......Smells like carrots.

Recap: Saturday- Sinuses started draining

Sunday - Fever started

Monday- Felt like 900 lbs. of concrete on a Popsicle stick

Tuesday - Felt like crap on a saltine

Wednesday - Felt like Death warmed over in a baby bottle

Today - Doesn't matter. Somebody asks, I say Fine and don't think about it. In a day or two I'll wake up and it'll be gone. Sometimes you just gotta drive on.

I've had to rearrange how I do things for Tuesday nights lately. I used to be able to use the 4:00 -6:00 time period on Tuesdays to run around and get stuff, get things started early, pull things out of the freezer, etc. That was nice because it gave me a safety net to change things on the fly. Now I've started Tutoring at WIRE Monday through Thursdays from 4:00-6:00. Safety net gone.

Now I've gotta plan ahead more and take care of things on Monday. Fun.

Big shout out to J.BOGGS, TYLER and EBY for going downtown with me on Monday night and cooking the chili with me. Chili's one of those things that is better when you cook it, then cool it off and let it sit for a day, then warm it up and serve it. You need to give it a day and let everybody in the pot get acquainted and comfortable with each other. So if we started it at 6 on Tuesday, we'd barely get it assembled and cooking by 7:30. It wouldn't be as good as it could be.

We had fun doing it.

When Tuesday came, life was much easier with the chili already made and just needing simmering. We cooked 6 pans of rice to go with it. Cecelia dug out a box of cake mix out of the pantry so she baked it. It was just regular ol' yellow cake, but it was pretty good with chocolate icing.

CHILI w/RICE (with cheese, jalapenos, cherry peppers and TEXAS PETE as toppings) DINNER ROLLS

DESSERT/ CAKE

SWEET TEA/WATER

This was the second meal in a row we cooked with things collected and donated by the CrossTraining kids (1-6 graders). I called Don Vigus to come down and video our friends saying "Thank you" as they came through the serving line. He'll send it to them and it'll get played during their next meeting (which was last night). I hope they like it. We are very grateful for what they did.
ANNA / KILLER / JOHANNA / ALEXIS / CREECH / BRIANNA / TYLER / MO-GAN / ELLYN / ALYSSA / SHANE / HAMPTON / WAYNE / BRIEN / TERESA / MARK / T.J. / ELAINE / CECELIA / CHRISTIAN / STEVE / BLAKE / DAVID /

I was really glad Wayne and David were there at 6:00. I had gone to school and tutored at WIRE, so by 6:00 not only did I feel bad, I was beat. My original plan was to get it started and and then leave once we started feeding. Wayne Currie was going to be there all night and could handle it no problem. But somehow, I never transitioned from what was going on to going home. I wound up staying all night. Not smart, I know.
For all the LOST fans reading this....What did one Snowman say to the other Snowman? ....................

This week's list

Man, put up a list that shoots people off the face of the earth and you get a big response.
Ask them to pick things from the BIBLE and ...... don't hold your breath. Disappointing, people. Very disappointing.

This week:
Hate to break it to you,but tonight is your last night on the face of this earth (Don't ask why, just roll with me here).
You can go eat your last meal at any eating establishment you want. You can have whatever you want.
Where do you go and What do you eat?

Me? This might change day to day but it's a tossup. PT's or Flaming Amy's would do it for me. Burger, fries, and a Diet Pepsi or Fried Chicken Burrito and chips with queso. I'm not a fancy guy.
g

....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.....

4 years later.....

I probably should've been doing this all along but I never got around to it. Not that it wasn't important, I just didn't. As time goes on, though, I've become convicted that what we do on Tuesday nights needs to be documented and told. Here it goes....

For the past 4 years there's been a ministry that meets on Tuesday nights to cook and feed people. Mostly feeding Homeless people, but we don't really ask and it wouldn't matter. It was originally me and four 10th grade guys passing out Hot chocolate on Market Street. Which, now that I look at it, is a much cooler title than Tuesday Nights( Hot Chocolate on Market Street...oh well...) The details of how it began is a story for another time and I'll get to it in another post, just give me a little time to get this rolling. It has become something altogether unlike anything else I've ever been a part of.

There's a core group of adults and youth that has grown slowly but providentially over time. We have an constantly changing group of folks who come in and help as schedules allow, as interests get piqued and as the Spirit leads. (Part of what I'd like to do over time is introduce you to some of the core group that put up with me every week and are vital and indispensable partners in this.) Different mid-week youth Bible studies pick a Tuesday and help. Varied community groups have given money...school clubs have come and volunteered .... People I had never met before in my life have showed up out of the blue and now come every single week. We even have a Sunday School class that collects money every week from its members to help us.

And it all happens because God is in it. Because God is good and he provides. Because God blesses every sandwich and every scoop of whatever it is we're slinging that night. How else do you explain 6,000 lbs. of Pork? Strangers putting crazy amounts of money in my hand? Somebody named Twig?

I'm writing this on Tuesday afternoon before we start for the night. My intent from now on is to post after we finish on Tuesdays to let you know stuff- what we served, who was there, what might have occured (because miraculous and wonderful things occur on Tuesday nights) and to give God glory and praise for what he enabled us to do to help others see and feel His Kingdom.

I'm also writing this now to invite anyone reading this to come be a part of it.
No skills needed, no requirements, no long term contracts or obligations.

Because it's not a Tuesday night club...It's a Tuesday night ministry.

And we can always use more ministers. g