Earlier this summer I was invited to Florida to do some speaking. I spoke about 3 times there.  After one of the services, the pastor took Lisa and I out to eat at a local Carrabba’s.  I love Carrabba’s—incredible Italian food!  Anyway, we were sitting there enjoying the meal and Lisa looked across the restaurant to the bar area where there was a television. And she said, “Ed, I think that is the Stanley Cup playoffs.”

I looked back, and I go, “Yeah, I think it is.”  And she said, “I think Tampa Bay is in the playoffs.” And I thought, “Well, yeah.” And then she goes, “That’s Daryl Sydor!”

And then it hit me. Daryl Sydor, Dallas Stars.  He was a vital part of Fellowship Church when he was playing with the Stars. He had been traded and subsequently had ended up in Tampa Bay.  I was kind of clueless; Lisa knew more than, of course, I did about hockey.  And I thought, “Man, that’s pretty wild.  We’re two or three hours away, and there he is playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs.”

So we thought, you know, we’ll just give him a call the next day and tell him we’re thinking about him.  So we called Daryl and his wife Shar. And we talked for a while, caught up a little bit, and then they asked us this question.  They said, “Hey, would you and Lisa like go to the 7th game of the Stanley Cup playoffs right here in Tampa?”

I said, “Let me think about… YES!  Yes!”  And they gave us the serious hook up.  We made the drive to Tampa, two hours, we fought traffic for another hour, and we had some incredible seats right there with the players families, the wives, and all that. And the electricity was unbelievable watching Tampa Bay Lightning take the Stanley Cup.  It was a cool deal.