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.