Each week (give or take one or two here and there) I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.
1. Bucees
As a disclaimer, the name of this weekly post is things I like, not things I love/adore. I see this to differentiate myself from the unwell people who will make road trips just to visit a Bucees. That said, if the opportunity ever presents itself to visit one while traveling you should avail yourself of it. There simply isn’t anywhere else like Bucees. It is a gas station with more pumps than any other gas station. It is a convenience store that is cleaner and better laid out with more check out counters than any other convenience store. It offer the cleanest, nicest, largest restrooms anywhere on any interstate. It serves up brisket sandwiches and breakfast tacos/burritos. It has a bakery. It has a fudge station. It serves up dozens of different kinds of beef jerky (of which the steakhouse as the honey jalapeno are the best). And we are just now getting to the half of Bucees from which you could clothe your entire family, outfit a hunting trip, decorate your home, and stock up for a beach vacation. If all this sounds overwhelming, it is, in the most delightful and amusing way. And to top it off the employees are as friendly as Chick-fil-a employees but without the manic, culty glint in their eye.
2. Ella and Louis
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong need no introduction from me or lauding of their individual musical talents or achievements. They are both legends, and deservedly so. What makes this album so sublimely fantastic is that two musical geniuses so complement one another that it creates an entirely new and magnificent sound. Individually they are both wonderful, and together they border on musical perfection. The gravelly buoyancy of Louie’s voice pairs perfectly with subtle power and smoothness of Ella’s voice. Neither over powers the other. Neither is under-featured. And the song selections are a delight.
3. Psalm 2
At the beginning of an uncertain year, few passages provide with so much grounded reason for confidence. We’re surrounded by chaos in the world–political chaos, international conflict, damage from Hurricane Helene is still effecting the east, wild fires are ravaging California, and on and on it goes. Meanwhile, each of us has our own turmoil–emotional, physical, relational, mental, financial. We’re looking ahead and wondering how we’ll navigate challenges and life changes in 2025. I revisit this passage over and over again, and each time I feel the constriction ease from my heart and the burden lift from my mind and heart.
1 Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,6 “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
