How was your week? What challenges did God present to you and how did you deal with them? We just never know, what our days will hold, so can we say thank you Lord for being a part of our lives.
Scott, Momma T and Dr Phil reported they did not see as many friends as usual. Not sure why, but we will see what happens this week. Hopefully other groups are opening up on the weekends to help with the needs.
We continue to be blessed by our homework activities. We have had as many helpers as we have had children, so we are able to have one on one groups working. It is really nice when we have these type of numbers, the noise level is way down and some quality work is being accomplished. There are some new pictures up on our face book page of the afternoon activities. Note one of the pictures showing, apples and milk being served during the afternoon. Wow, I think Ms Sarah is the reasoning behind this. Thursday the kids, got carrots and dip. The surprising thing most all the children enjoyed the snacks.
Our Wednesday meal was delicious and served up by our Grace youth. Our numbers were down, but that is ok because we get a chance to visit with more of our community. Everybody seems to be doing fine, just struggling with the hot weather and lack of rain. We had a treat this week from one of the area Boy Scout troops. The Boy Scouts had a can food drive and we received half of their donations. With the amount of food we got, Mr Scott did not have to go to the store and buy any food. What a blessing.
Ms Lisa and her lawyers came by on Wednesday and were still there as we were leaving. The community seems to be getting more comfortable with the lawyers and willing to talk to them about their situations. It is so gratifying to see the lawyers take it upon themselves to get personally involved to help out our community. One of the lawyers, our friend from Grace, could not get our printers to work, so he saved all the information and was going back to his office and print up all the documents needed. Pretty cool.
With our new lawn person, the grounds are really looking nice. It is great to drive up to a yard where the sidewalks are edged and the lawn is mowed.
We gathered for our meal and Bible study Thursday evening. Always good food and conversations. We did not get through much of Acts in Chapter 16 as a discussion came up about the Holy Spirit of Jesus and God. Are there two Spirits? After some discussions, we came to the conclusion does it matter? When some of the Philistines came to Jesus and Jesus said, I do not know you, go away from here. We need for God to know us and know our hearts by allowing the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. The Holy Spirit will guide us in our journeys and the paths we need to be on. We read about Paul not going a certain direction because the Holy Spirit told them not to go that way. May we all become so in tuned with the Holy Spirit, we can decern the direction God is asking us to take in our lives.
Prayers were lifted up for Mr Brian's son and daughter-in-law as they prepare to be new parents. Krysten as she travels. Prayers for the hiring of doctors to help Dr Phil. Prayers for Chuck and Byron as they struggle to make a break from their past. Wes as he continues to teach in China. Prayers for the beginning of our U 2 Saturdays. For the fruitful blessing of the Haiti garage sale on Saturday at Sarah and Scott's home. Prayers for friendships, that they may grow and develop. Prayers for Joey, as he reflects on his car accident. No body was hurt other than his pride. Lomax as he starts building new relationships with other communities.
Started thinking about October and all the events, so thought I would list them.
October 8 - U 2 Saturdays, 10 -12.
Brookwood Servant Saturday
22 - Book fair- Barnes and Noble
15 - Breakfast
19 - Clearview youth coming to serve
27 - First Thursday meal
Chapel worship
Fall Festival
I am sure there are other events, but those are the ones that come to mind. All exciting activities and hope you all can come and be a part of them.
Hope you have a great weekend. The temperatures are suppose to be cooler. Get out and enjoy it all. See you around the center.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Fall Back
Have you done your part, today is the first day of autumn, as a new season is in front of us. I don't about you, but I am ready for the change. This summer, with it's high temperatures, drought conditions, has been a challenge. The cooler mornings, lower humidity has put a little zest in our steps and maybe the rain will come to give us some relief.
As most of you know, Friday afternoons is goof off day for me. A group of us meet at the golf course and act crazy for several hours. Since my play is pretty lame at best, my main focus is giving all the others a hard time and whining the whole afternoon about my bad play. As we were fixing to hit our first shots, I glanced back at the club house and a figure walked into the club house. I said to the others, that almost looked like Sione. A few minutes later, out comes Sione from the club house and he joined us. What a treat. He looked good. He seems to be doing fine at his new church. Being the kind of guy I am, I played the worst round of my life, so Sione could beat me and have a good afternoon! Thanks Sione for coming, we had a great time, glad you beat me!
Saturday morning we had a great gathering of folks for our breakfast. Momma T and Curtis prepared a buffet of scrambled eggs, ham, biscuits, gravy, orange slices, hash browns and good hot coffee. Just as we were finishing up, Sione surprises us again by a visit. The little we had left over, our Centenary friends packed it in boxes and we took it with us on our visits. We had big crowds at each stop, where Mr Scott worked his magic handing out his goodies. Some how, we always seem to have just enough for the last person we see.
