A new year

Baby it's cold outside! And wet!! We had some strong storms move through the area Christmas Day and then the cold temperatures followed. Hope your part of the world was not so stormy and wet.

Last Saturday, we made our way around to the camps. Through the generous hearts of the congregation at Grace Methodist, we were able to give our friends gifts of shoes, coats, gloves, shirts and pants. Just in time for the cold weather they faced this week. What a blessing. They all really liked their gifts. Turner, Richard, Robert, William were doing ok. Dale was again not looking good or feeling well. Smokey had a bad tooth ache and was just getting up as we got to his apartment.

We had a nice surprise Saturday morning, as we met with the Keithville Middle school Student Council faculty advisor. Her children collected over $300 for Common Ground and also gave us coloring books, freeze bees, and other smaller toys. She wants to come again one Saturday and help us out around the center. What remarkable young people.

Krysten spent most of the morning sorting through all the toys and gifts we have received from various churches for our neighborhood children. She and her band of elves went door to door Christmas Day handing out the packages. Forgot to ask Krysten how it went. Krysten could you let us know.

With school out, there were no scheduled activities for the children.

Hat got a call Monday evening from William about Dale. William was concerned for Dale's health. Hat made a few calls, and Tim and Charley picked up Dale and took him to the emergency room at LSU hospital. Tim said, they almost lost Dale during the night. On Wednesday afternoon, Joey, William and I went to MICU to see Dale. We woke him up, talked for about 30 minutes. Dale was doing much better. The doctor came in as we were visiting and told Dale he had a severe case of ulcers. It was great watching William and Dale talk together. William had a smile on his face, seeing Dale doing better.

Thursday, we got started off by Gus singing songs in chapel. Then Ms Jean sang a song, followed by Pastor Eddie sharing the Word from Philippians. Talking about letting go of the past, so we can move forward into the new year. The highlight of the evening, was when Pastor asked if anyone wanted to turn their life over to Christ, to let go of the past and start the new year living for Christ. A young lady came forward, Bernice. Pastor invited us up front to lay hands on Bernice and promise to help her start a new life in Christ. Awesome.

Krysten, Joey, Ms Dorothy and Ms BJ provided us with our meal, groceries and drink. Ms Lisa came in to check in our friends at the grocery table, Momma T and Allison helped serve our meal, Ms Ardis served our drinks, Joey, a new friend John, and Gus washed the dishes and an old friend Ricky helped clean off the tables.  We got to see Georgette and meet Momma T's granddaughter. What an evening.

I lvoe this time of year, for moments like we had Thursday. We get to see our young adults who have moved on to new adventures, to come home and come by and see us. The real meaning of Christmas, family.

Continued prayers for Ms Abbie and Mr Joe. Both are getting better but still have a long way to go. Go by and say hi, they would appreciate seeing you all. Prayers for our Ms Sarah as she leaves us next week for her 6 month stay in Haiti. Exciting and also challenges await her. We will miss her. We can always go by the youth office and give Mr Scott a hard time to make him feel at home!

As Pastor Eddie talked about in chapel, we are at the threshold of a new year. We have an opportunity to let go of the things in our past, so we can move forward into the future. If we don't let go, then we can not move forward. What is in your past, what is holding you back, what is wearing on your heart, what are you holding onto, that prevents you from moving forward? We have so much to look forward to in the new year, what a shame if we don't let go and get to experience all the blessings God has for us. I pray for each one of us, we can forgive, we can forget, we can let go. God is preparing us for experiences beyond our comprehension, we don't want to miss out! 

What a community you are becoming. I am amazed at all the things you are doing for God. Just this week, one of our friends needed your help and compassion and you came through. When there is crisis, you don't think of reasons why you can't help, you jump in. When a community member gets sick, you provide food and conversation. You help out around the center, when there is a need, not complaining, just doing. Thank you all for allowing Christ to flow through you and be the light into the world. What an honor it is to know each one of you and to see you grow deeper in your relationship with Jesus Christ.

May we all have a blessed new year. Amen.

Merry Christmas

The old saying, if you don't like the weather in Louisiana, just wait 24 hours, came true this week. The temperatures on Wednesday afternoon were in the 70's, Thursday it struggled to get to 50! Hope your weather was not as tricky as ours!

We had a morning shower last Saturday to make everything just wet enough to make it miserable. The scouts could not work on the greenhouse, our stuff got a little damp in the back of the trucks, but we moved on and things worked out. We covered the back of the truck with a tarp, asking Turner if he needed the tarp for his camp. He said, no thanks, you better keep it, the rain is not over. As soon as we left Turner, it started raining again! Ok Turner, what do you know that we don't?! Richard read a story from a book he had with him. Dale, William and Robert were waiting on us. Dale got out of his chair and hobbled to the truck. He looked better following his hospital stay, but not sure he should be outside in all of this cold weather. William seemed to be fine. We finished our visits talking to Smokey about his new job at the VA hospital. He pushes a book cart around the hospital and asks all the patients if they would like something to read. Smokey was made for this job, with his love to talk and outgoing personality, he is having a good time.

By noon the weather had dried up enough for the scouts to begin the final phase on the remodeling of the greenhouse. They began to install the new plexiglass panes. Ms Lisa has put up pictures of the glass, it is outstanding. With a late start the scouts were not able to finish, so they will be back this Saturday to complete the project. Can't you just see, rows and rows of little plants budding out, waiting to be planted!

We had an unusual large number of children this week in the afternoons. Monday, Krysten, Joey and Mary helped the children, make gingerbread houses. Tuesday, they made Christmas cookies, Wednesday they made a Christmas tree out of pictures of their hands. The tree is on the wall in the Fellowship hall.

With the completion of our new roof, the air conditioner units needed to be hooked back up. John Sauls got our plumber to run new gas lines to the units and on Tuesday our friend, John Williams hooked the electricity back up. John came after work, with flashlight in hand, worked in the dark to get the job done. What a blessing our two Johns are!

Tuesday evening, Mr Matt led our discussions after reading from the first chapter in Ecclesiastes. People live, people die, but the earth continues forever. All things continue the way they have been since the beginning. We all too often get full of ourselves, thinking we can change the world, or look what I have done, or think we are indispensable, but Solomon reminds us, God has been here for ever, will be here for ever and we are but a small blip in God's radar. God is in charge of life, not us.

Wednesday, Lomax and Joey went and picked up smoked turkeys from our friends at the New Room. Later on in the evening, Momma T led our team of table decorations. Krysten, Emily and Lomax helped her transform the room into a Christmas wonderland. Patience, pictures are coming.

Thursday was full of activities. To get the day started, Krysten, Emily and Joey made bags of groceries, then moved over to the kitchen and began the process of carving up all those turkeys for our meal. Quite an adventure since no one had ever done that before! 

