Where is your peace?

he end of another week! Wow, where does the time go? Hope you got to enjoy the many blessings of God in your life this week.

No better way to start off our week than to be surrounded by friends and family at our breakfast. Momma T and Tim cooked up a feast of pancakes, bacon, brewed hot coffee with strawberries and oranges, yummy. We had an unexpected visitor, great to have Sione with us. Full of life and smiles as he visited with everybody. We also had Willie and his wife Shwanda join us. Two pastors sitting around the table talking about the greatness of God, can't beat that!

Momma T hurried out to the garden after breakfast for more fun. Icee Joe and Mr Scott went around to visit some of the guys, while Tim and Matt went by their camps. They made a stop at Catfish's camp, the first in many months. A great day of laughter, lvoe and blessings.

We had no children visit us this week. Monday was a holiday, Tuesday and Wednesday the weather was not too good, but usually they come anyway. We are reflecting on what God is wanting us to do for our neighborhood children. If you want to share something on your heart about our afternoon activities, please send Ms Lisa an email and let her know.

Tuesday evening the chapel was full of the community men sharing stories about their lives. Matt read from various books of the Bible, ending with Romans chapter 11, talking about, what does it mean that Israel is the chosen people. How do we fit into the picture? We are just as important to God as the Jews, verse 32 says, God has given all people over to their stubborn ways so that he can show mercy to all. Pretty cool and awesome.

Wednesday evening we gathered at the Bright House for our family meal. Lomax and Joey prepared a feast of lasagnas and bread, while Ms Ardis brought a salad and Ms Hat brought dessert. We then watched a short video about the Star of Bethlehem.  The video was about a gentleman's quest to use the Bible to chart the skies to see if there was really a bright Star that night. A lot of the explanation was over mr brian's head, but for this man, he felt God showed him there was definitely a Star and the Messiah was born. We could have talked all night about his findings.

Thursday got started off with a visit from Pete. He has not been able to be with us because of Cari's illness, but he felt he needed to come and see everybody. He visited with Ms Abbie to catch up on everything, then I took Pete over to see the JJ houses. The last time Pete was with us, the lots were vacant and over grown with weeds, now there is life being produced. He was amazed to see what has been happening and took lots of  pictures to show Cari. Please keep them in your prayers. The doctors have increased the amount of chemo Cari is taking and the treatments are taking a toll on her body. Lots of prayers are needed.

Thursdays Chapel was led by our long time friend Spencer singing and a new friend Pastor Raymond from the Open Road church. A great testimony from the pastor sharing his journey of how he got to know Jesus.

Our Thursday meal was prepared and served up by our friends from Airline Baptist. Ms Vicki and her crew did an outstanding job and everybody commented on how good meal was.

Momma T and Ms Abbie handed out the grocery bags to an overflowing crowd.

Then to end our day on Thursday, we had an event, that will start us on a new journey. Dawn, with the help of Ms Hat and Dr Phil, moved into JJ house number 1. Did you get that announcement! Dawn is moved in! Hallelujah! Several months ago, this ground lay dormant, now it is being born anew, with the heart and passion of Christ leading us. We can only imagine what blessings will flow from this major event, exciting times ahead for all!

Please keep William and James in your prayers this week. William is back with James, trying to combat the desires of addictions. James' feet are giving him trouble standing on them all day with his new job. Prayers fro Dr Phil. He will be leading his doctors and nurses from Shriners as they go to Panama in Central America, giving hope to the children in that part of the world. They will see over 400 children in three days of clinical's! Prayers for our college students as they facing mid terms in the coming weeks. Prayers for John Sauls. John has hurt his back and is having problems with numbness in his legs.

Heard something on a TV show the other day, as a man was dying talking to a friend who was struggling with God, the dying man said to his friend, you need to find peace in your life. The pastor in chapel shared with us, he was an atheist most of his life. He was a former Marine paratrooper, doing all sorts of things, had more money than he knew what to do with, had multiple cars, trucks, motorcycles, homes, businesses but still there was something missing in his life, no peace. 

Society wants us to make more money, then we will find peace. Get a bigger house, then you will find happiness. Work two jobs to buy a new car, you will be content. But as we all know that is not right. Our pride, our jealousy, our desires will never be satisfied, Satan will always want more.

