Thank you God!

Well it finally happened. After 47 something days of terrible heat, drought conditions not experienced ever before, we had rain! Thank you Lord!

With mr brian being out of town last Saturday, I did not get to experience our breakfast or visits. So I asked Mr Scott and Momma T to fill in the details for me. Momma T, said there was a nice crowd of folks who enjoyed her pancakes, hash browns and ham for breakfast. So many new faces, she did not know them all, pretty cool. Then Catfish, Curtis joined Mr Scott on his visits. Mr Scott said, Turner has enjoyed the use of his new bicycle. Turner did tell Mr Scott, he does need anymore food, just ice. Wonder where Turner is getting his food? Mr Scott was going to ask him this week. Mr Scott continues to stop at the Hamilton and Labor Ready and we have added a stop by the Fairmont. Many of our friends have moved into the Fairmont, so we checking on them across the street from there. Everybody seems to be doing pretty good.

I forgot to let you all know last week, we had a huge blessing. As many of you may know Ms Abbie's granddaughter, Kierra had applied to the Northwestern school of Nursing here in Shreveport. I had no idea, it was so competitive to get in, but it is and unfortunately she was denied a spot for this fall semester classes. One of my customers is an assistant professor there and I was talking to her about Kierra and she said she would meet with Kierra to see what she could do to get in the spring semester. Tuesday evening, I caught up with Kierra and gave the professor her card and Kierra told me that won't be necessary. I asked why and Kierra said there was a spot that came open for this semester and she got in! So Kierra is now enrolled in nursing school, thank you God!

Tuesday evening, we had another blessing. Krysten arrived to join our family! Not sure what God is up to, but she felt a strong desire to come to Shreveport and be a part of our family and work with our community. Amazing to me, she would leave a job and come to a place where she has no prospects at the moment. I just know amazing things will happen with Krysten here, as she begins a new chapter in her journey. Thank you God!

With our much anticipated rain on Wednesday, our supper attendance was down a bit. We had another blessing on Wednesday. Ms Abbie got a call from one of our long time community friends, Ms Ruby, saying she got some clothes donated to her from her church. She did not need them all, so she wanted us to have them and share with others. Isn't that cool. Someone who has very little, wanting to share with others. I did mention to the community at our meal, about the possibility of us moving our meals to another night. No one said they had any problem with us moving our days. We are just talking and wanted to see if they would continue to come.

Thursday we had a full table for our meal and Bible study. Beth, Charley, Debby, Erica, William, Joey, Wes, Lomax, Byron and Dr Phil. We had grilled cheese sandwiches, yummy left over cole slaw and even better blueberry cobbler. We read last part of Acts 8, starting at verse 26 and all of chapter 9. Again, what comes to mind is the Holy Spirit and the mighty ways it can change our lives if we just allow it to do so. Peter preaching and healing, Saul being converted, the disciples going out and sharing the Good News with all. As men, we are flawed, full of pride, big egos, but some how God allows His Spirit to break down all of that and amazing things can happen when it does. Are we allowing the Spirit to flow through us and use us to glorify His Kingdom? Do we say, not me, I am not worthy? Do we ignore the Spirit all together and do our own thing? Thank you God, for your great Spirit and may we all allow the Spirit to flow through us in amazing ways.

Continued prayer concerns for Kairos weekend coming up in September. Prayers for Ms Sarah and Krysten and their group as they leave for Haiti Monday for a week. Debby asked for prayers for her step mother's illness. Prayers for Wes and his parents as Wes leaves on September 10th for China for at least 3 months maybe more. Exciting opportunity. The Hub as they prepare for the opening of their new building. William and his health. William has been down with a terrible cold or something. He is starting to feel better but still is coughing and congested. Lomax and Gus as they travel down south to see Gus' mom. Gus' mom's last health report was great, hoping it will continue. Thank you God!

