Resolutions

Has it been a week already! Not possible, seems like I just sat down yesterday and typed this note. Hope everybody had a great Christmas time with your family and friends and ready to celebrate the New Year together.

We will start off our week by our visits Saturday, Christmas Eve. Through the generosity of Grace and Christ Methodist congregations, we had Christmas packages for our outdoor friends. We did not have enough goodies for everybody, so we asked our friends if we could meet them at their camps. So after our regular stops, we ended up at Smokey and Dale's camps. For most of us, I am sad to say, was our first visit to Smokey's camp. He showed us around, taking us to various parts of his home, just like we do when people come to our homes for the first time. He has benches to sit on. A rug of Jesus strung out over branches for his meditation room while reading his bible. A place where he feeds his birds. A place where he sits and watches the trains go by. All very nice and he was so proud to show off his home. We also got to meet one of his roommates Leroy. A very nice young man, who is picking up the talents of making crosses and dream catchers from Smokey. We then made our way over to Dale's camp where they had just built a fire in honor of me, because I like camp fires so much and we stood around the burn barrel and talked about life. As we left the camps everybody commented this is good. Dawn expressed she was warm on the outside from the fire and also warm on the inside from our camp visits. So I think, we decided walking back to the van, this is where we need to be, not in parking lots handing out stuff to folks we do not know. We have been blessed by people who want to give items to our friends who do not live inside walls, so that is where we need to be.

Not sure why this time of year, we try to cram so much into such a short amount of time, but we do. Family comes in from out of town, so we try to get everybody together which is almost impossible to do, I know it is for our family. But we still try and stress runs high. I will say as Christmas Eve began to get late in the day and we made our way back home at a late hour, a warm bed and a good night sleep sounded good. The cold temperatures set in, the rain got harder, not a night to be out but it was Christmas Eve and time for Ms Sarah and Mr Scott's service at the community chapel. I was tired, cold and sleepy but made my way to the chapel and as I walked up, David McCormick met me with his umbrella and we heard voices singing Christmas carols coming from inside the chapel. Immediately, my disposition changed and I thanked God for these crazy people. I opened the door, to candle lights, the smell of homemade cookies, hugs from friends, music being played by talented young people, words being shown on the wall with beautiful backgrounds glowing, what a spectacle. I sat there, mesmerized what these folks had created, I was blown away by what God has done through us. A year ago, this building set dark, smelled of mildew, worn out paint,  and tonight we sat, celebrating the birth of our Jesus, wow, doesn't get any better than that. Words of thank you does not seem good enough, but thank you all for painting, scraping, decorating, heating, baking, singing, praying. A job well done.

I hope you all saw Krysten's note about Christmas morning. What a blessing to go around to our community delivering packages of joy. Hearing from Momma T, Goergette and Krysten, blesses me and encourages me to continue to work towards the time when we can go out into the community on a regular basis and meet our neighbors. As those of us who have been able to do at some point in time, we always have stories that blesses us with our experiences.

We continue to meet on Tuesday evenings for our community mens bible study. What a blessing it is for men who never would have come together, meet in a chapel where we can talk about how God is working in our lives. Matt has been awesome in leading our group and he continues to encourage other men from his church to join us. I continue to invite our men from the community and they come. We are learning, we are more alike than we are different and together with the help of the Holy Spirit we can make a difference in each other lives and help our community. Hopefully this is the start of something big God has in store for our community.

With school still out, we took the week off for children activities. I was there one afternoon, Tuesday I think and I look around and there are the Mitchell girls walking up asking, mr brian, are we having church today? Krysten had told them not to come, they knew that, but they have nothing else to do and knew someone would be around to lvoe on them at the center. I know at times, we want to close up the doors when the kids get crazy, but folks you all are making a difference in their little lives. They know in their small worlds where to come for snacks, activities and most importantly lvoe. Thank you for your hearts.

We had a big crowd Thursday evening. We had some new folks come and bring dessert. Yummy cakes. Ran out of food at the end. Ms Lisa was there with her lawyer. We also had our first turkey come on down game! Someone had donated over 30 turkeys to us. We had them last week but decided to wait until this week because of all the activities going on last week. I was hoping for a small crowd and we could have given everybody a turkey, but that didn't happen, so we tore up tickets and had our first turkey calling contest. Our friend Noel and Momma T called out the numbers and Georgette passed out the turkeys. Everybody seem to be ok with the process and we handed out all the turkeys. It was fun.

