This week's list

Man, put up a list that shoots people off the face of the earth and you get a big response.
Ask them to pick things from the BIBLE and ...... don't hold your breath. Disappointing, people. Very disappointing.

This week:
Hate to break it to you,but tonight is your last night on the face of this earth (Don't ask why, just roll with me here).
You can go eat your last meal at any eating establishment you want. You can have whatever you want.
Where do you go and What do you eat?

Me? This might change day to day but it's a tossup. PT's or Flaming Amy's would do it for me. Burger, fries, and a Diet Pepsi or Fried Chicken Burrito and chips with queso. I'm not a fancy guy.
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....on the lookout for an Interim Blogger.

Wow.
And....just like like that...4 new people show up tonight to help. Awesome. They couldn't have been any nicer or more helpful. One of them saw it in the Kingdom News and the other 3 were invited by Anna Tolan. Hope they come back.

Twig and his helpers did a great job outside on the Barbecue Chicken. The Kitchen crew had their hands full with the rest of the meal. John Liverman had his hands full trying to get a large hunk of stew thawed (he eventually won). We also made sandwiches and bagged them so we could give everybody one for to take as they left.
Menu:
Barbecue chicken
Brunswick stew
Peas and corn
Bread
Dessert
Tea and Water

Helpers
John
Ellen
Henry
Tom
Theresa
Bryan
Twig
Ryan
Pruden
Craig
Eric
Candace
Katie Norris
Danielle Biongiornio
and the new folks... Jessica
Irene
Courtney
Roxanne
The new folks jumped right in and we finished with plenty of time to spare and were outside early. The weather was nice. it didn't get much chillier as the night went on, either.


If first impressions really are a big deal, then I'm in trouble. Here's why....Jessica walks up to me and Twig outside. I figured she was going to ask us about the other program going on that night because, 1. I didn't recognize her and 2. she was dressed nice.
But she says "Are y'all with the Homeless feeding program? I'm here to help." or something to that effect.
We say yeah, that's us, blah blah ..and she's says "There's some other folks inside here to help ,too."
Well, I thought she meant they were with her and so I say come on, let's go in the kitchen and get started.
Then, as we're walking in and get near the kitchen, I see three women in the hall near the kitchen and one of them has a baby in a stroller. I assumed she was here for the other program going on the Baby Fast Program that Annie Peterson runs.
Jessica doesn't acknowledge knowing them as we come up, so I assume it's not the ones she was talking about. I say hey to them and they say they were looking for Anna. I see baby, hear Anna, and and say Oh, You mean Annie? She's out here. And I send them off to look for Annie.
They show up a little later and say "We're here to help feed the homeless."
So I just figured Annie had invited them, and they'd said hey to her and were ready to work. Right.... as in 2 + 2 = 5.

It wasn't until later as we were going to the LEC to get tables and stuff that I figured it out. I asked one of them how they had heard about us and what we did. She said they worked at the Police Dept. and had talked to ANNA and been invited. Then the light bulb started to flicker and I realized they were friends with Anna Tolan not Annie Peterson, and one of them had just simply brought their baby in a stroller. My bad.

Then I started laughing about them being taken to Annie and how the whole "Why did Gary send us here" exchange went. I'm lucky they didn't think I was a clueless and just bail. Great 1st impression on my part.
Sorry, Ladies.

It's funny how random thoughts collide and connect over days and in different conversations. Someone asked how long we'd been doing this and it's been over 4 years now . That got me thinking about what we'd done and where we'd come from and how we'd gotten to what we do today, and I realized we've been doing this over a year longer than Jesus' public ministry lasted. I just dwelt on that for awhile. What he did and how he went about it. Were we doing the same things? Could we be more Christ-like as we went about exercising our faith in this area?

And then I thought about a question that was asked at an FCA meeting I was at the night before.
"If there's nothing you can do to lose your salvation, what's to keep someone from accepting Christ and receiving salvation, and then just living a sinful life from then on?"

We talked about it and some answers were given, but it has rolled around in my mind ever since and I would give a much shorter answer now.
My answer?

