.....I'm not so sure about everybody else.

I wish all habits were this easy to get out of. I haven't posted here since I got back from Beach camp (June something?). My bad. Since the last post I've been on a Mission Trip to Slade, Kentucky, come back for 5 days and then hit the road again for the Journey On trip to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
(Yeah, that's not a typo...Pigeon Forge,Tenn.) Great trips. More about those later.........

Because of all the traveling this summer, I've been in town every other Tuesday. That means, for me, it's 2 weeks each time between being able to help on Tuesday Nights. What I've found out is, that each time I come back, it's the thing I look forward to the most during the week. Most of the trips I've been on have left on Saturdays and returned on Sundays, so I haven't been in church at FBC but once since the summer started. That makes Tuesday the one halfway consistent act of worship left in my schedule from earlier this year before school got out. I hope that makes sense. What I'm really trying to say is each time I come back i look forward to it more and more. Having said all that...

Tonight was wonderful. It was good to be back and doing the things we do on Tuesday night.
MENU
Hot Dogs and Sausage Dogs and choice of Ketchup, Mustard, Mayonnaise,
Chili, Cheese,Onions, Homemade Slaw, Banana Peppers, Jalapenos, Relish, Texas Pete.
Corn on the Cob
Potatoes
Desserts
Cokes

Alot of folks put every one of those things on the Hot Dogs, too. They were massive gut bombs on the plate but they liked them.
We also took some frozen hamburger patties from a couple of weeks ago and warmed them up, put them on buns and wrapped them up to give to people as they left so they could have something to take with them for tomorrow.
Helping hands tonight-
Twig Theresa Ryan Mark T.J. Connor Blake Morgan Kelsey Boggs Jon Hill Michael Cowan Caroline Hales Barry Hales
Laura Sara Frank Alex Annawyn Heather Johnson Elise Harris
Pruden Craig Chris Josh Sarah Katie Louisa me

Tons of people tonight but that's great because we had tons to do and I was glad to see everybody that came. We saw alot of people at both stops. We cooked over 240 hot dogs and gave out almost all of them. The number of people we see at the 1st stop continues to grow. I don't need to read the newspaper to know times are getting harder for some segments of the population. Unfortunately, feeding people on the street seems to be a growth industry.

One of the reasons we made our own slaw tonight is because it was a thing I could say, "Here. This is your job.", which is what I did to Caroline and her dad and, with a little help from others, they banged out some great slaw (I'm taking other peoples word for it, cuz i hate cabbage). That's the reason we have so many things to put on the hot dogs, so that I can put every body to work behind the table. It's why we make Tea just about every week. There's nothing worse than people taking the time and effort to come and having nothing for them to do.

One of the really nice blessings about tonight , besides the always humbling experience of meeting one of the basic needs of someones existence, is who I got to do it with tonight. I just got back from an awesome spiritual discipleship trip with Jon, Ryan, Morgan, Kelsey, and Caroline and the trip before that I'd spent the week living in a house with Jon and Ryan on the mission trip. I've gotten used to seeing them and spending my days with them in fairly intense spiritual settings so to see them again in an act of worship and service like tonight felt right and wonderful.

Another great thing about tonight was getting to see Sara Frank. I got a phone call from her earlier in the day asking if we were still feeding on Tuesday nights. I said yeah and she said she was coming and bringing friends. I said come on.
Y'all, I love Sara Frank.
Freshman Year. First day. First Block. Front row. Frank.
Her and about 5 other freshman girls all in one seating block.
I honestly don't think she had one single thought in her head that year that didn't immediately find its way out of her mouth one second later. Funny without knowing a single joke. She would come by and see me before class started and after my other classes were done.
One of the things I remember most about her is playing Things You Should Know. Things You Should Know was a game I would play every Friday at the end of class. Basically it consisted of me asking questions on things that had happened in the past week in the news, in sports, whatever. Get an answer right and I threw you a piece of candy. Some questions I would ask every week without fail - Who does Laney play week? - What was the #1 movie last week - Where's the NASCAR Race this week - and a few others. I figured kids would get wise and make sure they knew those. Not Frank. No clue about any of them.
And when I started seeing time winding down, I'd yell "All right, LOSER ROUND", which meant everyone that hadn't answered a question had to stand up and I'd ask questions just for them and when they got one right, they got to sit down. Frank was the first one up and usually last one down. Loser round questions were always easy and she would still need help from Rachel Kelly. But, when class was over, she'd come up and find a way to con me out of more candy than most of the other kids had gotten from knowing the answers. Gotta love that.
I'm a charter member of the Sara Frank Fan Club.

I'll try to get back on tomorrow and the next night and let you know about the mission trip and the Pigeon Forge Trip. If you need incentive to check back, here it is .... DOLLYWOOD!



I'm out again next week. Flying down to Guatemala for a mission trip. Last year's was awesome and this year's will be, too. Our goal is twice as many housing units as last year - 20. 35 people going. Took 24 last year.
Really looking forward to being with Jeff Tanner for a week. Jeff was on the 1st Mexico Trip, the New York, Bimini, and Homestead mission trips.
He's a big reason those trips are some of the times I've laughed hardest in my life. I can already tell after the pre-trip meeting, it's going to be that way again. Which is great for me and Jeff, but .....