used to having 'fans' like that! We've had some great times here and definitely a special time seeing Randy and Kim and their family, while here they have introduced us to their community of friends down here which has been quite special. Making new friends gave us a chance to share Thanksgiving with a new family and gave Nate new friends who love him. Nate wanted to play with Tylan more than me...and Tiana stole Nate's heart and sang to him and made him feel so special. A couple observations though, and this comes from the football game and from the Black Friday event: I forgot how much hype goes into things as superficial as football and shopping; how much the economy swings around these things and how much people need these kinds of stimuli to function. But last Thursday, Thanksgiving, we sat outside, ate turkey, met new friends and shared a special day that we will remember for a long time. Its been the subtle things that we will remember from this past week, the small conversations, sharing meals, and just being accepted by friends that made this week wonderful. Perhaps the folks marketing the NFL and days like Black Friday want people to believe they can experience the same thing there...but its a cheap imitation for friends and family and peace. The subtle has the advantage over the flamboyant. Nate would agree with this, as he was so excited to receive a package in the mail (a birthday present from back home--thanks Trev and Julia!). A small gift made a big impact.