Joey asked us to mention to some of our friends about coming to the Friendship room. When we saw the guys, and we asked, they couldn't wait for us to come back and pick them up. Joey, Ms Hat, Gus and others have started something that is becoming an important part in our outdoor friends lives. One of the guys, said, I can't wait to get there are watch the movie we started last week. It is simple things, that make the greatest impact on their lives. At some point in the afternoon, the guys had a barbeque outside the center with ribs, potatoes and all the trimmings. Hate I missed that.
Tutoring went really well this week. Some days we had more helpers than we had kids. Those days, we can sit down with each child and have one on one help, which makes for a great afternoon. You can see the Centenary students beginning to develop relationships with the children. Thursday, the Centenary students brought their friends to help out. Our new Centenary students are Mara, Jeremy, Kayla and Alissa. Ms Lisa one day, had a vocabulary quiz with the children. Asking them if they could say the words and what each word meant. Some children did better than others, but all were well behind in their grade level.
Wednesday, we had a nice visit from North Point Methodist church and it's mission leader Mark Williams. Mark is a former member of Grace and was always supportive of our ministry in Cedar Grove. He and his wife would be at our meals and they were a tremendous help at the beginning of our Kitchen Angel ministry. It was great to see him and the others he brought. He said, he is hoping to come once a month and bring more from his new church. Ms Sarah brought her youth, so we had a nice group of helpers.
Joey missed tutoring Thursday because he was in the kitchen preparing the meal of beef stroganoff and rice for our meal on. It was delicious. Momma T brought dessert and we had a good evening. Our group was smaller than usual but it was nice. We read Acts Chapter 15. We talked about the Jews complaining about the Gentiles not being acceptable because they had not been circumcised. Which brought us into a discussion about, are we accepting to all who we come in contact with. Since they look different, maybe come from another background, don't dress the way we do, do we open our arms to them? Peter told the Jews, it is not about what you do, the rules you follow, the traditions you teach but about your heart. God knows your heart and He will make the judgement.
A church emailed me about coming the end of October to help. I said ok but got to thinking about our board discussions of changing our meal time. I asked several folks and all agreed the board decided to move our Wednesday meal to Thursday evenings starting October 29. If our chapel is ready, we will have worship at 5 and then supper at 5:30. We have asked Pete Bollinger to get us started with the music. We need to have someone share a few words? Ms Sarah, said she and the youth would have a Fall Festival set up also.
We talked Thursday evening about with our change in meals, what do we do with our Thursday night Bible study. One suggestion was to move it to Tuesday or Wednesday nights. Another suggestion was to have it after our new meal time and open it up to the community. Joey said, if that gets too big we can divide up the groups. Wouldn't that be a nice problem to have. Be thinking about what you would like to do and we can talk more about it in the coming weeks.
Prayer concerns for Byron and Chuck. They have gone their separate ways and each struggling to make a new way for themselves. Challenges of life forcing them down. Thank goodness for Hat and Joey who are the one constant force in both their lives.
Prayers for Sinotra. His probation officer came and met with us about his progress. He has struggled in the past but at the moment seems to be making the right choices in his life. She is hoping he has changed his path of disobedience and moved on. Sinotra came by Wednesday and gave everybody a hug.
Krysten as she decides on a new job. She has been offered a position at First Methodist church.
Lomax and his grandmother. She is making progress in her life dealing with the loss of her husband and for Lomax as he becomes her comforter in that process.
Stress. As I see each of you in your various areas of ministry, hear your challenges, witness your triumphs and watch your struggles, I also hear and see your stress. I just want us to take a breathe. Maybe even step back for a moment. And ask, are we allowing God and His Holy Spirit to lead us in our journeys? As we continue to move forward, we are always asking questions of the unknown. Where will the money come from? Who will lead this? What is not working? How are we going to do this? I need to get this done. If I don't do it who will? Questions with no answers lead to stress if we allow it. I am the world's biggest stress producer or maybe I should say, I use to be. Our faith will handle our stress if we allow it to. We do not have to know the answers, if we know we are in God's will. I told Mr Scott Saturday, don't stress over funding for our outdoor friends. Evidently right now, God is asking us to be obedient and provide for His children. Even though we want to do it another way, that way has not happened, so we must be present in this path He has laid out for us. When it is time for a change, He will provide that change.
All of you are so special to our community, to God and us as a family. We need to enjoy God's majesty. We are here for such a short period of time, we need to enjoy God's blessings in our lives. We need to have fun. We need to enjoy each other's lives. We need to sing praises about our community.
Have a great weekend and great week. See you around the community. Amen.
