Good soil

Another week, another month in the books! Hopefully with a new month, it will bring cooler temperatures! Hope you all had a great week and a great month.

One of the hottest weeks of the year last week and our guys living outside were fussing! We sweat for a few minutes and then get back in our air condition cars and go on. Can you imagine not being able to cool off at all! Even at night, the humidity is so high, just makes for unpleasant living conditions. The mosquitoes are causing all sorts of havoc also. We had more friends show up in the camps, but as usual God provides and we had just enough supplies for everybody to get a meal or two.

Ardis and Abbie were hard at work in the kitchen wrapping all our donated bread Saturday morning. Ardis was able to find a bread cutting machine, so now we have sliced bread to give out, what a treat.

Matt led men's Bible fellowship Tuesday evening. The room was full, had to make the circle larger! What a blessing. We read from Romans Chapter 12, talking about being a living sacrifice. Don't just be a sacrifice on Sunday mornings, but every day, giving God the glory in everything you do.

Ardis hosted our family time Wednesday evening. Joey led our discussions on darkness and light. Is God in the darkness? Do we need darkness to appreciate light?

Thursday was again filled with many activities and lots of folks. We had our friends from St Luke's Medical van join us. A meal prepared by Abbey and Abbie. Groceries and bread handed out. Clothes were given away. Children running everywhere. Abbie and Pops singing in chapel. One of our friends George sharing the Word, always a blessing to be apart of the evening. 

Lisa said, she and Carl are jumping through some hoops for our Literacy program to get started. The beauracy of life is getting in the way of helping our children. Patience and perseverance will prevail!

Tuesday afternoon, Lauren will open the doors to our neighborhood children for homework assistance. Come and join in on the fun.

Keep my wife, Ginellen lifted up in your prayers. Her fourth surgery this past year, will be September 12th. We are hoping the doctors will be able to remove the fistula that has been causing all her pain this past year. Prayers for William as he goes through life at the nursing home. It is a lonely life and at times hard to bear. Prayers for all our students as they go back to school.

George in chapel talked about a passage from Mark 4 about the farmer sowing the seed. How many times have we read that?! His take on this passage was something I had not thought about before. A farmer sowing seed in one field landing on several different places. George talked about, in his struggles of life, God was sending people to him to help him get out of his addictions but his heart was hard and the words did not take. But God never gave up on him, so he continued to send others and finally at some point in his life, George was able to hear God's Word for him, allowing him to be sober and drug free. We talked about Tuesday evening, living a life worthy of God's glory. Not conforming to this world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind. 

We go through life, for a lot of us, thinking, what is best for me. We go to church, thinking we are better than those who don't. We try to work harder, get more money, so we can get more stuff, so we will feel good about ourselves. But how much is enough?  As we all know, it never stops. You get that car you always thought you wanted. Then you drive by your neighbors house and they have a newer, fancier model. We buy a big house, maybe one we can't afford, to impress our neighbors. Now we have to work so hard to pay for it, we don't get to enjoy it. The wants go on and on.

We become lost. At some point we begin to realize, everything we have done in our lives has turned to tragedy, maybe there is another way? God never gives up on us and He sends someone our way, just at a time, when our hearts are ready to understand. This time the seed landed on good soil, soil worth growing a good crop and we are blessed and others are blessed.

A life devoted to God eliminates all of these desires of the flesh. We begin to understand, it is not about me but about others. We begin to think of ourselves more humbly, not more highly. We begin to see "stuff" doesn't matters. We find ourselves in a community where others think along those same lines, allowing us to share our struggles with each other.  We learn we are not perfect, but sinners saved by the grace of God.

In verse 12 of the Romans passage, it says, Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Can't think of a better way to live our lives! Amen.

Hope you have a great first week of September. May God continue to bless you and your family.

Who loves you?

Not possible, can't be Friday already! How was your week?

We had a blast Saturday morning visiting our friends who live outdoors. Scott has decided, to let God lead us in our ministry and see what happens. We have no vehicle, no money, only a desire to share God's lvoe with others. As we were loading up the truck Saturday morning, I said to Scott, we have more stuff to hand out than when we had a budget! God provides! 

