Monday, March 31, 2008

Just a couple of quick things.......

FISH FRY! FISH FRY! FISH FRY!
It's gonna be fun....Hot oil, flour, hush puppies, tartar sauce......good stuff!

We're going to do it like a real fish fry,too. We'll make up the whole plate and then take them to the stops.

Why? Glad you asked.

Because if we cook the fish and then put them in the cooler to stay warm like we do other meats, the fish will be soggy before we finish the first stop. By fixing individual plates in carryout trays, we can keep it crispier longer. It makes for less to do at the tables as far as serving, but that's just means more time for interaction with our friends.

Projected menu:
Fish
Cole slaw
Corn on the cob
Hush puppies
Dessert
Tea/Water

Greg Garrett donated alot of the fish and we bought some to fill out what we needed. In the past we've really had good meals when we fry fish and our friends are always asking when we're gonna do it again.

I think about that. I think they ask about it and like it so much because they probably don't get it very much. It makes sense. If you're in their position, and alot of what you eat is stuff brought to you by outside groups, I imagine much of the food falls in to the same categories. Casseroles. Sandwiches. Leftovers. Packaged foods ( crackers, cookies, etc.) That's why I try to think of other stuff. Breakfast, Baked Potatoes, Fish, etc.
It 's really neat to see and hear them get excited about a meal.

It makes me feel guilty for all the times when I was a kid and I'd walk in the house and ask "What's for supper?", and my mom would say any of a number of things that I didn't particularly care for, and I would go "Oh, man., or " I hate that" or the one that was probably the worst,"Anything else?"
And for all the things my mom could cook that were great and I looked forward to them, man, she had a few that would ruin my night. Turnips.....Collards......and the absolute worst as far as I was concerned...Salmon croquettes ( or salmon patties, as some say) I'd rather take a beating. Eeewww! I didn't even like typing the words.

And on that pleasant note.... talk to you tomorrow and tell you how it went. g

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Do you really need Internet ads for hamburger promotions?

Couldn't help but notice we've got an ad on our site now. We might've had one before and I didn't notice. But this one caught my eye.

On a site that talks about feeding the homeless and meeting the needs of people without resources we take for granted, sneak a peek to the left at the ad we've got.

There's a word for it. I don't think 'ironic" is it, but it's in the neighborhood.

Remember, though,.....everytime you click on the ads we have, it creates revenue for Tuesday Nights, so, knock yourself out.


Here's my List for 3 people I'd like to sit down and eat dinner with:
Bonnie Hunt
Rob Bell
Bruce Springsteen
(people considered but didn't make the cut- Stephen King, Will Ferrell, Steve Martin, Shania Twain, David letterman, Jerry Seinfeld, Rachael Ray, and Alton Brown)

Friday, March 28, 2008

THE LIST GAME

One of the things we've been doing for years now on long drives during Youth Group trips is the List game. It helps pass the time and gets people thinking and interacting. I'm gonna try it here and see how it goes.

It's very simple. It works like this:
A list is suggested and people post theirs. Muis Benito Simple!

Example "3 places you'd like to visit"
Gary McKnight posts his list-
1.Dollywood
2.South of the Border
3.Prison

Other people post theirs. We look at them and move on to next list.
You can explain your list or let it stand as it is.
You cna comment on others ,just make sure you've got one posted - it's only fair.
A new list each week. I've got ideas for lists but anyone can suggest one and we'll do that one.
I'll post one immediately after the Tuesday Night blog so you can catch them at the same time.

Could be mildly interesting and maybe even fun.

Let's try a quick one and see how it goes:
If you could invite any 3 people to eat dinner with you (all at one time) who would you invite? (living or dead, doesn't matter....but the dead are terrible at dinner conversation.)
I'll check back later.

g

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

....there are better People than me out there.

The Big Metal Pancake Maker worked like a champ! 2 big ol' "click-clicks" and there's a perfect pancake laying on the griddle. We turned and burned with that thing tonight. I wish I could find something like it that would squeeze out sausage patties that well. We try, but alot of times they come out looking like sausage "balls".

You might say"But Gary, you can buy them already formed into patties".

To which I would reply " That's right, and you can buy Pancakes already made and frozen, but that's not how we roll !
(actually it's because bulk sausage is cheaper.)

Tonight was a really good night. Made alot of food and gave away a lot of food. That's pretty much the definition of a good night. We had pancakes and sausage (and some bacon), pie for dessert and we wrapped some slices of cake and some brownies for folks to take with them and eat later.

