Life with The Swell Guy!

A little something for our pirate friends wherever you are...

Bacon Never Lies #2

The founding fathers loved bacon. As Patrick Henry once said, "Give me BACON or give me death!" That is what made America great, my friend!

Homecoming

I wonder if we have lost track of the complete meaning of the word "homecoming". When I hear the word I think of an annual or occasional gathering where current and former attendees of a church come back on a special day for a guest speaker, singing, and ...the main event...fellowship over a "covered dish dinner". Or I think about a vast bunch of southern gospel singers recording a large music gathering where they sing crowd favorites and then show the video a bunch of times on TV. And of course, you can by the Special Edition DVD at Cracker Barrel or a Christian bookstore near you!

If you enjoy those things that is all fine and good. I am simply thinking of a richer meaning to this word "homecoming". It is a meaning that involves a deep joy and delight on a spiritual level. It's the kind of joy celebrated with the prodigal son returned home to the father. And it is the sort of thing I bore witness to earlier this week.

On Monday evening Travis and I caught a flight from Atlanta to Indianapolis. On that flight close to Travis was an older fellow who with a helper was bringing 4 children to the states from Congo, West Africa to Indianapolis to present them to two sets of adoptive parents. The old guy told Travis they started the journey early Sunday with seven children and three adults. In Atlanta the other adult departed for Chicago with the other three children to meet their adoptive parents.

The end of the flight was routine and we strolled off the plane to head out to ground transportation. Travis mentioned the story of the children and their escorts as we walked away. Then as we passed the security check point area we noticed a gathering of adults and children with welcome home signs. Close to the front of the crowd were the waiting parents. We had to stop to watch and witness.

It was apparent the gathering around the waiting parents were their own children, friends & relatives, and their church family. It was a support crew and a welcoming crew. They all kept peering down the hallway past the security post. They kept waiting. They smiled...and waited.

Then the children arrived. Travis and I expected wild cheering which would have been fine, but instead we observed a very tender moment. For some reason I zeroed in on one of the men. He knelt down to look at his new baby girl sitting in a stroller. He made eye contact and gently unbuckled her seat belt. Then he took her in his arms and hugged her. I could not hear his whispers to her but I am sure it had to do with love and welcoming. The father then stood and held his baby girl for all the witnesses to see and welcome her into the community. For me, that is a beautiful picture of homecoming.  

Scary Sunday #3

Come on, get that head band! Throw on those leggings! Jesus is waiting on us... Work it! Work it!

Saturday Morning

McDonalds is STILL trying to kill me!

A long time ago I gave up eating fast food unless there is not another meal option. One look at me (as well as the knowledge of my attraction to bacon and BBQ) and you will note that I am not a complete diet and health freak, but I am trying to do a few things to live past middle age if all goes well. Two things that have stuck is avoiding fast food and riding a road bike.

I have got to admit that I enjoyed the Super Size Me movie a few years back. It's a humerous, but true representation of what regular overindulging in fast food will do to the human body. I've pretty much kept up with anything Morgan Spurlock has done since then. But I digress...so back to the story.

Being that I did not want to be a Happy Meal away from a heart attack or a Big Mac away from being a full time fat boy, I really try to avoid Ronald McDonald and his fast food hawking friends. I even mentally plug my ears when someone tells me they only stop for a yogurt parfait or a healthy salad. First, I don't believe it can be all that healthy and much more importantly I AM NOT THAT DISCIPLINED! If I have no other meal options, like when traveling, and actually stop I tend to order the least healthy choice on the menu. And I will likely Super Size it. It's true. Ask my wife.

That brings us to this week. There is a McDonalds on the 4-lane bypass on the way to the office. I've noticed that place is busy in the mornings. Super busy. It's on the right side of the road and yesterday I was making my way to the office in the right lane and was almost in a 4 car pile-up because some driver had to stop in the highway in order to make the right hand turn into McDonalds. Oh come on, you know the kind of driver that completely stops to make a right turn which throws off the timing of everyone behind them in traffic.

And then, I'm not kidding, one of the drivers in the middle of the "almost bad wreck" sped up as traffic resumed and then jammed, really jammed, on their brakes to turn into the McDonalds entrance at the far end. I really thought the guy behind me in the traffic was going to put the bumper of his jacked up mud bogging truck on the roof rack of my vehicle. The classy headline "Mayhem at McDonalds" popped into my head.

Having survived the transit intact, I made a mental note to simply stay out in the left lane for now on for that section of road. I would just leave the right lane to the folks looking for a McGriddle induced coma or whatever other McLovin' breakfast option they are craving. I figured that was a pretty good plan until this morning. That was went some dude with his crew was cruising in his work truck and realized he had just almost passed McDonalds so he hit the brakes and took a hard right across both lanes without looking to just make it into the far entrance.

NASCAR would have been proud of him. The carnage and almost carnage behind him was not so proud. It's true. McDonalds is still trying to kill me.

Disclaimer: Should you find me eating any fast food or anything unhealthy after this post, please be kind and gentle. I really do try! 

Bacon Never Lies #1

Over the past week a number of friends have send me a photo or link to a sign that reads "Either You Love Bacon Or Your Wrong". I guess I've become the Bacon Boy...The Bacon Advocate...The Avatar of All Things Pork in our little community.

Today I present to you Bacon Never Lies #1. Bacon never apologizes either. Have a nice day!

A photo from Saturday

Sometimes writing a simple caption is harder that it should be. For instance today's considerations included:

• An Old Guy and His Car
• A Guy and His Old Car
• Two Old Things with Creaky Engines
• One Man and Forty Horses of Steel
• Model J & Model A
• The don't make (either of) them like they used to...

Anyway, we attended Squealin' on The Square for a few hours on Saturday. Jeff and Page Owens entered their classic Model A Ford in the car show. Jeff has always dreamed of owning one and we are very happy for them. It was a beautiful afternoon to hang out, listen to some music, and eat a little BBQ.

Scary Sunday #2

According to legend back in the 1970s Chuck Miller told Chuck Norris to go with a beard. He already had sideburns covered.