We have had reminders this week about where God has placed us. We sometimes forget, when things are going good, we get complacent, we get comfortable and forget why God has blessed us these past few years. We are in a community where God's light is dim at best, dark in other places. He has asked us to share His glorious lvoe with His children in ways that may not be easy or comfortable, but will have the greatest  impact. Our faith will be tested. Our patience will run thin. But God has not left us, He will never leave us. All we have to do is allow His Holy Spirit flow through us, be obedient is our walk and all things will be possible. Thank you God!

Hope you all have a great weekend. Maybe we will get some more rain. Maybe some cooler temperatures. Anything is possible, isn't it?! Thank you God, Amen.

Late in the day

Sorry for the late update. Got up late, left early and just now sitting down at the computer. I guess, I am running slower like most of us in this terribly hot, dry weather. I talked last week about how hot it has been around this part of the country, well we need to add dryness to our update. Two different groups I have been with  this week, prayers for relief in the drought conditions we asked for.

We had an incredible Saturday last week. I met with two gentlemen from Airline Baptist church in Bossier one day last week. They walked through and were trying to decide on what their men's group would like to do. One of the guys said, not sure how many will come in this hot weather or if they are committed to working.  He said there maybe 2 or maybe 10, with him leaning towards 2. Well, when I pulled up around 8, there were 10 trucks parked in the parking lot with over 20 men working all around the center. It was amazing to see. We had some completing the painting of the chapel, we had some edging and cleaning up the sidewalk out front of the garden and sanctuary, others were trimming the big bushes in front of the sanctuary, others were trimming around the back, some were mowing, still others were trimming bushes at Abbie's house and the Bright House. Dust was everywhere, it was great!

As the Airline group was leaving, we were able to talk a few minutes and share our story with them. One of the leaders talked about how he thought their time with us was God directed. He said they had been praying for a local mission project for several months with no answers. Then last week, the leader gets a call from one of the guys and says, I just met these people from Common Ground and I think God has answered our prayers. They mentioned, they will be back and continue their work. Also we discussed about starting a men's Bible study for the community. God is good!

At some point early Saturday morning, I woke and said, man is this the second Saturday? And it was, so we had some folks from Brookwood show up also. The men from Brookwood, reprimed the hallway, applied window tinting to the glass in the fellowship hall and then went into the chapel and worked in there.

One of the special moments of the morning was the work on some bicycles. I had picked up three bicycles from Pastor Rich's house. His company was going to throw them away and he grabbed them for us. The bikes were still in the back of my truck. When the Brookwood guys got there, there was a man and his son walking up. I said to the young man, Seth, would you test drive these bikes and get them ready to ride? Seth said sure and he and his dad worked on them. When it was time to leave for our visits I asked Seth if he thought the bikes were ready to go and he said two of them were good to go. So we loaded them back into my truck and I asked Seth if he would like to go with us to the camps to see if the guys would like a bike. Seth said sure. What a special young man.

We met up with Mr Scott and the van of folks at our first stop at Robert and Turner. Some of us walked to Turner's camp, talking along the way telling Seth, we have not had much conversation with Turner, but let's see if your bicycle will be the opening we have been looking for? When we got to Turner's camp, he was frustrated with an old bicycle tire he was trying to repair. Mr Scott had brought him a new inner tube last week and Turner was unable to get it to fit into his old tire frame. I said to Turner, this young man has been working all morning fixing up a bike to give to you, would you consider coming with us to see the bikes and see if you would like one? Turner thought for a moment, looked at Seth and said ok let's go take a look. Turner followed us, walked over to the truck, looked at the bikes and said, I'll take this one. Seth helped Turner get the bike down and Turner walks off with his new bike. We all looked at each other, speechless at what we had just witnessed. A young boy, full of life and wanting to help others, was able to accomplish in one moment what we have been trying to do for a year! God is good.

Hat and Joey are continuing what Gus has started in opening the Friendship room Saturday afternoons. Several of the young men from the neighborhood have been coming to improve their reading and writing skills. A couple of our friends joined them as well. They wash clothes, watch some TV, relax and get out of the heat. Thank to those who continue to think of others. If you would like to help out, please let Hat or Joey know.