We set up in the friendship room for our bible study Thursday night and had to go find more chairs. An over flowing crowd, great to see so many friends join us for our discussions. Joey led us in the reading of Acts 27. This chapter is telling of Paul's adventures in a boat as they travel to Rome. In the beginning of the chapter, Paul tells them not to set sail, because of rough seas ahead. The pilot does not listen and they leave and run into the storms. Then Paul says, if you stay the course, ride out the storm, the boat will crash but it will be ok, because God will protect us all. Some believed Paul at this point others did not, but in the end all were spared, just as Paul had said. God told Paul there would be storms in his future but God would be there to protect him. There will be storms in our lives, but God will be by our sides to walk with us. Sometimes we cause our storms but other times, life is just messy and there will be trials, but we do not have to go through them alone. We have each other, and more importantly we have God. Just as Paul experienced the grace of God as He protected all the men on the ship, God will protect us.

Prayers were lifted up for Joe G (Icee Joe) as he recovers from knee surgery. Continue healing for Joe Barefield as he recovers from pneumonia. It was great to have Joe join us for supper and he also helped Ms Abbie pass out the grocery bags. Prayers for Gus as he is combating a cold and as he concludes his month long journey living under the bridge. Catfish's sister as she recovers from an illness. Hat's sister as she continues to recovery from her surgery. Wes as he continues to teach the children in China. Also, they are looking for more English teachers in China. Contact Beth if you are interested. New friends, Tony and Chico as they begin their new lives living outside, trying to find work to make their way to Montana.

Thinking back over the week, the thing that sticks out the most for me, was family. We have been blessed to have the children of our folks be a part of our community and it is so special for the young people to come around the center and help out during their Christmas breaks from school or work. What a joy it was to see Georgette, Momma T's little girl, join us for two weeks. She does not get to come home as much as we would like, so for her to be around for this long of time was a real joy. Georgette is always helping out, wonder where she gets that from? Allison, Zig Zag is a joy to have around, helping with the children, suppers and participating in our Bible studies. Lauren, joined us Thursday evening for her first visit since coming home. Her smile, her lvoe of our children is amazing to see. One afternoon as I was passing by Dr Phil's house, there were two of his children, Phillip and Merrill sitting on the front porch. I got to spend a few minutes with them catching up on their lives. It warms my heart to think God has created a place where our young people come back to when they come home, like family. To our young adults, thank you all for being who you are and continuing to support our community, you all are truly blessings to us all.

When I was in a customers house the other day, on the refrigerator was a list of New Year resolutions. The usual resolutions were listed, loose weight, eat right, go to church more, read more books. Got to thinking about that list as the day wore on, all good ideas, but I thought there was item missing, develop a better relationship with Jesus. How often do we make list about what I need to do, or what I need to accomplish or what I need to work on, but really doesn't it all start with our relationship with God? If our relationship with Jesus is not one we can go to in a moment of frustration, or anger, or joy, nothing else matters. We have talked about all year long about relationships. Our community is based on relationships with each other, but that is based on nothing if our own relationships with Jesus is not strong. Relationships with others comes and go as people move through our lives, but the one relationship that never moves away is our relationship with God. We can't loose weight, eat the right food, read the right books, attend church on our own, our spirits are weak and at some point we will fall away. But if we strive to be like Jesus, if we continue to seek His will in our lives, if like Paul, we loose ourselves and become anew in the Spirit of Christ, then all things are possible.

My new year resolution for us all, is that we seek out the Holy Spirit daily, allow Him to move us, to shape us in everything we do. We strive to strengthen our relationship with Jesus, so we can go to Him with any challenge we meet in the coming year. That Christ becomes our closet friend. As we move out and seek others, they will look at us and say, there is something different about them. May the Light of Christ shine so bright in us all in the coming months, nothing will be impossible to accomplish.

May this New Year bring joy, peace and many blessings to you all and your families. Amen.

What if we said no?

Not sure how to describe this week. So many emotions. So many people. So many things happening, it is overwhelming. But, all of it is good and God gets the glory.

