Life

What a great week we had. Hope yours was as good. Is time flying by for you? Here it is the end of the month, seems like it was just New Years!

We continue to make adjustments with the children in the afternoons to make tutoring more meaningful. Conversations going on about new and exciting dreams on how we can improve our times together. It began to rain hard Tuesday afternoon. One of the moms came by and got the kids. Wow, I think that is the first time that has ever happened. It was great to see.

The rain continued into the night as we began our men's Bible fellowship Tuesday evening. Not expecting many guys to show up, but to my surprise everybody did! Even those who live in the neighborhood that walked. Very comforting to see the presence of men who think that much of our fellowship to come in the rain. God is creating a foundation of relationships leading to other possibilities. Very exciting.

Got a phone call from the leader of the New Room. Common Ground and the New Room may have the opportunity to receive food from area cafeterias and share it with our communities. This may lead to other possibilities. They will let us know in a couple of weeks if this opportunity will happen.

Thursday evening was full of people and activities. We started off in the chapel, with our monthly worship time. Mark from Northpoint provided the music while Noel and our special guest Sione provided the words. The chapel was packed and full of life. We need to make adjustments on some of the happenings around the chapel, but it is nice to have our worship time going on. God will work it all out. It will help to have new chairs in the chapel. And that will happen in the near future. We were notified, Grace will donate their chairs to us when they remodel their worship area. God always provides.

After our chapel time we moved into our meal, served by Christ Methodist church ladies group. We had the adults and the youth there helping out. It was great to see so man folks there to serve, wash and clean up.

Ms Lisa was there with her lawyers for the free legal advise clinic. Ms Abbie handed out her bags of groceries and our donated pizzas. What an evening.

Joey led us in the reading of Matthew chapter 18. Talking about forgiveness, feeling lost and reconciliation. God has laid out a way for us to live our lives, why don't we do it? Don't understand why we think we know better, why we add things to suit our purposes. And we wonder why life is so messed up. Prayers lifted up for the Morgan family of Grace. Prayers for Charley as he deals with a situation in his prison ministry. Continue to lift up relationships in our families, our communities, that they maybe come stronger.

Got an email from Broadmoor Baptist church, they will be sending a group called STOMP to perform Thursday, February 9th. I have tried to get them to come for several years but they are so booked up we could never make connections. They will be performing at supper time, so please make plans to come and hear them, a great group of young people.

Got a phone call Thursday morning, Ms Ruby Horton passed. Ms Ruby lived on 69th and was always a friend of our community. She was one of the first ones to join us and was always around helping out where she could. Her health had been failing for many months. We will miss her smile and her special heart.

Don't forget, this Saturday at 8:30 we will have our Saturday breakfast. We will be serving the group from Crowley Louisiana who will be here to work. Ms Sarah, said there will be around 26 coming. If you can help cook, we will be getting to center around 7:30, so come if you can. They will be arriving today, Friday around noon. Ms Sarah will settle them in at the Warehouse and then take them over to the center. Krysten will meet them then. Come by Friday or Saturday and say Hi and welcome our new friends.

This past Saturday, I was in Dallas playing with our new grandson at the beginning of his life. Monday evening I was in Bible study praying for a family whose love one's life was about to end. When we are younger, we think we will live forever. When we get older, we become so involved with living, we put off doing God's work until we have more time. God does not promise us tomorrow, only today. Why wait? I just want to remind us all, to live a life God is proud of, a life that God is glorified, a life filled with lvoe. It seems like only yesterday, when we were on the floor playing with our son, now 30 years later we are playing with his son. In a blink of an eye, our lives fly by. Is there a relationship that needs mending? Is there anger to let go of? Is there resentment to release? Is there someone who needs your lvoe today? Don't wait until tomorrow. Don't put off what you can do today. Turn it over to God today, release and feel free, enjoy the peace of the Spirit and en joy the ride. Amen.