Mr Matt invited a pastor friend of his, Pastor Doyle Adams to lead chapel. He pastors a church in Benton.  A long time friend  Spencer lead us in singing some Christmas hymns. Pastor Doyle talked about relationships. Our relationships with our families, our spouses, our children, our friends are important but the most important relationship we can ever have is the one with Jesus. God lvoed us so much, He sent His son to earth so that we may begin the process of starting that relationship. Very simple, no magic, just a willingness on our part to accept Christ in our hearts. This is a perfect time of year to do so if you have not done so already.

We then made our way into the fellowship hall where the food and fun was everywhere. We had a special visit from the guy in the red suit. Another friend of ours, Thomas Jackson, entertained the children as well as the adults in learning what everybody wanted for Christmas. Ms Lisa and Momma T checked the names of all our friends as they got their groceries. Then they made their way into the friendship room, where Ms Sarah  and Ms Tammy was busy handing out Christmas bags to both the children and adults, compliments of the generosity of the congregation of Grace.

What a night, so much joy and fun.

Ms Lisa reported the new fundraiser is going well so far, close to $5000 has been collected. Continue to think of names to give to Ms Lisa. Please keep your prayers going that God will provide a way for us to pay our debt.

Prayers for Mr Joe as he recovers from his heart surgery. Prayers for Ms Abbie as she recovers from her pneumonia. Prayers for Ms Sarah. For those of you who have not heard, Ms Sarah has accepted a temporary assignment to Haiti. She will be gone for 6 months, starting the first of January. Prayers for safe travel for all who are visiting family and friends this holiday weekend. Continued prayers for Cari Bollinger as she starts a new treatment. Prayers for a friend of Hat's who was diagnosed with the same disease as Cari's. Prayers for us all, as we stop for a moment and celebrate the birth of Jesus and reflect on our relationship with Him.

I hope everybody has a joyous time with your family and friends as we gather to celebrate the birth of Jesus. God continues to bless our little community in so many ways, we need to stop and thank Him for sending His son to us. Exciting times are ahead for us in the new year, may we all draw closer to the one who makes a way out of no way. May we celebrate a new life, a new way of living, bringing joy to everyone we meet. Shinning His light into the world around us.

Merry Christmas and blessings to all in the new year. Amen.

Don't forget

What an amazing week we had. God's riches abound with lvoe and joy. Hope your week was just as joyful and inspiring!

We made our visits to our outdoor friends and everybody was doing ok. Turner smiled during our visit, doesn't do that much! Made our morning. Richard is always lively. Dale, William and Robert were waiting on us. William has a new tent and was doing good. Joey stayed with William the rest of the morning. Wish there was something we more could do more for Dale. He is in need of a shower, clean clothes, but resist our offers. We got to sit down and visit with Smokey for a few minutes, very nice. Smokey gave us a list of names he has been talking to for the past year to see if he can get some financial help. So far he has gotten the run around. Ms Lisa has taken on Smokey's list of names with the hope she can get some action. Sad, our friends have to go through this, but it is the norm for most of them.

Karl was busy in "his" house as usual Saturday morning, making it ready for new construction.

Robert was washing his clothes Saturday. We asked him to plant our new pansies. If you see him, tell him what a nice job he did.

Ms Patty was busy in "her" garden while the Boy Scouts continue their work on the greenhouse.

Sunday evening was dinner at the Ackermans. Lots of good food and good conversations. Thank you Ackermans for opening up your house to the community each month.

Monday afternoon was kind of drizzly, so we had no children. There is a small riff between two families, so some of our children are staying away. Hate to hear this, but this feud has been going on for generations.

Early, very early, Tuesday morning, Lomax, TJ and mr brian left on their road trip. We had to get to New Orleans by 11 am to meet with the folks of a non profit food establishment called Liberty's Kitchen. We met with the executive director for an hour or so and she explained why she started the kitchen, what she is learning and where they are going. We then met with her program director Dennis and he continued our tour of the various sites around the city. They are focused on helping at risk young people, ages 16-24. Offering a way out of poverty, learning life skills, how to work together, how to deal with authority figures, working with the public a whole new way of life. They are having great successes changes these young lives. The thing that comes to mind, thinking back on what they said, it is about relationships, about helping each other, learning from each other, and growing together.

After our meeting with the kitchen, we did do some sight seeing around Jackson Square. Will have pictures up shortly. Lomax had never been to New Orleans, so we made our way to Cafe Demonde and we forced down some beignets and coffee. Walked around for awhile and got to see some of the life of New Orleans.

We ended the day at Sione's Beth church in Kenner. They host groups working in the area from the hurricanes, so they have rooms and a shower trailer on the side of the church to offer to the groups. Hate to say, John S. I took pictures of the shower trailer, to give to you to plant a seed of construction for us! We had the whole place to ourselves. We met Beth for supper at a seafood restaurant and had a great evening of conversations and dreams.

Wednesday morning, we made our to Baton Rouge to meet Pastor Eddie and see their operation at First Methodist church in Baker. Their kitchen is similar to ours and they do a ton of business. It all started after Katrina as they began to feed meals out of their kitchen. They have since expanded their kitchen, now serving meals to several private schools in the area and offer a catering business. They also are a teaching kitchen for youth from a drug program. Every Wednesday, they have a worship service, followed by a meal for the community, similar to what we do on Thursdays. Again, what I remember thinking back on our visit with pastor Eddie, he said, it is all about relationships. The ones you develop with community and each other.

Lomax, got us together with Stephannie on our way out of town. It was great to see her again and visit for a few moments.

The next few paragraphs are from Mr Matt from our Tuesday mens fellowship. 

Had a good group Tuesday. Rickey, Charlie, Tim, John, Patrick, Don, Noel, Karl, Richard, William and myself.

 

Read from Ephesians Ch 4 and talked about unity in the Body of Christ and using all that God has given each of us to build one another up for a common ministry.

 

The Spirit led quote of the week came from Tim. Concerning Common Ground's ministry to the people of Cedar Grove. "I hear a lot of people talking about the folks in Cedar Grove and what they want to do for them and the things they want to do to help them. Maybe we should just see what God wants to teach us through them. What we can learn from the people in Cedar Grove."

 

To me, that was profound, because I came to Common Ground with the same misconception, but concerning the homeless. What I found out was that God wanted to use the homeless to teach me - to allow me to see the world through his eyes - to learn about myself and my place in his kingdom and to draw close to him. And yet, I continually find myself creating the same misconception as I ponder the road ahead into Cedar Grove.

Thanks to God leading Tim, I know I have much to pray about.

Ms Lisa and her crew have been busy creating a fundraiser idea to help with the costs of repairing our roof. She is in the process of mailing out this hard copy to various people and companies. If you have anyone you think might like to contribute to our roof repair, please send the names and addresses to Ms Lisa yesterday! We need to get them out to the folks before the end of the year.