The crew tonight was :
Ellen
LouAnne
Jane
Twig
Bryan
Theresa
Pruden
Craig
Ryan
J. Boggs
Jim
me

It's weird...I just counted and it's 12 people but it never seemed like 12 in the kitchen. You'd think that would be crowded, but it never felt that way. And we needed everybody.
I"m always afraid I'll miss someone when I list the people, but I don't think any of them read this, so if I do, they'll never know.

Actually, I don't know who is reading this. Nobody has left any responses( not even to the TWIG contest. C'mon people!), but the hit counter is inching towards 100 so...somebody's looking at it occasionally.
I do know my college roommate Butch has mentioned things he read on here....so, I got that going for me.

Here's one for the "Better Person Than Me" file-
Someone who I have known a long time and has come down to be with us on Tuesday nights once or twice and made some very nice seasonal contributions to us, found some money in a parking lot the other day. Just found it lying there. After some due diligence and not being able to track down an owner, they realized it was theirs to do with as they wanted.
Here's where the 'Better Person Than Me" part kicks in- Instead of going "woo hoo! free money!" they asked a friend that was with them what they should do with it. The friend is a regular helper with us and said "You could give it to help feed the homeless." So they did. We got it tonight.
Was it an insanely huge amount of money?
No.
It was $61. Which is what makes it a great gesture. You could justify keeping $61. How is $61 gonna make a difference anywhere? It would have been very easy to just stash that in the wallet and not see it as something to give away or try to help somebody with. But they did.
Proverbs 18:16 says "A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers them into the presence of the great". I hope my friend enjoys their time in the presence of the Great and recieves a double blessing.

To be honest with you, I find $61 on the street and it's probably "Sweet. Daddy's getting some Nikes."
It's a good thing.....

Fishers of men this week, Fryers of Fish next week....

I was pretty slack about writing anything since last Tuesday night. The weather was nice, we had midterms at school, we were off for Easter, all the Easter stuff that goes on.....none of which literally kept me from writing, but they didn't encourage it either.

Some time this week I need to sit down and tell the pork story. I'll try.

Thought about having a FISHFRY this week but have decided to wait another week and do a breakfast meal tonight.
PANCAKES AND SAUSAGE!

There are several things about this to get excited about.
1. It's breakfast for supper!
2. Griddle time!
3. Our friends that we feed love pancakes and sausage. L-O-V-E T-H-E-M!
4. Get to watch kids try to flip pancakes.....
...and the biggest reason-
The Tuesday Night Debut of The Big Metal Pancake Maker!!!!!!!

In the past we've always used a pitcher or ladle or something to pour the pancakes on the griddle. And every time I would say" Man, I wish I could find one of those things I used to see on TV that you poured the mix in and then it would come out the bottom in a perfect circle with no drip or mess."

And I looked for one. All kind of places and never found one.
Then a couple of months ago Twig walked in with this big honkin' metal thing bigger than my head and said it was a pancake maker. So we're gonna bust that thing out tonight and make about 400 pancakes (maybe more if it starts getting good to me).

It's supposed to be around 50 degrees tonight at 8:00. Pancakes and sausage (I think we have a little bacon also) will taste good on a night like tonight. It's also good because it gives lots of people lots of things to do in the kitchen to get it cooked and ready.

I remember when I was a kid, I loved pancakes but would get bored with putting syrup on them, so I would try all kinds of things: powdered sugar, light Karo syrup, bananas, peanut butter,......but my favorite was strawberry preserves. Man alive, I love me some strawberry preserves on pancakes.
( Strawberry preserves are even better on French Toast.)

The only problem with pancakes is they "sit" so heavy on me after I eat them. 2 or 3 and it feels like I've 10. But it's so tempting to eat them. It's a quandary.

Later, taters.

g


`

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

...we just try to be His Hands

3/18/08 (Greg Garrett's Birthday)

Well,...... tonight closed a chapter in the story that is "TUESDAY NIGHTS". It's a little sad but not really. Tonight we used the absolute last of the 6,000 lbs. of pork that Smithfield donated to us back in September of '06.

That wasn't a typo. It wasn't supposed to be 600..... it was 6,000 lbs of pork.

3 tons. Of pork. Frozen pork.
Here's a fact for you: If you don't plan on using all 6,000 lbs at one time, you have to keep the pork frozen.
Go to Lowe's and ask them if they have any freezers big enough for 6,000 lbs of anything.
Matter of fact , try this : Take 2 minutes and think to yourself "Hmm, where would I put 6,000 lbs. of pork?"