"Nothing."
Nothing. There's no performance clause in the fine print. There's no obligation to meet. Someone could wipe their feet on the Grace of God for the rest of their life, and God would still keep his promise. It's expected that we will grow and try to live as christ would want us to, but if we don't, there's nothing that says we lose what God has given to us. It goes against the grain of the way most people think and behave, but i believe that's the way it is. There was nothing keeping Adam and Eve from eating the fruit of the tree .....and they did. God allows that much free will.

But Jesus said he came to give us Life and give it to us better than we can get it for ourselves. So someone who accepts and then puts it away just for fire insurance later..... misses out on that. Plus, there's also that verse that says God will not be mocked, so....

I guess the burden is on us as we make disciples to invest ourselves enough so that that kind of thinking doesn't take hold in someone.

Anyway...I'm not sure what any of that's got to do with barbecue chicken.
Pray for us as summer gets closer. I might be out of town alot so I might be......

What's on for tonight? Well..

....looks like barbecue chicken, with whatever else we decide to serve at the last minute.
Barbecue chicken is good because:
A. leg quarters are cheap
B. Twig's pig cooker is big enough we can put just about all of it on at one time, and
C. Everybody likes it. Alot.
We could always open up cans of stuff to go with it, but it'd be fun to cook something inside while the chicken's being cooked outside

This Week's List is......

You have a time machine. Name three things that happened in the Bible that you would like to travel back in time to witness as they happened.

Me? David and Goliath
Parting of the Red Sea
Jesus feeding the 5,000

You?

"If you just make the effort, God will bless it."

The weather couldn't have been much better. It was pleasant with a very cool breeze. The fact that it stays lighter longer is good, too.

We wound up serving the fried chicken and green beans at the 1st stop until they were gone then started with the baked spaghetti. We also had fruit and garlic bread at both stops. It was all delicious. Robin Manning and her mom contributed 2 pans of baked spaghetti and about half of the bread, for which we are very thankful. We went through alot of food tonight, which just tells you how good God is. He provides it, one way or another. We're just conduits to get it where it needs to be. We had a very good time of prayer at the 2nd stop, led by Tracy. Tracy and his fiancee Trina have been coming for the past few weeks and have been a blessing.
Both have a real desire and gift to reach the folks we see on Tuesday nights and we're thankful God led them to us.

Ellen
John (coming back for the 1st time since April 15th passed)
Pruden
Craig
Theresa
Bryan
Tracy
Trina
Chamberlain
Clay
Ryan
Twig
Christy Aley ( she thought she was helping with the BabyFast program and we didn't tell her until she'd done a bunch of stuff for us!)
and Candace
were the ones who made it out to help tonight. All of them did a great job.

I was serious when I said we'd take suggestions and recipes if anybody had any to share. Nobody has spoke up. Oh well.

Anyone reading this is welcome to come and be a part of what happens on Tuesday nights. We can always use help, especially with the summer coming. I'm gone several Tuesdays during the summer, so if you help then, you get the added benefit of not having to put up with me, so ...think about it.

Be praying as the summer approaches because we tend to see larger numbers of people in need. We trust God will provide resources to help us meet the needs of our friends in whatever way he sees fit. In the past he has provided through miracles that came out of nowhere and through everyday normal people and routines. He is good and faithful in his promises to provide.

To quote Don Vigus......
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Oh Hail

300 hits! Take that, MySpace!


Weather is looking dicey tonight but we're going business as usual. If it rains, we'll just adapt and figure something out (Some people call that "Vigus-ing" it). The rain last night was cold! I was on College rd. at at the Long Leaf traffic light when it really started to fall and I saw the hail start to bounce off the hood and road. It was cool because it wasn't threatening.


The 5 worst hail storms I've ever witnessed were all on the same afternoon. Here's the story :

We were on last year's baseball trip (one of my favorite things every year) at an afternoon game in Cleveland. It was a good game, they had a buffet for large groups like us, weather was great. After the game everyone was walking down 10 or 12 blocks to the Rock'n Roll Hall of Fame museum.Since the day they opened, I have wanted to go. I watched the Opening Day Concert on VH-1 all the way through, keep up with who's inducted,,,,everything. Always wanted to go, so I was really looking forward to this, plus.....Bruce Lennon was going. If I had to pick one person who deserved to go to the Rock'n Roll hall of Fame museum it would be Bruce. Bruce is encyclopedic in his knowledge of rock in general and flawless in the rock from his teenage and college years. It was going to be fun to hang out there with someone who knew as much ,and was into it as much as me.