As most of you know, Friday afternoons is goof off day for me. A group of us meet at the golf course and act crazy for several hours. Since my play is pretty lame at best, my main focus is giving all the others a hard time and whining the whole afternoon about my bad play. As we were fixing to hit our first shots, I glanced back at the club house and a figure walked into the club house. I said to the others, that almost looked like Sione. A few minutes later, out comes Sione from the club house and he joined us. What a treat. He looked good. He seems to be doing fine at his new church. Being the kind of guy I am, I played the worst round of my life, so Sione could beat me and have a good afternoon! Thanks Sione for coming, we had a great time, glad you beat me!
Saturday morning we had a great gathering of folks for our breakfast. Momma T and Curtis prepared a buffet of scrambled eggs, ham, biscuits, gravy, orange slices, hash browns and good hot coffee. Just as we were finishing up, Sione surprises us again by a visit. The little we had left over, our Centenary friends packed it in boxes and we took it with us on our visits. We had big crowds at each stop, where Mr Scott worked his magic handing out his goodies. Some how, we always seem to have just enough for the last person we see.
Joey asked us to mention to some of our friends about coming to the Friendship room. When we saw the guys, and we asked, they couldn't wait for us to come back and pick them up. Joey, Ms Hat, Gus and others have started something that is becoming an important part in our outdoor friends lives. One of the guys, said, I can't wait to get there are watch the movie we started last week. It is simple things, that make the greatest impact on their lives. At some point in the afternoon, the guys had a barbeque outside the center with ribs, potatoes and all the trimmings. Hate I missed that.
Tutoring went really well this week. Some days we had more helpers than we had kids. Those days, we can sit down with each child and have one on one help, which makes for a great afternoon. You can see the Centenary students beginning to develop relationships with the children. Thursday, the Centenary students brought their friends to help out. Our new Centenary students are Mara, Jeremy, Kayla and Alissa. Ms Lisa one day, had a vocabulary quiz with the children. Asking them if they could say the words and what each word meant. Some children did better than others, but all were well behind in their grade level.
Wednesday, we had a nice visit from North Point Methodist church and it's mission leader Mark Williams. Mark is a former member of Grace and was always supportive of our ministry in Cedar Grove. He and his wife would be at our meals and they were a tremendous help at the beginning of our Kitchen Angel ministry. It was great to see him and the others he brought. He said, he is hoping to come once a month and bring more from his new church. Ms Sarah brought her youth, so we had a nice group of helpers.
Joey missed tutoring Thursday because he was in the kitchen preparing the meal of beef stroganoff and rice for our meal on. It was delicious. Momma T brought dessert and we had a good evening. Our group was smaller than usual but it was nice. We read Acts Chapter 15. We talked about the Jews complaining about the Gentiles not being acceptable because they had not been circumcised. Which brought us into a discussion about, are we accepting to all who we come in contact with. Since they look different, maybe come from another background, don't dress the way we do, do we open our arms to them? Peter told the Jews, it is not about what you do, the rules you follow, the traditions you teach but about your heart. God knows your heart and He will make the judgement.
A church emailed me about coming the end of October to help. I said ok but got to thinking about our board discussions of changing our meal time. I asked several folks and all agreed the board decided to move our Wednesday meal to Thursday evenings starting October 29. If our chapel is ready, we will have worship at 5 and then supper at 5:30. We have asked Pete Bollinger to get us started with the music. We need to have someone share a few words? Ms Sarah, said she and the youth would have a Fall Festival set up also.
We talked Thursday evening about with our change in meals, what do we do with our Thursday night Bible study. One suggestion was to move it to Tuesday or Wednesday nights. Another suggestion was to have it after our new meal time and open it up to the community. Joey said, if that gets too big we can divide up the groups. Wouldn't that be a nice problem to have. Be thinking about what you would like to do and we can talk more about it in the coming weeks.
Prayer concerns for Byron and Chuck. They have gone their separate ways and each struggling to make a new way for themselves. Challenges of life forcing them down. Thank goodness for Hat and Joey who are the one constant force in both their lives.
Prayers for Sinotra. His probation officer came and met with us about his progress. He has struggled in the past but at the moment seems to be making the right choices in his life. She is hoping he has changed his path of disobedience and moved on. Sinotra came by Wednesday and gave everybody a hug.
Krysten as she decides on a new job. She has been offered a position at First Methodist church.
Lomax and his grandmother. She is making progress in her life dealing with the loss of her husband and for Lomax as he becomes her comforter in that process.
Stress. As I see each of you in your various areas of ministry, hear your challenges, witness your triumphs and watch your struggles, I also hear and see your stress. I just want us to take a breathe. Maybe even step back for a moment. And ask, are we allowing God and His Holy Spirit to lead us in our journeys? As we continue to move forward, we are always asking questions of the unknown. Where will the money come from? Who will lead this? What is not working? How are we going to do this? I need to get this done. If I don't do it who will? Questions with no answers lead to stress if we allow it. I am the world's biggest stress producer or maybe I should say, I use to be. Our faith will handle our stress if we allow it to. We do not have to know the answers, if we know we are in God's will. I told Mr Scott Saturday, don't stress over funding for our outdoor friends. Evidently right now, God is asking us to be obedient and provide for His children. Even though we want to do it another way, that way has not happened, so we must be present in this path He has laid out for us. When it is time for a change, He will provide that change.
