God's Lvoe

How's your week been going? Lots of wind, rain and a few storms in our state. Sione is still without electricity in Metairie, but other than that, most of the community has done ok. In the Shreveport area, we got a little rain and some wind. They just opened up a shelter here in town for folks coming from the Baton Rouge area. It seems, flooding has been the biggest problem.

Mr Scott and Dr Phil made their way around to the camps last Saturday. We continue to talk about our visits on Saturdays and what it will look like in the coming weeks. We continue to visit Turner and Richard, we will always continue those relationships, but with Smokey moving out, Shawn and Juan not there this past Saturday, we are wondering if it is time to move our focus to our neighborhood. We know we have homeless folks in our community, maybe it's time to meet them?

Airline Baptist, showed up at 8am and began the task of renovating the house next to the Bright House. We are calling the house, Bright House II in anticipation of Ms Sarah and Mr Scott's youth painting weekend in the months ahead. A huge dumpster was filled to capacity by noon, with lumber, limbs and all sorts of nasty stuff. Masks are a must when you go inside and work. A Bible was found by Mr Matt inside one of the walls. Other than the outside being charred, it looks great. Mike, from Airline, agreed to park another dumpster in the back of the house for us. So if you run out of something to do in the coming weeks, you are welcome to remove the rubble from the house!

Momma T and Ms Abbie spent most of the morning, moving kitchen stuff from the store room into the new kitchen. The new kitchen is starting to look like a kitchen. Pictures are coming.

Forgot to tell everybody last week, Ms Lisa told me, Ms Abbie's granddaughter Kierra, was accepted back into nursing school for the fall semester. Kierra, had trouble with one of her classes preventing her from continuing her education, but through some divine intervention, the school has allowed Kierra to retake the class and continue with her studies. Please Kierra in your prayers as she starts this semester. She is one of the few young people in our neighborhood trying to change the cycle of poverty.

On Monday, Mr Matt and Mr Charley took Dale to the Salvation Army. As of Thursday Dale is still there. Matt said, Dale is talking about looking into his disability situation again.

Tuesday evening, Mr Matt led us in reading in Matthew about the greatest commandment, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and spirit, love your neighbor as your self. We talked about, if we don't love ourselves, can we love others? What does this kind of love look like? More to come on this.

Also on Tuesday, we met with a young man who has grown up at Grace Methodist, about working with us in our kitchen. He has been a chef for the past 10 years and has always wanted to be a part of something just starting out. Amazing how God puts folks together to make things happen.

Wednesday evening, Ms Lisa hosted our annual Board of Directors meeting. These meetings are not some of our favorite things to do, but it is a good way for us all to hear from each other. If you have questions on the finances of Common Ground, please email Ms Lisa. For the most part we are doing ok. All our activities and remodeling has been taken care of through our grant monies. Our biggest costs are the paying of our utilities in the center and Bright House.

Most of the evening was our discussions of what Common Ground does and who we are. Amazing to get a full page listing of all the activities we are involved in. Summer Day Camp. The garden and greenhouse. Ms Patty reported an Eagle scout project is about to start to completely redo the entire greenhouse, replacing all the glass with Plexiglas. Outdoor friends visits were talked about. Sharing we only have two camps left, and whether it might be time to move into the neighborhood on Saturday mornings. Dr Phil and Matt, both said, we would continue to go by and see Turner and Richard as long as they are around. Ms Beth, talked about our sewing classes, telling us the first classes have come to an end. With most completing their projects. New classes will begin soon. U2 Saturdays was talked about by Momma T and the possibility of changing times or maybe having them just 4 times a year. Kitchen update was given by Mr John. We have gotten the final approval from the city inspectors. Our last inspection will be from the state fire Marshall. We elected two new members to the board. Matt Whitehead and David McCormick. Welcome guys. Building Common Ground, Dr Phil shared what is happening. Or you can walk across Southern and see what is happening! One of our outdoor friends, Dave is working hard to build our JJ house. Pretty cool, Dr Phil is allowing a guy who is living in the woods, to build God's dream of new housing in our neighborhood.

The thing that struck me as I sat and listened to everybody, it is not about us but about our neighbors. Everything we do, we build, we learn, is for our community, not to have a pretty place to sit and visit. You are all amazing people.

