......I like a fried egg on my hamburger!

FISH STEW
GRILLED CHEESE
DESSERTS
HOT CHOCOLATE


Another very cold night. Went inside for the the first stop. I was working the door for a while and it was crazy how cold and raw the wind was every time I let folks in. Just about every single person had the same look of relief when they walked in and got out of the cold. I say just about because some folks never show any joy or pleasure on their face, regardless of how things change. We see a few of those, but mostly our friends are very appreciative of things and let us know it.


ELAINE / TYLER / BRIEN / TWIG / LUKE / ZUPON! / LUKE  / BRETT / T.J. /  DON / BAILEY / MORGZILLA / CREEEECH! /  PEYSON / JOHANNA / KYLE / WAYNE /  ANNA / MERRITT


God continues to bless us with an amazing amount of resources every week, and not just in food. Clothes, blankets, socks,....all of these have come our way and continue to do so. God's faithfulness in meeting our needs has never wavered the whole time we've been doing this.
A little self disclosure here:
The whole "blanket, socks, toboggan" thing is one of the toughest things I've dealt with on Tuesday nights.
There are a couple of reasons for this and  for the most part they stem from my way of thinking things should go and the way I want things to be........which are often in direct conflict with God's ways and thoughts on things.
And it shames me to say it, but it's true. Sometimes I stop and re-evaluate what I'm thinking and planning and it is the exact opposite of how Jesus would be doing it. Blankets are a good example. I usually have a good idea of how many people have been coming at each stop and what to prepare for. If forty people had been coming to the first stop and I had 15 blankets, my thinking used to be not to pass out blankets until I got more and I could try to ensure everybody got one. But...... that meant 15 people didn't get blankets at all. It also didn't allow for the idea that God gave me those 15 blankets right then for that week and He would make sure they got where He wanted them to go. I didn't have to make that call. I just had to make them available. God had to show and prove that to me several times before I saw what he wanted me to learn.
Another thing is letting go of my way of loving (conditional) and trying to be more Christ-like (unconditional) in the ways I love on Tuesday nights.
Blankets ....again.
Pass them out, everybody gets one...yay!
Next week you ask who needs a blanket and some of the same people say they do.
?
They say it got stole or got wet or something like that.
Week or two later they're back asking for another blanket.
And I don't feel like giving them one. They should've kept up with the other ones I gave them.
My selfish conditional Love says I'll give you one, maybe two, but that's all you deserve. No more.
And I start to resent them for needing another blanket! How bad is that? They're not even my blankets. They're not taking anything off my bed or keeping me from staying warm.
I struggled with this until I realized I was no different from them. I go to God asking for "blankets" all the time and he doesn't hold back or resent me for it. He continues to love me unconditionally and meet my needs.
Now...should they keep up with them or be better about taking care of them? Yeah, but not doing so doesn't change how God loves them and it shouldn't with me either.
Still not the best in the world at that. Working on it.
 End of embarrassing self-disclosure


 We were leaning towards a FISH FRY! this week for Christmas but have decided not to. The weather, the preparation, the crush of other things on either side of the day......just not the best time.
It is, however, the best time for a mack daddy jacked-up HAMBURGER / HOT DOG throwdown!
We were gonna hit 'em tomorrow night with hamburgers, hot dogs, and every kind of topping we can think of to pile on them.  
 I'm thinking.....
KETCHUP  MUSTARD  MAYONNAISE  CHEESE  PICKLES  LETTUCE  TOMATO  ONIONS  JALAPENOES  RELISH  CHILI  SALSA  A-1 SAUCE  TEXAS PETE  BACON ...... and maybe, just maybe....FRIED EGG.
Man alive, ........

...but no sense taking any chances!

Cold.
Real cold. Windy, too.
On nights like that, we try to come inside at the first stop to serve and eat. Fireside Hall is big enough to meet our needs and the tables are always set up. This week, however, there was another group scheduled to use it for a dinner so there went the option of being indoors.
We took the "breakfast for dinner" route this week and had pancakes and cheese grits. It was a good call for a cold night.

PANCAKES AND SAUSAGE
JACKED-UP CHEESE GRITS w/ EGGS and SAUSAGE
HOT CHOCOLATE

ELAINE  / CECELIA / JORDAN / MORGAN / ALEXANDRA / ANDREW / FLETCH /  MARK / T.J. / TYLER / BRIEN / WAYNE / ELLYN / BLAKE / CHARLES / STEVE / TWIG / DON / SHANNON / CJ / SHARON / MAX / KYLE / AMY / and about 20 other kids and adults with the WILMINGTON FEAR little league baseball team

ANDREW Croom moved up to Youth Group this year and came to Beach Camp. That's when I met his mom Amy. He has come to help on Tuesday nights several time s since and Amy has been very good about asking what we needed and bringing stuff. We planned awhile back for the FEAR team her younger son plays on to come this week and pass out to-go bags they had made. They did an awesome job with the to-go bags! When we do it, we use the ordinary brown lunch bag, but they took big brown paper grocery bags and had a carry out tray in it, a bottle of water, fruit, cards they'd made.....really nice. There at least 10 kids and 5 sets of parents that came to do that. 
We got double duty out of them because they also set up the youth room and helped us pass out hoodies, blankets, gloves, and socks.  

One of the reasons we had things like blankets and socks to pass out is because of the generous way the congregation at First Baptist gives to help meet needs. The Children's Ministry had their Celebrate Christmas program this past Saturday and collected blankets for us. There was a great response to that for which we are extremely grateful. Don Vigus' SS class collected heavy socks and gloves for us to pass out and the Friendship class takes up a collection for us year round and is incredibly faithful in providing that for us.

A good thing about passing out blankets this week was that everybody at the first stop had something to sit on instead of cold concrete. It might be an old wive's tale, .......

....this week we're doing BREAKFAST!

I wish I could tell you about this past Tuesday but I can't.  I wasn't there.
Somehow, somewhere, sometime I pulled or tore something on my back up around my shoulder blade. It wasn't too painful at first but after a week of just kinda ignoring it, it wore me down. I had to go home last Tuesday and hit the rack and put some heat on it.
Things I know.......
.....they had a lot of help.....
.....they had a lot of people come through and eat....
.....they served Turkey Pot Pie and sweet potato fries....
.....ZUPON!'s dad, Kyle, came with some members of his Bible study and helped
.....Tom Varno was in town and came to help. Hate I missed him.

The best thing I know is.......