Tomorrow, I'll try to type that story . But for now...

The weather was nice tonight. Very pleasant. We served roasted pork sirloin, rice and gravy, green beans, cukes and tomatoes, dinner rolls and dessert. It was a good meal. We also had about 15 frozen pizzas given to us by Amy Long and we put them in Zip-locs, 2-3 pieces to a bag and handed them to our friends to take with them for the next day. We had 20 people at the 1st stop and around 55 at the second.
Josh Armstrong came tonight and was a huge help. Josh is a Jr. at Ashley and very active in sports and so his schedule doesn't always allow him to come on Tuesdays but he comes when he can and we're always glad to see him.
Just like Taylor Hamlet. Taylor is a regular helper but was in a play and had to take care of that but we were glad to see her back this week.

The crowd tonight was:
Josh
Ryan
Anna
Bryan
Theresa
Twig
Taylor
Mark Hamlet
Tom
Jim Morgan
Ellen
Luann
Gary Wilcox
me

For the "GOD operates in the coolest way" file;
I had someone hand me $157 Friday, right out of the blue, for Tuesday Nights. $157. That's wild. We can use it, too. I bought us some bins for our silverware, gonna get one of those big honkin' things of Aluminum foil at Sam's, some oil and stuff our upcoming FISH FRY, maybe a new table,... we'll see. Very thankful for the gift and for the person who gave it.

In the kitchen tonight we also had the Interfaith volunteers fixing their meal. Haywood and his wife are very good hosts for the families when they are here. And Johnny and Renee Griffin always do Tuesday suppers for Interfaith so we see them whenever they're here, too. They have been very good to us on Tuesday nights...at Thanksgiving and other times during the year. Renee's my deacon Prayer Buddy this month. Except when I pray for her I don't call her Renee, I call her Gaynelle, cause that's what I always call her. Always have.
Robin Manning was helping them tonight also. I've told you in previous blogs about how much Robin has and continues to do for us. Go back and look. She's great.

When I called Twig the other day and said "What do you feel like cooking" and he suggested using the pork we had in the freezer, I was a liitle bummed. I liked the fact that when I opened that freezer, I could see that pork in there and remember what GOD did for us. If it had been up to me, we might've never cooked it. I would have just left it in there for a long time.
But I'm goofy.
I was bummed about leaving our original spot on Market St. beside St. James and moving over to our current location in front of FBC.
Why?
Because the other spot is where we started and it was familar and blah stubborn sentimentality blah blah...
And guess what? The new spot is great, and better, and easier, and works better in most ways.
So, when I think about that and put it in perspective, it wasn't that big of a deal to cook the last of the pork. It doesn't do any good just sitting in there freezing away, does it? Plus, it was really good tonight. Still.......

Anyway....that's how tonight went. Good as always. It was a blessing to serve our friends and hear them say Thank you and God Bless You. It always is. The Glory is God's .....

g

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

...a pretty cool way to say God Loves You 165 times

Man! Talk about good! Operation CHEESEBURGER was a big hit. And it's funny,too, because, literally, we used to do it every 3rd week or so and then...we haven't done them in almost a year. When we got to the Mercy House tonight and I was saying "HEY" to everybody and they were lining up to eat, I said We've got cheeseburgers tonight and half of them went "YEAH!" So, it felt good to know they had missed them as much as I had.

We had a light crew tonight but it went great. Twig and Ryan and Ayla cut up potatoes and grilled the hamburgers outside, and me and some others did the inside stuff (cut up onions, tomatoes, warmed the beans, put the potatoes in the oven, got the condiments ready, patted out the hamburger patties, etc.)
Gray Elliot and Tom Hodges did a great job patting out 130 hamburger patties ( 40 preformed- 170 altogether). Ellen, Jennifer and Luann, did all the cutting and chopping, and Theresa went nonstop, helping thaw the last bit of hamburger and washing things as they got used.
The crew for tonight was
Ryan
Ayla
Twig
Gray
Ellen
Jennifer ( Ellen's friend)
Luann
Theresa
Tom
Me

A couple of shout outs:
To Gray for coming out and helping while he was home on Spring Break. Gray was a regular for alot of Tuesdays when he was in high school. It was good to hang out with him and he was a big help.
To Ellen for inviting a friend. One of the best ways we share the Gospel is by simply inviting our friends to come join us in the things we do for the Kingdom.
To Robin Manning for making her special recipe beans for us. They were great and it was super nice of her to do that. She also let me use her hose to put some water in the church truck's radiator 'cuz something is leaking and it was bone dry.
To Amy Long for the brownies
To Everybody that helped tonight . It was fun.