Thursday was again full of fun and activities. With the last of Issac still providing some misty rain and wind, we did not know if we would have folks show up. As always they came, walking under umbrellas, getting rides, using plastic bags to stay as dry as possible. We got the afternoon started off by Spencer and Pastor Roger leading our chapel time. Spencer had picked out a few songs to sing and have the words put on the screen, but due to some technical difficulties, we could not get the words to display, so Spencer changes what he was going to sing to some hymns we all knew and sang his heart out! Awesome.

Then Pastor Roger started his talk, by having children's time! Our first children's time, something we have talked about for months. It was great, the kids were reluctant at first, but gradually they made their way to the front of the chapel. Roger talked about love and how the children can share love with everybody. One of those priceless moments I witnessed, he asked the children, as they went back to their seats to give someone a hug. I was sitting behind a young lady, who got one of those hugs and you could see the joy on her face!

Roger concluded his talk about the sower sowing seeds. We just read the same passage on Tuesday evening the week before. He shared, how reckless the sower was. For those of us who have done some gardening in our lives, you take your time, make a hole, put two or three seeds in the hole, cover up the hole with dirt and move on. This sower, God, just throws out the seed, The Word, knowing that some with take, and some won't. But that is ok, because the Word has been shared with everybody. Thanks Roger for your heart and your smile, looking forward to many more opportunities to hear what God is putting on your heart.

We had a packed house, for Airline Baptist to share their feast of red beans and rice. There was just enough left over for Joey to have supper tomorrow night. Ms Sarah and Mr Scott went and bought groceries for us and stayed around the whole evening. They helped Ms Abbie make grocery bags, worked in the clothing room, and helped out in the fellowship hall, great to have them back with us.

We met for our Bible study to conclude the evening, reading from John 9. We talked about how Jesus healed a blind man from birth and how the Pharisees did not focus on the miracle but how Jesus did it on a Sabbath. Jesus says to them, I  came so that the blind can see . . What do we focus on, our faith or our sight?

Continue to lift up Pete and Cari. They are still going through tests to determine treatment options for her bone cancer. Prayers for Hat's daughter as they determine what is the cause of her illness. Pray for our churches who support us. There are many demands put on a church, their leaders and staff. The financial support, the volunteers, the prayers from these churches make everything we do possible. Continue to lift up William. He is in between treatment options at the moment and the first of the month is here, with the temptation of spending his money on things he should not do. Lift a friend of ours Patrick. He is suffering with bipolar symptoms and the medication he is taking to control this problem.

Don't forget, we are meeting this Sunday, September 2nd, at Pastor Eddie's church on Southern for worship. They begin at 11am.

The Brookwood B5K run is fast approaching, Saturday September 8th, 8am. Please sign up if you haven't and tell everybody you know to sign up too.

Love is in the air lately. Not love but "lvoe". In Matthew 23:37, Jesus says to the Pharisees, the most important command, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. And the second command, Love your neighbor as you love yourself. In 1 Corinthians 13:13, so these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. and the greatest of these is love. As Mr Matt asked Tuesday evening, what does that lvoe look like? Lvoe is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, does not brag, not proud. Lvoe is not selfish and does not get upset with others. Lvoe does not count up wrong things, lvoe is happy with truth. Lvoe patiently accepts all things. Lvoe always trusts, hopes and always remains strong, from 1 Corinthians 13 :4-7.

Roger said on Thursday, don't you just enjoy meeting someone that is full of lvoe, full of the Spirit. He said he met Noel in the parking lot and got that feeling. When someone meets you, do they get that feeling, of wow, I want what you have! Lvoe is hard, I would say impossible, if we do not fully accept the first commandment, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. Because it is not our love that is being shown, it is God's lvoe, isn't it? I do not think it is in our nature to be patient and kind, not bragging or jealous. Only through our relationship with Jesus can we over come ourselves and become the kind of disciples God is wanting us to be.

When Roger says, the sower, God throws out the seed into all parts of the world, I was reminded of you guys. When Matt asked what does lvoe look like, I think of all the things you all make sacrifices for. It is our job to go out, spread the seeds and let God do the rest. For the last several years, you have gone out to camps where there were no seeds and have scattered lvoe everywhere. You make a place of refrug where the seeds of lvoe have been choked out by the weeds and now the seeds of lvoe are being allowed to grow again in fertile soil. You pick up our friends and take them to your house. You take them to the store. You take them to the doctors. You visit them in jail. You sing in chapel. You preach the Word. You pray. You prepare a meal. You serve a meal. You buy groceries. You build a house. You visit our neighbors. You hand out groceries. You hang up clothes.