See you all Saturday. Have a great weekend and a great week.

dreams

Hope everybody had a great week. How did God work in your life? What surprises did He dream up for you?

We started off our week by having a family help us out around the center last Saturday. Heather and her husband TJ brought their 3 daughters and grandmother to work in the center. They are a family from Brookwood who has fallen in lvoe with us and want to help us out. Two of the girls along with their grandmother started making 2 signs for us. They had so much fun they ended up making 10. You can see them all around the center, so precious. TJ will be cooking one of our meals in February and he will be going with us on our visits this Saturday. Grandma will be helping Momma T and Ms Patty with U 2 Saturdays. What a blessing this family has become to us.

Mr Scott reported all went well on our visits last week. Again, it was discussed how much nicer it is to be going back to the camps and visiting with our friends. Hearing their stories of the week and what drama is going on around their camps. Makes for an interesting morning and very enjoyable.

The Friendship room was full of activities Saturday afternoon. Joey and Lomax were hosting the guys and everybody was having a great time. What a pleasure it is to see some outside visiting, while others are inside watching TV, one is washing their clothes and some beginning to prepare lunch. What a joy to see community in action.

Monday, we had the opportunity to sit in a meeting with Dr Phil and the building contractor as they discussed the plans of Dr Phil's dream of "building" community. We walked over to the lots, dreamed about where the houses will be built and how it will look. In a few short months, we will begin to see the dream come true.

If you invite them they will come or something like that? We have been asking for help for our after school activities and we had it Tuesday and Wednesday. No doubt about it, when you have tutors there to work with the children, it is totally different. Ms Lisa met with the new coordinator of Centenary's Christian Leadership Center. She is a resident of the Yellow House. She is all about relationships, so hopefully she will be a good resource for us. Jeremy has made it back and we hope others will come and join in on the fun.

Tuesday evening, we gathered again for our men's Bible fellowship. Our circle in the chapel began to fill up and before the evening was over, we had to get more chairs! Matt does an outstanding job in getting us started and the Holy Spirit runs the rest of the discussions from there. As Matt said in closing, what an evening, when ever man joins in the conversations. Thanks Matt for allowing the Spirit to flow through you and blessing in our community.

Thursday meals continue to be full of activities. Noel sings a song. Old friends come by for visits. New friends show up to help. We have missed our Ms Sarah and Mr Scott. They came by and sat down and visited with the children. Icee Joe, walked in! Did you get that, Icee Joe walked in with their two little ones and joined us for supper. Julianne and Joey also helped serve, what a blessing. Mr Pete has lined up some musicians for next Thursday, so we will meet in the chapel before our meal and worship. Noel will share a few words and then we will have our meal. We will meet with Pete in the coming weeks to line up other folks for our chapel times. Ms Abbie will ask her pastor if he will speak next month. We have been dreaming of the chapel coming alive and it is happening.

Following our meal, we gathered in the chapel and had another circle. It was talked about having a circle every other week or something along those lines. Be thinking about what you would like to see happen.

Prayer concerns expressed: Travel mercies for Momma T as she goes to visit with Georgette, Dr Phil as he travels for work related responsibilities and mr brian as he goes to Dallas to play with his grandson. Continued prayers for Ms Abbie's Mr Joe as he struggles with his recovery. He is coughing a lot lately and taking blood thinners. Prayers for Edward for upcoming foot surgeries. Prayers for community and family relationships, that they may become stronger and more viable. Charley asked for prayers as they begin the process of preparing for the upcoming Kairos weekend at Wade. Prayers for William to stabilize his blood sugar. Prayers for Krysten as she begins to mentor some of the young ladies at Grace in their small group.

There will be no breakfast this Saturday. We have a large group coming from South Louisiana coming next Saturday the 28th, so we will be serving breakfast then.

