....one of the guys who invented Silly Bandz or the Wii.

  I always expect Tuesday night to be good, but tonight was exceptionally good and for lots of reasons. I'll try to give you as many as I can remember.
First and most importantly, God's goodness and blessings. We had so much food to pass out last night. God provides us with so much great food it's unbelievable. And not leftovers we just reheat. Wonderful fresh stuff that our friends can tell was cooked specifically for them.
To be able to create and cook something, then put it in someone's hands for them to eat and have them come back and tell you how good it was and how much they appreciate you doing it, might be the biggest long term benefit kids get from this ministry. It's the kind of thing that makes an impression and sparks them to do (and lead) similar things when they go off to college and beyond.
Another great thing was a lot of people came and helped last night.
HOLT / KEVIN / CUTTER / MARCUS /CHRIS / CHRISTIAN / TYLER / CHRIS ADAMS / EBY / MARK / /HAMPTON / TJ / TWIG / MITCH / CHUCK (my new favorite person and hero!) / JAMIE / ELAINE / MADELYNE / MERRITT / CECELIA / JOHANNA / CAITLYN / KAYLA / ALEX / ALEXANDRA / BRIANNA / CREEEEECH! / ALEXIS / DAVID / STEPHANIE / TERESA F. / BRIEN / MARILYN / put faith into action by putting food in people's hands last night.


Teresa Fountain was able to obtain a tremendous amount of fruit and vegetables for last nights meal, which was :
CHICKEN SKEWERS
VEGETABLE SKEWERS
BAKED BEANS
DINNER ROLLS
CANTALOUPE SLICES
WATERMELON SLICES
PEACHES
DESSERT
WATER / SWEET TEA / GINGER ALE


It's been at least 4 years since we did any kind of kabobs or skewers, so last night was a real treat. The kitchen was a well oiled machine with people cutting  and skewering, making tea, slicing watermelon and cantaloupe,washing dishes, etc.


We had cherry tomatoes, zucchini, squash, bell peppers, and mushrooms on the vegetable skewers. (That's a lineup I go 1 for 5 on. I like cherry tomatoes but you can have the other stuff.)
We also had peaches to give out as they were leaving.
The second stop guys can't take food back into the Mercy House, so with something like peaches, I take them in to the Night Captain and he hands them out in the morning as they leave.  


Susan Lewis was kind enough to provide half of the chicken we used last night and we greatly appreciate her thinking of us.


At the Sr. Banquet last Sunday night, I looked at the 20 Seniors there and realized 10 of them are die hard Tuesday night regulars. My first thought was That's really neat but my second thought was Yikes!* I'm losing 10 people that help almost every week! 
It'll actually only be 9 because J.BOGGS is staying here to go to UNCW and he'll still come. Plus I won't lose TYLER right away because the current plan doesn't have him leaving for the NAVY until December. Still, that's a big loss. I'm gonna miss seeing them on Tuesdays. BAILEY /SAM /CHRISTIAN / ALEX / DANIELLE / ELLEN / EBY / LIZ /  are heading out! 

HERE'S WHY CHUCK IS MY NEW FAVORITE PERSON AND HERO

I love to read. Books, magazines, online, mysteries, thrillers, historical- everything. But my absolute favorite thing to read is Comic Books. I make no apologies for it. I love them. I did when I was a kid and I do now. I deeply care what happens to Batman, Superman and The Flash every month. Here's the depth of my love for comic books: If I was ever in a "last man on earth" scenario (I am Legend, or the Twilight Zone episode with  Burgess Meredith) , I 'd cope by heading to the comic book store and reading everything they have. And it would take a long while. Oh, I imagine eventually I would get around to missing some of y'all, but ....
Anyway, CHUCK has been coming for a few months now. He's an older gentleman who's a big help, but I've never had a sit down discussion about what he does now or used to do. Chuck noticed that CHRIS ADAMS, the Minister of Students, had on a Justice League T-shirt and a conversation started. Out of the blue he mentioned Green Arrow and Green Lantern and referenced a story done in 1970. I said "Hard Travelin' Heroes" and we proceeded to go back and forth about who drew it(Neal Adams), who wrote it (Denny O'Neal, who inked it (Dick Giordano), etc.
I was amazed. But that was nothing.

Then he says I remember talking to Neal.........
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!

Neal Adams? My favorite artist of all time? The most definitive Batman artist of all time?
Yep. CHUCK knows him.

CHUCK used to work in the comic book industry!
CHUCK used to do covers for comic books and paper backs. He starts naming off comics that I have read and characters that I know.
Then he says the magic words: I used to help on the DOC SAVAGE paperback covers.

FLASHBACK: 1970 - I'm a little kid and an older friend of mine lets me read a paperback book called DOC SAVAGE : THE MAN OF BRONZE.

I loved the book, and thought it had the coolest paperback cover of all time. A publisher called BAMA was reissuing the DOC SAVAGE books from the 30's  and 40's with  all new cover art. I liked the cover to the one above so much that I tracked down a poster of it and bought it. Then I started reading every one of the 100+  books I could find.

And now, years later, I'm talking to the guy who played a role in all of that.  Way beyond cool.
I start dropping Hall of Fame names from the comic book industry and he knows them all. 

He had to leave towards the end of the first stop, but we're not done by a long shot.
I'm going to do everything I can to make sure he keeps coming. I don't care if he helps cook or not, I want him for the stories. 
The kids couldn't believe how excited I got the more CHUCK and I talked.
They will one day.
Maybe they'll meet .........