Our friends TJ and Heather visited the camps several weeks ago. TJ and Heather wanted to help with supplies for the guys. Thinking they would go to their church, God had other ideas! TJ contacted a friend at a radio station. The radio station put out a challenge to another radio station and the supplies started coming in. They had several tables full of batteries, shirts, socks, hats. TJ and Heather got big buckets and filled each bucket up with all these supplies. We brought them to the camps last week. You would have thought Santa had arrived! The guys were blown away by the filled buckets, almost too heavy to carry! What a testimony of faith, lvoe and compassion! Thank you Heather and TJ for your lvoe of others.

Saturday morning, as we arrived back at the center, we were treated to a visit from some special friends. Stephanie was in town, as well as Ben and David. All members of our family from the Wesleyan Foundation at McNeese University in Lake Charles. We know why Stephanie was in town! Ben and David drove up to pick up some items for David's new office. He has been appointed the new leader of the Wesleyan! Along with his wife Martha, they will led young people to Christ as they are searching their lives for answers. David, said he hopes to get Common Ground back on a regular schedule of coming to help us out. What a blessing it will be to have a new group of family members join us.

Tuesday evening, Pastor Elbert led our men's Bible fellowship. A big crowd of men from our community and beyond came together to share their hearts, talking about our struggles with temptations. Temptations can come from any where and take any form. Only our faith in Jesus will help us get through them. Don't go it alone, you won't make it!

Thursday evening, was again full of excitement. mr brian, being mr brian had not scheduled a preacher for chapel. Abbey was showing around a new friend, Rev. Ronnie Hampton. Rev Ron, has led a ministry called Takin It To The Streets for over 6 years. We ask Rev, would it be possible to share the Word with us this afternoon? Of course God provides and Rev led a Spirit filled message. Our long time friend, Spencer shared his amazing gift of song. The children were more active than normal! We suspect our 100 degree temperatures and being in school, our children needed to share their noise levels a little louder than normal! Lots of our folks were on vacations, so members of the community step up and helped out. That is what it is all about.

Saw Joey Tuesday evening, with a big smile on his face. He was still basking in the Spirit led trip to New Orleans. John and Michele did an outstanding job leading the way and allowing the Holy Spirit to take over. One of the highlights of the trip, was attending church Sunday morning with all the multitudes of people joining in. Joey said it was the largest attended worship time so far with a typical New Orleans flair of all sorts of people represented! God is doing mighty works there, as our brother in Christ leads. Please keep Sione in your prayers. Sione being Sione, has tried to do too much and has walking pneumonia. Something about doing God's work, makes you want to do more than your body can handle. Sione it will get done in God's time, not ours!

Several weeks ago, Max Lucado, talked about, great opportunities. His message hit home for me, I know it hits home for Sione and I know it hits home for all of you. Max wrote, "There's only so much sand in the hourglass. Who gets it? You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Each June I put my calendar together for the coming year. Decisions to be made. You may not stockpile your requests until June, but your situation is every bit as real. It's tug-of-war, and you're the rope. On one side are the requests for your time and energy. They call. They compliment. They're valid and good. Great opportunities to do good things. If they were evil, it'd be easy to say no. But they aren't, so it's easy to rationalize.

On the other side are the loved ones in your world. They don't ask you to consult your calendar. They don't use terms like "appointment" and "engagement" or "do lunch."They don't want you for what you can do for them; they want you for who you are. Are you making time for them?"

Our community is made up of heart people. People who are more concerned with others than themselves. Sometimes at the cost of our family and those who are close to us. Those who have been connected with our community go off and start other communities. You do for others before you do for yourselves. You are always looking for opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a world that so desperately needs lvoe.

Just a reminder to all of us, God is control. I know at times, it doesn't seem like it, but He is. We humans have a tendency to forget, try to do it all ourselves. God is always there, always listening, waiting on us to talk to Him. mr brian wants it done yesterday, but God doesn't want it done that way. In mr brian's way, where does faith, obedience, perseverance come in? God's way is always the best. 

The other part of this story, I hear, is God will bring people to help make it happen. We are in the mist of darkness in our community, overwhelming to us, but not for God. God will bring people to help us out of the darkness when God feels it is time. God will bring people into your life when you are the most desperate. He might already have, don't overlook them, don't take them for granted. Max, says in his last sentence, "they don't want you for what you can do for them; they want you for who you are." They lvoe us in spite of our flaws and weaknesses. Sounds like Jesus' lvoe for us?! Help us Jesus to lvoe those most close to us this week and for the weeks to come. Amen.