Got an email from Cassie from the Hub the other day. She asked about me about what we had talked about, opening up the new Basement on Saturdays. I told her, I thought it would be too much for us to do it every week but what about her contacting other churches to see if they would help out. She said they have Brookwood coming on the second Saturdays. So I am asking, do you think Common Ground could commit to one Saturday a month? With us beginning to visit the neighborhood on Saturdays, only opening the basement a month would take some of pressure off of us. But I don't want to commit to Cassie we will help out if it is too stressful for us. Think about it and let us know what you think.

We had a fun day on Wednesday. We prepared pancakes for supper. One of my favorite supper meals is pancakes smothered in syrup! Ms Abbie wouldn't let me take a picture, but it was funny to see, Ms Abbie at one plug in the fellowship hall cooking pancakes. Ms Dorothy was at another plug and then Grandma(Spencer's mom) was in the kitchen cooking on the third griddle. The smell was awesome, the pancakes were great and everybody seemed to enjoy them.

Thursday we had a nice group enjoying some sandwiches made from our left over ham from Wednesday. Chuck, Byron, his brother-in-law Ed, Beth, Charley, Lomax, Hat and Joey were there. We read from Acts Chapter 8. With the stoning of Stephen and Saul going house to house, the believers left Jersuleum  and started preaching the Good News to many. People were amazed at what they saw and what they heard. Are we sharing the Good News with others in a way that is unique or special, maybe showing the lvoe of God to others for the first time? As the disciples were allowing God to work through them, we need to do the same.

Ooops, almost forgot, breakfast this Saturday at 9am. Momma T will be working her magic in the kitchen. mr brian will be out of town, so if you would like to help her, please be at the center around 8.

Something that has been on my mind for the last several weeks is the education of our children of the community. Did you all see all three schools that most of our children attend, are academically unacceptable? Our children have no shot at improving their education if during their academic lives they are not being taught at the right level. How can we help them improve or how can we help their schools improve? Maybe one way for us to improve our learning center is to become more scholastic focused? We can still have fun at the appropriate times, but make a real effort to have our center a place where real learning takes place.

We did not have our Allison with us Thursday night. She is the last of our interns, really I don't like saying interns, they are our family members now. She left for school on Friday, with this being her final year. She is preparing for the future as she will be contacting various sites to start her journey as a pastor. Allison is always missed by us, doing so many things for our community. We are blessed by her in so many ways and always look forward to her return.

Mr Scott text me earlier in the day Thursday asking if he could go out into the neighborhood and hand out ice cold Gatorade? Around 5:30 he shows up with some ice, fills the ice chest with Gatorade. He, Chuck and Byron go out and meet some of our neighbors and hand out all the bottles! Awesome and something we may do again.

Prayer concerns. Continue to keep Gus and his mom in your prayers. Wes Ackerman has two job opportunities in front of him. One is a special one, taking him to China where he will teach English. Mom and dad are not too excited about this but will see where God leads him. Lomax's other grandmother is ill in Tyler. Prayers for Ms Abbie. She lost her sister last week and preparing to say goodbye to her Saturday afternoon.

You just never know what God is going to do around our community. Bringing people here with great ideas. Directing our paths, serving others. All the time blessing us along the way. Hope you have the opportunity to be a part of this. Come when you can.

Stay inside if you can. For those of you who know a rain dance, I would ask you to perform one! Have fun and lvoe others as He has lvoed you. Amen.

Thinking of others

I have been asked several times where do I get my ideas for writing this note each week. To be honest, I really don't have anything planned it kind of just happens? But on the other hand, it is really pretty easy to report each week what happens around the community. It is easy to tell all of you who are not able to be with us, how amazing our family is. This week is no exception, our family always thinking of others.

