Born again

Happy Thanksgiving week to you all. Hope your turkey and dressing was good.

I was driving out in the country this week and was overwhelmed with the beauty of God's majesty! Not sure I have ever seen such pretty colors. Drove across one of our lakes and witnessed formations of ducks and geese flying in the brightest blue skies. Thank you God for creating this world and all your creatures. God is so good!

I should know by now, you never say something to our friends who live outdoors and don't deliver. Scott felt the raff of Turner as I let him down by not delivering one of our Thanksgiving meals last Thursday. Our friends don't have a lot of contact with the outside world and we have become their source of enjoyment and anguish! Being the kind of person Scott is, his big heart, he went to a local cafeteria this week and picked up a dinner for Turner and delivered it to his camp! Thank you Scott!

No afternoon reading and school work this week with schools out for the holiday.

Tuesday evening, the men gathered in the chapel for fellowship. A packed house of young boys and men sharing the lvoe of Jesus with each other. Matt read from John 3: 1- 16. Being born again was discussed and what that looks like.

Thanksgiving Day as I pulled up to the center around 4, we had a crowd already gathered! I was again reminded, hunger, loneliness, despair does not take a day off. Sorry Abbey, the black bean soup didn't look appealing to me, so we came up with a menu of biscuits, potatoes, ham, pork and beans from Tom and a pan of brownies. We need to remember, we have become an important part of our community. They look to us for a place where they can come out of the cold. A place where they can feel a sense of family. A place where hope can be found. A place where lvoe is shown. The community helped serve. Watched a little football. Life was good for an hour or so.

Was checking my calendar and forgot to wish Beth Ackerman a happy birthday last Thursday. Sorry Beth, hope your day was a good one. This week, one of our first young leaders from Centenary will be celebrating her birthday, Macy. Macy lives in New York at the moment. Macy's birthday is Friday, Dec. 5th.

Christmas Market is quickly coming up, Dec. 20th. Spread the word to your family and friends, help will be needed Friday to set up and Saturday to shop.

In verse 3 of the third Chapter of John, Jesus says, Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. My Bible app, says the Greek translation for again also means from above.

Never thought about that before, to be born again, we have all heard that, but sometimes I think we go through the motions not really understanding what Jesus is asking of us?

We say we are born again, but does our actions show that? We are a changed person, but do we still do the same thing? We hear a good talk by a pastor and say Amen, but do we take it to heart? Do we start following the pastor, the man, rather than the Word?

The question was asked to the men on Tuesday night, why should these young men, in their teens, want to be born again? What's in it for them? They will become persecuted in their circles at school, in their neighborhoods, in their homes, so why suffer the abuse?

Like the Greek translation suggests, we are to be reborn into God's lvoe. The Holy Spirit that resides in all of us, will control our lives as we allow it to. When we face a test, a challenge, an angry mob, God is there by our sides. When it is late at night, by ourselves and we need someone to help us through, God is there. His strength will get us through it. He will never leave us.

In our community, we have many young people coming. We see them coming to play basketball, to prepare a meal, to do some homework, to eat a meal, to learn about life. They see, they are curious, they hear, they wonder what God is all about. Their best example of God's lvoe is you!

They will see your actions and begin to understand who God is. They will begin to ask questions and we can lead to them to their own relationships with Christ. What an amazing time we have before us. Allowing young people to be born again into the Father, allowing them to know Jesus in their own special way, will empower them to have the greatest companion for the rest of their lives! Amen.

Have a great first week of December, as we begin to focus on the birth of Lord and savior Jesus Christ!

community

Hope your week was filled with God's blessings and joy.

Not being around the center much this week, don't have much to report. Others will have to let us know how things went. The one thing I do know, life goes on, whether you are there are not, amazing God we have!

Scott visited the guys Saturday morning. All the camps had a fire going trying to stay a little warm. It was cold. When we got back to the center, Vicky and her girls were busy fixing grilled cheese and ham sandwiches for lunch. Yummy! The basketball team was coming in as we were leaving around noon. Ardis had just finished wrapping the bread.

I did get to experience a little of our family Thursday evening. Pastor Juan shared his thoughts on community. Our friend Spencer, shared his gifts of song. Then we walked into the center with the smell of our Thanksgiving meal all around. Reports of over 200 being served a delicious meal of turkey, dressing, beans, corn, pies of all shapes and flavors. After the meal, we had the Centenary Lacrosse team, help the community grocery shop in the friendship room. Community being able to get things they want or need is a good thing, one we will try to do more often in the coming months.