As we begin a new year, we have the opportunity to again go to God and dream. I think God likes people who dream. Dreams come from your passions. Then that brings about your faith. Followed by your lvoe of others. We dreamed many years ago about an old church building, being restored to a community center. It is happening today right before our eyes. We dream about others becoming involved and it is happening by new families and new friends becoming a part of our community. We dreamed many years ago, as we were restoring a house on Southern avenue, about building a new community. In a few months that will begin to happen. We dreamed about having a kitchen where we can train our young people in becoming chefs and waiters. Maybe having a cafe, a catering service, a bakery. Our kitchen plans are drawn up and the money is in place to make it happen. One day, the two story building will be full of activities. In time, the Sanctuary will be full of people praising and worshiping. The concrete areas on Southern will be full of cars, with people lining up to get inside the Sanctuary. Children will be playing on the playground equipment in the green areas. People from the neighborhood will be walking to the center to join in all the activities. The garden area will be full of plants, trees providing food for our kitchen and the neighborhood. Our greenhouse will be a place where our community can come and learn how to grow plants year round. In the near future, we will have teams walking the streets getting to know our neighbors. Dreams.

What are your dreams? Where is God leading you? No dream is too small or too big. You can see what God can do when He wants it to happen. Dream. Let us hear from you about your dreams.

Have a great week. Enjoy life. Enjoy God's blessings all around you. Amen.

relationships

Baby, it's cold outside! Hope everybody has had a great week. We have had rain, cold and wind this week, making for interesting times around the center.

My sister-in-law has been wanting to visit the Jewish Temple on Southfield, so last Friday evening we went. I know Joey and Lomax like to visit other churches so I invited them and they invited others, so we had a nice group joining us for their worship time. The Temple is one of my pest control accounts and I have known the Rabbi for several years now. She is very nice and down to earth. She walked over to us after the service and asked us if we would like to ask her questions about the Jewish faith. So we went back into their synagogue and for over two hours we talked about faith. I came away with, how awesome our God is. They worship, they love the same God we do, they may go about it a different way, but oh how they lvoe Him. Can't we all get past our religious stereotypes and just lvoe our God?

We had good visits at the camps Saturday. Really enjoy getting back to the guys homes and visiting with each one of them. We had a new group of young people join us from LSUS. They provided t-shirts and can goods for our friends. Amanda suggested they call us and join in on the fun. We had a new/old friend join us also, Joey! Not sure Joey was awake fully when we left but by 11 o'clock he was able to direct us to a couple of new camps. We past by the first camp I ever visited. There were a group of people in this abandon building. One of them was an artist and inside the building were pictures he had drawn. A month or so after we started visiting, the owners didn't want them inside anymore, so they tore the building down. Now, the only thing that remains is the concrete pad. Our friends scattered throughout the city and we never saw them again, very sad.

The rain stopped Monday around 4 and the kids came. Tuesday, the winds and cold weather started and the kids came. Wednesday, it was sunny and cold and the kids came. The kids have come but our helpers have not. We have been low on help this semester. We know your schedules change, classes become stressful, but if you can come, we need your help.

Tuesday evening we gathered for our community men's fellowship. Noticed I left off the Bible part. I got to wondering if a Bible study may scare off some of the guys. I know it did me many years ago when I first started back to church. I saw in the bulletin at Grace, they had a men's Bible study. I did not my Bible as well as I should so I hesitated going because I was scared they would ask me questions and I would not know the answers. Matt has a verse that God places on his heart, we read it and the discussions begin. Amazing what God can do when you allow Him to lead the discussions and are open to His Spirit. Men don't have a place where we can relate to one another, build relationships together and help each other along our journeys. This venue provides such a place.

Wednesday after the kids left, Ms Lisa took Lomax, Joey and myself across the street to visit the lots Common Ground has just received. 4 lots of absolute heaven. Two lots of concrete where one day, we will need for parking when the sanctuary is packed with people. Two other lots, where new homes will be built and lives and families will be restored. The green lots are huge. Lomax, said, there is enough room for a Tiny Village. God is up to something amazing. How exciting.