One of my routines each Saturday morning is to go by the youth warehouse and get ice for our visits. As I drive into the parking lot, I can tell if Mr Scott is driving that Saturday by the van being gone by 8:30 or so. He gets up early, having just gone to bed the evening before because of his job, to drive 3o minutes or so to pick up Catfish. Catfish has moved to a little town south of Shreveport. He calls Mr Scott and say are you coming my way? I want to come with you guys. So Mr Scott drives all that way, picks him up and then after we finish our visits, he drives Catfish back home. Amazing heart.

This Saturday, we not only had Catfish join us, but Junior, his 3 legged dog joined us. At all our stops, the guys love to pet Junior. Something about a dog, the outdoors and friendship? Catfish has folks who continue to offer things to him and this week Catfish loaded up the van with MREs for us to give away. Someone who has been homeless, giving to others! Amazing heart.

The other special event we had at each stop, was the serving of elements in the celebration of communion. Momma T brought the grape juice and bread, and we participated in remembering the sacrifice Jesus made for us. Ellen and Matt found us at some point and Ellen helped serve at one of our stops. Momma T explained what she was offering. Some you could tell had never experienced this before, but they lined up to receive their blessings. Amazing hearts.

Not to talk too much on Mr Scott, but he took his daughter on vacation out to Los Angeles. They did tourist stuff, but also, first on their list was to make their way to the Dream Center. The Dream Center has always been an inspiration to me, as this young preacher moves into a depressed part of downtown, revitalizes an old church and serves the community. Dr Phil many years ago, taught a Sunday school class on the book, A Church That Never Sleeps. Mr Scott shared his thoughts and enthusiasm of what he saw and experienced on his tour of the Dream Center. It is amazing to me, he would take time on his vacation to experience what is going on at the Dream Center. Amazing heart.

Tuesday morning, we had one of our Lake Charles family members join us for the week. Ben Parker, was leading a group up here this week, but unfortunately the others who were coming had to back off. I told Ben, that's ok, just try again in the fall. Ben said, I already have a group coming, but that is too long for me not to be with you all, so I am coming by myself! So he came and he hasn't stop working since he has gotten here. I had a long list prepared for the group and I told Ben, not to worry about the list you just do what you can. Well he has just about completed the list all by himself!

As I was going over the list with Ben Tuesday afternoon, I said to Ben, what do you think? He said, mr brian, do you mind if I go stay with Gus under the bridge? He said the list will be here tomorrow, but Gus won't and I want to begin to build relationships with the guys under the bridge! Hello God, one of your disciples is wanting to lvoe others and not work on mr brian's list, wow! So Ben fixed the best testing jambalaya I have ever eaten and we went to visit Gus, Dale and the others under the bridge Tuesday evening. Amazing heart.

We found our Gus, sitting on the couch under the bridge as we arrived Tuesday evening. Gus was being Gus and having a good time with the guys. He did not look too bad for having spent, 6 days under the bridge. Gus has a blog going: http://betterthanachurchbell.blogspot.com/ from some of his journal writings for the week. Check it out, some great stories. What an amazing heart this young man has, becoming friends with guys who for the most part have never had a friend. Someone who actually cares for them. One, now who has been in their shoes, walked their streets, learned their ways of trying to survive. Gus survived one of the hottest weeks of the year, maybe of the century to share with us, what it is like to be homeless. Amazing heart.

On Wednesday, there was a meeting of the United Way of Northwest La, ladies leadership council. Ms Lisa has been asked before to speak to the ladies about what our community does. Ms Lisa, who never gets enough recognition for all she does for our community, shared one of stories about two of our young ladies who are trying to make a different life for themselves. Lisa told them about Michelle and Jalissia graduating from high school and trying to get into college, something most young girls in our community never do. Ms Lisa brought Michelle and Jalissia to the women's meeting Wednesday and the girls were the featured speakers. They shared what our community has done for them, what their hopes and dreams are the future and how they want to be example for their younger siblings. Both girls are now registered at BPCC for fall classes. Amazing heart.