But first David Smith and I had to get the bus from the ballpark to the museum. No problem, it was just a few blocks straight shot....except that it started to rain. Still not a problem....except that Time wasn't something we had tons of. Everyone else had gotten there and gotten in. We weren't there yet and time was ticking. It closed at 5:30 and it was a little after 3. Still worth it but we had to hustle.


Then it started to rain really hard.


We pull up in front of the Museum ( did I mention it sits directly on Lake Erie?) and it starts to rain even harder. Like, step off the bus and be drenched 10 ft. later and sopping wet for the rest of the time you're inside, harder?


So here I am, only 150 ft. from the entrance and in plain view of a place I've always wanted to go and not really able to go in yet.


Time is running short, so I gotta make like The Clash-Should I stay or Should I go now ?

Just about the time I decide to bolt out of the bus and run for the door, it starts to hail. Hard. Lots of it. Sideways. Inside of the bus it sounds like the world's largest popcorn popper. 15 solid minutes of it.

Stops for a minute or three and then starts all over again. As hard if not harder than the first time. Nonstop for 10 minutes.

Another break ...and here it comes again. It's rolling in off Lake Erie in waves. I'm texting people back in Wilmington about it It's starting to get pretty ri-darn-diculous.

I'm thinking "Why doesn't God want me to go to the Rock'n Roll Hall of Fame?"

"How much can it hail in one afternoon?"

"Is this what it was like for Moses looking out at the Promised land?"

I was dying.

When it was over, 5 separate bands of hailstorms came through that afternoon, with no break in the rain in between. Every trash can was now several blocks down the street and all the trees in the area were bare, with all their leaves on the ground and strowed everywhere. It lasted over 55 minutes and was written up the next day in a story in USA Today.



When it finally stopped hailing and raining enough for me to make a run for it, it was 5:10.

I had a whole 20 minutes to see the Rock'n Roll Hall of fame Museum.

The kicker was, it cost 20 bucks to go in and see the exhibits. My options now were: A. just go in and hang out in the gift store for 20 minutes or B. go for the Dollar -a - Minute Experience and not even come close to seeing everything.

It's a decent gift store.


Looks like Baked Spaghetti is what we'll cook tonight. We had someone give us a nice amount of fried chicken and some fixin's that might get us most of the way through the first stop and then when it's gone we'll bust out the baked spaghetti we've cooked and use it the rest of the way.
Tell you how it went later tonight.

I could've named 15 more.....

Well, the List Game is going over like a lead Balloon, with a grand toal of 3 responses over 3 weeks,,,,,,SO LET'S KEEP DOING IT!!!!

This week's list:
3 people you'd like to put on a rocket and send into deep space with just two packs of crackers and half a can of SunDrop. (You might find it hard to limit it to 3 people. Go for it)

Mine? Donald Trump--- George Steinbrenner----- Madonna

Yours?

...they call it the FELLOWSHIP Class. Duh.

Gaye Thomas & Jimmy Thomas
Tom Wallace & Jimmy Wallace
Ben Currin & Brenda Currin
Frank Davis
Jerry Worley
Mararuth Capel & Joe Capel

Mike "The Warden" Cockerham & Anne Cockerham

Kerry Taylor
....are the members of the Fellowship Sunday School class that showed up to help cook and serve this week.
Let me tell you, there ain't nothing slow about that crowd. I walked in about 6 and I was already smelling Meat Loaf. They got to it and knocked it out. They planned the menu, did the shopping, got it cooked....everything. I did nothing on the cooking side of things. Outside of cleaning a couple of coolers and getting Jonathan Boggs to help me clean out our fridge, I wasn't involved in the kitchen much at all. I made the LEC run with a couple of the guys. They had it under control.