With me being out of town Saturday, I can't report on our breakfast turn out. I do know I found 6 left over hash brown patties in the refrigerator, so I know most everything got eaten! Mr Scott reported, their visits went well. A few minor discussions took place, but really every weekend, we have those disagreements, but usually they get resolved on the spot and  life goes on. We have begun discussions again about our roll with our outdoor friends. We will eliminate our stop by the Fairmont and decide on other stops in the near future. We don't want to stop our relationships, that won't happen, we just need to become better stewards of our funds.

Our activities the rest of the week, were leading up to our Christmas meal on Thursday. Every night we had folks coming together to do something. Monday afternoon, we had Pete, Mary, Mark and Ms Abbie practicing for the singing of our carols. What an experience to once again hear music coming from the chapel. Tuesday evening, we had our community men's Bible study, where we read about the birth of Jesus and the reason for the season. Wednesday evening, we had the Kendig clan wrapping presents for our tutoring kiddos. Momma T and Georgette decorated the chapel with Christmas cheer. Ms Sarah and Mr Scott organizing the community bags and then another Ms Sarah from Christ Methodist brought a crew to assemble Christmas bags for our outdoor friends. Every room in the center had some sort of Christmas goodies in it.

Also on Wednesday, two cars pulled up, full of Christmas presents for one of our families. Ms Lisa has been discussing with an organization about adopting a family. They agreed to support Ms Diane's family. This family is a sad story, with a mom and dad not present, and an aunt taking over the task of trying to raise all the children. Most of the children attended our summer camp this past year. This group of ladies not only gave out presents to the children, but gave Ms Diane a large Brookshire's gift card for groceries. They have agreed to support this family for the year, supplying their needs as they come up. What a blessing.

Then there was Thursday. Momma T and Georgette spent all afternoon decorating the tables with their Christmas magic. We gathered in the chapel to a packed house, standing room only! Where we sang Christmas songs, heard about what advent means, and prayed to God for all His blessings. We heard during the evening a lot of positive comments about our chapel experience and their looking forward for more. We hope to have worship at least once a month, depending on how things work out. It has been a long time coming but oh how it was worth it. Great things are in store for the chapel and those who find their way there.

We had so many folks show up, we had to get more chairs and tables as we sat down for supper. We had a nice surprise, Sione and his family joined in the festivities. As the folks were eating, Santa dropped by. Both the young and old sat on Santa's lap! We had a great meal. Following our meal, Ms Abbie handed out her groceries and then the community made their way to the friendship room, where Ms Sarah and her elves gave out bags of clothes, socks and Bibles to all. Ms Sarah, said it was so nice to hear from the community, "thank you for all ya'll are doing", "Merry Christmas", "What a blessing you all are". Mr Scott took some of outdoor friend bags to the Fairmont as he took one of friends back home. Ms Terry showed up again with her medical team, giving out free flu shots. Everything went well with no major problems. Thank you all for such a special evening. Pictures will be posted soon of the evening.

Please keep Ms Abbie's Joe in your prayers. He has been in the hospital since Monday, struggling with pneumonia. He has fluid building up in his body and they are trying to keep it drained. All of this is putting pressure on his new heart. Not sure when he will be coming home. Prayers for Ms Sarah and Mr Scott as they travel to Chicago for the week. Prayers for all who are traveling.

Don't forget, the young adults will be hosting a Christmas Eve service, Saturday night in the community chapel, starting at 11:20pm. I asked if it was ok if I showed up in my pajamas!

On Monday evening, the Men of Grace Bible study reads the Christmas story. Really it has become a tradition for us, wherever we are in the Bible, we stop and read the different passages about the birth. This year, Billy Graham had written a little article about some of his favorite passages, so we followed his suggestions. We started in Isaiah, Micah and then into the New Testament. A good way to bridge together the Old and New. Our first reading in the New Testament was Luke 1: 26-38. This is the story of where the angel comes to Mary and says you have been blessed by God and you will have a baby. What is so great about the Bible, no matter how many times you have read a passage, something might come to you for the first time.

