Jan 31 Radio Message: Chosen for a Purpose

January is Steve's turn for daily devotionals on CFMQ-FM. We'll post the text and a video version each day for those interested in sports and Christian faith but who cannot catch them on the radio.  

Good morning, I'm the Rev Steve Page from St Patrick's Anglican Church, and you're listening to the Daily Devotional moment, sponsored by the Hudson Bay Ministerial.

This month, our images of Christian faith and spirituality come from the wonderful world of Sports. This is my final devotional, I hope you have enjoyed them and found them spiritually helpful.

With the Super Bowl coming this weekend, let's end with a football lesson. Let's go back to Super Bowl 22, between the Washington Redskins and the Denver Broncos in January 1988.

Jan 30 Radio Msg: Perfect Sesons

January is Steve's turn for daily devotionals on CFMQ-FM. We'll post the text and a video version each day for those interested in sports and Christian faith but who cannot catch them on the radio.  

Good morning, I'm the Rev Steve Page from St Patrick's Anglican Church, and you're listening to the Daily Devotional moment, sponsored by the Hudson Bay Ministerial.

This month, I'm drawing our images of Christian faith and spirituality from the wonderful and sometimes weird world of Sports. With the Super Bowl just around the corner, let's talk football today.

Going through an entire football season without a single loss or tie is a very challenging task. If a team does win every single game they play, it's called a Perfect Season.

Bonus All-Star Devotional: Whose side are you on?

Since this is All-Star Weekend for the NHL, here's a bonus Sports-and-Faith devotional message, one that did not air on the radio in Hudson Bay.

If past practice holds, when the hockey players take to the ice for this weekend's NHL All-Star Game, each team will dress head-to-toe in matching uniforms. Team Alfredsson will be decked out in white with red trim, to take on Team Chara in their navy with blue and white trimmed jerseys.

Hockey's all-star game, with its draft to choose the sides and its matching team looks, is unique in the world of pro sports all-star games.

In the NBA, the basketball all-stars play for their conference, East vs West. Each team wears a matching uniform, designed especially for the single game. They come together as a team, and they look like a team.

In Baseball, the all-stars represent their league, American or National, but wear the regular uniform of their own team. So this year, Jose Bautista made his spectacular sliding catch at the all star game while wearing his Toronto Blue Jays togs. They may play together, but they don't look the part. One side will be in predominantly white, the other in grey. But on each side will be red, blue, green, black hats and trim, depending on the unique elements of the uniforms of their "real" teams.

Jan 27 Radio Msg: Sittler's Big Game

January is Steve's turn for daily devotionals on CFMQ-FM. We'll post the text and a video version each day for those interested in sports and Christian faith but who cannot catch them on the radio.  

Good morning, I'm the Rev Steve Page from St Patrick's Anglican Church, and you're listening to the Daily Devotional moment, sponsored by the Hudson Bay Ministerial.

This month, I'm drawing our images of Christian faith and spirituality from the wonderful and sometimes weird world of Sports. Today, let's go back to the 1970s and Darryl Sittler and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Sittler had a Hall-of-Fame career with the Leafs. In the 1975-76 season, he was named their Captain, and he responded with 41 goals and 59 assists, becoming the 1^st Leaf to reach the 100-point mark in one season. Two years later, he topped that total with 117 points on 45 goals and 72 assists, a total that trailed only Guy Lafleur and Bryan Trottier in the league.

Jan 26 Radio Msg: Stay Focused

January is Steve's turn for daily devotionals on CFMQ-FM. We'll post the text and a video version each day for those interested in sports and Christian faith but who cannot catch them on the radio.  

Good morning, I'm the Rev Steve Page from St Patrick's Anglican Church, and you're listening to the Daily Devotional moment, sponsored by the Hudson Bay Ministerial.

This month, I'm drawing our images of Christian faith and spirituality from the world of Sports.

Back in the mid and late 1980s, the Edmonton Oilers were an awesome, dominant, Stanley Cup winning team. But things have changed since then, and they seem to be perpetually rebuilding, hoping to contend “next year”.

That was the case in 1997, when they squeaked into the playoffs at the end of the season and drew the Dallas Stars in the first round. Dallas had a great team that year. They were second in the overall standings, and entered the playoffs on a serious hot streak. And since they had swept the season series with the Oilers, they were heavy favourites as the playoff series began.

Jan 25 Radio Msg: The Almost Comeback

January is Steve's turn for daily devotionals on CFMQ-FM. We'll post the text and a video version each day for those interested in sports and Christian faith but who cannot catch them on the radio.  

  

Good morning, I'm the Rev Steve Page from St Patrick's Anglican Church, and you're listening to the Daily Devotional moment, sponsored by the Hudson Bay Ministerial.

This month, I'm drawing our images of Christian faith and spirituality from the world of Sports.

Sports are always at their most exciting when the game comes down to the final seconds, or the last at-bat, or the final hole of the final round. And the bigger the stage, the more exciting and tense these final moments are.

The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world. This year's is just around the corner. Every year a hundred million people watch the Super Bowl. Not everyone stays to the end of a blow-out, but the close games are riveting.

That was especially the case in Super Bowl X in 1976, between the defending-champion and heavily favoured Pittsburgh Steelers and the underdog Dallas Cowboys.

Jan 24 Radio Message: Run and Not Grow Weary

January is Steve's turn for daily devotionals on CFMQ-FM. We'll post the text and a video version each day for those interested in sports and Christian faith but who cannot catch them on the radio. 

Good morning, I'm the Rev Steve Page from St Patrick's Anglican Church, and you're listening to the Daily Devotional moment, sponsored by the Hudson Bay Ministerial.

This month, I'm drawing our images of Christian faith and spirituality from the world of Sports.

I turned 40 last year. I have never been much of an athlete, so outside of a few humorous birthday cards, I have not been called over-the-hill much. But I know that I am now older than 99% of the pro athletes. So I chuckle when I hear 36-year-old Derek Jeter called a fossil, for example.

But athlete skills definitely fade with age. The prime years might be in the late 20s, and after that it's a gradual, sometimes steep decline. It works that way for the great ones. Even The Great One, Wayne Gretzky himself, saw his speed and accuracy and stamina and other skills diminish as he aged.

As Gretzky's career wound down, he spent the 1996-97 season with the New York Rangers. With skilled but aging teammates like Mark Messier, Esa Tikkanen, and Luc Robitaille, Gretzky and the Rangers made the playoffs. There, they met the Florida Panthers, at the time the defending Stanley Cup champs.