All of this done with patience, with kindness, in truth. There is no jealousy, you do not brag. Lvoe is not about us, Lvoe does not come from us. Lvoe is all about God and allowing His lvoe to flow through us. Thank you all for allowing this amazing transformation to happen. What a special group of followers you are.

Have a great weekend. Lvoe to all. Amen and Amen

Services

Dare I say, in this part of the world, we had a hint of fall weather this week. Only got to 92 a couple of days! Hopefully more to come.

With our van in the shop for repairs, we took our own cars to visit our friends. It was kind of nice driving around down town in "undercover" cars! The first response we got when we stopped, didn't recognize ya'll without the white van! Turner is doing fine. Richard was being Richard and we sat on the tailgate of one of our trucks and listened to him give a recap of Genesis, priceless! Shawn's camp was filled with some of our old friends. Dave has moved away from Big D's and is now in the vicinity of the bridge. Juan was there, just getting out of jail, seemed to be doing ok. For those of you who do not know, Tim has been arrested and is in jail until September 17th. The sad thing about all of this, he will loose his job, his income and both he and Dale will again be out on the streets. We need to continue to be there for them and show God's lvoe.

Tuesday evening, we had a good group of men, coming together for our Bible fellowship. Matt read from Mark 7, talking about worshiping traditions instead of God. Why does man put so much emphasizes on traditions rather than worshiping God? Jesus said, you show honor with words but your hearts are far from me. The things they teach are human rules, their worship of me is worthless. We need to remember, this is all about God not us. If we do not put God first in everything we do, then it is worthless.

Wednesday, Ms Lisa, Krysten and Joey mapped out a plan for our after school activities. They want to continue the type of building of relationships they had during the summer, so they want to make arts available to the children. They talked about having Monday as music day, Tuesday working on the computers, Wednesday being art day, Thursday reading day or something along those lines. We talked about having special guests join us, maybe have Momma T show them how to bake cookies, have Ms Patty show them how to plant seeds. Do you have special gift or skill you would like to share with the children? Email Krysten and let her know, she is in the process of making the schedule. We plan to start our activities the first week of September. We need a name, Arts in the afternoon?

Thursday morning, we had our first slab poured of the JJ houses. Pictures are up on our face book page. Want you all to know, how much this is a God thing happening. Time after time we came across road blocks, for those of us who have worked with God, we come to know this is not expected. But for those who have not done work for the Lord, it is exhausting and frustrating. As you try to comfort those who are wit's end, you draw upon your faith and obedience, knowing God will working it all out. And then, on Thursday morning, you get to experience the awesomeness and joy of God when it all comes together. One other aspect of all of this, is this construction company, in the business to make a profit, decided to donate all their time, materials and labor to the pouring of the slab, a huge cost savings to the building of the house. God is soooo good!!

Chapel was especially good Thursday afternoon. Gus drove over from Longview and we were treated by his singing and playing of the piano. Then Pastor Eddie's wife, Jean and a friend sang a couple of songs about the love of Jesus. Flying high already, Pastor Eddie talks about the lady who had a bleeding problem for 12 years and one day pushed through the crowd and touched Jesus' robe and was healed. Pastor titled his talk, we all have issues, what do we do with them? He had an alter call and a young man came forward. Sitting in chapel, I was reminded of our discussions Tuesday night about worshiping traditions. Looking around our chapel, we had folks of different colors, we had children, we had a dog sitting with his friend, we had folks in shorts, we had singing of different types of hymns. As Pastor Eddie said, God wants us just the way we are, not worshiping traditions but worshiping Jesus Christ. Awesome!

Next week we will have Pastor Roger from Grace join us, along with Spencer playing his guitar.

We talked to Pastor Eddie, he will be out of town this Sunday. We will be joining Pastor Eddie and his wife at Bright Star Baptist at 11am September 2nd. The church is located on Southern, a block south of 70 street. Come and join us if you can, he would love to have us all.

Ms Abbie and her crew fixed grilled cheese, salad and oranges for supper. That was after she had put together 60 bags of groceries. Ms Abbie works tirelessly for our community and is a huge blessing to us all.