Thursday evening was great. Chapel service was exceptional, very moving to me. Not sure why Christmas hymns get to me so much, but singing and hearing folks clapping and praising God behind me, just started the tears flowing. Having our friends, Derrick, Heather and Richard share their love of the Lord with us is such a blessing. They read Bible verses about the birth of Jesus in between each song, Richard talked about the Joy of the season and the joy of having Christ in your heart and then we sing Joy to the World, awesome!

TJ spent all afternoon, cooking up a storm of food and dessert and we all got to taste his love of cooking. Tim and Ardis ended up cleaning the dishes for the evening. We need to continue to ask our community to help out and maybe one day, we will get to sit down while the duties of cooking and cleaning is done by the community.

We had a nice surprise at chapel and supper, a missing family member joined us, Mr Kevin came by to give out hugs and smiles. It was great to see him, he belongs with us. The kids ran up to him and gave him lots of hugs, great to see.

Dr Phil met with Dan Poole Thursday evening about the beginning of the build of the second JJ house. What a blessing to have such companies willing to sacrifice their profits to help us out in the building of these houses. Dan and his partners are on board for the second house and looking forward to many more projects together. There have been some bumps in the road in our first project, but that is expected. We are learning from them, making plans to do better and moving on to exciting builds. Dan is impressed with the work Dave has done so far. It is not often you can find a person who can do all of this work with such a quality outcome. There is talk about the end of the year or first part of next year as a completion date for the first house. Dan is preparing for the slab and driveway to be poured shortly, so the second build can start. The building of the house could have happened faster if that was what we wanted but this is about offering a job to some of our friends and allowing them to grow in their self esteem and confidence.

Prayer concerns for Momma T and her dad. They have moved him to a rehab facility. As our parents age, we become the care givers and our time and energy goes with that. Prayers for Momma T for strength during this time. Prayers for our friends out side. Downtown is getting to be a place where they are not wanted and the authorities are making it uninviting for them. And for them to stay warm this week if the cold air comes. Prayers for God's direction in our lives, in the life of our community and the direction He is leading us. Prayers for Joe. Ms Abbie shared with us Joe does not have cancer from the xrays taken last week, so they are scheduled to have his surgery as soon as the surgeon can work him in.

God is good. Is the first thing that comes to mind this morning. During this time of year, going to company parties, attending church functions, spending time with family, shopping for gifts, dealing with love ones who are sick, working full time we are pulled 95 different ways and some times we might loose our focus on life, worse yet on God. I fine myself sometimes trying to do for others and not taking time for myself. It is always a comfort, when I do stop for a moment, when I do get quiet, God is always there. My safety net. He does not leave me, I leave Him. He is always there wanting me to give my burdens to Him, wanting me to let go of my pride, wanting me to listen, God is always there. God is always good - all the time! Amen!

Don't forget God this coming week. Let's help each other to quiet ourselves, to listen, to pray, to talk to our God who lvoes us no matter how much we forget Him. Lvoe to all. Have a blessed week.

What a ride!

Sorry for the very late update. We  have come to the end of another week, wow, time is flying by. Our year is almost over with! What gorgeous weather we have had in this part of the country. Hopefully everybody was able to enjoy the full moon the last couple of nights. With the cool crisp clear nights this week, I was thinking I almost need my sunglasses to look at the moon! It was beautiful, God has done good this week!

Saturday, we made our rounds, visiting with everybody. Dale was not doing too well, just sat in his chair. He said his feet were hurting. William was at Dale's camp, moving out of James apartment. Smokey was feeling better after a couple of days of being under the weather. Noel and Tim picked up Andy and his lady friend and they took them to the center to wash clothes. We finished our visits with checking in on Dave and Willie at the JJ house.

When we got back from our visits, as usual, Karl was busy in "his" Bright House II. All the sheet rock is down, just pulling nails now in preparation of the new sheet rock going back up.

Monday and Tuesday we had two new friends helping out with our afternoon activities. It was nice to have the additional help.

Another exciting evening at our mens Bible fellowship. Matt read from Mark 4 talking about the farmer sowing seeds. How many times have we read that passage, how many times have we talked about the significance of the parable, but God's Word is living and you always seem to get something new out of it. Matt challenged the men to begin to pray about how we can use our seeds in the neighborhood. Matt talked about, how this building, once abandon, is now the nucleus of God's Spirit in the community. Is it coincidence we are here? What is God asking of us? All of us?

Wednesday, at noon, Ms Lisa and Momma T spoke with the Culinary school at Bossier Parish Community College. They had already supplied us with food for one of our meals, but they did not know anything about us. Now they do, and we will see how God uses these new relationships in the building of His Kingdom.

Wednesday evening, Momma T and Dr Phil's small group, gathered in the kitchen and prepared dessert for our Thursday meal. Lots of laughter and good conversations were going as well.

What a Thursday we had. God is so good. You just never know what will happen when God is involved. Our music folks had not shown up, so we asked Ms Abbie to play the piano and Ms Dorothy lead us in song, it was awesome. Nothing rehearsed, just played and sang from their hearts. Then we had the pleasure of hearing a few words from one of the members of New Star Baptist church, talking about turning your life over to Jesus. Pastor Eddie was not feeling well Thursday.

As we were preparing for chapel, a new friend of ours and a long time member of Grace showed up. Shane and his wife Kristie with their two children joined us. They were celebrating their first anniversary of Shane's terrible disease he was stricken with. He almost died from this disease which shut down his nervous system. He is in a wheel chair and doing some standing with assistance. Shane said they wanted to celebrate God's amazing grace through worship and they ended up with us. What an amazing testimony Shane has, he has every right to be bitter, but instead, he wanted to celebrate life and God's lvoe. One of the highlights of the evening, as we introduced Shane to the community and what he and his family had been through, the community erupted in applause filling the chapel with lvoe and joy. It was awesome. A lot of the community came over and shook Shane's hand. As we were leaving, Shane said, this is beautiful, this is real, this is what it is all about. God is so good.

Our meal, was supplied by our new friends from BPCC and served up by Momma T's and Dr Phil's small group. Lots of folks with everybody getting something to eat. We had St Luke's medical team joining us again as well as Ms Lisa doing her lawyer thing. Ms Abbie, Momma T and Ms Lisa handed out the grocery bags as. A full evening of fun and fellowship.

After our meal, Ms Lisa had a Board meeting. Our main topic was our leaking roof and where do we go from here. John Sauls told us about the repairs that needed to be done and the costs. It was voted to move forward with the repairs before any more damage to the interior of the building occurs. The cost of the roof will be huge, but something that needs to be done. Momma T stopped our discussions and led us in prayer as we went before God for wisdom, courage and faith that God will provide the necessary funding to cover our costs.