Thursday, with the cold stiff wind, we did not have as many join us for supper. We had receive gifts of lettuce and pizzas. We decided to give everybody a pizza instead of warming them, that was a hit. Matt and his wife Ms Vicki joined us. Also, we had a lady from Summer Grove Baptist come and helped us serve. What a blessing to have new people come and be a part of our community.

Instead of our normal Bible study Thursday night, it was suggested we have a recovery circle. Momma T agreed to lead us and shared some of the history of our relationships with these circles. Momma T got out her notes from her visit to Glide United Methodist church in San Francisco, telling us it will be 10 years on January 28th, when we made our first visit out there. I couldn't believe it has been 10 years! I can remember going out to GLide thinking I knew everything but realize I knew nothing about relationships and how important it is to our recovery from who we think we are, to who God wants us to be.

I began to understand from their leader, Natomba, we are all recovering from something. We are all hiding things that stops us from being the person God needs us to be. We may not have a drug or alcohol problem, but we may have a pride or selfish problem. We may work all the time, not leaving room for others or God. We may hide our anger or distrust, not allowing God to fill it with His lvoe and compassion. No matter what the addiction is, we all need to realize we are sinners, we are not perfect, we all have hurts, and that is ok. God has brought us together to help and support each other. To listen. To lvoe. The recovery circles allows us to do that, to begin the process of letting go of those addictions, to allowing others in and helping us through the struggles. And when we do begin to understand it is alright to let go, a great weight is lifted off our shoulders, a peace surrounds us that only God can be a part of.

Don't forget this Friday, the 13th, Joey is hosting a prayer time service at the community chapel between 6 and 8. Max Lucado's devotional this morning said, rather than worry about anything, "pray about everything!"

There will be no U2 this Saturday.

Prayers for Momma T, Ms Sarah, Mr Scott as they lead their youth in a retreat this weekend. Prayers for Ms Abbie's Joe as still does not feel good. For Icee Joe in his knee recovery. Prayers for Zig Zag (Allison) as she heads back to school for her last semester. We will miss you Allison. Hurry home. Praise for James as he starts back to work. Prayers for Robert as he starts building a new home. Prayers for Dave, Dr Phil's next door neighbor. We met Dave in the woods, he made it to a house, but is struggling with addictions and now is heading back to the woods. Prayers for continued healing from colds for the Ackermans.

Got an email from a Brookwood family this week. She was upset at the church for not having their second Saturday work day, so she asked if her and her family could come anyway! They have been to visit us, the last couple of months. They have two adorable little girls that have helped Ms Patty and Momma T with U2 Saturdays, while mom and dad have painted for us. In her email, she said her two girls had been working on some signs for the center. I don't know what they say but was in awe of what these little ones had been doing for us. I emailed her back and said it would be an honor to host her family this Saturday.

This got me to thinking about relationships. We talk all the time about relationships. Our community is based on relationships with each other and others. Our Tuesday night mens bible study is more about relationships than study. Thursday suppers is more about getting to know our neighbors than feeding the flock. We have circle this week, which is based on relationships. We pray for one another, not because we have to but because we have relationships with each other. Here it is, the beginning of a new year and we talked about our relationships with Jesus and how important it is.

Obviously God is challenging us to be real with ourselves. We go to church on the weekends, sit in our pews or chairs, smile and say everything is alright. We really don't have time to see behind the masks in an hour or two. We need to be there for each other during the week. It was said last night, the hardest thing to do when Jesus says to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, is to love ourselves. If we don't love ourselves, then everything we do after that is not real. We have to have a real relationship with Jesus. Ask Jesus, who am I, what do you see? Are you seeing the man or woman you want me to be? People will let us down every time, God will not. He will be honest with us. He will say, let go of that, I will take if over. I want you to be who I created you to be, not what others think you should be. If we try to please people we will be set up for failure, because we can't please everybody.

