Shake hands warmly with each other. All the churches here send you their greetings.

(Rom. 16:16 TLB)

In a conversation I had with a friend from the US, I told him we were going to have dinner for the first time with our bubble family.* After I explained what that was, he laughed. He said there was no way their government would be allowed to confine the people to their homes, not allowing them to visit their family and friends. It made me think of a few things. Are we more law-abiding than our friends to the south? Do they value their civil liberties more than we do in the north? Do we value our elderly and those at high-risk more than our brothers and sisters to the south? Do they trust their government less? All these are great discussion topics, but today, I'm just thankful for the opportunity I had to get together with friends and to have a meal with someone outside my home.

Since moving to Cape Sable Island, I’ve been in a few meetings with Derek Melanson (pastor of Temple Baptist), but I don’t know him that well. His family and mine have never spent any time together, yet we decided we would make a good bubble family (pastor’s common sense).

We arrived, and one of the eleven-year-old twin boys greeted us at the door. He came outside, closed the door, and welcomed us with enthusiasm! I looked at the closed door and thought, “Did Derek forget to give us a password we were supposed to give to this curious host?” I was working hard, accessing my inner Gandalf, to surmise the elusive password when Derek’s wife graciously opened the door and invited us in.

Immediately we were “attacked” by the family puppy Izzy, and the more elderly dog Sneakers joined in the investigation, too! The initial awkwardness of meeting people for the first time quickly wore off as it seemed clear the Hunt family was indeed canine approved.

Dinner was not only delicious (lasagna and Caesar salad) but also highly entertaining. We discovered that our wives graduated from the same high school, and we were entertained with the children’s stories, one of which included a superhero with an opposing villain named “The claw” – not the kind of villain I’d like to face, for sure! I knew this was the bubble family for us when I looked above the dinner table to see three figurines hanging from the light fixture: Spider Man, Batman, and the “greatest” superhero of all time, Mr. Bean. It set a humorous contrast to the incredible place settings and dinnerware on the table.

After dinner, we played a game together, and my team finished in second place, but we made a great declaration that we were all winners! We ended the evening with some picture taking. (Sending out a huge thank you to Derek’s daughter for volunteering to be the camera girl.)

It would have been easy for both families to just stay home, within their comfort zone, but “easy” is not what God has called us to do. Second Timothy 1:7 is a wonderful reminder. “For the Holy Spirit, God’s gift, does not want you to be afraid of people, but to be wise and strong, and to love them and enjoy being with them” (TLB).

Shaking Derek’s hand as we headed out the door made me realize this was the first hand I’ve shaken in months. I’ve missed the handshakes. And I’m thankful we decided to “Just Do It!” I think Nike got its slogan from God’s Word:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only.

(James 1:22 ESV)

* A bubble family is the combination of two households who are able to visit one another freely during the stay-at-home pandemic restrictions placed on the Province of Nova Scotia.