To help in those en devours, Ms Lisa and her office ladies are coming up with a mail out campaign. The initial design looked very cute. We will be sending the handouts to all the folks who have a connection with Common Ground. If you know of someone who may not be on Ms Lisa's list, please send her their email.

We also talked about the Harlem Ambassadors event. Ms Lisa is calling to see if our date for the end of January is still available, if it is, then we may proceed with the event if we can get some sponsors to cover our up front costs. More on this in the coming weeks.

We then talked about other exciting things happening in our community. Ms Patty talked about the progress of the greenhouse. It will have to be finished by the end of the year so the Eagle scout will get credit. What is amazing, once the greenhouse is complete, Ms Patty will have the ability to grow vegetables year round. She will be getting help from the LSU Extension office. This is very exciting.

TJ, Lomax and mr brian will be headed to New Orleans to visit with the folks of Liberty Kitchen and then to Baton Rouge to visit another group. Both places have as one of their ministries, a teaching facility. God maybe up to something!

Dr Phil, shared about the progress of the JJ house. The interior is quickly coming to an end. Maybe by the end of the year the house will be complete. There are plans drawn up for the second JJ house! Amazing God we have.

Krysten talked about afternoon activities and the difficulty in getting adult help. We need to talk more about what God is calling us to do in this area.

Continued prayers for Cari and Pete. They are exploring the possibility of a stem cell treatment as the next step in Cari's fight with cancer. This procedure will take a lot out of Cari. Prayers for Joe and Ms Abbie. The doctors have determined Joe has a heart valve that is leaking. They will try to stop the leakage without surgery first. Prayers for our friends who live outside. These cold, freezing nights make for harsh living conditions. James is home from the VA hospital after suffering with pneumonia.

Listening to the board members talk about what God is doing in their lives was amazing to hear. It got me to thinking about our daily walks with Jesus. It seems living a life without God as our center life becomes routine. We get up the same time every morning, drive the same way to work, see the same people at work, answer the phones, work on the computer, eat lunch, back to answering the phones, punch out the time clock, drive back home the same way. Eat supper, watch a little TV, maybe read a few pages in a book, go to bed at the same time and then wake up the next day and do it all over again.

But living a life for Jesus, seems to me to be anything routine. Jesus ask us to go out and visit friends living outside. He asks us to prepare a meal for our neighbors. Leads us to go out and visit with our community. Asks us to worship together as a community, not as individuals. Build a house where nothing exist now. To open our hearts to others, asking nothing in return. To go outside our comfort zones and put our faith in Jesus to help us through. To have enough faith to just lvoe without asking for answers.

One of the reasons, I am so drawn to the community center and all it represents, is we get to see and feel the lvoe of Jesus in so many ways. Life is never ordinary or routine. What exciting times are ahead of us. We get to see it and experience it all by just being who we are, followers of Jesus. May we all enjoy the ride. It will be a ride we will never experience any place else! Weeeee!

Have a great weekend. Have a great week.Amen!

Hearts

Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving with your family and friends. We did around these parts. God was good and is good . . .  all the time!

Saturday's weather couldn't have been any prettier for our visits. We had a larger than normal crowd of new friends joining us. Friends of Mr Matt joined us and took some video of our visits. Then we had a mom and her daughter joining us. The young lady is going to LSUS, hearing about us in one of her classes. Everybody is doing ok. Turner is fine, not much to  say. Richard was in true form and showed our new friends his new hang out. Dale did not get out of his chair. He said his feet were hurting from his day job on Friday. Won't tell you what he was doing, but it had something to do with standing a lot. Dale's camp is looking pretty rugged, so Tim told him he was going to come back and try and clean up some of the mess. White Robert was there and is moving into camp with Dale. Partly to watch over him and because the authorities are beginning the work on the overpass where Robert was staying. Matt and Tim took their friends to the other camps and we went by to visit Smokey. I continue to be amazed at the caring hearts of these men. Smokey had a bag of books, crackers and snacks he had put together for Dale. So after our visit with Smokey we went back to Dale and gave him Smokey's bag of goodies. Our final stop was at the JJ house where Dave and Willie were busy working on the house.

Tim and Karl continue to stay with us after our visits on Saturdays and work on the center or at the Bright House II. Tim was able to fix our outside door and go on the roof and continue putting up more tar on our leaks. Karl has completed all the sheet rock removable in the house. Amazing hearts of these men.

I guess the highlight of the week and maybe the year was witnessing the baptism of Tim on Sunday. I have been involved in many baptisms over the years at Grace and I don't remember seeing so many people walk up front with Tim in supporting him in his new life. It was awesome. Hat and mr brian have pictures up of the event. Following the service, Hat and Joey had a super lunch for everybody. What a day! More to come on this!

With school out for the week, we did not have our afternoon activities with the children. Join us next week if you can.

Ok, I've got a riddle for ya'll! What is cold, usually frozen, clear, tastes great during the summer months, has been non exsistent at the center since it was built in 1947? You need more clues! Grace has supplied the need for 17 years? You give up? Answers? The answer will be next week!!

What a great Tuesday evening we had at our mens Bible fellowship. Matt read from Mark 7, Jesus talking to the  Pharisees about obeying God's laws. Calling them hypocrites, saying one thing and doing something else. Jesus saying to them, you cleverly ignore the commands of God so you can follow your own laws. We have to be careful, we do not go so pragmatic in the way we worship, we forget about why we worship. We talked about our traditions, do they lead us closer to God's heart or have they become just habits we do on Sunday mornings?

The final statement made Tuesday night was from Smokey telling us, he gets up every morning and reads his Bible asking God to lead him this day. Smokey said this is my horoscope for the day! Wow, on AOL every morning is a site for people to go read their horoscopes before they start their day. No need for this site if folks would follow Smokey's recommendation! Awesome!

Ok, I can't wait until next week! The answer to the riddle, ICE!! By the grace of God, Momma T's perseverence and the talents of our plumber, we now have a working ice machine!! Can we have an Amen! I saw Ms Abbie Tuesday afternoon and asked her to come into the kitchen before she left. I told her, hate to say tell you but I will not be bringing anymore ice from Grace. Sorry! She had this awful look on her face. I told her, go open the door on this new machine over there. She did and the screams of joy could be heard all over the building! She said, I want to take some new ice home right now! Ms Sarah and Mr Scott, if you ever need to borrow ice, you know where to come!!

Thanksgiving evening was very nice. Krysten heated up some chili from one of our meals last month. We fixed a salad and had peach tea. We had a new family join us to help out. Ms Kelly, who works with Dr Phil, and her adorable kids and husband, helped all evening. We had Michele, an old friend come back to help us, after being gone for over 3 years. She has a huge smile and said it felt like coming home when she walked in. She plans to come every week. I am guessing we had 20 or so folks from the neighborhood join us. We had a new family come from the other side of I 49. I sat down with a lady and said to her, you look familiar? She said her name was Caroline. She had not been with us for 7 years. She made an impression on us, because every week, she would push her mother, who was in a wheel chair over 10 blocks to visit with us. As she was leaving, we went out and check Ms Lisa's picture wall and there they were! Caroline said, she has the same picture in a storage box. It was the last picture she had of her mother. Very cool.