Lvoe, lvoe, lvoe this week!!

Persevere

How was your week? Fast and furious like most of ours? Did we take time to listen to the quiet still voice of Jesus?

Saturday was filled with basketball, visiting, and cooking. Matt and Vicky continued their lvoe of our children, by turning the concrete parking lot into a basketball gym, food, fun and good times are going on. If you have a few minutes drop by and cheer on the children. Say a prayer for Matt, so he doesn't have a heart attack trying to keep up with the boys! Momma T and Ardis were busy wrapping the donated bread, then preparing our Thursday meal. Scott and Dr Phil, visited our friends in the camps.

It was good to see an old friend sitting on the riding lawnmower doing what he use to do during our stay with us during the summer months. Gus has been with us for several days now, great to see him and share a few laughs. Prayers for him as he tries to clean up the Bright House!

Tuesday evening, Rickie led the men's Bible study, reading Psalm 121. Where does my help come from, King David asks. My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Where does your help come from? Do we try to make it go on our own?

Thursday evening was full of blessings and challenges. Lots of folks for the first of the month. Willie, Abbie and Pops led chapel with song and Word. Everybody enjoyed the Shepherd's Pie prepared by Momma T and Ardis. Clothing room was busy as well as the grocery giveaway. We also had more children coming by to get a new backpack and supplies. Lots of new faces joined in to help serve and clean up. An old friend, Chris Broadwell and his new wife Emily were there to lend a hand. A good evening, lots of blessings.

Please keep John and Michele Sauls, Joey and the rest of the team as they are in New Orleans helping out Sione in his new church. Prayers for William, he was not feeling well Tuesday. Prayers for our community. Life presents lots of challenges to the best of us. When you are in poverty, the challenges seem to be even more, often feeling like there is no way out. Prayers for our children of the community. They are the recipient of living in poverty and all that brings with it.

Being a part of our community presents lots of challenges. Over all these years, we have seen how it is for our friends and our children to live in poverty. At times, those challenges follow our community to the center. Your heart breaks when you hear the stories, the pain that is going on. Often times we are the recipient of those struggles because we might be the only ones available to listen.  There are cries of neglect, shouts of frustration, screams of anger.

Matt introduced me to one of the boys at the "gym" who had just gotten out of jail. Matt said, he is a good boy, just got in a bad situation. All our children are good children, they are just in bad situations. Poverty does that. It is not their fault, they have no father, they struggle to find food, their homes are deplorable, they have to fend for themselves. Unfortunately, they find shelter or take advise from others who do not love them but only want they can get out of them. Usually it leads our children down the paths they should not be on. But it should not surprise us, because in our children's mind, this person is paying attention to them.

What's the answer? Where will change come from? In verse 7 of Psalm 121, David says, The Lord will keep you from all harm- he will watch over your life. Verse 8, the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. God is the answer. We have to pray mightily, He will make a way out of the darkness of our community. We have to pray He will send people who have a heart for our community and our struggles and want to help us make changes.

We can not do this on our own. It is overwhelming to change a community where the darkness looms so large. But for God, nothing is impossible. He has brought all of you to the community. He continues to bring others. He continues to put our struggles in the hearts of those all across the country, from New York, to North Carolina, to Texas, to California, to Florida, leading prayers of grace and mercy for our community.

Willie talked about in James 1, verse 2 consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Verse 4, Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete . . Our flesh will want to quit, throw in the towel, walk away, but don't let it. Call upon the Lord, fill your heart with His Holy Spirit and persevere. Verse 12 in James says, Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life. .  . Amen.

God will make a way out of noway, we have to believe, we have to have faith, we have to lvoe. Have a great week!

Deeds

We have finished the first week of August! Is time flying by or what! Hope your week was a good one, filled with many of God's blessings.

Scott and I visited our friends who live outside Saturday morning. I had not been in awhile and it was great to see our old friends. Like family members, you don't see except for holidays or something, you walk up, receive big smiles, big hugs and talk about life. As we were leaving Turner, Scott said to me, that is why I continue to come. 