Pastor Raymond, said, not until I accepted Christ did I find my peace. As he first accepted Christ, he thought everything would be all right. But in a short few months, he lost everything, his wealth, his home, his things, but he said to us, you know what, I had peace. God showed me, I don't need those things to find happiness, I need God.

Where do you find peace in your life? Maybe the question should be asked, do you have peace in your life? This kind of peace is something inside of you when everything around you may be in turmoil, do you have peace in your life? We all know where that kind of peace comes from, from God, but do we trust Him enough to live our lives that way? Do we try to take things in our own hands? Do we not trust God enough to let Him take over our lives? It is hard to do, Satan tells us, you don't need God, trust in yourself, believe in your egos,  use your pride to find peace. 

As we grow closer to God in our relationships, it becomes easier and easier to let go and let God take over our lives. There will be trials put before us, but that is ok, because we know who is in charge of our lives. My prayer for us this week, is for all of us to find peace in our lives. A place where, when we are going through the storms of life, a place where we can go to, to find the calm, the peace to survive another day.

Have a great week. Enjoy God's blessing in your life. Amen!

Love and Lvoe

The thing that comes to mind this week is love and lvoe. As Pastor Willie said in chapel, never seen so many balloons and flowers in all shades of red this week! Then feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit as we got to celebrate God's Lvoe in so many different ways! What a God!

An unexpected cold wind got us shivering as we made our way around to the camps last Saturday. Hot chocolate was in high demand! Turner was in his camp waiting on us. One thing Mr Scott has done for Turner is to get him a small thermos bottle. Now we can fill up his thermos with hot chocolate. Turner brings it with him every week or when he wants us to fill it up! Richard was still missing in action, we did see him on Tuesday. He is ok. Robert was waiting on us in his camp. mr brian has a sickness or don't know what the correct terminology is, to fire. We asked Robert if we could start a fire in his grill, so we did. Hard to get mr brian to leave once the fire was going, felt so warm. Robert said thanks for the fire, I am going to move my chair out by the fire and stay warm. Smokey was doing fine. Matt, Ms Sarah L and Tim visited the other camps downtown.

While we were having fun, Momma T was having her sacred moments in the garden! Fighting the cold by digging dirt, is therapeutic to some. Garden is looking good, getting ready for more planting.

We went by the JJ house to check on the guys there. Dale, Willie and Travis were working hard in getting the new house put together. Awesome to see the second house coming together so fast. Wondering who God has in mind to be the newest members of our community?

With my apologies to Pastor Roger for not attending Saturday night services as regularly as I should, I was blessed to hear Roger talk about the challenges put before us when we decide to follow Jesus. Roger mentioned our misfortune concerning the vandalism of the JJ house. I had two different members come up to me and offer to help following the service. Sunday afternoon I get a phone call from another member offering to make a donation. God is always working, always touching hearts and we always seem to be the recipients of His lvoe. Amazing God!

Tuesday afternoon many of us had the opportunity of attending the memorial service for Dale. I think it was appropriate, we were gathered together on a cold, drizzly, windy, bone chilling afternoon, like many of our visits with Dale. The only difference, we did have a burn barrel with pallets a blaze, coughing from the black smoke billowing out! It was good to see old friends in Brian and Charlotte Lewis, who took Dale in after his first hospital stay. Many stories were shared about Dale and the effect he had on each of us. The one common theme most of the stories had, were about the love Dale had for others. Both Tim and Dale were always offering what they had to others as they passed through their camp. Amazing lvoe, not having much but giving to others.

Tuesday evening, the men of the community gathered to share their stories. Matt read from Philippians chapter 3. Paul sharing his story of how he thought he was living the perfect life until he met God, then everything change. So many of us go through life thinking we are doing what is right, what is expected of us, but in reality it is a life that will not bring us closer to God. What's important in your life? Is it things or is it Jesus?  Good discussions about how the men of this community is striving to live a life where it is all about Jesus!