All of you are so special to our community, to God and us as a family. We need to enjoy God's majesty. We are here for such a short period of time, we need to enjoy God's blessings in our lives. We need to have fun. We need to enjoy each other's lives. We need to sing praises about our community.
Have a great weekend and great week. See you around the community. Amen.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Relationships
Another week has come and gone. A touch of a cool breeze has blessed us these past two days, more to come. We even had two rain drops Thursday afternoon! By the time I got my windshield wipers unstuck from the glass, the rain stopped! We know the rain will come, just not time yet I guess.
Mr Scott and Catfish had 3 new folks join them on the visits Saturday morning. 3 Centenary students have kind of adopted us and wanted to experience everything we do, so they came. Great young people. Mr Scott said, our number of friends has increased again and served over 40.
The rest of us joined in on our Board meeting and 6 hours later we had talked ourselves out. As most of you know meetings are not my thing, but ever so often we need to come together and talk about where we are going as a community. It is always good to hear what God has placed on our hearts and how that may impact our community. Ms Lisa will send out the minutes when she is able to complete them, so you will have an idea of everything that went on.
Some dreams that come to mind, is Momma T and Ms Patti will be starting on Saturday October 8, U2 Saturdays. Momma T has been praying and thinking about this for many months and said she is ready to move forward on it. It will be an enrichment type activities learning all sorts of stuff, geared towards the young people but also any adults who would like to come.
Dr Phil shared his dream with us of providing housing and jobs for those who do not have a place to live and want to work. He is partnering with a friend of ours in the construction business and will be building "tiny" homes in our neighborhood.
We again talked about moving our weekly meals to another night, either Tuesday or Thursday evenings. Nothing set in stone yet, but looks like we will definitely try it and see what happens. The main reason for this move is to allow other churches and groups who normally have functions going on on Wednesdays, an opportunity to be more of a presence with us. With the completion of the chapel getting close, we want to start our chapel time to coincide with our meals and days other than Wednesday might allow musicians, speakers and others to help out.
We talked about our desire to become intentional in meeting our neighbors. Adopting a block at a time, getting to know everybody in every house and sharing our lvoe of God with them. Learning from them what their hopes and dreams are and can we work together to make them happen.
We talked about having some sort of fundraiser either the end of the year or first part of next year. I am not comfortable asking for money but now that we are in our building, we need funds to operate the lights, air and water. Most grants do not fund these type of items, so we need to come up with monies to maintain our building.
John and Tania shared the drawings of the new kitchen. It was "Amen" to go forward and here we go. Lots of changes and challenges awaits us but oh how amazing it will be when it is completed. They are in the process of obtaining materials from various places and hopefully in the coming weeks we will have work days to begin the work.
Monday and Tuesday we had a ton of kids for tutoring and we had a ton of helpers, wow. Monday, I think we had the entire Centenary campus with us. We had our three new students we also had Mary and Macy. Anna you need to come and we will have all our family together!
Tuesday, our volunteer Ed, completed the tiling of the chapel floor. We next need carpet to cover the raised section, some clean up, some chairs and we will be ready to go. It looks very nice. Excited to see it finally coming together.
Wednesday we had our extended family return. Ms Sarah Mr Scott and their youth joined us again for their help and smiling faces. So many youth showed up, I sat down all during the meal and enjoyed the supper. Ms Abbie kept eying me to get up, so I looked the other way! So nice to have them back with us. I did have to get up from my chair to give to others and in fact Lomax and I had to go and get more tables and chairs to seat everybody.
Thursday, we gathered around the table to experience the fixins of our new chef Lomax. He prepared our main course of red beans and rice with sausage. It was great. Momma T had a pasta salad and dessert. It was good to have William and James with us again. Both had been sick.
Following our meal we continued reading from Acts 13 and 14. Looking at my notes, I see filled by the Holy Spirit, sent out by the Holy Spirit, filled with joy from living by the Holy Spirit. Sounds like that is the key to me, Jesus went to be with his father, but did not leave us by ourselves. He provided a partner, a friend, a companion, one who looks out for us, who wants the best for us, one who will accomplish things we can not do ourselves only if allow the Holy Spirit to be a part of our lives. We all too often try to complicate things, try to say the right stuff, do the right things, be the right way, but we as humans will never be able to do that, and really we don't have to. All we have to do is humble ourselves, allow the lvoe of Jesus, His Holy Spirit to flow in and through us each and every day. Amazing things will happen when we can do that.