Turner has taught me a lot about survival. Bernard, Turner's first name, over all these years, never takes what he does not need. Too much to carry, doesn't want others to come into his camp and steal. He has shown me, it doesn't take much to live on. Over the years, we would say to Turner, don't you want to take this can of beans, or this jacket, or these socks. He would always say thanks, but don't need it.

This Saturday, Bernard took 4 bags of groceries with him, almost too much to carry. In all the years we have visited Turner, he has never taken this much. I said to Scott, he must be hungry. Bernard has mental challenges, does not like to be around people, uncomfortable in crowds, so standing in line, or going to an organization's building, is not something Bernard does. Scott is worried, if we don't come on Saturdays, what might happen to Turner. So we go and will always go as long as Bernard Turner needs us! Amen.

Arriving back at the center around noon, Matt and Vicky were surrounded by a parking lot full of children playing basketball.  They were enjoying pizza and drinks, cooling off from a hard morning of playing! What a great atmosphere is being created, allowing for a safe, lvoing place for our community children to come.

Saturday evening, went to hear the new pastor at Grace. Juan is stepping in some big shoes, but he looks like he will be able to fit right in! The highlight of the evening, was sitting with our Mr Kevin and then getting a big hug from Allison. She was in for a few days, before she starts her last year of divinity school in Atlanta. Allison, I know of a place where you would be welcomed with open arms when it is your time to start preaching!

Tuesday evening our men's fellowship was different but also spiritual. Matt reading from James, chapter 2, talking about having faith and no deeds. Even the demons knew about God, so having faith without deeds is dead. Verse 26 reads, as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. So we got up, went into the children's gathering area, and filled 90 backpacks with school supplies! Amen.

Wednesday afternoon, Joey and Lomax hosted our friends from the Highland Yellow House. What an amazing group of young people they are, taking a part of their lives, living in the Highland area and sharing God's lvoe with others. Hopefully we will continue to grow together in our faith and deeds.

If you see our lady, Kathryn, who helps keep the community center looking good, tell her what a great job she is doing. She is working on the floors to get them back in shape from a summer of glorious fun.

Thursday afternoon, the center was full of activities. Heather and Derek lead worship and a new friend,Branson, shared the Word. The room was filled. Followed by a great supper, from Abbey and Abbie. Groceries were handed out. As the children were leaving, backpacks were given away. Please thank the folks from Grace Community for their generous donations of back packs and school supplies. We also had some of the community, especially Prys and Pumpkin gathering supplies and bags from local businesses. Every child had their backpacks on and walked around the center with huge smiles.

A reminder, our John Sauls is offering a trip down to see our pastor's new church and help them out. Sione and his misfits down there, are resurrecting a church from ashes, to bring lvoe to folks of New Orleans. I think John has a few more seats available. Cost is $160. They will leave Thursday August 14, returning Sunday August 17th. Joey is going. Please email John at: jonsauls241@gmail.com. If you can't go on this trip, John is planning other trips down there in the coming months.

Please keep our children in your prayers this week. Most of them will be going back to school. A new start, a fresh beginning, hopefully full of learning opportunities. Don't forget to let Lisa know if you can help us out this year with tutoring. We will be starting the end of the month. Please continue to keep William in your prayers. He continues to struggle with life. Most of his days is just sitting around. A visit from us, helps him a lot. Joey saw him this week. Prayers for Hat and Karl as their daughter is struggling with health issues.

James is one of my favorite books in the Bible. I am a "doer" and James seem to say, if you are not doing, you are not showing your faith. We have had discussions about earning your way to heaven. As we know, that can't be done. In Billy Graham's column this morning a man was concerned about heaven and whether he would be going there. He said he tried to be good all his life, tried to do good things for people, but never really knew God. There are lots of people doing good things in this world but why are they doing it? It is not for us to judge, we don't know their hearts, but what motivates them into their actions?

When I was being interviewed about the Angel award, the lady asked me, do you ever get tired of doing what you are doing? I had to think a moment. Over the past 20 years, have I gotten tired? Sure I have become exhausted, over whelmed at times, but tired of doing God's work?

And it hit me, I don't get tired because it is not me doing the work, but Jesus, the Holy Spirit within me doing the work. Jesus had to get away from the crowds occasionally, because His humanness was taking over. He was beginning to loose focus. If we try to do it ourselves, guaranteed we will burn out, loose our enjoyment, become tired of doing good.