Wednesday was the beginning of the Lenten season. Many folks use this time to do a self analysis of their life and determine things that hinder their relationships with Jesus. mr brian being the kind of guy he is, has decided to give up the eating of brussel sprouts and to give up training for marathons! Seriously, what is keeping you away from the type of relationship Christ is wanting with you? Is it time to let go of it and focus on God?

Thursday was another afternoon full of blessings. Chapel was led by Pastor Willie, accompanied by Wes on the piano. I told Wes, 30 minutes is not long enough for chapel when you two get together! Can't wait for the sanctuary to open, maybe having more time to celebrate the lvoe of Jesus through song and words. We had our friends from Northwestern School of Nursing join in. They helped us cut up the tomatoes, shred the lettuce and serve the meal. Hamburgers, barbeque beans and all the trimmings were served to a packed house. All the ladies got to take home Momma T and Krysten's flowers. Matt and Ms Vickie brought the children goody bags. Smiles and laughter were present all around the center.

Don't forget, breakfast this Saturday, 8:30 at the center. Pancakes, bacon, hot coffee and good conversations will be happening. Come and enjoy the morning with us. Bring a friend with you.

Prayers for Wes and Ms Shannon. Their son will be leaving soon for the Marines. Continued prayers for Cari and Pete as they endure the treatments Cari is going through. Continued prayers for Ms Sarah as she continues her journey in hosting teams as they share the lvoe of Jesus with the folks in Haiti. Prayers for William. He is back in the hospital dealing with his addictions. William needs to let go and let Jesus take over his life, a hard thing to do for some of us. Prayers for our community. While sitting in chapel Thursday afternoon, listening to Pastor Willie talk about the amazing lvoe of God, you could hear loud voices of folks fussing with each other on the outside. Pastor's wife asked him to go into the fellowship hall and pray for everybody, a good start into reaching out to others.

Others? Something that's been on my mind, listening to our community talk about new and exciting dreams, one thing that comes to mind is we need to constantly be thinking about inviting others to share in those dreams. We can't build God's Kingdom by us doing it all on our own. God is bring folks to us for a purpose, one to share the lvoe of Christ with others but also to get those he brings to be a part of His Kingdom. As we shared with the community on our first meal in the community hall, this is not mr brian's center, not Momma T's center, this is everybody's center. If we don't get the community involved than we are missing on the blessings God wants us to have. We have to flexible into accepting things might not go the way we want them to go or look the way we thought they would but in the end God will get the glory and His Kingdom will prosper.

This week, is all about lvoe, not the "love" the world wants us to feel, but the remarkable lvoe of a God that wants us to experience through others. A lvoe that knows no boundaries, no judgements, no criticism. A lvoe that is unconditional in its compassion and understanding. Let go of whatever is keeping you from experiencing that special unique lvoe and strive to share that lvoe with others. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face and a glow in your heart! Amazing God!

Have a great week. Blessings to all! Amen!

planting relationships

Very late update for this week. Over slept this morning, due to lack of sleep thinking about all God has in store for us! Very exciting! 

We are on the right track because Satan is at work in our community. Last Thursday evening, our JJ house and storage trailer was broken into and all the appliances were taken from the house and tools taken from the storage trailer. Glass in one of the windows was broken out, some damage was done to the air conditioner units.  A terrible, terrible thing to happen just before the last inspection and our new home owner was to move in. But this is the community we are living in, these are the attacks we face from time to time, the question is how do we respond? Do we jump ship and run or do we give God the glory and move forward. The answer is we move forward. We learn from our mistakes, make adjustments in the way we do things and on Monday, we poured the slab on house number 2! 

Saturday was a beautiful day, just right for visiting and working in the garden. Turner, Robert and Smokey were fine. Richard was not around. Tim and Matt brought one of our new friends, Brian back with them to wash clothes at the center. Robert was already there washing his clothes. Momma T got them involved in working in the garden. More beds are cleaned up ready for planting. Momma T gave out heads of broccoli to mr brian and Dr Phil, delicious.

Our afternoon school participation activities continue to be small. Wednesday we did have some of the Mitchells and the Smalls doing craft things together, very nice.

Tuesday evening the men of the community met in the chapel, sharing their stories. Matt read from Job chapter 2. Lots of good conversations about how do we respond when times get tough. Do we have pity parties for ourselves or do we seek God's guidance in our lives.