Wednesday at our meal, I looked up and one of our guys who was living under the bridge, came for supper. It was Jimbo's first visit. Lomax had brought him by. Later on in the evening I get a phone call from Lomax. Jimbo was asked to leave from the bridge, which is nothing unusual, so he had no where to go. Jimbo told us Tuesday evening, he was trying to save up his money so he could get a bus ticket to go live with his daughter in Arkansas. Lomax tells me he called Jimbo's daughter and asked if he could bring her dad to her. The daughter became overwhelmed with emotion and said please, please bring him if you can. So Ben and Lomax, left at 6am Thursday morning and drove 6 hours to take Jimbo home. They turned around and drove all the way back and were back in time for our Bible study! Not sure I can explain what amazing hearts these two young men have.

We had our Bible study Thursday evening and it was good, but I was thinking about the week and what amazing hearts our community is blessed to have. There are more examples of what amazing hearts we have but the stories are being formed at the moment and I will have the opportunity to share those stories with you all at another time.

Another important part of our community is the willingness to share your hearts in prayer for others. Some of our prayer concerns from last night were, Gus and his mom. Gus asked for prayers for her last week because she was having problems with her breathing, well she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. Please keep her and Gus in your thoughts as he visits with them this weekend and as he starts a new career. Prayers, for Lomax as he continues to lvoe on his grandmother as the two of them continue to deal with the lost of his grandfather. Grant Rose as he heads back to Oklahoma. Prayers for mr brian's father-in-law Mr Joyner. He fell and severally sprained his wrist. Tommy Rainbolt after surgery on his shoulder. Ben leaving us Saturday. Allison leaving us next Friday. Justin leaving us and moving to Arkansas and getting married. Prayers for Kairos.

Amazing hearts, such compassion for others, lvoing spirits. We talked about Moses at Bible study. How God asked him to lead his people and Moses saying to God, not me, I can't speak well, I'm no leader. God said, I want you and lead he did. But it was not Moses who did the leading it was Moses allowing God to work miracles through him. It is not us who do these amazing things, it is all of you allowing God to work through you. The more and more we take ourselves out of the equation and put God first,  God's Kingdom will shine. Thank you all so much for being who you are and being bold enough to say it is not me but God who lives within me.

Have a great weekend and blessed week ahead. Amen and Amen.

Can we say HOT!

Can we say, how HOT is it!! Unbelievable the temperatures and dryness we have faced in this part of the country. For all of you who have rain, could you please send us some!

Another fun filled week around the community. We got started this week, with the feeding of the Weekend of the Cross children, Friday and Saturday. Mr Tom fixed all the food and drink and several of us served it up. You have never seen such hotter, messier, tireder folks as they came through the doors. They enjoyed their hour break from the heat at the center. We fed around 65 children and adults both days. We did have a restroom back up, but we made do and everybody thanked us for being their for them.

Saturday visits went well, with only Dr Phil and myself traveling around. With the heat, only a few joined us at the Hamilton and Labor Ready stops. We stopped by Robert's camp and got him to go with us and he helped hand out the gatorde

Don't know if you have seen the pictures on our face book page yet, but go take a look at Christmas in July! With this week being the final week of summer camp, the interns pulled out all the stops to make each day a little bit special. Monday, they had a Christmas party! Ms Patty led them in the making of Christmas stockings. Another activity was decorating Christmas cookies. They were read the Christmas story out of the Bible. Then they heard a different kind of Christmas story about how the Cajuns do it. Then they finished the day by having Santa come and visit with the children. Santa handed out bags with the children's initials on them and surprises in the bags. Tuesday the interns had a family barbeque inviting the extended family members to come. It was good to meet the moms of some of the children. Then Thursday, Ms Sarah, Mr Scott drove the vans as they all went out to Splash Kingdom for the afternoon. What a week.

Wednesday, with the temperatures at 107, we were wondering if any would venture out. Well they did and we had a great afternoon. More and more of the community is beginning to step up and help out in various ways. Some of the children are in charge of name tags. Some helped passed out plates and silverware. Some helped with the kool aid.