It was actually a little weird because they had it so much under control in ways we're not used to. I'm always looking at the clock trying to figure when something will be done and juggling ovens and burners with different things. I'm always riding herd on a chaos of my own making. They made it look simple. They were done with plenty of time to spare and we got up to the 1st spot before hardly anyone had arrived.

The meal tonight was Meat Loaf, Mashed Potatoes and gravy, a beans-corn-carrot dish, several types of rolls and biscuits and dessert. We had Tea and Hot Chocolate because it was a little chilly tonight. They did a great job on all of it. Our friends loved the Meat Loaf! We gave out every bit of it. Several of them made it a point come back to the tables and tell the folks how much they enjoyed the meal tonight. Matter of fact the only thing we had any sizable amount of at the end of the night was gravy and that's only cause I'm paranoid about running out and we make too much.
I didn't count exactly tonight but I know we went over twenty at the first stop and over forty at the second.

There were alot of good exchanges tonight.
One of our friends has now been sober 67 days. He looked so good! We celebrated that accomplishment with him and continue to pray for him.
Another one of our friends told me he is working and had moved out of the Mercy House and wanted to thank us for coming every Tuesday and that we had blessed him and he loved us. I told him we loved him, too.
Several had prayer requests for themselves and others.

In addition to the Fellowship SS class,
Theresa
Pruden
Craig
Jonathan
Tracy
Trina
Twig
and me were there tonight.

We continue to thank God and praise him for the things he makes possible on Tuesday Nights and allows us to do for his Glory. We're thankful for all the people who've been good to us and helped in big and small ways. We continue to ask God to show what He would have us do on Tuesday nights to further meet the needs of our friends. We welcome your prayers, even if you've never been down to help or have no plans to. Lift us up in your prayers and we appreciate it.

The Fellowship class folks were very good at this and fun to be around. They can come come back any time they like. They seemed to enjoy being around each other when they were doing the work tonight. Maybe that's why......
g

.....just to keep me from bragging about being right. Because you know I would've!

Here's a story for you......

We started feeding on Tuesday nights in the winter, because that's when St James church was running the Homeless shelter. They ran it during the cold months and quit when it warmed up, roughly November through March. Me and my 10th grade guys bible study were doing random acts of kindness instead of just sitting around talking, so one of the things we did was bring Hot chocolate to the people standing in line to get in the shelter. The shelter opened at 8;30 and the line would start forming about 7:30. Depending on which volunteers were working that night, check-in could move very slowly, so it was not unusual for someone to spend at least an hour in line on a cold night.
We did it a couple of times and it was well received and we figured it wouldn't cost that much more or be any harder to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to give out with the Hot Chocolate and that led to Hot dogs, which led to bigger meals .....
By the end of the winter we were serving between 30 and 50 people and doing pretty good.

The question we had was "What do we do when the shelter closes for the season and there's not a reason for people to be there? Do we keep on serving or just move on to something else and start back again in the fall when the shelter reopens?"

We decided to let them know we would continue and that we would still be there serving food on Tuesday nights. And for awhile it was good, not as many people showing up, but still a respectable number.

Then, the guys got busier at school, we started having less people show up, I was having trouble giving out all the food, etc. I started thinking maybe we should call it quits and find something else to do.

So, one night in the spring that's what I prayed. I told God that if we only saw 8 or 9 guys and nobody came out to help, that would be a sign for me to pull the plug and nobody could or would fault me for it.

Well, we cooked Hot dogs that night. I say "we" because it was only me and Gary McKnight. Nobody else. Strike one!

We got down to Market St. and set up and by 8:15 had seen a grand total of 8 guys come through. Strike Two!

We were at the table waiting and I saw a woman walk up and look around. She didn't say anything to me but I could tell she wanted to. So I asked her If I could help her. She said maybe. She was looking for someone but didn't see him. She didn't do a great job describing him but I told her I would keep an eye out for him. Then she asked me what we were doing. I said we cooked food and fed people, mostly homeless, every Tuesday night. I didn't tell her that in my mind I had pretty much seen Strikes One and Two come through and I was ready call "Ball Game!"

She looked at me funny and said "Really?".
I said "Yeah."

