The weekend is here! My favorite finds of the week are below. Add your favorites in the Comments below:
1) Harry Potter vs. Lord of the Rings – From books to movies, we have a favorite between these two – Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. They fall in a similar genre of stories about exploits, wizards and wonders. We happen to be Lord of the Rings fans. Nathan Mills of Beyond the Guitar has arranged a mash-up of melodies from both films. All the feels.
For those of us who follow Nathan’s career, he was also featured again this week on the Rising Tide Startups podcast. Check it out here.
2) The Thai Cave Rescue – We all celebrate the Thai Cave Rescue where national and international forces came together to accomplish the impossible. The rescue of 12 boys and their coach, from deep in a mountain cave, trapped by rising waters. 
Photo Credit: CBS Philly
Engineers, divers, doctors, and so many others turned this story from tragedy to triumph. A miracle, really. Not without loss. A former Thai Navy Seal diver, Saman Kunont, died while they they were setting up oxygen lines for the rescue. His death most assuredly helped those who would later be successful in bringing the boys and their coach to safety.
Did the World Care More About the Boys in the Cave Than Other Kids in Crisis? – Malaka Gharib & Marc Silver
3) Pizza Memories The food we enjoy often has memories attached to it. Biscuits and gravy are a comfort food that takes me all the way back to childhood. My mom, on her days off, happily making up homemade biscuits and gravy – patting out the biscuits onto the pan and, while they cooked, standing over the gravy, constantly stirring it into perfection. Just the mention of Tang orange drink takes me back to Red Sea family respites from our crazy Cairo life. We stayed in quite affordable hotels offering the loveliest local food. What looked like orange juice on the breakfast buffet was Tang, and it meant we were away from the big city – with all the nurture of blue sky and fresh sea air.
Pizza memories return us to places and people that continue to be endearing. My years of teaching at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, included lunches and suppers out, lingering over the great food of local eateries. New Haven pizza is well-known through the US. The culinary styles of pizza vary from the thin charred crust of New York and Chicago pizza to the cheesy, deep dish Greek pizzas.
My best food memories of New Haven center on an old campus favorite with the unlikely name of Clark’s Dairy (it was also an ice cream shop). Name changed to Clark’s Family Pizza & Restaurant. There our order was always the same: coffee and the Feta cheese and sausage pizza. 
Photo Credit: Yelp
Your Guide to the Best Pizza in New Haven – Munchies
Tony and Lucille’s Little Italy Restaurant – Best calzones I’ve ever tasted
Where do your favorite pizza memories take you?
4) Friends Through Thick & Thin – “Don’t forget to crowd your calendar with depression this week”, said no one ever. I was really looking forward to this week…then dark thoughts and their resulting lethargy fell over me like a suffocating wet blanket. I could still manage most of the usual stuff, but the very things that would have lightened my heart required me to get myself there…and it just didn’t happen.
Friendship that endures, over time and trouble, is an amazing gift. People you know will be there, not just for you, but for those you love also, are such a treasure. I hopefully am a better friend because of those who have stuck with me through the years, even when I wasn’t at my best. Friends like this one who missed me…when a no-show.
No judgment. No advice. No rejection. Just care. The note went on to give updates about her family which were a delight to hear/read.
In her bestselling book Kitchen Table Wisdom, Rachel Naomi Remen writes:
“I suspect that the most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention. And especially if it’s given from the heart. When people are talking, there’s no need to do anything but receive them. Just take them in. Listen to what they’re saying. Care about it. Most times caring about it is even more important than understanding it.” – from Therese Borchard’s 8 Ways to Help a Friend or Family Member With Depression
When we struggle and seemingly remove ourselves from others… maybe we do need to be left alone for awhile. Mostly, however, we just need to be invited in, even in our diminished states. Does this resonate?
Keeping Friends When You Have Depression Is a Challenge – Jennifer Smith
What If Everything You Know About Depression Was Wrong? – Now This (Op-Ed)
Six Ways Jesus Fought Depression – John Piper
5 Things Christians Should Know About Depression and Anxiety – Brandon W. Peach
5) Returning the Favor – Mike Rowe is this funny, larger-than-life TV show host and writer. He currently stars in a web series entitled Returning the Favor. The goal of this production is to discover and showcase the lives of regular folks who are doing good in their neighborhoods. Then Rowe, through various means, surprises this local heroes with some sort of monetary gift and national recognition. I never knew about him or his work until this week, so now, except for the money part, I want to return the favor and recognize the good he does.
These are my five favorite finds. How about you? Anything that energized your week, brought a special kind of joy, or you just found funny? Share it with us.
Have a splendid weekend with those you love or those who could do with a bit of your love.
Bonuses
[First fruits of a summer garden – thanks to Dave.]
We Really Need to Stop Complimenting People on Weight Loss – Abby Langer
Grey’s Anatomy Give Peace a Chance – Derek & Isaac – Season 6, Episode 7 – a great script, on being a surgeon and on being a patient who has already endured terrible suffering but putting his trust in the surgeon:
How to Write With Style: Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 Keys to the Power of the Written Word – Maria Popova
Justice Is a Gospel and Ecclesiastical Issue – Chip M. Anderson
Oley Brothers Are New Owners of Richmond’s Westhampton Pastry Shop – Tammie Smith
Photo Credit: Yelp