Thunderstorm and Kitten

I just returned from Calgary where I had one of the most disappointing and frustrating weekends of hockey ever. My hockey team here in Vancouver won the BC provincial championship a few weeks ago after overcoming a lot of adversity. We were almost kicked out of the tournament due to a clerical issue... it was ridiculous. But, we won in the end, which means we went to Calgary to represent BC in the Western Shield, the western Canadian champsionship for our level of women's hockey. Last year at Westerns we finished with a silver medal, the best finish to date in this particular tournament for a BC team.

We had high hopes going in but it did not go well for us. In our first game we played terribly and lost to a team we should've hammered. And it was only worse from there. We lost every game after that. We couldn't catch a positive break whether it was how the puck bounced off the boards or how the referees made their calls. We finished 5th out of 5 teams. Ugh. And, I came down with a fever the day of our first game and was sick the rest of the tournament. I returned to Vancouver with no voice from coughing (and yelling) too much. Not a pleasant experience.

It was emotional. When you spend 7 months out of the year going to the rink with the same women week after week, you can't help but feel something for them. Our coach Jerry is quite possibily one of the best coaches I have ever played for and he was in tears after the last game, as were a lot of us. We may be hockey players, but we are still women. Haha.

So I'll wait for next season to start. And do it all over again. Hopefully it will end on a more winning note this time. Either way, I will do it again. That's what it's all about.

But on to other things.

I just finished reading The Chronicles of Narnia. I had never read them all and I'm kind of in awe. CS Lewis... he's been recognized as a literary genius over the last century and for good reason. Really, the only books I've fully read of his are The Chronicles of Narnia. That's only a small selection of his writings and it's a shame I haven't read more. I should be flogged for that. It's so obvious to me that this man... grasps some understanding of the heavenly realm... of the nature of God... of the purpose of creation and life... and transposes it to story. And not just any story... it's captivating. It's an allegory but probably the most brilliant to ever be written.

One of my favorite lines in the Chronicles of Narnia (there are many) comes right after Aslan has been killed on the stone table and rises again. Susan and Lucy are the first to see him after he rises and in their joy of being reunited the three of them begin to leap and run and roll and play in the soft grass. And it says this:

"It was such a romp as no one has ever had except in Narnia; and whether it was more like playing with a thunderstorm or playing with a kitten Lucy could never make up her mind. And the funny thing was that when all three finally lay together panting in the sun the girls no longer felt in the least tired or hungry or thirsty."

That says so much about our God.

Thunderstorm and kitten.