Relationships begins with you and God. It won't be easy, it may not look the way you think, but guaranteed it will be the best thing you have ever done. You will be the person God has created you to be. Then God will do amazing things through you using your unique and special gifts.

Have great weekend. No better time that to stop for a moment, and listen to what God is wanting to tell you. Amen.

Send me your bio

Here it is, first week of January and 70 degrees today! Wow, time for some outside activities! My front yard could use some leaf picking up but that is no fun. Wonder if a golf game might be on the agenda? Hope it is nice where you are. Another great week of fun and blessings.

We had too many folks for the van to hold, so we took two vehicles on our Saturday visits. Our first stop was our friend Turner. Since we have been band from walking across the railroad bridge to Turners, we have tried to find another way in. Two weeks ago, we tried but did not find a way. Last week, we did! In fact, we now can walk along a short stretch and come up to Turner's back door into the camp. Never knew he had a back door? Turner greeted Mr Scott as he entered the camp and walked back with us to the van. It was amazing to see Turner in the middle of all us walking along the trail. What a blessing.

Monday, we had more kids than we had help, so Joey and I served up prayer and snacks and  the kids went back home. Tuesday was better with much needed help. We got to sit down with the children and do some work. Wednesday was more play than work. We still struggle with what we are trying to accomplish with the children. They lvoe to come, we are glad they do, but what are there for? Is it to teach, is it to play, is it to just be there? God has a plan, what is He telling you all?

Tuesday evening, we again gathered for our community mens Bible study. Got to thinking maybe, Bible study may scare some men off? I know when I first started at Grace, it did me, when I saw a men's Bible study happening. Really, we read a passage or two, but we share more than we read. It is good for men to have a place where they can share what is on their hearts and not worry about being judged, we all need a place like that. I know it is one of the highlights of my week.

Wednesday morning I had the opportunity to share our story with the men from Christ Methodist. You will hear more about that later on, but it was a joy to talk about all of you.

Thursday evening, there were no places in the inn. Allison comes into the kitchen and says mr brian, we need more chairs and tables! Being the first of the month, we thought the numbers would be small but they weren't. Wow, what will the end of the month be like? Wonder what God is up to? One of our new friends, Noel, brought a CD player and he sang to us as our meal got started. One of the first times I have heard the community hall quiet. He lvoes the Lord and wanted to share it with others. He will be sharing the Word in one of our chapel services coming up.

I got a phone call earlier in the week from a friend who shared some of his bountiful with us and it is good he did. We were able to fix more bags of groceries and hand out bags of lettuce, tomatoes, bread and potatoes. God always provides.

We also had a nice surprise Thursday as one of our Lake Charles family joined us for supper and Bible study, Ms Stephanie. She was on the way to Dallas for a friend's wedding. It is so special when our young people make an effort to join us whenever they can, what a blessing all our young adults are. We also had Ms Lauren and her friend come by for supper as she leaves for her last semester at University of Arkansas.

We again had a full table for our Bible study. Two friends of Stephanie joined us, Fabian and Michelle. We got to celebrate Zig Zag's birthday and enjoy some of her cake. Thanks to Lomax and Joey for making it all possible. Who would have known, 22 candles on such a small cake could make so much fire! Not to worry Ms Lisa, Allison blew out the blaze before too much damaged was done!

Joey led us in the reading of the last chapter in Acts. Reading about Paul, finally in Rome sharing the gospel with both Jews and Gentiles. Paul, living in a rented house, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, with full boldness and without hindrance. The bible I have, says, He boldly preached about the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ, and no one tried to stop him. Wow, shouldn't we all live our lives in such a way, that no one tries to stop us!