Wednesday evening, we enjoyed our community gathering at the Bright House. We were treated to homemade chili prepared by Lomax and fried rice served up by Joey. Always good to gather and talk, sharing what God is doing in each other's lives.

Prayers for Ms Patty as she is dealing with the illness of her dad. She is spending as much time with him in Houston as she can. Prayers for William. He knows he should not drink, he does not want to drink, but he still drinks. A terrible addiction. Continued prayers for the Bollingers as they Cari continues her chemo treatments. Prayers for those who broke in the JJ house.

On Thursday, chapel was lead by Heather and Derrick leading us in songs, then a new speaker, Aaron Money, youth pastor shared his testimony. He grew up in church as a youngster, but strayed as he was growing up. It was not until he cried out to Jesus for help, did his life change. He realized, it is about your relationship with Jesus that changes hearts.

Mr Tom provided supper for our community, yummy. We had a special visitor, not really a visitor, but an old family member, who wanted to come home. Mary Thoma joined us for the evening, what a treat. We hope she  will continue to join us when her schedule allows.

We ended the evening, by Ms Lisa hosting a Board meeting. Ms Lisa, needed Board approval of the upcoming budget. I am not much on numbers, so if you want to know more about the numbers, please contact Ms Lisa. Words can not express the gratitude we have for all the work Ms Lisa has done and is doing for us. Much of what she does is at her home or at her office, not seen by many of us. But if it were not for all her hard work, none of what we see and have experienced, would have taken place. Please let Ms Lisa know how much we appreciate all her hard work and dedication to our community. 

Some points brought up during the meeting. We have our last payment for the roof job coming up in March. Ms Lisa has the money but will have to borrow from our operating funds, which will leave us short for the coming year. We need to have a fundraiser, auction, garage sale or something to come up with $7500. Be thinking of ways to accomplish this. 

Ms Patty is working with a local nursery to get the needed items for the greenhouse to make it a working operation, very exciting. Ms Lisa and her grant writer, Ms Georgeann have written grants for this area. The potential of producing a sustaining garden is in our near future. Can you imagine having fresh vegetables to cook with at our meals, have fresh vegetables for our neighbors, maybe even have enough to sell! Wow, the possibilities are endless!

Some discussions about where we go with our children afternoon activities were talked about. It was brought up to maybe establish a list of guide lines for volunteers to follow. How do we get the needed volunteers? Church groups, school service clubs, colleges were talked about. Maybe contact the VOA and Community Renewal to see if they would consider opening up one of their schools at the center. The youth area is so nice, with the different rooms, computers, library, it is a shame for it to go to waste by not being used by our children.

Ms Beth brought up an idea of having library and sewing times available for the community during the day. Plans are being worked out.

Mr Matt talked about having something to give out to our neighbors as we make our visits into the community. We have had pot holders made by Ms Beth and Ms Dawn, flowers from the garden, all met with great joy from our neighbors. Maybe have books for the children, an assortment of things we could bring with us.

Discussions were talked about opening up the sanctuary. We have had many requests asking us to do so, maybe it is time.

It was talked about we focus our prayers on God's directions for our community. So maybe in the coming weeks, we can take one of these items and make it our focus for the week.

Relationships, seems to be the theme this week. Job had a relationship with God. God knew Job and said to Satan, test him. The youth pastor, Aaron said, he tried self help books, counseling, nothing worked until he cried out to Jesus on the side of his bed. His relationship started and his life changed. We talked about how nice it is to see a face on Thursday evening and to be able to say their name. Relationships are being established. Moving out into the neighborhood is all about starting relationships with those who do not know us. 

What will those relationships allow us to do? When we say, lets go to chapel, or lets go to the sanctuary, or lets talk about Jesus, they will know we are sincere and they will come. Our jobs, our calling, our command is to lead the sheep to the shepherd, so He will get to know their names. We will not change hearts, Jesus will do that. When their hearts are changed, then the darkness that surrounds our community will grow dimmer as the light grows stronger. How awesome to be a part of the building of God's Kingdom! Want you come.