I know it sounds good to some, saying we served 150 people each week, but to be honest, I enjoy evenings like this past Thursday. You can sit down with our neighbors and talk with them, find out what is going on in their lives and how we can become brothers and sisters to each other in Christ. Thanks to all who came and helped out, it was a joy and a blessing to be a part of the evening.

The JJ house continues to make progress, all the sheet rock is hung. Dave and Willie are starting the process of taping and floating. Just amazing to see the house come to life

Prayers for Momma T's dad, he fell the first part of the week, broke his leg and is in the hospital. Prayers for our missionaries in Haiti. They are just about finished their time there and heading back home Saturday. Amazing group of people. Prayers for all who are traveling this weekend. Continued prayers for James' mom. She is recovering from heart surgery.

When I first started coming to the Cedar Grove neighborhood, I had no idea what was going on. I was involved with the tutoring activities Faith was doing. Gradually I became consumed by the desire to do more. Leading to taking over the leadership of tutoring as the congregation pulled out.

As I started getting to know the children, I thought if I was nice enough, smiled enough, gave out enough snacks, worked harder, worked longer, magically all the problems the children were having would magically disappear. The children taught me, it is not about mr brian but about God. I slowly started to realize, it is not our task to change hearts, it is our jobs to lead our neighbors to Christ and let Jesus change their hearts. Only then will we see real change in our community.

The recovery circles we experienced at Glide and then the ones we have experienced here are about hearts, leading each other to a closer relationship with Christ. This is one of the major benefits of the mens Bible fellowship, is not about us learning the laws but how we can use the laws to draw closer to God and in turn change our hearts.

Tim's baptism is a start of something our community should be about. We are not just another non profit wanting to do good, but we are about changing hearts through the relationships we have with Jesus Christ. To see all of you standing up with Tim, supporting him, encouraging him, lvoing him as he became a new man in Christ, was inspiring. Another testimony, it is not about us but about Christ. Thank you for being such an amazing group of brothers and sisters in Christ.

Enjoy your holiday break this weekend. We need to be thankful for everything God has done, continues to do and will do for us!! Amen!

no tomorrow

Our first full week of November has come to a close. The leaves in this part of the country are beginning to change in preparation for our winter months. Beautiful driving through the countryside seeing God's canvas to perfection.

Another week of fun and adventures. We got to see all our friends Saturday morning, even Richard. Being the first of the month, he is usually gone, but said he had just been to New Jersey to help his sister through the storm damage. A man who lives in an abandon gas station, helping others, that is pretty cool. Tim took us to the two new camps, he and Matt have been visiting these past few weeks. One camp is under the bridge in down town Shreveport, with 5 or so guys living there. Dr Phil and I looked to the other side of the bridge, there was another camp. Then down the way a little ways under a railroad bridge was another camp. Not sure what God is up to, exposing us to all of this?

There are pictures up of all the activity that went on in the garden area Saturday afternoon. One group of scouts began the process of making a brick patio area. Can you dream one day sitting on the patio, visiting with friends, feeling the cool breeze in your face, heaven. Another group of scouts began the huge process of removing all the glass from the greenhouse. That part has been completed and now they are going to install plexiglass, amazing work.

The children in Shreveport had Monday and Tuesday off from school, so we had no activities going on. Wednesday, made up for it, with an entertaining game of kick ball. Fun to watch and hear all the excitement in the children's voices.

Tuesday evening, Mr Matt led us in our men's Bible fellowship. Not sure what God is up to, but God has gathered some remarkable men. It is great hearing from each man about what God is doing and has done in their lives. How their experiences can help each other with their challenges. We read Romans 2 talking about being careful not to worship our traditions and forget about God. We have to be sure our hearts are in the right place. Not on man but on God.

Thursday brought us people from everywhere. Big crowd in chapel and for supper. Unfortunately, Pastor Willie was delayed, but Noel filled in and we sang hymns while Wes played the piano. We closed in prayer and made our way into the fellowship hall for salad, vegetable lasgna and dessert. Our friends from the New Room shared with us, an overflowing blessing of food, so we shared it with our community. Krysten heated it up and made the salad, heard it was delicious!  Ms Abbie, Ms Lisa and Momma T helped with the groceries and everybody had a good time.

Following our meal, Momma T and others transformed the chapel into a book signing room. Walking into the chapel, it kind of makes you want to buy a book, whether you want to or not! Both authors joined us for the evening. Harold shared many of his thoughts and hopes about God and how we can transform the world through God's grace. We talked about using the book as our study guide in the coming weeks for Bible study on Thursday nights.

Lots going on this coming Saturday, something for everybody. Momma T and Ms Patty will be hosting their final U2 Saturday of the year in the garden starting at 10. Ms Beth and Ms Hat will have their tables set up at the Makers Fair in downtown by then. The scouts will be back to continue work on the patio and greenhouse. Our visits will be going on. Dr Phil will be having his book signing starting at noon in the chapel. Some work will going on in the center putting together book shelves and removing some damaged ceiling. So come by or go by and check it all out.

Next Wednesday, the 14th, we will have a turkey carving contest! One of our long time friends, again has blessed us with cajun fried turkeys and we will pick them up Wednesday. We need to slice them up for our meal on Thursday. We will have 6 turkeys to cut up, so all the help we can get will be appreciated. The turkeys should be there by 4:30, so come and cut up!

Next Thursday will be our Thanksgiving meal of turkey, dressing and all the trimmings. We try to decorate the tables a little bit, so come and help out if you can. A big crowd should be there. All the help we can get will be appreciated.

On Thanksgiving day, we will have a meal only. We will warm something up and serve it to those who come. We had around 25 or so join us last year. Will try to get a TV going, so we don't miss the football games!

Prayer concerns for our country and our leaders. That they may think about what is best for the country not each other. That they remember God in all their decisions. Prayers for William. He is struggling with life and how he fits into it all. Prayers for the children in our community. It is sad, when they get together tempers flare and fights break out. So much going on in their little lives, and most of it is not good. Prayers for Mr Scott and Ms Sarah. It was time for them to say goodbye to one of their loyal friends, Casey.

Had to leave early this morning to get my work done, so I could attend a funeral at Grace. A long time member of Grace and one of the best singers I have ever heard, left us this week. He and I worked together in the sound booth at Grace for many years. He will be missed by us all. Please keep his family and especially his children in your prayers this week.

Hope everybody has a great weekend. Enjoy your time with your family and friends. Life is too short, lvoe one another like there is no tomorrow. Amen.

