In case you have not heard, the BI-LO on Rt. 25 in Greenwood now stocks Baconnaise. Yes! No kidding. You are welcome.
So here is one of the things that I love about following Christ. Action. Christ calls us to do something. We are invited to join him in a real and dynamic journey of faith. We are told to take it to the street and into the community.
If one imagines faith as sitting, and listening, and being quiet all the time it has little appeal. It will not work out if a person believes or hears they are getting a list of stuff of what not to do in exchange for Christ. If a person is led to believe their excitement in life is ending instead of starting they have received bad information from a lousy source. This is one of the things that trips up many people who have not yet come to Christ, especially guys. The church has done little to help this problem and has more often has contributed to the problem.
Jesus was a dangerous man living a wild faith. He was radical. Why do you think he upset the religious leaders of his day? He was alive, and passionate, and inviting. He lived at the center of the storm, not on the edge. His words challenged the status quo and called us to a new way. Check out these words:
We are called to become something other than what we would have been if the call did not exist...are not permitted to remain passive, but are called upon, by these words, to illuminate a world of spiritual and social darkness. Shine brightly then, and be noticed! Become a beacon of hope, and share this Good News. - Lee Cantelon
Do you follow Christ? Is your faith stagnant? There is more. The gospels are loaded with instructions from Christ on how to live. He used words like go, care, feed, help, come, heal, work, build, seek, laugh...and expect, and ...you get it.
Oh, you don't believe me? Go find any bible translation with red letters and read them. We are not called to live a life of quiet reflection. Those times are needed and good, but our life should be lived fully. Our faith is dynamic. It is alive because of who we are. It is alive because of whose we are.
So you want action? Do you want something more? Is something missing? Let me invite you to a more radical and pleasing life. We even have an instruction manual. Let's go.
Mark 1:17 (The Message)
Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass." They didn't ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed.
I do not dine at "All You Can Eat" places often. I try to eat mostly healthy (yeah, I can hear your bacon comments from here) and I have no self control when I am anywhere near a buffet or all you can eat joint. I go in thinking I'm going to make good choices and before I know it I am working on my third plate of food. It must be something in the sauce.
One thing I did not expect when we moved to Greenwood was all the buffets. I expected places that serve heaping plates of soul food, but not the buffets. By the way, we will talk about "Meat & Three" joints another day.
It seems like every other restaurant offers one. At at the top of the food chain (excuse the pun) are the Chinese buffets. How many Chinese buffets does one small town need? Apparently one more! I just received the menu/announcement for the new Chinese joint opening on the Rt. 72 bypass. Here are a few menu highlights written exactly as printed on the full color flyer (my comments in italics):
-Coupon: Grend Opening 10% Off - Coupon Cannot Be Combined w. Other Offer (Grend Opening? What Other Offer? - By the way...the coupon is already expired)
-The Largest Buffet in Area - BUFFET All You Can Eat - All You Can Eat Buffet - Buffet - Buffet - Buffet- Buffet (That's right. This is how many times it is printed on the same side of the flyer. That is LARGE.)
-No Check
-MSG (It's inside a circle with the strike through it)
-Accept Party
-Over 180 Items Daily (Who counts? Does salt & pepper count? Sauces?)
-Dieter's Delight (This section takes about 5% of the space on the menu side of the flyer)
-Chef's Specialties includes Happy Family, Double Happy, & Triple Delight (This part does make me very happy)
Sigh. I'm sure a week from now I'll notice the parking lot is packed and I am just as sure the Soggy Bloggin' Boys will eventually make a field trip for lunch (after which I will be forced to explain my breath to my wife). Should that happen we will be sure to report.
Anyway, after all of that, I will leave you with THE BEST BUFFET VIDEO EVER.
Enjoy.
My hair is getting kinda long. Well, at least it is getting long for me. I've had so much travel lately that I am just running a little behind on getting it trimmed.
So last night I am chilling out with Denine in the living room and Erin says as she passes that I could almost rock the white man's afro. I've already been there, done that. Here is the image that popped into my head at that moment. Worse yet, I may be start forcing the word "happy" into my vocabulary more often than necessary if this continues.
Later on, Denine brought it up again and said if I had someone work with it I could have some pretty big awesome hair. I hope to go for a haircut as soon as possible.
People everywhere are falling for fall!
Tuesday-palooza celebrates life through noteworthy photos. Selection tends towards humor, southern life and laughing at ourselves & the things we do to occupy our time. Your comments, suggestions, and photo submissions are welcome.
Everyone says you need to eat a great steak at one of the steak houses when you visit Chicago. That is what Tim, Denine, and I did last night. Our waiter, Scott, told us that the chef ages the beef with Himalayan salt slabs. We asked about the salt slabs and Scott offered to have the manager show us the meat locker after the meal. How could we turn down that offer?
At the end of a great meal we told Scott we would take the offer of that tour. Rory the manager was at our table soon enough and he led us through the kitchen, down the stairs, past the butcher tables, and into the meat locker. He explained how the beef aging process works. It was fun and he was a nice guy. Next time someone says they had a great steak in Chicago, we can comment "Yes, but did you see the meat locker?".
After we read about Hot Doug's - The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium in an in-flight magazine we knew we had visit when we were in Chicago. Then we saw the place on The Travel Channel and we really knew we had to make a stop.
Our adventure included a taxi ride that got us there just before closing. If you are in line at closing time you are good. We met a cool local guy while waiting to place our order with Doug himself. Our order included The Dog, The Elvis, and Duck Fat Fries. It was worth the trip, my friend. It was worth the trip.