Dawn, Dr Phil and I stopped for a moment and focused on God's word later Thursday evening and read John 8. Our lives are hurry, hurry, run, run, God's word has a way of making sense to it all. I needed that time, thank you guys for being there.

Prayers were lifted up for Pete's wife Carie. They have a long, strenuously battle ahead of them in her fight against her bone cancer. They will need all the support and prayers we can give them. Prayers for Ms Sarah and Mr Scott as they travel back from their beach vacation, hoping their time together was good for their souls and spirits. Prayers for the Doctor who mistakenly left their baby in the back seat of his car at LSUMC. Such a tragedy. Prayers for our children as they grow into adults and start their own families. That they are able to make good choices and have the willingness to ask for help from mom and dad if needed.

Has everybody signed up for the Brookwood 5k run? Have you contacted your friends, family, your church, your coworkers? mr brian has signed up, like Joey, may try the fun walk. It is an honor to be selected as this year's recipient, let's support them as best we can.

This Saturday at 8 am Airline Baptist will bring a crew over and begin the renovations of Bright House II. Ms Sarah, put us on your list of a youth painting project! The man in charge is the partner of the construction company who is helping us build the house. What a blessing this company is, please come out and say thank you to Mike and everybody.

I got a phone call last Friday from a person needing some assistance. It was hard to hear them, but the thing that stuck with me was, the question they asked, what services do you offer? I have been thinking about that all week, what services do you offer? What a strange question, but one I guess you ask an organization who is in the helping business. Not sure I have been asked that before? I started to think, would you go to your mom and dad and say, Mom what services are you going to offer me today? Or go to your Uncle and say, Uncle Jeff, are your services available on Saturday?

Ms Lisa, in her writing of grants and trying to put in words what we are about, asked, why is common ground different than the other 96 non profits in the city? I guess now, my first response, is we do not offer any services, we offer lvoe. We offer a meal to our friends, we share with our community the clothes we have, we provide a bag of groceries to our neighbors, not out of obligation but out of lvoe. We have no clients only family. Chapel time is a feeling of family. Yes, like all families we have issues, but we all can come together and worship.

Common Ground is about family, not about services. If your family is hurting you help through prayer, your presence or your shoulder to cry on. Common Ground is not about Common Ground it is about God. As long as we put God first, blessing will flow. It is not about traditions, or attitudes, or agendas, we must get past all of this, it is about the lvoe of Jesus. We talked about Thursday evening, man messes up so much when it comes to loving God. We put so many rules and regulations in the way, we loose sight of what we are about. God is about lvoe, plan and simple. Lvoe your God with your heart, mind and soul and then your neighbor. That's it.

It is an honor to be a part of a community where God is the leader. Where God comes first. Where there is no one greater than He. May we stay focused on God and His will for our lives and our community. We have such prayer warriors in our mist, His will be done. Amen!

Have a great weekend, come and join us in the fun!

Weakest link

How was your week? Lomax, we want some of your California breezes! Or maybe we could all take a road trip and stay at one of your community houses!? Do they have 25 couches? Hot, hot, hot!!! around these parts, hopefully it is not as bad wherever you are.

Last Saturday morning, we were treated to a breakfast fit for a king. Gus and Joey cooked, scrambled eggs, biscuits, and gravy. Yummy! Thanks guys, very nice.

Mr Scott took us around on our visits with everybody doing alright for the most part. Richard said he was going to start saving his money and try and get him a place, we'll see if he is at his gas station this week? We then went by Dale and Tim's camp, to find no one. Through the help of Matt's wife Ms Vicki, Tim now has a steady job and doing great. He has gotten him a room, so he is not living outside right now. For those of you who have not heard, the police raided Dale's camp and put him in jail. Dale is out now and staying with Tim. We have not heard where Rebar is? When we pulled up to Smokey's camp, we were greeted with a crowd of folks. Obviously the word is out on the streets, the white van hands out underwear and batteries. It is becoming another Labor Ready stop. We need to talk about how to get back to visiting Smokey's camp.

John and Karl continued to work in the kitchen all morning long. Told John Wednesday evening, this place is beautiful. The stove is standing and thanks to our plumber hooked up with gas and ready to cook! The ceiling tiles are in. The gas is hooked up to the water and we now have hot water! Cabinet doors are in, or most of them, with their hardware provided by Momma T. We are close to our final inspection! Amen!

