National Buffalo Day

This week we will celebrate National Buffalo Day. The term ‘buffalo’ is often used interchangeably with ‘bison,” the proper term for the mighty creature we celebrate on this occasion. I remember studying about the Buffalo Soldiers of the post-Civil war era and hearing about Buffalo Bill and the Wild West Shows of the late 1800s.  I once found a Buffalo Nickel, minted in the early 1900s and of course, I’ve  had my share of Buffalo Wings made popular in the early 1960s. I’ve even been to Buffalo, New York, but when I hear of the mighty buffalo, my mind goes back to my pre-teen and teen-age years, growing up in Houston, Texas, home of the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league baseball team – the double A, Texas League Houston Buffalos, better known as the Buffs, preceding the Colt 45s and Astros.  We did not have season tickets, but my Dad always seemed to have tickets, and we sat in the summer heat of Buffalo Stadium, watching my boyhood heroes.  I even made a boyhood bet once that the Buffaloes were in the Bible, and I won the bet on a technicality – animals in the arc, one of every kind.  Even though I had to wait several decades, I finally won the bet legally when “The Message” paraphrased Psalms 92:10 as, “you’ve made me strong as a charging bison”  So join me this week as we celebrate one of God’s mighty creations, the Buffalo.