I had one of those weird thoughts Monday night, what if Mary said, thanks but no thanks God? Here, this young girl was about to get married, minding her own business, following their traditions of their time. All of a sudden an angel appears to Mary telling her what God has planned for her and turning her world upside down. What if, Mary says, wow that is cool Gabriel, then thinks about all the grief she will get from family and friends, and says, thanks but no thanks!

I have been thinking about that this week. What if, when God said, let's build a Kingdom together, where there is such darkness and despair, what if we said, thanks but no thanks God. You are asking too much of me. When God said to us, I need you to teach my children, we said, that's nice but I don't have time. Or when God said, go visit my people who have no homes, we say, that is outside my comfort zone, let someone else do that. What if we said no?

Several months ago, the District Superintendent, spoke in our chapel as we celebrated the commissioning of our young people going into ministry. He said to the churches that were being represented there , if you closed your doors to your church tomorrow, would the community miss you? Tough question, have heard it before, but so true. Because you all did not say no, the community depends on our support, our help and our lvoe. As we witnessed last night, many, many folks of our community need us. They come to us for help, they come to us for prayer, they come to us for advise, they come to us for education, they come to us for food, they come to us for hope. The world is tough, lots of challenges to us all, we need a place where lvoe can be found no matter what our circumstances are. Because of your lvoe, we are beginning to build a place like that. A place where God can be found, a place where there are no barriers between colors, where we can come together and worship our God with no worries of what we look like, smell like or talk like.

I say it many times during the year, thank you all for living for others. But it is so true. Living for others is not normal in our society. Worrying if our friends have a meal, warm or safe is not what we are taught. We read in magazines, hear on TV, read in the newspapers, what is best for me matters most. What if Mary said no? What if we said no? Thank God, Mary did not. Thank God you all said yes.

Have a the greatest of time with your family this Christmas weekend. You all are very special followers of Christ. Amen.

God is Good!

Did you know God is Good?! Just when you have lost your faith, gotten a bad report, had your patience tested, trying to make people happy, God is there by your side, saying it's ok, I am with you.

Not sure you can get any more activities into last Saturday, but we tried. As I drove up to the center, a lady got out of her car and asked are you Brian. I said yes ma'am, what can I do for you? She said, did someone tell you we were coming today to work around the center. I said, no ma'am but that's ok. She was the teacher in charge of the Keithville Middle School Student Council. As we talked, more and more and more children showed up until we had 15 young people running all around the center. Several of them asked as they got out of their cars, about the name Anna Jackson, painted on our curb. I said, why? Most of them have a teacher named Anna Jackson. I said, yes that is the same lady. I told them she use to be the preacher's wife here and loved the community. In fact, she is on my list to invite to speak to us in one of our chapel times. What are the odds of a group of children showing up, unannounced, knowing a lady who we want to talk to our community! God is good.

We had a couple of Brookwood families come and got started on painting Krysten's office. Sure brightens up the place with a fresh coat of paint. Momma T and Ms Patty were busy preparing for U 2 Saturday, with Krysten's help. And then a gentleman pulls up with tractors and chain saws and Ms Patty got her trees cut down in preparation of our fruit grove to being planted. Mr Scott leads his band of followers to visit our friends. Wow what a morning. God is good.

One of our friends who live outside, Robert came back with Mr Scott to wash his clothes. Robert told us a couple of weeks ago, the land owner was selling the property, where his camp is, to the railroad people and he was going to have to move. We have been looking for a spot to move him, so after he got his clothes in the wash, we left to go check out some spots. I asked Robert if he would like to live inside if we could find him a place and he said that would be ok. So we stopped by an old friend Big D and talked with him. Big D has a barbeque place on Common street down the hill from First Methodist. We have had several barbeque suppers there with our friends. Big D has always helped out the guys if he could. We asked Big D if Robert could stay behind his place in an old trailer. We walked around the building and Big D offered Robert a place to stay in a storage room that was nicer than the trailer. So we spent Saturday afternoon moving Robert's stuff from one camp to his new home. God is good.

Sunday evening, we had the opportunity to come together to celebrate the life of one of our friends, Danny Hopkins. We met Danny on one of our Saturday visits, living under an overpass on Mansfield road. He had just arrived from New Orleans getting away from the hurricane. The first memory of Danny was his smile and his camp. Danny had made his camp complete with a bathroom area, a dining place and campfire section. He had mirrors to shave by, a bowl to wash your face, built out of other people's trash. The next week, we met William there. Not too long after that, Danny was forced to leave that camp and we found him at his new camp in the woods off Pines Road. Danny loved people, he would love to talk to the young people we would bring by to visit him. He always had a story about himself or somebody, always to be sure to put a smile on your face. He loved his dogs and cats.