She walked across Market St. and got in a car with someone and they sat there for a while.
Gary and I were serving seconds to some guys when I heard the car start up and I looked around and saw it head towards 3rd St. and then do a U-turn and pull up behind us. The passenger window came down and the driver said "Hey, come here."
So I did.
The lady I had spoken to was still in the passenger seat but didn't say anything. The driver, which was also a lady, leaned across the passenger and thrust out her hand to give me something and said " Keep feeding those guys"

I was leaned over looking in the car as I took what she handed me so I didn't look at it
directly but I knew 2 things immediately- It was money and a $50 bill was on top.
I stuck it straight into my pocket and said "Yes ma'am. 'Preciate it.".

She straightened up, put it in Drive and pulled away.
I walked over and stood beside Gary and started fixing a guy a Hot Dog.
He looked at me and said 'Did she give you something?
"Yep"
"Was it money?"
"Yep" *

When the guys were through and it was just me and him we walked over to the back of the truck.
"How much was it?"

You know how sometimes you just know something. Who it is on the phone or what someone's gonna say... you just know.

I was pretty sure I knew.

"Well, there's a $50 on top and it feels thick. I think it's $1000."
"What? No way."

So I took it out and we counted it. I was wrong.

It was $950.

It's hard for me to explain exactly how I felt at after that. I was immediately humbled at how Awesome God can be. I was also chastised and pretty blown away by how far off the mark I had been about what I was praying for and why.
I had been praying the wrong thing. All my signs were negative. I hadn't been praying for God to give me a sign to continue, I had been praying for reasons to quit.
I hadn't said God help me hang in there and focus on the good we're doing. I was thinking we were wasting time and resources that could be used somewhere else.
Instead of allowing me a reason to quit, God provided the opportunity to continue, which is what I should've been praying in the first place. Good thing God didn't listen me.

So here we are 4 years later. Lot of changes but the same purpose and mission.

I would not recognize either one of those ladies again if they walked up to me today. No chance.
"Yes ma'am. 'Preciate it" isn't exactly a $950 "Thank You" either. I would like to think one day I'll see them again and get a chance to do better.

I almost think God made it $950 to keep me from being right about the amount without counting it.........
g




*I know what you're thinking. That guy's got a real command of the English Language.

....need not apply

The reason I was gone last week was to help lead a Sr. High Boy's Surf trip down to Sebastian Inlet, Florida. Great trip, good surf the whole time, lots of fun. Did a pretty good job on not getting too much sun, then came back to Wilmington and got lit up. I just don't think about it around here. I had three tennis matches in 4 days and that didn't help.

This is the week Mr. Taylor's Sunday School class is going to cook and help serve. They are preparing Meat Loaf. It's gonna be good. We should have a nice crowd helping.

It's supposed to be chilly this week. I saw 36 and 37 called for at night most of this week. That's fine with me. Warm weather brings mosquitoes and I'm in no rush for that.

If any of you reading this have experience with feeding large groups, feel free to suggest menus or share recipes. I'm open for about anything but I'll be honest, it helps if it's something I would like to eat. Cabbage soup or Broccoli casserole.......
g

My Movie list....

Shrek (it was too adult. Liked Monsters,Inc alot more)

War of the Worlds (Horrible. Hard to take Tom in movies anymore.)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ( Where's the elevator shooting out of the factory?)

This was hard because I rarely go to a movie I don't already want to like. I usually have read about and know about what I go see, so I'm predisposed towards wanting to have a good time. I also don't like "message" movies or 'little guy winning against all odds" type movies, so I usually avoid them, since I already know what they'll be like. They're all just "Hoosier" and "Remember the Titans" knockoffs.

g

My bad. I went out of town and forgot to let that be known here. I was gone from Saturday to Wednesday so I wasn't there Tuesday night. Twig had it under control. I know they did Hot Dogs and Hamburgers but no info beyond that. I'll get up with him and see who all was there.

Plus I'll fill in you on where I was and what we did.

This week's list:

3 Movies lots of People liked, that you hated ( or just really didn't care for) I'll give you mine next post.

g

THIS WEEK'S LIST

What are your 3 favorite non-holiday days of the year?

