Pepper-Coated Salami

1) Congrats to the Russellville (AL) Golden Tigers who continue their march through the 5A state football playoffs. This Friday they host Athens in a semifinal game.

2) Best holiday movie I've seen recently: Elf, starring Will Ferrell, Bob Newhart, Mary Steenburgen and Ed Asner.

3) This afternoon we were in Dominick's shopping for a few things (to be more accurate, I should say that I was with Marlene who was actually shopping for a few things) when Marlene said, "Look at this." She found some salami coated with ground pepper. I started smiling and then I started laughing out loud. A few years ago I bought some pepper-coated salami at Dominick's. That was probably six or seven years ago, and every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I look for it at the store but I've never seen it again. Until today. So we bought a stick of the salami plus some cheese plus some crackers. I can testify that it's a great snack food. It made me smile and laugh and put me in a good mood and I'm still happy about the whole thing.

4) An off-beat gift suggestion: Farewell, Godspeed, a collection of the greatest eulogies of our time. I noticed my boys reading the book last week during the Thanksgiving break. I left it on the table next to the recliner in our living room and both Mark and Nick picked it up. Each eulogy is two or three pages long so you can pick up the book and start reading anywhere you like. There are some fascinating historical nuggets here: Karl Marx by Friedeich Engels, Jack Benny by Bob Hope, Timothy Leary by Wynona Ryder, and Erma Bombeck by Phil Donahue. A good read, and a reminder that someday we'll be gone, and what they say about us then?

To sign up for Pastor Ray's free weekly sermon email list, click here. You can find his daily weblog, online sermons, travel schedule, and other resources at www.keepbelieving.com. You can write Pastor Ray at raypritchard@calvarymemorial.com.