....makes me want to do it.

Didn't post last week. Wound up taking someone home after we were done and I started on something else and.......oh well. Last week was good. We had hot dogs and served out a ton of them.

John Liverman brought by some baked chicken and roast beef by the kitchen today, which was just right for the first stop. We did cheeseburgers for the 2nd. It all worked out. God has been great to us since our meat freezer went out and we lost all our meat we had saved up. We haven't missed a beat and God's grace and goodness is the reason. Keep praying for us as God continues to provide resources and opportunities to be his Hands and Feet on Tuesday nights.

If you had been here tonight you would have seen CREECH! / ALEXIS / CECELIA / J.BOGGS / CHRISTIAN / JENNY / TYLER / ELAINE / BRIEN / TWIG / TERESA / RANDY / ALLISON / BLAKE / STEVE / LAURA / doing a great job for the Kingdom

Randy came for the first time last week. Jim Everette brought him in and introduced us. Randy was recently homeless and came to Wilmington from Whiteville to finish some chemo treatments for cancer. He'd been to church the Sunday before and told Jim he wanted to be around people and active, so Jim sent him our way. He was about 30 minutes early so we got in the truck and went up to the store to get a coke. This gave me time to ask questions and find out stuff about him. Divorced, carpenter/cabinet maker, used to live at Wrightsville Beach, been sleeping on the porch of an abandoned house a few blocks away. He said he was looking for work and would do anything. His disability had been approved but wouldn't start until 3 weeks into October. I've got a decent B.S. detector and nothing he said or did triggered it. He was a big help in the kitchen and handy with most things we did.
We put together a bag of hot dogs and some other things to take with him. I dropped him off that night near the porch he was sleeping on and that was hard for me.

"See ya. Have fun on your porch. I'm going home and getting in a dry bed".
?
How much do you do for someone right off the bat?
Everybody's been burned in situations like that and it makes you gun shy.
I prayed for him as I dropped him off and then whenever he came to mind during the week.

I'm very thankful for a God who is full of grace and mercy and looks after people when I fall short.
How awesome is God when he uses ordinary and difficult situations to meet needs.
Check this out.
Randy got sick from sleeping out in the wet and had to go to the doctor. Because of his weakened state after chemo, they sent him to the hospital and kept him overnight.

At first you might think 'That sucks" and figured things had gotten worse.
Except God was in this and working.
In the hospital Randy's nurse got to talking to him and her husband owns a Cabinet shop and she got him a job with him.
AND her brother-in-law owns a marina on the river and is letting Randy stay there in a big panel truck where he has use of the shower and bathroom facilities at the marina.
One of the guys at the cabinet shop comes in from Leland everyday and picks him up and brings him back from work.
He even got a free haircut in the hospital.

Randy came and helped us again this week. He and I made the store run again for a coke and he told me everything that had happened since last week and I was just floored at how great God is. Randy's a pretty smart guy and a lot of help. He keeps mentioning how nice the kids are that help. I hope he keeps coming. He's already scouted out a place to stay when his disability check comes and his paychecks at the cabinet shop become regular.

A story like this is so good partly because we see guys every week with stories that you know are a little less than the truth. Guys who are looking for a short term bail out and have lies to try and get it. Guys who will never get out of their situations. Some because they lack resources. Some because they are limited in their capacities to function. And some because they don't want to. There are a couple of guys we feed every week and we've fed them every week since the first night we started. This is how they live and will continue to do so. That mindset is tough to reconcile with.
But I don't have reconcile with it.

What I have to do is take the attitude of a servant and consider their needs whether I think they are being honest with me or not. I have to show them Jesus whether it's pouring tea or squirting Texas Pete.

It's not easy. But remembering and accepting the Grace and Mercy showed to me ..........