The Bible-Believing, Bacon-Eating, Blog-Writing, Bald-Preacher

     When I first moved to Burke County I was introduced to something that changed my life, Friday Night Football. It was the 1980's and everybody flocked to the football games on Friday to watch East Burke play. Our church would take the church van to several games each year even to a couple away games. It wasn't just the youth that went. All ages would pile in the van and car pool behind the van to the games. The stadium would be filled with people from all over the community. That was the first live football I had ever seen and I was hooked.      I remember hearing the announcer announce the players as they made tackles or ran the ball. I remember hearing the fans scream in joy when East Burke scored. I can still hear the boos when the referee made bad calls. Everyone once in a while you could hear the cheerleaders and band. But the sound that drew me to the game was the sound of players knocking the snot out of each other. The sound of two helmets hitt...

     While I was on vacation last month I was sitting on the beach  just out of the reach of the waves behind the seashell line I noticed something. What I call the seashell line is that line of broken seashells that appears just past where the waves come in. I noticed that it was constantly changing. Big waves would take some of the shells away. Small waves dropped new ones in. People were digging into the seashell line hoping to find a beautiful shell, a hard to find shark's tooth or some other treasure. What I noticed was the adaptability of the beaches and shells.      Let me explain. When I looked at the seashell line everything looked to be in harmony. Then a wave would come in and drop a new shell in the seashell line. For a few moments it looked out of place, like it didn't belong. But then something happened. I would look away for a second, then look back and things had changed. The new shell not only l...

     The Thursday before Mother's Day I went to the doctor for a regular check up. My blood pressure was in the range the doctor wanted. All the numbers that were high in my previous blood work had dropped and most where back into the normal range. Somehow my weight even dropped. My doctor was very pleased and announced I was doing good and was healthy even with my slightly above average bacon intake. I was happy because instead of having to go back monthly to make my copayment donation to her children's college fun I got a six month pass.     Then Friday come, Friday afternoon to be exact. I was running some errands with my daughter and felt a small but sharp pain in my lower right side. It didn't stay long. It later came back but left again. This pattern continued for the rest of the evening. The time in pain got longer and the pain got worse while the pain free time got shorter and shorter. By bedtime there was no relief and the pain just came in waves. On t...

     I do believe I am addicted to something and this morning from the time I got up until now I have been craving it. At first I did it socially with some family and close friends. I justified as "they wanted to do it." I kept telling myself it wasn't a big deal and if "nobody wanted to" I would be alright without it. The truth is though, I think about it every time I am in the area of my connection. There are times I have to physically restrain myself stopping to fuel my addiction. I have even considered rerouting my travels so I would not pass the temptation.      Today is bad though. I have just about talked myself into rearranging my schedule today so I can give in to the temptation I am facing. That is only the beginning of my battle. I know the next few days are going to be extremely busy for me so there will be no time to see if "anyone else wants to" but I think I have found some time I can do it alone each day. On Wednesday, I have...

     I have caught a bits and pieces of a movie entitled, "The Croods" over the years. The few minutes I have watched seemed to be funny so I decided that I wanted to watch the entire movie at some point. I had never caught the beginning or the end so I really didn't know what the storyline was all about. I could tell it had something to do with a family of cavemen on a trip. I finally got a chance to watch the entire movie this past weekend. I did enjoyed it and learned a good lesson.      Basically, the Croods is the only remaining family of caveman living in a cave. All their neighbors had died off and that made the father become over protective of the family. They couldn't leave their cave except in a group and they only left to find food. They would stay days at a time in the cave. The father taught them to "Always be afraid." He also told them all new things were dangerous, curiosity was a bad thing and fear was the only way to su...

     If you are flying in an airplane the last thing you want to hear your pilot shot on the radio is, "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!" When the word mayday is repeated 3 times it becomes an international distress signal. It is most commonly used by pilots and ship captains when their plane or boat is going down. Some local fire departments, police stations and rescue squads use it also when they are in distress or immediate danger. So when ever you hear it you know something isn't going right and danger isn't a possibility but a definite.      In 1923, Frederick Stanley Mockford, a senior officer at the Croydon Airport in London, was m'aider which was a shortened version of the phrase venez m'aider meaning "come and "help me." In 1927, the International Radiotelegraph Convention of Washington voted to make Mayday the official term for distress replacing SOS. It has been used every since. asked to come up with a word that would be easily unders...

     There was a business man who worked many long hours. He worked hard to provide for his family and to make sure they were able to afford many nice things. He didn't have much time for anything beside work. He spent his weekends working around the house to make sure it looked nice. So his weekends were full of grass mowing, mulch scooping, fence painting, flower planting, treehouse building, car washing and many other chores. He didn't mind because his family was provided for and had many nice things.      One day during his lunch break he decided to go to the florist. It was almost Mother's Day and he wanted to wire his mother some flowers. She lived 200 miles away and even though he hadn't seen her in a long time he wanted her to know he was thinking about her. As he pulled into the parking lot of the florist he could seen a young girl sitting on a bench outside the florist crying her eyes out. The man wasn't one to get involved in strang...