It’s All About The Bacon

Friday afternoon started brilliantly. We had left Cincinnati and we were cruising down interstate 71/75 towards into Kentucky, when Veggie began to get a little sluggish. As mentioned before, Nick and I are far from being mechanics, but that doesn’t mean we are short on ideas. We figured Veggie needed oil. Why? I’m not sure. Nonetheless, we stopped at the nearest gas station, bought the cheapest oil we could find, and poured it into the engine. It didn’t help. In fact, it seemed to make the situation worse. Now we were smoking a little more then usual. Little did we know, diesel engines require special diesel oil. Whoops.

Nick and I then headed for nearest Auto Zone to try to rectify the situation. This is where we met Leon, a cheerful Auto Zone attendant. Leon was an older man, full of interesting stories that were made all the more interesting when told with his thick southern accent.

He spoke of a recent fishing trip to Michigan with his son, the same place his father took him as young child. It was on this trip that he was finally able to catch that pike that had eluded him for years. He told us about the various Christian ministries that he has started. How he develops teaching outlines from the Bible and sends them all over the world, to places like Chile and Slovenia. He pulled out his wallet and showed us two pictures of his grandsons and explained that they were going to be preachers some day.

Most fascinating, Leon told Nick and I about his time as a young man traveling much of the country with a Christian quartet. He recounted one story in particular. Their tour bus had broken down in some rural town. As it was being fixed, Leon and his quartet set up shop on the sidewalk and began to sing. Pretty soon, a large crowd had formed that monopolized the street corner and blocked traffic. Eventually the police showed with the intention of dispersing the crowd. But God had other plans. The police officer that showed ended up being the first person saved that evening and dozens more followed. This story reminded us that buses will break down, but that doesn’t mean that we have to.

Leon left us with a saying that you would only hear in Kentucky. “It doesn’t matter how many curls are in a pig’s tail, you still end up with the same amount of pig.” We can be the best-looking organization out there, but in the end, what really matters is if we are being a witness for Jesus Christ.

Nick and I filled Veggie up with diesel oil and headed on our way. Our meeting with Leon seemed divinely orchestrated, but we wouldn’t find out just how poignant a meeting it was until the next morning.