Brew Crew

3:00 AM

25 servants

1000 cups of steaming hot chocolate.

These are the ingredients for the 2008 Brew Crew.

The idea began two years ago when I was snugly sleeping on Black Friday morning. My phone rang about 4:30 AM and the voice on the other end was my daughter who was standing in one of the long lines waiting to "save lots of money."

She said, "Dad, it's freezing will you bring me some hot chocolate, pleeeaase?"

Dutifully I got out of bed and bought two cups of hot chocolate. I delivered them to my daughter and niece. All of a sudden I realized that everyone was watching me as I drove up and gave the hot chocolate to them.

Then it hit me. What would happen if I could bring hot chocolate to everyone in the line?

The Brew Crew was born.

This year the Brew Crew arrived at the church and begin the arduous task of serving our community.

By 4:30 AM we were at Circuit City, PetsMart, Old Navy, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Dukes where people had been waiting in line since 1:00 AM.

In 30 minutes we gave out nearly 1000 cups of hot chocolate. Free!

People were shocked. People were grateful. And we were blessed.

There is an old scripture that says something about "offering a cup of cold water" in my name. Today we offered a cup of hot chocolate.

I think we brought a smile to His face today.