We served out nearly every single hamburger. We had 168 buns and were left with 3. As usual, we saw way more at the second stop. We stood behind the tables and served for a solid 25 minutes. There were only 6 of us serving at the Mercy House ( Luann and her crowd leave after the 1st stop because it's a school night ) and Twig helped us set up and then left. He wasn't feeling good, so he took off. So, everybody was doing at least 2 things behind the table as people were coming down the line. It went like this:
First, Tom was opening buns and then putiing patties on them
Then, Grey was serving potatoes and helping with the patties.
I had ketchup, mustard, tomato, onion, and hot sauce duty,
Ryan had pickle and mayo duty
Theresa was doing beans and napkins and spoons
and Ayla was handling desserts and drinks. It was a thing of beauty!

Pray for Twig that he feels better.
Bryan wasn't here tonight because her throat is bothering her and she didn't want to get sick or get anyone sick. Pray for her.
One of the guys we haven't seen in awhile came up tonight and said he's been clean for 6 months now and gave testimony to what God was doing in him and for him. That was cool. Pray for him and his wife and their living arrangements.

God has been really, really good to us and blessed us in a ton of ways.
(3 tons of ways one time. Tell ya later...) Pray that he continues to do so, with food resources, financial resources, and people resources. And resources that we don't even know about yet, that He's waiting to give us.

You might think I'm goofy to get so excited about Cheeseburgers. You're probably right. But still...passing out 165 cheeseburgers is ......


Monday, March 10, 2008

Cheeseburger Update

T-minus 28 and 1/2 hours and Operation CHEESEBURGER is still a GO.

I repeat....Operation CHEESEBURGER is still in play and ready to launch on Tuesday night.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

......Me, Tim, and a vanful of Pork

........ So I'm messin' around this past Tuesday at the church about 4:00, checking to see what Mr. Taylor picked up for us and what we might need, when all of a sudden I hear a"Hey,Man!".
I look up and see Tim.
Tim!
So I yell "Hey, Man" back at him.
Tim is the new custodian downtown at the church now. But I know Tim from somewhere else. Tim used to work for WELCOME HOME, the one stop shop for all your Fish,Frog, and Fowl-decorated home items. I met Tim through Mark Dudeck, because Mark let us put the old AC freezers in the WELCOME HOME warehouse during the AC renovation (We had the freezers in the garage but we lost the power out there a couple of times and that wasn't pretty). Tim was the warehouse guy.

But that's all just background.
What you need to know is Tim is The Man....
Tim is MY HERO.....
I OWE Tim....
... because every time I look at Tim, I'm reminded of how amazing God is and how God can come through,not the way I want, not the way I see fit, but the way that best glorifies God and has a way of humbling me with the simplicity of His plan. I am reminded of the day God proved himself faithful in the weirdest of circumstances.

Tim was there with me for The Great Pork Miracle.*

Tim was the "wheel man" during one of the biggest lessons of faith I've ever been taught. It's a story that is better told in another post when I have time and energy to do it justice. And I will. Soon.

I just wanted to write this to say how great it is Tim is down at the church now.
He's a great guy and is going to do a super job. I'm glad I'll get to see him on Tuesdays now.

If you haven't met him yet, you should. Sometime when you're downtown, introduce yourself and tell him "Hi", 'cause he's a good guy to know. If you don't think you'd know who he was, it's easy because he's .........always smiling.

And I promise, soon, I'll tell you the story of......

g



* Miracle on ThiryPork Street, The Swine-ing,...it's acquired several names since it occured

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

....and if He does, we'll probably go with His.

Tuesday Night 3/4/08



What a good night. The weather was supposed to be horrible and it might have been horrible somewhere, but we were fine. No rain at all at the first stop, but we saw some drops as we were leaving so we pulled up into the LEC parking deck and made up carryout plates for the next stop. We had spaghetti, salad, bread and cake tonight (see previous blog for how God provided the meal). By the time we got to the Mercy House, it was sprinkling a little bit so we handed out the plates from the back of Twig's truck and poured drinks underneath the porch. A little tight but no problem.