Prayers were lifted up for Jame's brother Chris is struggling with dependency of pain medicines. Prayers for those who were not there, Momma T, the Ackermans, Dawn. Ms Sarah and Mr Scott as they lead a group of young people to a retreat in Alexandria. For Catfish as he deals with life. Friends of Dr Phil at work. Byron came in asking for prayers for a job interview he has today, that he gets the job he so desperately needs. Gus as he winds down his adventure and prepares for his new semester of teaching. What a pleasure it is to be a part of a group who cares for others so much.

As I mentioned earlier, Ms Sara, the youth leader at Christ Methodist, suggested to the men's group to invite me to speak at their breakfast. I got a call last week from them. It was an honor to be asked. The gentleman, whose nickname is Dude! was very gracious in his phone call, saying lots of nice things. He asked at some point, send me your bio. I have never been asked that before. I told him I don't have a bio, but will put something together and email it to him. I wrote his email on a napkin and by the time I made it home, Dude' email address was destroyed.

To be honest, I kind of forgot about the bio part until Ms Sara asked Saturday morning, are you ready for your talk? I said, oh man is that this week! I need to send Dude( I just lvoe that name) something, but what?

I got a phone call Monday about going down town to pick up food items for our pantry. I really didn't have the time but thought I better.  I was on Youree Drive headed into downtown and decided to turn on Stoner Avenue to go a different way. On the right hand side of the street, a block or two from Youree is a cemetery called Greenwood. Not sure how they came up with that name? Any way, I pass the gates and get that feeling I should turn in! I was late, had a thousand things to do, I said to myself, I don't have time, so go on. I did for two blocks and that thought came again, I should turn around and go through the gates. So I did!

Inside the cemetery is a Hunter plot. I had been there once before when my uncle from south Louisiana was buried back in 1990. Most of my family grew up in south Louisiana except my grandfather's brother. Sam Hunter came to Shreveport and made fortune in the oil business. Unfortunately our side of the Hunter family remained poor. The Hunter plot is mainly for the Shreveport folks. My uncle and my grandfather are the only south Louisiana Hunters there.

I make my way to the Hunter plot. It was a beautiful afternoon, a good day for a visit. I find the plot and walk up to my uncle's head stone and find a new one next to his, his wife's. She passed back in 2002 and her daughter did not know what she was going to do. I told her daughter to let me know if we needed to make arrangements in the Hunter plot. I never got a call, so it was a nice surprise to see her head stone next to her husbands.

I stand there a few minutes and began thinking about my childhood visiting Uncle Frank and Aunt Margaret. I grew in Lake Charles going to First Methodist. After Sunday School, my parents would load me and my sister, their friends into our car and take a ride. The kids never knew where we would end up. One of my favorite places to end up was at my Uncle Frank's and Aunt Margaret house in Abbeville, just south of Lafayette.

They had two children, a little older than we were, but we had fun playing together. Uncle Frank would always greet us with a big smile and a big hug. One of his favorite things to do was steal our noses! Did your folks ever do that? Then he would do his magic tricks and pull a quarter out from behind our ears. No matter how old we got and eventually our son when we took David for visits, he did the same things, stealing our noses and his magic tricks. Aunt Margaret always kept us fed and made her home ours, just like a good Southern lady does. Always gracious in our visits.

I look down on their head stones and think about the sermon Sione preached one time about your dash. That spot on everybody's head stone, where you were born and the time you leave. What does your dash say about you. I hear God saying, that is your bio.

Thinking about Uncle Frank, I remember his hugs, his smile, his love of life, not that he was president of a company. I think about Aunt Margaret for her compassion, her love of family not that she was a leader in her church.

Being a president, a CEO, college degrees, is nice but it should not be who you are. As I was talking to the mens group Wednesday morning, I told this story and then lifted up Ms Lisa's December newsletter and said to the men,  this is my bio. My bio is all of you allowing God to work through you. I get to see the stories, experience the blessings of so many of you, my heart is full of joy.

When God calls us to come home, we all will have the opportunity to speak to the angels. When we are asked for our bio's, what will we say?

Have a great week. Take time to be with your family and friends. Amen.