That means you can't use Christmas, Halloween, etc.

Mine would be

The first day after school gets out for the summer
The first day in the fall when you walk out in the morning and it's chilly, not humid
The last day out on the water of the Bimini Trip

What's yours?

....you would've been slam out of luck, jack!

Tonight was a gorgeous night, especially considering how nasty it looked for a good part of the day. The daylight stayed for a while, there was a nice breeze carrying the small of frying fish up and down Fifth and Market, we had good help in all the right places,....tonight went really well.

Remember last week how I raved about how great the Big Metal Pancake Maker worked? Turns out it doubles as The Big Metal Hush Puppy Maker, too! Who knew? We made the best Hush Puppies in the world tonight! We made a ton of them. We used eight bags of Hush Puppy mix, provided by Robin Manning (Robin is wonderful and tries to help us every week. See previous blogs). Each bag would make about 200 hush puppies. We didn't count, and truth be told, some of them were a little bigger than normal, but we used it all and had a cooler full. Passed out every doggone one of them too. Gary McKnight was the one in charge of O.H.P.O. (outdoor hush puppy operations) tonight, so if you see him, tell him good job.

I want to use the Big Metal Pancake/Hush Puppy Maker every week and just find new things to cook. Turn it into the Big Metal (Insert some new food here every week) Maker and just deep fry or cook stuff on the griddle all the time.

Twig and Eric and Candace did a nice job on the fish. Ryan Carr did a great job running between the outside crew and the indoor crew with materials and anything else asked of him. Ryan is a good guy and a big help. He has been coming consistently as long as anyone outside of Twig, Jim Morgan, and me. And he's only a Jr. in High School. Thank you, Ryan.

The lineup tonight was :
Twig
Eric
Candace
Tom
Ryan
Bryan
Theresa
Chamberlain
Clay
Pruden
Craig
Gary McKnight
Me

We served
Fried Fish
Corn on the cob
Hush Puppies
Slaw
Dessert
Tea / Water
The fish was a mix of Flounder, Drum, Pompano, and Whiting. It was good and lots of our friends made it a point to say special thanks for the food tonight.

It started a little different tonight. We only had 7 people show up to eat at the first stop in front of the church. That's very low, but, today is the 1st of the month. A lot of the folks we see at that stop get a check or some type of aid at the first of the month and so for whatever reason, we don't see them. It's not automatic that numbers are low around the 1st, but it is a pattern. A couple of the folks serving commented that we had cooked bunch of fish and hadn't had a big turnout so far. I told them I would be surprised when the night was over if we had any left over at all.

We got to the Mercy House and proceeded to serve nonstop for 30 minutes. Every last piece of fish and every Hush Puppy. All together, we passed out at least 75 1st time plates and probably 30 plates of seconds. No food or Hush Puppies left at all. Most of the time there's a little something left over and some of the servers will have at it. Not tonight. Craig was the only one who got any fish ( but that's because we love Craig).

For the past 3 weeks there has been a gentleman named Jonathan come through the line at the Mercy House. Jonathan is deaf and mute. The Mercy House guys appear to look after him and help him, but tonight several of our folks mentioned how their hearts went out to him and his condition. We mentioned him specifically as we prayed before leaving tonight. As you pray, if you could remember him and his needs throughout this week, that would be great. As we find out more, I'll let you know.

Kerry Taylor's Sunday School class is going to come in two weeks and do the meal with us (he doesn't actually own the class but I can't remember the official name of it). They're going to stay all night too, not just cook it and bolt. That's how you get the full benefit of it ,I think. The time spent preparing and cooking is as good and spiritual of a time as any I spend during the week. Then, when we're out serving and interacting with our friends, God blesses us again in a new and cool way.

Don't get me wrong - if you can only stay for a short amount of time, that's fine. We'd love to spend it with you, and it would be a great service and help.
But, if you can, it's good to go all in and see it through to the end.

And most of the time, if you stay all the way to the end, we'll probably have a little bit left over if you're hungry and want to have some of what we made. But not tonight. If you wanted some leftover fish tonight.....