Cornhole Joel

¹This weekend I participated in my first official cornhole tournament.  You know, that bean-bag game that's kinda like horseshoes.  It's been a family favorite for several years, and I finally competed in the 1st annual tournament here in Atlanta.

It was a long, hot day, and there were 64 teams competing for the grand prize — an electric guitar signed by some band I've never heard of.  Having no luck finding a teammate, I was matched up with a German guy named Alex.  It was his first time playing the game, but we did well enough to make it past the first round, where we played against three teams.  Our luck ended in the second round, though, so Heather, Lucia and I returned home early.

²As much fun as we had, it was not exactly a "family" activity.  The park was more like the back lot of a bar, they were blasting hard rock all day, and we couldn't even bring in our own water.  There were no other kids around, so pushing Lucia in the stroller made us stick out like a sore thumb.  And if we wanted something to drink, we had to enter the bar, which was named "Purgatory".

But God always makes good out of unfortunate situations.  In small talk with Alex, I told him I had traveled to Germany for World Youth Day.  After mentioning that he is very proud to have a German pope, I found out he was Catholic.  He said he had been unable to find a Catholic church in the 10 weeks he's been in the States, so we offered to go to Mass with him.  He seemed genuinely accepting of this offer, and even mentioned that he heard there was a Church in Atlanta that occasionally has Mass in German.

So, our trip to Purgatory might end up bringing one more soul closer to Heaven.  Even though my cornhole skills weren't up to par, it's nice to see that there is apostolic potential.