Don't forget, this Saturday is our breakfast morning. Be there at 9 to taste some of Momma T's amazing cooking. Biscuits, ham, eggs, cheese grits, gravy, no fried bacon Ms Sarah, hot coffee and lots of good conversations. Bring a friend, see you there.
We continue to lift up Wes as he journeys to his new home in China. The last we have heard he has made it to Beijing but nothing since. The internet is slow at best in the country, so his mom and dad are awaiting his email or phone call.
After Beth and Charley saw Wes off, they drove to New Orleans to visit old friends and places. They had a chance to visit with Sione and Beth and both seem to be doing great. Sione did express concern for his talk this Sunday. It seems the Saints are playing at noon and he is concerned there maybe no body left in the sanctuary when he is finished preaching! Good luck Sione, at least you will know why they left, not because of what you said.
Prayers for Hat as she travels. For Lomax's mom as she travels here to visit with him for a few days. It will be good to see her again.
Relationships. As we as a community continue to decern God's direction in our lives, I relate it to our relationships to God, each other and to others. When you first meet someone, you say, how are you doing, smile, maybe shake their hand and go about your business. As time goes on, and that relationship continues to grow you begin to see beyond the smile or the words and see their heart, their hurts, their needs. Sometimes it is good, sometimes it is not. There will be times when that relationship maybe strained. There will be times when that relationship will be great. I see us at that point in our community.
Years ago, I think it was ok for us just to be there. To provide a place where the children could come and feel lvoe. Where adults could come and get a bag of food, some clothes, a meal. But I think God is asking us to go deeper in our relationships with our community. He is asking us to go out and meet our neighbors. To listen to them. To hear their hurts. To witness their triumphs. To become a part of their lives and help them achieve their dreams.
He is asking us just not to be there for the children but to train them in the ways of Me. As we have seen over the years, the children are survivors because that is all they know to do. Education, manners, dress, attitudes are secondary at best to them because that is not important to them. I would like us to see how we can provide a place where those who have a desire to get an education to do so. For those of them who are surviving and need a place to feel safe provide a place to do so.
As we go deeper into our relationships, it may get messy. Life is messy. We may not like what we hear. We may get discouraged. We may not want to continue. But if we do, if we continue to humble ourselves for others, if continue to allow the Holy Spirit to flow through us, I guarantee the rewards will be mighty. We are at the beginning of something special. God is preparing a way for us, that we have no comprehension of what is about to take place. Community as we know it now, will be different, new, alive. Are you ready? Do you want to be a part of this Kingdom building? Please pray and ask God how can I use my skills, my talents, my gifts in the coming months and years as we all journey together.
Have a great weekend and looking forward to seeing you all around the center next week. Amen.
Mr Scott and Catfish had 3 new folks join them on the visits Saturday morning. 3 Centenary students have kind of adopted us and wanted to experience everything we do, so they came. Great young people. Mr Scott said, our number of friends has increased again and served over 40.
The rest of us joined in on our Board meeting and 6 hours later we had talked ourselves out. As most of you know meetings are not my thing, but ever so often we need to come together and talk about where we are going as a community. It is always good to hear what God has placed on our hearts and how that may impact our community. Ms Lisa will send out the minutes when she is able to complete them, so you will have an idea of everything that went on.
Some dreams that come to mind, is Momma T and Ms Patti will be starting on Saturday October 8, U2 Saturdays. Momma T has been praying and thinking about this for many months and said she is ready to move forward on it. It will be an enrichment type activities learning all sorts of stuff, geared towards the young people but also any adults who would like to come.
Dr Phil shared his dream with us of providing housing and jobs for those who do not have a place to live and want to work. He is partnering with a friend of ours in the construction business and will be building "tiny" homes in our neighborhood.
We again talked about moving our weekly meals to another night, either Tuesday or Thursday evenings. Nothing set in stone yet, but looks like we will definitely try it and see what happens. The main reason for this move is to allow other churches and groups who normally have functions going on on Wednesdays, an opportunity to be more of a presence with us. With the completion of the chapel getting close, we want to start our chapel time to coincide with our meals and days other than Wednesday might allow musicians, speakers and others to help out.
We talked about our desire to become intentional in meeting our neighbors. Adopting a block at a time, getting to know everybody in every house and sharing our lvoe of God with them. Learning from them what their hopes and dreams are and can we work together to make them happen.
We talked about having some sort of fundraiser either the end of the year or first part of next year. I am not comfortable asking for money but now that we are in our building, we need funds to operate the lights, air and water. Most grants do not fund these type of items, so we need to come up with monies to maintain our building.
John and Tania shared the drawings of the new kitchen. It was "Amen" to go forward and here we go. Lots of changes and challenges awaits us but oh how amazing it will be when it is completed. They are in the process of obtaining materials from various places and hopefully in the coming weeks we will have work days to begin the work.