We gathered at small church on Pines Road Sunday night, and as we walked into the sanctuary, we were surprised to see the placed packed with people. The church did not know about the Pool or Common Ground we did not know about Danny's church. What an amazing site to see, how many folks were effected by Danny's smile. The pastor spoke about Danny's character, his smile and his love of Jesus. The pastor said, his first meeting with Danny, Danny said, I am the ultimate camper! The church had prepared a feast following the celebration in their fellowship hall. We talked with the pastor about common ground and how we could work together. He said he was from Lufkin and had worked with the homeless there. Pastor David, said all of this is happening for a reason. Yes we will miss Danny but look how his life will live on through others. God is good.

Tuesday evening we had a Board meeting. Most of us do not like these things, but Ms Lisa makes it is as painless as possible. The first order of business was to vote on the purchase of property across the street on Southern from the center. A family owns 5 lots and through the negotiations with Ms Lisa they have agreed to sell us all the lots at a reduced price. Dr Phil will begin building his Tiny houses on two of the lots and the other lots will be there for us to use when God determines it is time to use them. One of the lots is the concrete parking lot we all thought the church had already owned but that was not correct. It has already been suggested we have a community work day and maybe put a dumpster there for the community. Pretty cool. God is good.

Mr Brian had to leave the meeting so maybe others can let us know what else went on. John Sauls and Momma T did give a report on the kitchen update. The plans have been approved by the state fire Marshall and now they are at the city offices for permits. We are purchasing a new vent hood, a new stove and other equipment. Can you imagine in several months what delicicious things will be coming out of that place! Wonder what God has in store for that place? What lives will be changed. Wow, God is good.

We talked about the need for funding for the operations of our center. Ms Lisa and Ms Georgeanne do a great job in finding us funding for projects, but most grants are not awarded for helping with the electricity, gas, water bills. We need to begin thinking, out side the box of having a fund raiser of some sort to help with these costs. No idea is crazy, let us hear from you some thoughts.

We had another amazing night at our community men's Bible study. Matt brought more men from Airline Baptist and they shared their hearts with us. We had a new man from our community come. It is something special when men can come together and share what is on their hearts with each other. One of the guys, shared what a blessing it has been for him to become involved with Common Ground. He went on his first visit of outdoor friends Saturday and he was blown away by what he saw and experienced. He said he has been praying to God to bring people into his life who live out the Good News, not just talk about it. He has found folks who do that at Common Ground. Thank you God, your are great!

We again gathered for our community meal, with the crowd being down a little with the weather being so nasty. We got to see the Christmas lights and decorations the young people hung around the center last Saturday. It put everybody in a better mood, don't you think?! I will say the children were wound up, with school getting out and the anticipation of Santa coming. Mr Scott has been able to get some can goods from the Food Bank the last several weeks which helps with the lowering of costs in the purchasing of can goods for our grocery bags. God supplies.

We moved into our Bible study, reading the last part of Acts 25 and 26. It was nice to have one of our young people, Zig Zag, some of us know her as Allison was back with her extended family. We read where Paul again challenges the king and the leaders about Jesus and the Good News. Paul always seeming to have the right words to dispute their accusations. Wouldn't it be nice to have Paul's boldness and authority to make such claims when we are confronted with disbelief from others? Oh wait, we can, Paul was full of the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that is in us. He just allowed the Spirit to flow freely in and through him, why can't we do the same? The same God who spoke to Paul, can speak to us, for He is good!

Next Thursday, we will hopefully start a new tradition, of going around the neighborhood, caroling. Joey wants to bring hot chocolate and he said he would bake cookies for the evening. Come and join in on the fun. New memories to be made.

