“Don’t you feel it, the righteousness? You feel it on your arms? I know you can feel it. Just stand here and take it in. I am so blessed. I thank the Lord everyday,” Elliot James, owner of Mo’ Wallace BBQ, said while staring up at the sun. 

I talked with Elliot for almost 45 minutes, but really, Elliot talked to me. He told me his story. 

Growing up, he would see his father making barbecue almost everyday, but that is all he would do. 

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“Hey Dad, you wanna throw the football?” “Hey Dad, you wanna play some basketball?” “Hey Dad, you wanna do anything?”

“Nah,” he’d say. All he would do was sit in the yard and make barbecue on his grill made from old cement blocks and scraps of chicken wire and wood. “Growing up I wanted nothing to do with barbecue, I didn’t want to be like him. I did not understand, and I didn’t want any part of it.”

But then Elliot got a DUI.

Elliot had to meet with a counselor and she asked him what his goals were. 

“What do you mean? Like touchdowns?” “No. What do you want to do with your life?” “Well I don’t know,” Elliot said. 

“What do you like to do?” she asked.

“I watch a lot of TV,” he replied.“That’s it?” “Well, I like food, too.” “Well there you have it,” she said. 

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His wife Andrea said her husband has a gift.

“He’s blessed with that grill,” she said. 

“I could leave this place tomorrow or the next day happily, because I know I’m doing what I love,“ Elliot said.

They have made barbecue for customers for almost seven years, but on Friday they will close their doors. By trade, Andrea is a registered nurse and plans to go back to the profession and save some money. 

“Some day we’d like to open up a food truck or concession stand. This is not the end for us,” Andrea said. “We’ll reboot.”