Monday afternoon, was headed into the center to do some painting and a couple came up behind me. They introduced themselves to me and the lady wanted me to look at her wedding photo album. They had come by a little earlier in the afternoon and was given a tour of the center by Allison. Come to find out, they were married in the sanctuary and grew up in the church. She had pictures of how the sanctuary looked 38 years ago. She had pictures of the church parlor and the fellowship hall. They want to come by and video the center and share it with their church in Houston so maybe their youth can come and help out. They want to buy one or two of our new pews when we have our auction. Pretty cool.

Tuesday evening, we moved our men's Bible fellowship from the chapel to the friendship room, too hot in the chapel. Mr Matt was on a much deserved vacation, so we muddled through our discussions. We read from 1st Timothy about what the characteristics of a deacon or elder of a church should look like. We talked about how we should practiced those attributes in our lives. What do people say about us? Do they see God in us or something else?

Summer camp has come to a close! Wow, that was fast. It seems like yesterday we were talking about our new interns arriving and now they will be leaving us. It has become a tradition the last couple of years, to close out camp by taking the children to Splash Kingdom. I know the children had a great time because they were worn out Thursday afternoon for our chapel and meal time. Thank you all so much for sharing your hearts, your passion, your lvoe with our children. You have made a difference in their young lives, something they will always remember.

Thursday, we were treated to Pastor Jackson singing and sharing the Word with us in chapel. It is amazing to me, Ms Abbie walks in, starts playing the piano, Pastor starts singing and praising begins! Haleuia. Thank you so much Ms Abbie for sharing your gift of music with us. Pastor and his wife stayed after chapel and prayed with some of the community.

Ms Judy prepared our meal and was enjoyed by all. We had  special guests attending, Ms Amanda called our local fire station and invited the fighters and they all came, trucks and all. I kind of wanted to climb into the trucks and turn on the siren and lights, but they wouldn't let me! Maybe next time! We hope they will come back as often as they can, it was very nice to have them. Thanks Amanda. Ms Abbie and her ladies handed out the grocery bags with lots of stuff in them.

We had a new visitor join us Thursday. Tim Barnes from St Luke's Methodist church. He is the youth pastor. He has been looking for ways to plug into folks who are reaching out and said he may have found a place. We will see how all of this develops.

After our meal and clean up, we gathered for our Bible study reading from John 5. We talked about Jesus asking the 38 year old paralytic, do you want to be healed? My first response, was, well duhh. But then we talked about, do we really want to be healed? What does that mean, what does that look like? If we are healed, changes need to take place, are we sure we want to do that? As Momma T said, living a life for Christ is much harder than dying for Christ. When you die for Christ, you make one decision to die. When you start living a life for Christ, decisions are made constantly. Are we sure we want to do that? It is hard, but what blessings come out of it.

Prayer concerns: continue to lift William up in his attempt to be healed! Joe Barfield continues to be in the hospital. Went by Tuesday evening to visit with him and Joe seemed to be doing ok, hoping to come home Wednesday. They determined Joe had pneumonia and he needed to stay in longer to get it under control. Lift up Carrie Bollinger, Pete's wife. They have a long battle in front of them and will need all the prayers and comfort God can provide. Icee Joe said, Little Joey is doing better, treating his condition with medication. Prayers for Big Joey. Joey has been accepted into seminary and will start classes in the fall. Pray Saturday morning our van continues to limp us through our visits. Mr Scott had challenges last week and Icee Joe will have those same challenges this week! Prayers for relationships with our children, that they become one that glorifies God not Satan.

Pastor Jackson talked about in chapel this week about the Body of Christ. Talking about no part is more important than the other. The head is not more important than the feet. Or the arms are not more important than the eyes. Have heard the story many times, but Pastor also talked about the weakest link. We are not complete if we do not help our weakest link. In our weakest moments that is where we find God working.  It says in 1st Corinthians 12: 26, If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it. If one of us are going through trials, we all need to be there for each other. Being a part of community, when you suffer we all suffer. It is a blessing to me, knowing when I struggle, you guys are there for me. Thank you all for being the Body of Christ.

Hope you all have a great weekend and a great week. Amen!