You want your faith to grow, allow the Holy Spirit inside of you to move mountains. You want to know Jesus, allow Him to run your life. Wanting to know what God wants you to do, let go of your pride and ego and let God take charge.

Deeds happen because of your faith. The lvoe you have for Jesus, almost forces you to actions of lvoe. Jesus wants deeds that come from your heart, not deeds that come from your pride. You all represent deeds being done from your heart. Continue to do this and your reward will be a life time spent with our Father. Amen.

Have a great week, full of deeds of the heart!

Lamp post

It's Friday!! Hope your week was a good one.

Scott and Dr Phil visited our outdoor friends Saturday. All seem to doing fine. No drama, which is a good thing. Matt is busy with the basketball activity. More and more young people from the neighborhood are coming.

Momma T and Tim were busy Saturday leading their work crews at Weekend of the Cross. 

Matt led Tuesday men's Bible fellowship, reading from Mark 4, versus 21 - 34. Good discussions about who in your life is a lamp? It was good to see William join us, Sinotra was also there. Matt spends all his time running around picking up everybody! What a treat to have so many of our guys there.

Summer camp has come to a close. Can't believe we have made another summer of fun, challenges and blessings. Hopefully you all got to see the pictures Princess posts on our face book page. Wednesday, they had awards day for the children. Each child received award for something, the best  at dodge ball, the sneakiest, the loudest, the smallest, on and on. Great smiles on all the children's faces. I bet, this is the first time most of our children have received an award or certificate of any kind. 

What has become a tradition for the close of camp, the children were taken to Splash Kingdom, our local water park. It couldn't have been a better day, with over cast skies and cooler temperatures, everybody had a great time. This year, we had the help of the youth from Cypress Baptist to help transport and chaperone. Seeing the children come back Thursday afternoon, laughing, hugging, smiling was a joy to see.

Lauren  and Lisa did a great job organizing the camp and making sure all our leaders were working together to provide the safest, the most enriching atmosphere possible. Talking with some of the youth leaders, I am wondering who had the most fun this summer!

Thursday's activities was met with some rain showers, but cooler temperatures. With the cooler temperatures, we opened up the chapel. Led by our friends from Cypress Baptist and our guitar man, everybody had a great time. Our food, was served by the Cypress youth, they helped clean up and pass out our grocery bags. It was great to see so many young people there enjoying the evening.

Thursday afternoon, I had the privilege to meet with the lady in charge of the Christian Leadership Center at Centenary. Maegan wanted to hear our story and how she can incorporate it into her class this year. She has seen so many of the students' lives being transformed by what is going on at Common Ground. She wants more and more students to be a part of our community. This fall we will be asked to speak to the students and share our story with them encouraging them to live a servant's life.

Be thinking how you can be a part of our new tutoring program starting the end of the month. Let Lisa know, if you can help out. There will be a training session in the next few weeks.

Please keep us all lifted up in your daily prayers.

In Mark we read about Jesus talking to the folks about a lamp being put on a stand, not covered up. A lamp back in those days was important. It was the only source of light, it needed to be on a stand to have the greatest effect. Our faith in Jesus does no good, if we stay at home by ourselves, never venturing out into the darkness. The light inside of us, needs to be spread through out our community, to drown out the darkness of death. If we don't go out, who will? The Good News needs to be spread all across our community, by our words and our deeds.

In verse 26, Jesus talks about the growing of seeds, especially a mustard seed, the tiniest of all seeds. The seed is planted and it grows. Not by what the farmer does but by the grace of God. As I was talking to Maegan Thursday afternoon, glancing down at my watch, it was 5:30. Chapel was going on, the food was prepared and being served, grocery bags were being handed out, the clothing room was open for business and mr brian was no where to be found. 

God continues to bless our community with people with servant hearts, wanting to serve others, not themselves. One of our jobs as part of this community is to allow new faces to use their gifts of servant hood. Our community will be blessed by us allowing the seeds of faith to grow and bloom into branches and trees of life. If we let go and let God do His thing, amazing results will happen. Amen.

Our center will need some tender loving care in the coming weeks, recovering from camp and getting ready for the school year. If you can come by and help, mop, wipe, scrub, wax, please let us know.

Have a great week. Let the light of Christ shine bright!