Monday and Tuesday we had a ton of kids for tutoring and we had a ton of helpers, wow. Monday, I think we had the entire Centenary campus with us. We had our three new students we also had Mary and Macy. Anna you need to come and we will have all our family together!
Tuesday, our volunteer Ed, completed the tiling of the chapel floor. We next need carpet to cover the raised section, some clean up, some chairs and we will be ready to go. It looks very nice. Excited to see it finally coming together.
Wednesday we had our extended family return. Ms Sarah Mr Scott and their youth joined us again for their help and smiling faces. So many youth showed up, I sat down all during the meal and enjoyed the supper. Ms Abbie kept eying me to get up, so I looked the other way! So nice to have them back with us. I did have to get up from my chair to give to others and in fact Lomax and I had to go and get more tables and chairs to seat everybody.
Thursday, we gathered around the table to experience the fixins of our new chef Lomax. He prepared our main course of red beans and rice with sausage. It was great. Momma T had a pasta salad and dessert. It was good to have William and James with us again. Both had been sick.
Following our meal we continued reading from Acts 13 and 14. Looking at my notes, I see filled by the Holy Spirit, sent out by the Holy Spirit, filled with joy from living by the Holy Spirit. Sounds like that is the key to me, Jesus went to be with his father, but did not leave us by ourselves. He provided a partner, a friend, a companion, one who looks out for us, who wants the best for us, one who will accomplish things we can not do ourselves only if allow the Holy Spirit to be a part of our lives. We all too often try to complicate things, try to say the right stuff, do the right things, be the right way, but we as humans will never be able to do that, and really we don't have to. All we have to do is humble ourselves, allow the lvoe of Jesus, His Holy Spirit to flow in and through us each and every day. Amazing things will happen when we can do that.
Don't forget, this Saturday is our breakfast morning. Be there at 9 to taste some of Momma T's amazing cooking. Biscuits, ham, eggs, cheese grits, gravy, no fried bacon Ms Sarah, hot coffee and lots of good conversations. Bring a friend, see you there.
We continue to lift up Wes as he journeys to his new home in China. The last we have heard he has made it to Beijing but nothing since. The internet is slow at best in the country, so his mom and dad are awaiting his email or phone call.
After Beth and Charley saw Wes off, they drove to New Orleans to visit old friends and places. They had a chance to visit with Sione and Beth and both seem to be doing great. Sione did express concern for his talk this Sunday. It seems the Saints are playing at noon and he is concerned there maybe no body left in the sanctuary when he is finished preaching! Good luck Sione, at least you will know why they left, not because of what you said.
Prayers for Hat as she travels. For Lomax's mom as she travels here to visit with him for a few days. It will be good to see her again.
Relationships. As we as a community continue to decern God's direction in our lives, I relate it to our relationships to God, each other and to others. When you first meet someone, you say, how are you doing, smile, maybe shake their hand and go about your business. As time goes on, and that relationship continues to grow you begin to see beyond the smile or the words and see their heart, their hurts, their needs. Sometimes it is good, sometimes it is not. There will be times when that relationship maybe strained. There will be times when that relationship will be great. I see us at that point in our community.
Years ago, I think it was ok for us just to be there. To provide a place where the children could come and feel lvoe. Where adults could come and get a bag of food, some clothes, a meal. But I think God is asking us to go deeper in our relationships with our community. He is asking us to go out and meet our neighbors. To listen to them. To hear their hurts. To witness their triumphs. To become a part of their lives and help them achieve their dreams.
He is asking us just not to be there for the children but to train them in the ways of Me. As we have seen over the years, the children are survivors because that is all they know to do. Education, manners, dress, attitudes are secondary at best to them because that is not important to them. I would like us to see how we can provide a place where those who have a desire to get an education to do so. For those of them who are surviving and need a place to feel safe provide a place to do so.
As we go deeper into our relationships, it may get messy. Life is messy. We may not like what we hear. We may get discouraged. We may not want to continue. But if we do, if we continue to humble ourselves for others, if continue to allow the Holy Spirit to flow through us, I guarantee the rewards will be mighty. We are at the beginning of something special. God is preparing a way for us, that we have no comprehension of what is about to take place. Community as we know it now, will be different, new, alive. Are you ready? Do you want to be a part of this Kingdom building? Please pray and ask God how can I use my skills, my talents, my gifts in the coming months and years as we all journey together.
Have a great weekend and looking forward to seeing you all around the center next week. Amen.
Friday, September 9, 2011
It's Friday
I hate to admit it, but I like these 4 day work weeks. Does someone want to start a campaign to make every week 4 days? I'll vote for it!!
Thanks to all for continuing to serve while I was gone last week. It is a comfort knowing, all of this is bigger than any one person and life goes on. It had been 3 years since we had been to the beach and it was a comfort to my soul to sit, relax, read, and sleep listening to the waves and birds, to be a part of God's creations.