We had about 20 at the first stop and gave out about 48 -50 plates at the second, which is a decent amount when you factor in the weather and the fact that it's the 1st of the month. The 1st of the month is usually a smaller # of people because some get checks and have some money to get off the street for a little while. At least that used to hold true, but in the past year I really haven't noticed a decline at the beginning of a month.



The # helping tonight was a little less than usual, for reasons varied and unknown.


Some I do know:


Pruden was in a wreck Monday. She's OK and doing better than her car. Pray for her.


Theresa was home with her husband who had seen the doctor that day. Pray for them.

Ryan and Ayla had a "Band thing"


Craig comes with Pruden so he wasn't here tonight.


Jim Morgan was recuperating from that strenuous TV interview the day before.


........and everyone else had great reasons, I'm sure.





We ran a 8 man wrecking crew tonight to get it done:


Henry Liverman


Luann Liverman


Ellen Liverman


Tom Hodges


Bryan Campbell


Jane


Twig


Talked to several folks tonight with requests. One gentleman has a money dispute with a local agency he would like to resolve tomorrow. Two others asked for prayer as they try to get to Florida. One of our regular friends has been sober for 21 days and we celebrated that with him and continue to pray for him during the week to be strong and sober. All of our friends on Tuesday night have needs, even if they don't get spoken out loud. If you are able to remember them during the week as you pray, that would be great.



A neat "ripple effect" of Tuesday nights is that Bryan Campbell takes our leftover desserts and sweets with her and distributes them to the clients at The Literacy Council when she volunteers there on Thursdays. It's a small gesture but she says they are very appreciative of it. Thanks to Bryan for being willing to do it.



Another very nice thing was done by Theresa Bland not too long ago. Theresa is the the coordinator for Parent Volunteers in the office at New Hanover High School. She organized a sock drive among the parent volunteers. The socks were specifically for our friends on Tuesday. She didn't even tell me about it until it was underway. We got alot of nice socks. It was very nice of Theresa to do that.

Alot of nice people come and help on Tuesday nights. Feel free to come be one of them.

All right... next week....it's on.
I've been talking about it.
Been wanting to do it.
Trying to find a way to work it in.
After almost a year, it looks like we might actually do........

CHEESEBURGERS!!!!!!
Man,...back in the day,....they were an every other week staple! I loved getting on that old griddle in the kitchen at the AC and cranking 'em out. It's a little more expensive now with bigger numbers, but I think we might be good for next week. ( If we aren't, I'll be one sad sonofagun.)

But that's my plan. God might have a different one.......

g

Monday, March 3, 2008

Meal selection often requires much planning....

Monday 3/3/08



...and sometimes it's a no-brainer. SPAGHETTI!



Thanks to the generosity of the cooks at the Follies Sunday night, there was more than enough sauce and noodles to take care of this week's meal. ( and it wasn't leftover 'cause it wasn't good. Everyone remarked how good it was. I didn't eat because I got there late. We had our 1st tennis match of the season and our match went to a 3rd set tiebreaker.* We were on the court playing at least 30 minutes after everyone had finished)



Having the spaghetti ready to go makes planning this week easier. Get some bread, maybe some salad. I got a big bag of pepperoni I might use. Put them in the oven for a minute or two get 'em a little crisp, then throw 'em in the sauce. El delicioso.



Someone came up to me today and said hail was being predicted for Tuesday night and wanted to know what we were going to do. After looking at them for about 10 seconds and seeing they were serious, I told them we'd probably come inside if it started to hail. I guess they asked to see if I had the sense to figure that out. I'm still not sure what to make of it. I guess they thought we might call it off. Which reminds me ....ever since the first night we showed up with Hot Chocolate, somebody has been there every Tuesday with something to serve our friends. Every week.



And it's not because I've Cal Ripken'ed it, either. I've been sick, been out of town, on trips, etc. Heck, last summer I was hardly ever there. Between the Bimini trip, Colorado Mission Trip, Journey On, Guatemala, and Baseball Trip, I was there maybe 4 times. Many times the slack has been picked up by Men's Bible groups (thanks to people like Bruce Lennon and Fred Nelson), and by Sunday School classes who step up and cook and serve. We also have enough veterans around now that if Twig or I aren't there, no problem. They can handle it.
That's a nice thing to know.

Something you might not know.....Jim Morgan...our Tuesday night Jim Morgan..... is Chairman of New Hanover County's Democratic Party. He was on the news last night being interviewed.

Just can't keep that guy quiet.

g

*We won. Thanks for asking

















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