Also, next Thursday, we will have our first chapel gathering. We plan to start our chapel worship time at 5 and move into our meal at 5:30. Pete, is preparing the music with help from Ms Abbie playing the keyboard, Mary playing her flute, and a new friend Mark playing the guitar. Ms Sarah and Mr Scott will lead us in through words. It has been a long time in coming, but we are finally here, worshipping God through prayer, song and words, pretty awesome. Following our chapel time, we will move into our meal, with Santa visiting with everybody during our meal. What an amazing God we have.

Prayers were lifted up for Ms Hat's sister, Nancy as she goes through hip surgery. William continues to ask for prayers as he struggles with alcohol. Gus has a new friend, Katie, going through abuse from her husband and not knowing what to do. Beth's brother John as he deals with a pinch nerve. Travel mercies for family and friends as they make their way home. Lomax and his grandmother as they go through the season for the first time without his grandfather and her husband. Dawn's son Rain, that he find his way back to his mom.

Don't forget our breakfast is this Saturday. Momma T will need help preparing our meal of biscuits and gravy. If you can come by at 8 to help please do so, if not join her and the rest of the community at 9.

A reminder, Ms Sarah and Mr Scott and the young adults will have their Christmas Eve services at the community chapel. Food and snacks will be provided at 11 in the community hall and the service will begin at 11:20, ending at midnight.

Keep Gus in your prayers as he continues to seek God outside under the bridge. He has a blog, www.thegiftoflvoe.blogspot.com. Great reading, might make you mad, will make you think, definitely will stir your heart. What a pleasure it is to know a young man who truly lives out the Good News.

Thank you all for living out the Good News. It is easy to write such stories, because you all are living not talking about changing lives. These are just a few stories of many more that go on every week. You take time to be with others, listening to their stories, helping them to turn their lives over to God and isn't that what it is all about. We led them to Christ, let God change their hearts. God is Good! All the time! Amen.

Brrr, it's cold outside!

How has your week gone? How has God blessed you? Another amazing week in our community, with temperatures at or below freezing for most of it. Some more needed rain has come and even a sprinkling of snow flakes were seen. God is always there. Creating new and exciting times for us all.

We had good visits with our outdoor friends Saturday morning. We had a van full of folks joining in on the fun. We continue to be surprised by Turner's appearance at the van. What a treat to see him ride up on his bicycle as Mr Scott helps him decide on what he needs.  Robert shared with us, he is having to move. The owner of the land is clearing off the property and selling the land to the railroad people. So we think we can move Robert over to behind the Macaroni factory on the other side of First Methodist. Have not heard from Robert this week to see where he is at on his move. We made our way over to the Fairmont and as we try to leave the van decides it does not want to go any further. An old friend comes up, Pastor Kendall walks over and says, should we lay hands on the van and pray? We did, and the van was good to go! As Mr Scott and others were visiting with the guys, I sneaked over and visited Cassie's new building. Cassie was hosting a photography session for the Providence House families. The building is huge with lots of potential. Hopefully it will open shortly. We made our way over to a new stop for me, behind First Methodist church. Some of our regular friends, have decided it is best for us to meet them there to keep the crowds down. Not to sound judging, but looking at this huge building behind us, with a brand new parking lot, a broken down van of crazy radical people sits ministering to the least of them seems to be out of place or maybe it is where we should be?

As I walk into tutoring Monday afternoon, Mr Krysten has the children sitting down at the table, discussing behavior qualities we need to expect from them. And also what they can depend on from us. They discuss ideas they would like to see and Krysten has put them down on a bulletin board. Look for it as you come into the center. Very positive responses and something we could all use in our lives.

Tuesday evening we had our first men's community Bible study. As I have already alluded, we have had a cold week. Well Tuesday evening, we had rain, we had snow, we had below freezing temperatures. As one of the Airline Baptist guys walk in, I say to him, if I had gone home, I would not have left the house again. Saying to him, let's wait a few more minutes, let's try to have another study next week when the weather is not so bad. Almost as I was saying that, the chapel door opens our first gentleman shows up from the neighborhood, all wet from walking in the bad weather! Then another one shows up, then another one, until we had 4 men from the neighborhood! I was blown away by their desire to brave the rainy, fridged temperatures, to come together and talk about Jesus! So here we are, sitting in this magnificent cathedral, in a circle, drinking hot chocolate, talking about Jesus, what a night! We didn't sugar coat our discussions, as we talk about discrimination, color, education divisions among us. And one of the neighborhood men spoke up and said, the only way to break the line of discrimination of color, to get past the difference in our backgrounds, is to lvoe one another as Jesus has lvoed us. Wow, we don't need another hand out, not another program, we just need each other coming together sitting around a circle and beginning to lvoe each other as Brothers in Christ. What a blessing the evening was.