Comfortable

It can't be Friday already! Were does the time go? Hope you were able to get outside this week and enjoy the gorgeous moonlite nights. It has been a beautiful week here in this part of the world.

We will begin our report with the past Friday. It rained and rained and rained. We had a group of middle schoolers scheduled to come and work in the garden. In spite of the rain and cold they worked for a little while. They moved inside the center and Krysten and Ms Patty showed them around and they did some more work. A great group of children. We got a nice note from their teacher, I thought I would share with all of you, because it is about you:

We enjoyed our work with Common Ground so much! My students did fantastic...and not one complaint about the rain, mud, or cold temperature. I was very proud of them! I definitely want to do something with you all for Christmas. It was mentioned that we may be able to help wrap Christmas gifts. I will be in touch as the holidays approach and hopefully there will be something we can help with.

Thanks again! What an incredible work Common Ground is doing for our community...I'm so impressed and blessed to see what God is doing right here in Shreveport!
Blessings!
 Leesa Wallace

Saturday was filled with surprises and adventures. We visited our friends who live outside. Turner is fine. Richard was doing better, sitting in his chair waiting for us to tell us a story. He told us, he has permission to move into the building behind his gas station? Hope he is right, we'll see? Dale sat in his chair and coughed the whole time. He is congested really bad, not wanting to go to the doctor. We offered food to him and he said, I have an ice chest full of food, too sick to eat. Joey went by one day this week, bringing him some hot soup and he said he had just eaten something. Always enjoy our visits with Smokey and all his stories. Matt and Tim found Andy and his friend and brought them back to the center to wash clothes. I told Matt I would take them back to their camp after they were finished. At 5:30 Tim and I were driving them back to the camp! It seems the Hope house is having problems and they had not been able to wash clothes in several weeks.

We went by the JJ house to visit with Dave and Willie. Both are doing fine. They work on Saturdays now, so go by and seem them and compliment them on the building of the house. Everybody needs to go by and see the color being painted. Can't describe it, you need to see it for yourself! Caution, wear sunglasses!

Saturday afternoon, while waiting for the clothes to finish, Karl pulls up and starts working on the Bright House II! He was watching his daughter run a race that morning, but made time in his day to come by and work, very cool. Almost finished tearing out, go by and help him on Saturdays.

Our after afternoon activities continue with a smaller number of children. Come by and help, Krysten, Joey and Lomax play with the children.

Mr Matt, was out of town Tuesday, so God brought us Pastor Eddie to lead Bible study. Pastor had a handout titled, The Two Man in Every Human Being. Talking about the outward and inner man in all of us. Very challenging to think about we are going through everyday and how hard it is to live a life of Christ.

Wednesday evening, Joey organized a Halloween evening for 13 of our children. He along with Krysten, Lomax and friends from the Baptist Collegiate Ministry, took our kids around to the neighborhoods for treats. Pictures are coming. There is talk about next year, us hosting an evening of fun and treats for the neighborhood.

While I was getting ice at Grace Thursday, Ms Sarah and Mr Scott gave me can goods picked up by their middle schoolers while trick and treating Wednesday evening.  Isn't that cool, always thinking of others.

Another great Thursday afternoon full of fun, food and friends. Heather and her husband Derrick got us started in chapel with song and praises. Then her dad, Richard talked to us about giving and being thankful for what God has given us. Richard read the story from Acts, about a lame man asking Peter for alms as they were going into the temple. Peter did not give him alms but restored his legs so he could walk. We ask God for something we think we want, but God will give us what He knows we need, often more than what we had asked for.

Our meal of chili, crackers and salad was provided by a group of ladies from United Healthcare, our local electrical company and cooked by the chefs from a local college. The meal was part of last weeks, One Day to Make a Difference. These two groups got together and collected enough money to buy us a new freezer! Awesome.

We only had around 70 folks, not sure where everybody was, but it was kind of relaxing. TJ purchased plates and cups from a donation from a Sunday school class from Grace, so we used them for the first time. We had some help from the community to wash the cups and plates afterwards, very nice.

Prayer concerns, William, who is in Dallas at the moment. Trying to find his way in life. Continue to pray for Pete and Cari. Pete misses all of you and promises to come by soon. God's direction in our journeys, allowing us to listen to His quiet voice and follow His directions. May the presence of God be in our national election next week.

Don't forget, supper at the Ackermans this Sunday, 6pm.

From Ms Lisa's note, a huge and long awaited project on the greenhouse will be starting this weekend. Come by and help if you can. Finally happening. Praise God!

Don't forget to "Fall Back" with your clocks Sunday. Don't show up an hour early for church!

The thing I am overwhelmed with this week, God's Kingdom is never completed. I guess one year it will be, but not now. He is constantly bringing us new challenges and new blessings, always asking us to walk in faith and obedience. Ours is not to ask why, but just let it happen. He seems to be asking us to move outside our comfort zones to experience new challenges. I could ask, why God, I don't want to do this. I feel comfortable where I am, don't ask me to do this! But where does our faith come in? If we live a life where we are comfortable, why do we need God? Did Jesus get comfortable in His surroundings? Don't think so, He was always moving from town to town, lvoing on folks, meeting criticism at every turn, but He always was on the move. The only time He stopped, was to find a quiet place to pray.

The outer man in me wants to stop and feel comfortable. But the inner man, full of the Holy Spirit, wants to reach out, lvoe and get to know our neighbors. Let's make our prayer this month, to allow the inner man in all of us, to take over our lives, to lvoe unconditional, to lvoe without ceasing, to lvoe so that the honor of God is glorified! Amen and amen!

Have a Great weekend and a glorious week. Hope to see you around the neighborhood.

the Glory of God

Another week has come and gone, wow. Is time flying for all of you? What blessings did God fill your life with this week?

Will start our week off with last Friday. Someone called from the Bright House, asking if I could open the door for them, since they locked their keys in the house! Arriving at the house, I see Karl working hard at the Bright House II. I asked Karl, this is not Saturday is it?! He said, no it's not. He got an invitation to go sailing Saturday morning. He felt bad he could not be around Saturday, so he came by on Friday, wow, how awesome is that.

Our visits on Saturday went well. Turner is doing fine. He asked when the time change was happening? Wonder why? We made our way over to Richard and found him in bed. He was not well at all. Ms Dawn encouraged him to get up and go sit in the sun. He did make it up and into his chair. Richard's new friend, Joe arrived about that time and brought him some food. We hated to leave Richard in his state, but Joe said he would hang around for awhile to watch over him. Isn't that cool. We found Dale doing ok. He has a bad cold and congestion. He won't go to a doctor, so he sits there and coughs. Robert was there with him, checking on him. We had a good visit with Smokey and returned back to the center. Mr Matt and Tim made their way over to the new camp downtown.

