Swell Saturday Strikes Again!

It’s time once again to wade into the shallow end of the pool for another installment of Swell Saturday! Here are this week’s winners:

Lean Cuisine: There’s a scene in uber chick flick “The Wedding Planner” when Jennifer Lopez’s character comes home to her empty apartment after a long day of work, microwaves her dinner and eats it while watching “Antiques Road Show.” This is all supposed to convey a sense of sadness and isolation, but when you think about it, doesn’t that sound like an awesome evening? You have the pleasure of a quiet night to yourself after a stressful day, you get to watch your favorite show and dinner only took you three minutes to prepare! Too long have microwaveable dinners been synonymous with loneliness and desperation! I think it’s time they get the respect they deserve. Cooking a gourmet meal is fine and dandy but sometimes your full and meaningful life doesn’t allow you the time or energy. Lean Cuisine always comes to the rescue with yummy (and often preservative free!) pastas and pizzas that cost two bucks and are ready in under five minutes. That leaves me with lots of extra time for a life of excitement and purpose. Or at least extra time for “Antiques Road Show.”

1001 Free Fonts: Some girls collect shoes. Others collect bags. I collect fonts. Pizza Dude, Anatevka Caps, Chocolate Box, A Yummy Apology, Bachelor Pad – I love them all. I currently have a sweet little collection of about three hundred and constantly feel the need to add more. But unlike shoes or bags, my obsession costs me nothing thanks to 1001 Free Fonts. I can download as many fonts as I want for absolutely free. When I’m working on a church event flier and need one font that will appeal simultaneously to older single women with a penchant for foreign films, teenage male soccer players, and couples who hate gardening, I know I’ll find it at 1001 Free Fonts.

Awesome God: One of my favorite things to do as a child was put on dress up clothes, play Christian kids’ music, and sing in front of my full length mirror. (I’ll admit that staring at oneself for hours was probably not the ideal way to digest the meaning of those songs, but there you go.) At age five or six, I was particularly troubled by the refrain of the song “Love Never Fails” from “The Music Machine.” It went “love never fails, love never fails, there ain’t nothing love can’t do, aren’t you glad that God loves you.” After listening to this chorus I promptly told my dad, “I know something that love can’t do. Not love.” I just purchased a fantastic children’s CD called “Awesome God” that is bound to help kids ponder deeper issues than what love can or cannot do. Each song is wonderfully God-centered and teaches great theological concepts. Consider the lyrics to “Mighty Mighty Savior”: “Sin is too strong, for me to conquer on my own. I need someone to help me. I am too weak, I cannot change my evil heart, I need someone to cleanse me.” Or the chorus to “Sovereign One”: “Sovereign One, You work all things to Your plan. Sovereign One, You hold all things in Your hands.” I listened to “Three in One” (which sounds strangely like Everclear) almost ten times today and I think it may be my favorite song ever about the Trinity. “Awesome God” is produced by Sovereign Grace Ministries and it definitely deserves a place on the shelf next to “Singsational Servants” and “Bullfrogs and Butterflies.”