Wednesday afternoon, Mr Scott went to check on Turner to be sure he was doing alright in the cold. He brought him some thermals. Turner had his tarps all spread out over his cardboard boxes blocking the wind as best as possible. Turner had a fire going and Mr Scott said he was doing ok. Mr Scott went by to check on Robert, but he was not there. Scott then drove around the area to see if those who are in tents and not under a bridge needed anything. Thank you Mr Scott for thinking of our friends.

Thursday evening, we had lots of activity. Mr Pete and an old friend Mark Williams met in the chapel to discuss our upcoming Christmas worship time. We will have first gathering in the chapel before our meal on the 22nd. Please try and come if you can, we will start at 5. Ms Abbie will be playing the keyboard, Mark will bring some folks from his church, Ms Dorothy will lead us in the singing of some Christmas hymns. I have twisted the arms of Ms Sarah and Mr Scott to say a few words. We have talked about our desire to have the opportunity to come together and share in God's lvoe in words and songs, well folks it is happening! Very exciting.

It was good to have another old friend join us Thursday evening. Terry Strain and her folks from the Pool joined us to offer flu shots to the community. Momma T and I were one of the last ones to get ours and they said they given out shots to over 20 people. They want to come back again and will do so on the 22nd. Momma T and I walked Terry around the center to show her what God has done. Terry started the Pool at the center and had not been back since she left. Lots of memories for Terry, some sad and some good. God has a way of calming the storms, relieving the stress, and turning good into bad and hopefully for Terry this will be a beginning for her to make a new start in our community. Thank you God for being so faithful.

We had a huge crowd Thursday evening for the meal. Lots of new faces. Ran out of food just at the right time. Ran out of bags of groceries after Ms Abbie had given out 60 bags. Great to have new friends but also a reminder of what we are up against as we are just scratching the service of what God has in store for us.

After our meal, we moved into our Bible study. After a couple of hours sitting in a cold room, I suggested we pray and leave. Don't think our new A/C units are heating. We have never needed heat before, so it will take us getting use to our new units to get it right. Joey led us in the reading of Acts 24. Paul again is causing trouble with just about everyone he speaks to. The Jews are made at him, the Romans are mad at him. We commented, wouldn't it be nice to be able to have that much faith in what God has told you, that we speak the words no matter what the outcome maybe. I am reminded of some of Sione's passionate talks to the people of the church asking them are you feeding the hungry, are you clothing the naked, are you visiting the lonely. Making the church feel uncomfortable, and the church saying you can't make us feel bad at church because that is not why we come to church. Sometimes when we speak the truth, especially God's truth, it may some feel uncomfortable. But isn't that what God is asking of us? If we don't speak who will? If we don't go out and visit our friends who will? If we are not the hands and feet of God who are? We can't wait for the church, we can't wait for the committees, we can't wait for society to decide, there is not time. While we talk about doing church the way Jesus has told us to do church, people are freezing, people are hungry, people need clothes, people need lvoe.

Prayers for continued struggles of alcohol for William. Prayers for continued healing for Charley. Prayers for U 2 Saturday, that our neighbors will join in on the fun. Prayers for Dominick and her new born son. Prayers for Henry and J'taylor and their family as they have moved back home. Prayers for Ms Abbie as she has to be the rock in her family and led her grands in the path they need to take. Prayers for Kelsey and upcoming marriage on July 7th.

Brookwood will be with us this Saturday as well as U 2 Saturday going on. Brookwood will be here around 8:30, U 2 starts at 10. come by and say hi and join in on the fun.

Hope you all have a great weekend, stay warm, enjoy God's blessing around you, hug your children, tell your family you lvoe them and have a blessed week ahead. Amen.

A new Friday

We have gone through another month and we celebrate the first Friday in December. Wow, we are just about to complete another year.

