Superbowl '09

Recovery. That's the best best way to describe what's going on right now. The reason? Probably because I am old and like going to bed before 10pm if I can help it. The cause is less lame though. Friday night had me leading a team from our church to the Word Of Life Superbowl here in Binghamton. 27 teens from our church joined hundreds of others to watch a minor league hockey game, have a rally in the stands afterward with games on the ice, then stay up all night at the local university area, out at the Sportsplex Dome for indoor soccer and 50 vs 50 dodgeball, and late night bowling.There was more fun than we knew what to do with!

One of the key items to the superbowl is the speaker who presents the Gospel message. The night is hyped up as an all-night ton of fun with prizes and pizza, but there is a 40 minute segment that sometimes the kids aren't ready for. Not a true bait-and-switch, mind you, as everything that is advertised still occurs and no one can doubt the fun to be had. Even the kids who felt a little tricked last year would agree. At the end of his talk there is a call to chose Jesus and three kids from our group stood up, which is us Christians get really excited about. I checked in with one of them later in the night:

"I saw you get up [out of your seat] earlier, did you make a choice tonight?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm choosing to stay awake" was the reply.

Not quite what I was expecting but can't win them all, I guess. A few minutes later I checked in again just to make some small talk and asked about some of the prizes he caught.

"So what did you win?" I asked.
"Oh man, it was a gift from God."
"Oh really? . . ."  (I already heard he got 3 months of Xbox Live and assumed that is what he referred to, in which case it was a little exaggerated . . .)
"Yeah, you know. The piece of paper. Praying."
"Salvation?" I asked.
"Yep, best prize I could have gotten. I got some Xbox Live too, but that's a close second."

Well, you know what assuming does!

I played a little Ultimate Frisbee in the dome, a bit of Ga-Ga ball at the arena and broke a hundred bowling with only professional-bowler-spin (or between the legs). Our group was pretty tired at the end of bowling and we headed back to the church. After staying up all night the kids were zonked - an even playing field for us chaperones. One got picked up and said to her driver,

"I'm really tired and want to go to bed."
Her friend said, "I'm eating candy and drinking soda and am hyper."


There was a mix of energy, I guess. Perhaps that's the trick to recovery, more candy and soda! Maybe I'll just go to sleep like an 80 year old at 7pm. I'll need all the sleep I can get to keep up with kids these days, though thankfully Hugh still sleeps more than I do : )