Mr Scott, Dr Phil, Momma T and Catfish joined together to make our visits on Saturday. With it being the first Saturday of the month, Momma T served communion to 39 men and women in their journeys. Amazing stuff, people of God offering God's grace to the least of them.
Several weeks ago, I received a note from a lady from Chicago whose mother lives on 76 street. Her mother has become wheelchair bound and has no way to leave her house on her own. I contacted Dr Phil and he put together a crew of carpenters and they performed a miracle. Below is a note I got from the lady's daughter.
Tutoring is going on and seems to be going really well. Lots of kiddos and lots of good work going on. Ms Lisa passed out work sheets and the children worked hard on them. Ms Lisa commented on Thursday, she looked at the work sheets and it is scary on how far behind our children are in their learning. I don't understand how the children continue to move up a grade level and still have not mastered the skills they need to achieve at the level they are at? I understand why as they continue to get older, their interest in education drops, they leave school, get pregnant, get into trouble, what else do they have to look forward to? How can we break this cycle?
Tuesday, we began our tile work in the chapel. A gentleman from Grace, came to the open house last year and told John Sauls he would like to donate his services for laying the tile. Finally that day has arrived and he began his work. He is a fireman, so he is doing the work on his off days. What he has done really looks nice and excited to see the floor completed sometime next week.
Wednesday, we had our annual visit from Ms Laura and her students of the Christian Leadership Center from Centenary. We took them around the center and shared our story with them. A bunch of great students wanting to share God's lvoe with others. We have the Center to thank for us being introduced to many of our family interns, Anna and Macy and others. Mary G who was with us this summer, will be part of this program and will be one of our interns this year. Also we had one of the students, Jeremy show up Thursday and helped us tutor. Amazing young people.
Also on Wednesday we had a visit from Jeanne of the Catholic Services operating out of St Catherines. She brought us paperwork from the Fuller house who will begin construction of two houses in Cedar Grove in the near future. The paperwork are applications for ownerships of the houses. So, if you know of a family in the Cedar Grove area, who has a job and rents, this will be the perfect opportunity for them. I thought it was cool, Jeanne asked the Fuller foundation if they had been by Common Ground yet to distribute the information. Our name is becoming recognized as a place to come.
We had a large crowd at our meal. Lots of new faces. Mr Scott made an extra trip to the food bank and picked up peaches, bananas, peppers, tangerines so the folks got an extra bag of fruit to go along with their groceries. We need help to figure out how to take some of the burden off Ms Abbie. She and Ms Dorothy come in around 3 or so, hang clothes, move over to the food pantry and bag food and then move into the kitchen and make Kool Aid and hand out the meals. Too much. I have tried to get her to not do so much but she is not confident enough with others to let go. So how do we help her? Thursday was Ms Abbie's birthday, so when you see her this week, tell her Happy Birthday!
Thursday around noon, I came by the center to check on the tile work and found Ms Hat and her crew in the friendship room tutoring our older children. There were 3 tutors helping 3 young people. It was great. Hoping this will help in breaking the cycle of neglect and poverty.
It was good to gather again Thursday evening. Joey has taken over the meal preparation and did a great job in fixing the meal. Ms Hat brought birthday cake for Byron. Charley, Beth, Wes, Chuck, a new friend of theirs D, and Dr Phil enjoyed the food and conversation. Following our meal we started our Bible study reading from Acts 11 starting at verse 19 and reading chapter 12. As we read and talked about the verses, what I remember was that God's word, God's lvoe, God's presence will always prevail. People, kingdoms, society will always want to suppress God and His followers. But in the end, God will prevail. We must stay focused on His will for our lives and in the end His lvoe will win out. A big comfort understanding this when we go through our trials and tribulations.
Prayers for Wes and his family as they leave Saturday for Houston and Wes leaves Saturday evening for China. What an adventure he will have and the stories he will be able to tell when he returns.
Prayers for the Kairos team as they are sharing God's lvoe this weekend at Wade.
Prayers for rain and the quenching of the fires in our area. We have finally got some relieve from the triple digit heat wave, but still have had no rain.
Prayers for your Board of Directors meeting Saturday as we decern the direction God is leading Common Ground.
Prayers for those who lost their love ones during the terrible tragedy of 9/11.
Prayers for Dr Phil as he transitions into a new position of Chief of Staff at his hospital.
Answered prayers for the safe return of our family from Haiti, Sarah, Scott, Krysten and Emily.
Hoping you all have a great weekend with your family and friends. Continue to seek out God's direction in your lives and may we bold enough to accept that challenge. Amen.
Thanks to all for continuing to serve while I was gone last week. It is a comfort knowing, all of this is bigger than any one person and life goes on. It had been 3 years since we had been to the beach and it was a comfort to my soul to sit, relax, read, and sleep listening to the waves and birds, to be a part of God's creations.