We have been praying for rain and we finally got some good soaking all day rain, unfortunately it was on Saturday. We made our rounds to find just a few who braved the storms to meet us. We were walking along the tracks to Turner's camp and a downpour came. Mr Scott, Ms Dawn and I, said our good byes to Turner from afar and ran back under the covering of the bridges. Sorry Turner. We had brought Turner a tarp a couple of weeks ago, so hopefully he was making use of it Saturday. As we pulled up to the Labor Ready stop, one of the regulars told a new guy, just wait, they will be here. The new guy didn't think we would be there with the rain happening. He doesn't know this crazy group of people - does he!

When we arrived back at the center, Ms Hat and Joey were busy preparing a Thanksgiving meal for some of the guys. As Joey and Hat shared, it was a great afternoon of fun, food and the best part, fellowship. We all have busy lives. It is always special when you can sit down together, enjoy a meal and get to know one another. That is where real community is begun and lasting relationships are formed. Thanks to all for being a part of this special time.

We had a good week of tutoring. Just the right amount of children for the number of tutors that come. When you are able to sit down with a child, listen to them, have a conversation with them, you begin to learn their stories. You begin to understand what trials they are facing, hear about their dreams and get to know them a little bit better. When we get to know them and they get to know us, an authentic community is being formed.

I had been carrying around some stuff in my truck and thought we needed a community bulletin board. I mentioned that to Krysten and as of Tuesday, we now have a community bulletin board in the community room. We put Gus's newspaper article up there, Ms Ruby's obituary and our upcoming men's Bible study. This might be a great tool for the community in sharing what is going on in the community.

I arrived early Thursday afternoon at the center and found Ms Patty in the garden. For those of you who have not heard, Ms Patty presented a proposal to the guild of Master Gardeners and she was awarded $1500. Our gardens are now a part of the city wide community gardens. Whenever there is an event hosted by the Master Gardeners we will be a part of that. I just lvoe walking around the grounds and listening to the excitement in Ms Patty's voice talking about her dreams for the gardens. The monies she received will go towards the clearing of some trees along the back of the gardens, so new fruit trees can be planted. In the near future, we will have the very first Cedar Grove orchard! How amazing is that! Ms Patty had a young man volunteer his services in order to complete his Eagle Scout project and now the flower beds are complete with their very own irrigation system. Ms Patty says, can't wait until next spring, we will be able to feed the whole neighborhood! Ms Patty has great plans for the gardens and God is working in her to allow all of it to come true. Walk through the gardens the next time you are at the center, hopefully Ms Patty will be there and listen to God at work.

We had a nice group join us for our community meal. Being the first of the month, the numbers were small, but for me, I like that. You are able to sit down and relax and spend time with the folks and listen to their stories. They have such great stories, it is always a blessing to be a part of that.

We had our Bible study following the meal. Joey led us in the reading of Acts 23. We commented about the boldness of Paul. Paul was so full of the Holy Spirit, he would antagonize the leaders by telling them what was on his heart. Not wavering from his purpose of sharing the Good News. Can't we have the same boldness? What would it take for us to have the heart of Paul? What would it look like?

Prayer concerns expressed were for Mr Scott L and recovering from  a cold from the Haiti trip. William, for the continued struggle with the addiction of alcohol. Hat's husband's procedure Friday morning. The Silent Auction of the Grace youth this weekend.

We had a chance to visit with John Sauls and Dr Phil about their Haiti experiences. You could see their faces light up as they began to share the stories. Hopefully we will all get a chance to listen to their adventures in the near future.

Upcoming events this week. We will have our first community men's Bible study Tuesday evening in the chapel. We are hoping it will be more than a study, but a chance to build relationships with each other. We also will have a Board meeting on Tuesday. U 2 Saturday will be on the 10th. Also we will have Brookwood join us on Saturday.

What a blessing to be a part of this community and have the opportunity to see God at work in so many of you. Amazing things happen every day, little things that change your attitude or focus into what it should be. We all have hectic lives, especially this time of year, but wouldn't it be cool to stop by, sit down with a child, maybe read a book, walk through the garden, give a hug, listen to a story, hand out a meal, give a bag of groceries away, read the Bible, pray together, visit a friend under a bridge. Guaranteed to change your life and receive a blessing beyond what you can imagine.

Hope you all have a great weekend. God is good. Amen.