Several of us, attended the funeral, later Saturday morning of our friend Curtis. They called it the Homegoing Celebration. The funeral home was packed with all of Curtis' friends and family. Just as we walked in, they announced, would someone from Common Ground please come forward and share a few words about Curtis. We all selected Joey as our spokes person, doing a great job of sharing our thoughts about Curtis. We got a program from the funeral and saw they recognized Common Ground and St Catherines. Standing in the back, we met all the family members and each one of them shook our hands and said how much they appreciated our friendship with Curtis. Each member said Curtis talked about us all the time. Just want to remind each one of you, you have no idea what kind of impact you are having on our community. Usually we do not get to hear about it, but just know you are changing lives for Jesus. There is a program of the funeral hanging up on our bulletin board in the fellowship hall.

Small number of children this week at our afternoon activities. Not sure why? But with the small numbers we are able to talk with each child and find out what is going on in their little lives. It is not about the numbers but about the hearts.

We had another packed house at our mens Bible fellowship. I was cooking some cakes for dessert a lady brought for us and by the time I got to the chapel all the pizza was gone! Mr Matt went by and picked up Richard and he was doing much better. We had a new man from the community come. Matt continues to reach out to the guys on Thursday encouraging them to come on Tuesday evenings. God is beginning to lay a foundation of something special for the community on Tuesdays. Matt read from Romans 1, talking how we often take things on our selves, leaving God out of it until we have completely fallen on our faces, forcing us to get on our knees and ask for forgiveness. Why do wait so long before we go to God?

Thursday was full of people, excitement and praise. Our chapel time was started off by our friends from New Star Baptist. Ms Jean and her grand children, sang their hearts out to God. Then Pastor Eddie shared the Word reading from Galatians. Talking about, never give up, never stop doing good, giving all praises and honor to God. Eddie cut to my heart when he said, Common Ground keep on keeping on. When people don't act the way you want them to act. When children run from you or do things they shouldn't do. When you get no thank you, keep on keeping on because God is right there with you. A member of our community, sitting behind me, hugged my shoulders as the Pastor was preaching his sermon, saying mr brian we love you, thank you. Very powerful.

Mr Matt and Ms Vickie and their friends from Airline Baptist provided our meal of red beans and rice, salad and cake. Not sure how the red beans and rice were, it was gone by the time I got into the fellowship hall! Being the end of the month, we served over 130 people, with 30 new people wanting bags of groceries. Ms Abbie had prepared 70 bags, ran out and had to make a few more. Wow! It is nice having a crew of people helping out during our meals and helping clean up afterwards, makes things go a lot smoother.

As I walked into the hallway after church, I glanced up and we had a special treat, Sione with his big smile was walking down the hallway. He was in town for a preachers meeting and wanted to come by and see the new kitchen. Great to see him.

The JJ house continues to come together. The siding is complete and has it's first coat of paint on some of it. Insulation of the attic is done, with more insulation ready to be put on the walls. Sheet rock has been delivered and ready to by hung. Our challenge of plumbing has been worked out and now everything is all hooked up and ready to go. God continues to bless this dream in becoming a reality. Plans are being drawn up for our second house! Isn't that amazing!

We have a group of youngsters coming to the garden area today to help Ms Patty. Who would have ever predicted, our garden our community becoming a place where children can take a field trip from school and help out. Truly a blessing!

The one theme I have heard this week from mens Bible study, to chapel, it is not about mr brian it is about God. It is not about how much we can do, but who gets the glory. If we are in this journey for ourselves, then we are traveling along the wrong road. Do we want thank yous, do we want praises, do we want the children to act right, yes, we are human. But that should not be what we are striving for. What if we don't get the thank you's, the praises, the right behavior, we will be become discouraged, we will burn out and quit. That is not what God wants from us. God's Kingdom will not grow if we quit, we will not receive the blessings of Him, we will not develop that personal relationship with Jesus we long for.

As Pastor Eddie shared, the road we have choosen will be hard, it will frustrating at times, but it also will be glorious. As long as we remember, it is not about us but for the glory of God. As long as we put our faith not in man but in God, we will be blessed beyond our imgination. Thank you all for being a part of this community, where we can help each other along the way. We need each other, we need our God, we need our Jesus. Amen.

Have a great week. Praises and blessings to you all. lvoe and lvoe!

God's Kingdom

Wow, what a week. Not sure where to start and not sure I will get everything in this note that went on, but I will try. Hope your week was full of joy and blessings.

Our Second Saturdays, have become a morning full of activities and challenges. So much going on, people, activities, visits and adventures. It is amazing it all gets done. But as Joey said, it is because of community and all of you working together, that God's Kingdom continues to grow. Ms Lisa has put pictures up of the morning on our Face book page.

We had new visitors from Bossier City Community College come and work with us. We had friends from Brookwood come and helped us out with various projects around the center. The biggest challenge was the painting of our fellowship hall and hallway. Ms Lisa got it all organized and the floors look beautiful. We put wax on them earlier in the week and we were ready for Thursdays activities. We organized the outdoor friends room, so we can see what we have as our seasons change getting ready for the colder months ahead. We broke down two big bags of sugar and rice into smaller baggies. Ms Abbie put them in our grocery sacks this week. We also went over to the Bright House II and continued our work there.

While all of this was going on, Momma T and Ms Patty were getting the garden ready for U2 events. A big crowd of neighbors walked to the garden and shared in all the fun and activities. It was great to see new friends bring their children with them to participate in all the fun. A start in building of relationships in our community.

As this was going on, our faithful group of servants visited our friends who live outdoors. Mr Scott reported everybody seems to be doing ok. Richard called from the hospital for us to go by his gas station to pick up his belongings. Mr Matt did, and loaded up his one suitcase and brought it back to the center. Can we put all our belongings in one suitcase? That sounds like a sermon one day!

Concluding our morning, Joey hosted a welcome back party for Lomax of hotdogs and all the fixings. More neighbors came bringing their gifts of food to the table and everybody had a great time.

What a morning, what a testament to community, what an example of God's Kingdom in the midst of us. Thank you all for doing what you did, for being obedient to His calling, thinking of others before thinking of yourselves.

Monday was a day of joy and sadness. I had the opportunity to have lunch with Pastor Roger of Grace Community. He wanted to reaffirm his commitment to our community and the help of Grace and all it's resources as we travel along our way. It was good to hear his thoughts and to share our vision of the future.

Then several hours later, Mr Matt gets a call from our friend's sister in law, Rose, telling Matt of the passing of Curtis. Curtis, who has been a friend of ours for many years, going with us on our Saturday visits, helping us cook breakfasts, helping out on Thursdays, called Rose and said, it is time. We had been visiting Curtis on Saturdays. Curtis missed coming to our Thursdays, so he gathered up enough energy to come visit us last Thursday. I feel bad, I did not see him that day, but Joey and Momma T did and welcomed him with many hugs. Joey and Lomax had a lvoe offering Thursday to help with funeral expenses. Curtis' funeral will be this Saturday, October 20th at 11am.