Mr Scott, Dr Phil, Momma T and Catfish joined together to make our visits on Saturday. With it being the first Saturday of the month, Momma T served communion to 39 men and women in their journeys. Amazing stuff, people of God offering God's grace to the least of them.
Several weeks ago, I received a note from a lady from Chicago whose mother lives on 76 street. Her mother has become wheelchair bound and has no way to leave her house on her own. I contacted Dr Phil and he put together a crew of carpenters and they performed a miracle. Below is a note I got from the lady's daughter.
Mr. Hunter, God is Good!. God bless yourself, the carpenters, and Dr. Philip Gates. Our Mother was able to get out into the yard for the first time yesterday in over a year. You have no idea how much of a blessing this has been for her. We appreciate this from the bottom of our hearts. As soon as we are able, we will be making a contribution to the Common Ground Community.
Tutoring is going on and seems to be going really well. Lots of kiddos and lots of good work going on. Ms Lisa passed out work sheets and the children worked hard on them. Ms Lisa commented on Thursday, she looked at the work sheets and it is scary on how far behind our children are in their learning. I don't understand how the children continue to move up a grade level and still have not mastered the skills they need to achieve at the level they are at? I understand why as they continue to get older, their interest in education drops, they leave school, get pregnant, get into trouble, what else do they have to look forward to? How can we break this cycle?
Tuesday, we began our tile work in the chapel. A gentleman from Grace, came to the open house last year and told John Sauls he would like to donate his services for laying the tile. Finally that day has arrived and he began his work. He is a fireman, so he is doing the work on his off days. What he has done really looks nice and excited to see the floor completed sometime next week.
Wednesday, we had our annual visit from Ms Laura and her students of the Christian Leadership Center from Centenary. We took them around the center and shared our story with them. A bunch of great students wanting to share God's lvoe with others. We have the Center to thank for us being introduced to many of our family interns, Anna and Macy and others. Mary G who was with us this summer, will be part of this program and will be one of our interns this year. Also we had one of the students, Jeremy show up Thursday and helped us tutor. Amazing young people.
Also on Wednesday we had a visit from Jeanne of the Catholic Services operating out of St Catherines. She brought us paperwork from the Fuller house who will begin construction of two houses in Cedar Grove in the near future. The paperwork are applications for ownerships of the houses. So, if you know of a family in the Cedar Grove area, who has a job and rents, this will be the perfect opportunity for them. I thought it was cool, Jeanne asked the Fuller foundation if they had been by Common Ground yet to distribute the information. Our name is becoming recognized as a place to come.
We had a large crowd at our meal. Lots of new faces. Mr Scott made an extra trip to the food bank and picked up peaches, bananas, peppers, tangerines so the folks got an extra bag of fruit to go along with their groceries. We need help to figure out how to take some of the burden off Ms Abbie. She and Ms Dorothy come in around 3 or so, hang clothes, move over to the food pantry and bag food and then move into the kitchen and make Kool Aid and hand out the meals. Too much. I have tried to get her to not do so much but she is not confident enough with others to let go. So how do we help her? Thursday was Ms Abbie's birthday, so when you see her this week, tell her Happy Birthday!
Thursday around noon, I came by the center to check on the tile work and found Ms Hat and her crew in the friendship room tutoring our older children. There were 3 tutors helping 3 young people. It was great. Hoping this will help in breaking the cycle of neglect and poverty.
It was good to gather again Thursday evening. Joey has taken over the meal preparation and did a great job in fixing the meal. Ms Hat brought birthday cake for Byron. Charley, Beth, Wes, Chuck, a new friend of theirs D, and Dr Phil enjoyed the food and conversation. Following our meal we started our Bible study reading from Acts 11 starting at verse 19 and reading chapter 12. As we read and talked about the verses, what I remember was that God's word, God's lvoe, God's presence will always prevail. People, kingdoms, society will always want to suppress God and His followers. But in the end, God will prevail. We must stay focused on His will for our lives and in the end His lvoe will win out. A big comfort understanding this when we go through our trials and tribulations.
Prayers for Wes and his family as they leave Saturday for Houston and Wes leaves Saturday evening for China. What an adventure he will have and the stories he will be able to tell when he returns.
Prayers for the Kairos team as they are sharing God's lvoe this weekend at Wade.
Prayers for rain and the quenching of the fires in our area. We have finally got some relieve from the triple digit heat wave, but still have had no rain.
Prayers for your Board of Directors meeting Saturday as we decern the direction God is leading Common Ground.
Prayers for those who lost their love ones during the terrible tragedy of 9/11.
Prayers for Dr Phil as he transitions into a new position of Chief of Staff at his hospital.
Answered prayers for the safe return of our family from Haiti, Sarah, Scott, Krysten and Emily.
Hoping you all have a great weekend with your family and friends. Continue to seek out God's direction in your lives and may we bold enough to accept that challenge. Amen.
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