Next Tuesday, February 12th at 4pm behind First Methodist church at the head of Texas street, we will have a memorial service for Dale. Pastor Chuck will lead the service.

Saturday, February 16th, breakfast 8:30.

Valentine's Day, this coming Thursday. Flowers would be nice!

Thank you all for allowing the light to shine through you. As Momma T said, we are in the "planting" season. Seeds are being planted by each one of you. How exciting to get to experience the fruits of your lvoe and God's grace. Amen.

Whose in charge?

Can you forgive me?! We are in Dallas Friday morning playing with our grandson! What a treat! His baby sitter is sick and our son asked us if we could stay with Lane while they are at work today. Thank you Lord, for your remarkable gift of little ones! Hope your week has been as blessed as mr brian's!

We had good visits with our friends. Turner was doing fine. Richard was not there. Found out later in the week, Richard was being Richard and authorities have locked him up for awhile! Went by to see Smokey and he still was not feeling 100%. His ear was ok, but he was still recovering from  a chest cold. No time yet for a memorial service for Dale. Tim is working on it.

As we were leaving the center, Momma T arrived to work in the garden. Getting close to time for early spring planting. The ladies could use your help in getting the dirt prepared for planting.

Matt was late arriving for our visits, because he was spreading the word about Common Ground to a church in Benton. God is at work in all parts of our community. Very cool!

Last Sunday was Krysten's first day on the job! She is now the youth director at Minden First United Methodist church. What stories she will have as she begins to share God's amazing story with the young people. We will have another youth group as part of our family in the near future!

We were there at the center waiting on our neighborhood children, but they did not come Monday. We had a few show up on Tuesday and none on Wednesday. We need to think about our plans for afternoon activities for the coming school year.

Tuesday evening, we gathered for our mens Bible fellowship. A packed house enjoyed some good home cooking by the wife of one of our guys. Matt read from Romans chapter 2. Talking about not judging people we meet. How often, at our first meeting, if they look different, smell different, come from a different background do we make a judgement. Our duty is get to know everybody. The other part of the chapter was talking about, living under the law. We know all the rules of a christian life. We may act like we are Christians on Sunday, but how do we act on Mondays? As we were deep in discussions Tuesday evening, the electricity decided to go out. The whole neighborhood was out. We lite a few candles and carr y on our discussions. Smokey, said, I have never had a candle light supper before, we did tonight!

As mr brian was leaving Wednesday evening from the center. A familiar face was knocking at the door. One of our first young people to become involved with us and the children of the neighborhood came by for a visit. Chat is Ms Lisa's nephew and was part of the reason Ms Lisa came by to see what Chat was talking about. He lives in California now, the past two years he has been over seas in Japan and China, working in the software business. There are some pictures of Chat on the wall. What a blessing to have our young people come by for visits when they are in town, to check up on us and to let us know how much God impacted their lives while being a part of our community. Good God stuff!

Since we were on the road to Dallas Thursday evening, I can't report on all the activities. Just a comfort to know, Pastor Willie handled chapel, Joey and Lomax ran the show, and Ms Lisa and Momma T kept everybody moving along. Another example of community being community.

Don't forget this Sunday is the monthly party at the Ackermans. Bring something to put in the pot and enjoy the evening.

Prayers for Karl with his neck and back pain. Prayers for the Luginbills as they are spending time together in Haiti. Prayers for our community as Satan is at work mightily. We must be doing something right, if the forces of evil continue to throw obstacles our way.

That reminds me of how much God is in charge. We all to often think, poor me because something didn't work out. We might begin to doubt where we are going or what we are doing. We see the small pictures of life and how it effects us. I have to remind myself daily it is not about mr brian but about God. God is in charge, not mr brian. If we want changes to happen, we need to allow the Holy Spirit work through us, not do it by ourselves. God sees the big picture. God is writing the big picture. He only asks to follow and not lead,  let God do the leading.

I am grateful to be a part of a community that is striving to let go and Let God be the master of their souls. To allow their faith to be in Jesus not themselves. Our obstacles will be challenging as we face them, but know in the long run, God will prevail. God triumphs over evil every time! Thank you for being who you are and showing the light of passion, patience and lvoe.

Have a great week. Let go and let God! Amen.