Joey was not feeling well Monday, so Krysten closed our afternoon activities for the day. Tuesday and Wednesday, we had a full crew of kids. From my lunch with Roger, I had left overs. I brought them to Ms Lisa Tuesday. Ms Lisa said,  that restaurant was one of her favorites. When I walked in, Ms Lisa being Ms Lisa heated up the leftovers and I found them all sitting on the floor of the newly painted fellowship hall floor enjoying Indian food. The children ran up to me and said mr brian, how did you make this, it sure is good! Thanks Pastor Roger, you made the afternoon! Krysten, Joey, Ms Lisa and Ms Dawn could use your help in the afternoons, come when you can.

Mr Matt again had us sharing our hearts as we discussed the reading of 1st John, chapter 4 in our mens Bible fellowship, we must love each other. In verse 18, we should love people not only with words and talk, but by our actions and true caring. God is lvoe, we must be lvoe. For it is God's lvoe working through us that allows us to lvoe. Powerful testimonies that night.

Wednesday evening we had a treat as a youth group from Christ Methodist joined us and helped Ms Abbie in the clothing room, food pantry and other projects. Don't know if I have mentioned, but every week, we have a young lady, who has recently retired, join Ms Dorothy and Ms Abbie in the clothing room. Stephanie comes faithfully every week and works tirelessly. She asked Ms Abbie, if she could bring some of youth from church to help hang some winter clothing we had gotten in. So Ms Sarah, the youth pastor of Christ and Stephanie brought the youth and the hung the clothes up. Also, we had gotten a lot of can food items from Grace that needed to be sorted and put on the shelves, they did that. Then, I was stressing over, getting all the tables and chairs moved back into the fellowship hall and they helped with that. Amazing how God continues to provide! I shouldn't be amazed by now, but . . .

As I drove up Wednesday afternoon, a serious game of kick ball was happening. It was good to see everybody having a good time. I noticed we had a new person helping out and then looked again and it was Lomax. It was good to see Lomax back with us and in the environment he belongs.

Thursday was a special day for me and all of us. I was hoping to let me birthday day pass as quiet as possible but Momma T and Ms Sarah would have none of that. We started off our Thursday afternoon activities with our new piano and song leader, Gus leading us in praises for the Lord. Then we had a new treat, one of the youth pastors from Brookwood share the Word. Josh's message about God's Kingdom being near was awesome and got us all thinking about what we can do to make it happen.

Following chapel, Ms Sarah had a birthday cake full of candles ready as everybody sang. Very touching. The kids, shouted blow out all the candles mr brian. There were a lot of candles! I tried but couldn't get them to go out or some would light back up after I blew and blew and blew! Ms Sarah being Ms Sarah had put those "funny" candles on the cake! Everybody had a good laugh, I was exhausted!

Thank you all for the sweet notes on line and the cards everybody signed. You don't know how much I appreciate all of you.

Ms Sarah and Mr Scott and the young adults class provide supper of pancakes, bacon, fruit salad and dessert. One of my favorite suppers, it was delicious.

Ms Lisa and Momma T helped Ms Abbie with the handing out of food bags and everything went well for the most part.

We had some new visitors, friends of Dr Phil from Kings Highway Christian church. Tammy is the youth director and came to see how her youth can become involved with Common Ground. Very exciting to have them a part of our community.

We continue to struggle with the children and their challenges of behavior and excitement. Joey's challenge this week is to see if he can help.

After our meal and clean up, we gathered in the chapel for our Bible time. Joey and Lomax treated us to birthday ice cream and another birthday card, very, very nice. We hooked up the computer to the projector and we got to see some of Lomax's adventures in California! Exciting. Lomax is in the process of putting up all his pictures and writing about his adventures on a blog and will have it up soon for all of us to experience.

Prayer concerns continue for the Bollingers. Talked to Pete the other day, he and their son Nick are doing better, we need to keep Cari lifted up. Tests being run to see how the treatments are going for Cari. Keep our homeless camps in your prayers. Life is hard enough, but you add, homelessness, no job, no id, no justice, it is even more difficult. Keep our children of community in your prayers. We have no idea what our young people face everyday to survive. The challenges they face should not have to happen to these young people, so their struggles are manifested in anger and resentment. How can we help? James, mentioned a family friend, Mr Smith has terminal cancer.

God's Kingdom, where is it? Tuesday evening, the men talked about God's lvoe. What does it look like? The past several weeks on Thursdays, following our meals, there continues to be large groups of people hanging around the center? It's reminds me of our mens gatherings on Tuesday evenings, we close the doors of the chapel, but the guys still hang around talking, why?

You tell the children, don't come to the center when it is raining, or cold, or hot, but they continue to come, why?

Josh talk about God's Kingdom here on earth in chapel, where is it? Josh read the Lord's prayer from Matthew 6, saying in verse 10, May your kingdom come and what you want be done, here on earth as it is in heaven. Josh pointed out, God's will is being done in heaven, isisisis God's will happening here on earth?

Over the years, we have seen, people come to us because something is different about our community. The children come because they do not experience God's lvoe in their lives. As Josh pointed out in chapel, following Jesus is hard work. Some folks try it for a Sunday or two and drop out. Some try it for a week or two and decide it's not worth it. Some come and try to fix the people, hoping to see changes and stop coming because things don't change. Did God give up on us? When we make the same mistakes or mess up time and time again, does Jesus say, I'm out of here? Of course He didn't, so why do we quite and run away?

Matt said something Tuesday evening that I have not heard in many years. When I had the opportunity to visit with Shane Claiborne in Philadelphia one year, we wore Shane's ear off asking so many questions, why do you do this, how can you make this happen, how can we fix this situation, how do we help the poor. Shane smiled, , listened and said think about why you are doing what you are doing and we will talk about all your questions later.

Matt came up with the answer we came up with talking to to Shane. In our relationships with our community, we are the ones being ministered to. We are the ones being blessed. God is calling us to lvoe one another, not fix one another. God is asking us to walk together to a life of lvoing each other. As we begin to walk hand and hand, we will begin to learn about each other and realize we both need Jesus in our lives. That's what the Kingdom of God looks like here on earth. Wouldn't our world be a better place if we all walked together, not one better than the other, but hand in hand.


Common Ground is unique because of each one of you deciding, it is not about me but about God. We as humans can not forgive or love, but we can if we allow the Holy Spirit to flow through us, you all are doing that. It is not easy, God never said it would be. I am thinking if it were easy, we might think, we can do this with out God and he not get any of the glory. Thank you all for your continued passion in learning to let go and let God in your lives. Thank you for realizing, we are in this journey together, all learning from each other, needing each other along the way. Very proud to be a part of such special servants.

Hope to see you around the center next week. Have a great weekend with your family and friends. Lvoe to all. Amen.