Thursday morning, we had a return visit from some of our friends from the The River Community Church in Natchitoches. In fact they are still here! Ms Lauren brought her pastor and several of her friends and they are working in the mornings at the center and having a retreat in the afternoons. Sure good to see them again. They will be leaving Saturday morning and then we will have our Lake Charles family arriving Monday.

I was given the summer camp newsletter Thursday evening and at the bottom of the letter is this message from the Interns: This has been the summer of a life time for us. We could not think of a better way to spend these past 8 weeks than with these beautiful kids and we will miss them more than you can imagine. We have had some good days together and some tough ones, but through this time, it has been a blessing and an honor to be a part of their lives. Lvoe - Ellen, Kelli, Allison, Mary, Macy, Joey, Gus and Lomax.

Thursday evening, we continued a tradition of saying good bye to our college interns who are leaving us. I am still unsure why God continues to bless us with such special young people. Each year, we continue to add to our family, young people who have a heart for lvoe, thinking of others and wanting nothing more than to please God. It was special last night to hear comments about each one of our interns. Each one having special gifts, unique talents, lvoing spirits and working together they created a place where our children could feel lvoe, maybe for the first time in their lives. It is with a heavy heart, we have to say good bye. But knowing they will continue to be praying for our community, sharing their experiences with others, some how we will get through these weeks. One of the moms said Tuesday evening, I don't know what my children are going to do next week with out camp going on! They just love coming here. Thank you does not sound adequate enough, but know we lvoe you all, you have a special place in our hearts and we are already counting the days for your return to us.

Don't forget Ms Sarah is having a garage sale at her house Saturday morning. If you don't have something to bring by so she can sale it, then go by and buy something! She is raising money for her trip to Haiti.

Prayers for Lomax and his grand mother. We found out last night, Lomax's grandfather passed away earlier in the week. Lomax has been a special part of their lives and always was there for them as his grandfather's health continued to decline.

Gus asked for prayers for his mom. She has never been sick in her life, but now is fighting complications of phenomena. Gus also asked for prayers as he left Thursday evening to spend a week under the bridge with Dale and Tim.

Prayers for Kelli as she tries to discern God's direction for her life. Also for her cousin's new baby.

Prayers for all our interns as they travel home or back to school. Kelli and Lauren leaving Friday. Mary leaving Saturday. Ellen leaves Sunday. Joey leaving Saturday for a week at Glorieta, New Mexico. Gus leaves next Thursday and Allison the week after that.

Continued prayers for the Kairos weekend as Charley prepares for that.

Prayers for Ellen's brother who is 16 and meeting all sorts of challenges in his young life.

Prayers for Ms Abbie as she continues to be the rock in her family as she deals with Joe's slow recovery and family matters.

Prayers for a member of Grace, a man who was in our men's Bible study on Monday nights, passed away Wednesday morning. The men's group went to his house Monday night to have our Bible study there. Jim's health had been failing for several weeks. We were able to sit in his room, we helped him open his Bible and he was able to share with us during the evening. We heard from his wife later on, that was the liveliest she had seem him in several weeks.

Scott and I talked about the passing of Jim Wednesday at our meal. We talked about how easy it would have been to just say, sorry we can't come because it is not convenient for us. Or what if some of us had not decided not to even come. We will not have that opportunity ever again to sit with Jim and listen. It reminded me of what we say all the time, I am going to wait until I retire before I help others. I can't come today, I am to tired. I can't help serve, I have to work. I can't read a book to a child, I don't have time. I can't sit with some friends and let them get out of the heat. I can't . . .  It is not about us, but about others. I want us to be sure, what we are doing is of God and not for ourselves. Are we building the Kingdom of God as He is directing us to or we doing the building on our terms? God's timing is always perfect, but it may not be convenient? I am thinking that is why I whine so much! God is wanting me on His terms, His timing not on mr brian's terms.We will never in this life time, have the opportunity to sit with Jim and read the Bible. You still have an opportunity to do God's work, don't make an excuse, do it!

Hope you all have a great weekend. Stay cool if you can. Enjoy your families. Enjoy the many blessings God has for you. Amen.