Please pray for our John Sauls and his group of Missionaries. They left this morning at 4am. Below is what they will be doing and where they will be.

A group will be traveling to Lo de Reina, Comayagua, Honduras, November 21-28, 2014. This team will be working with El Ayudante (The Helper) missionaries and local leaders and village residents on the following projects:  installation of water tanks, water filters, and outdoor latrines, VBS, Medical Clinic, light construction, and a local school project such as painting a room.  They will also administer fluoride treatments and anti-parasite medication to all the children in the school.

Please continue to pray for Phil. He came by Thursday evening on crutches. He is doing good. It just take time for his knee cap to heal completely. Please pray for a new friend of ours, Sherry. Sherry works behind the scenes for us, doing a lot of our graphic design stuff. Her mother passed away Thursday. You can call or text her at 349-5553. or email her at sheflin@centenary.edu, Your continued prayers for my wife will be appreciated. She came through surgery on Tuesday fine. The doctors 

were able to attach her ileostomy bag easily. Now we are in the process of learning how to use it. She is in the hospital allowing her body 

to adjust to her bag.

The thought that comes to mind this morning, is community. Community takes various forms. Community prays for each other. Community is there for each other. Community steps in to help out. Community cares for each other. I got a text this week, saying we are praying for you and your wife. We are not there in person, but know you are being prayed for. Isn't that amazing. What a comfort.

When you are faced with trials in life, you often think, the world is against you. You begin to have a pity party and think, you are going through life on your own, no one cares. But being a part of this community, everybody cares, you are not going through life by yourself. Thank you all for being such special servants of the Lord. Amen.

Hope everybody has a great week. Enjoy your Thanksgiving Day with family and friends, knowing you are being prayed for by your community.

Do you have a fiery furnace burning?

Baby. it's cold outside! Really cold! Just ask our friends living outside! Hope everybody had a blessed week!

Our friends living outside were full of life Saturday morning. Scott and I were greeted with cheers and hugs. Hot coffee was a treat. Joey and Jerry need firewood for their campfire. Donations of some jackets given out last week will be surely used this week. The basketball team continues their practices, while the girls turned our kitchen into a pizza baking shop. With donated dough, cheese and pepperoni, the girls made pizzas for everybody, they were delicious.

Our afternoon reading times continued on Monday and Wednesday, while Lauren and her group continues helping the children with their homework on Tuesdays.

Tuesday evening, Rickie led our men's Bible fellowship, sharing from Daniel chapter 3, talking about the blazing furnace. Rickie asked us, are we going to be consumed by our fiery furnace or let God handle our problems?

Abbey hosted our students from Centenary on Wednesday and Thursday. The kitchen, 2nd story, children's area all looked cleaner from their efforts.

Thursday got started off by our friend Willie and Ms Abbie sharing their gifts of songs and words. We kind of rocked the boat by starting chapel at 4:45, due to the cold, in order to get us warmer with some praising and singing, it worked! Arriving in the fellowship hall for supper, we thought we had arrived in Little Italy! Our homemade pizzas were being made and served for supper. Our young friends from Cypress Baptist joined in on the fun and helped cook, serve and clean up. Always a treat to have them with us.

Prayers for Dr Phil. Lisa said he had a mishap with his bicycle and the bicycle won! He was having knee cap surgery Thursday evening. Momma T was going to see him, how was he doing Momma T? Did everybody receive Joey's 4th newsletter? Continue your prayers for our brave Christian warrior as he continues his journey in the Philippines. It was not a good week for my wife. We met with her doctor and it was decided, she needs to have a temporary pouch attached. That procedure will be done this coming Tuesday. She will be in the hospital for several days. Once that is done, allowing her older surgery area to heal, the doctors will decide if more surgery will be needed. She has a long road ahead of her, your prayers will be greatly appreciated.

Our Thanksgiving meal will be this coming Thursday. Lots going on, all your help will be needed. We will have the pastor from Grace, Juan sharing the Word. We will open up the pantry so the community can pick out items they will need for their Thanksgiving meals. We will give out frozen turkeys.

I was again amazed in our Tuesday night Bible fellowship by the reading of the Word. You always hear, the Bible is a living book. I don't care how many times you read a passage, it is always different. Maybe you are in a different point in your life. Maybe a new person in your group has a different perspective. You just never know what God is up to! I remember hearing about this story when I was the sound man for a children's play at Grace many years ago. I was amazed about hearing the 3 young men defying the king and being thrown into the fiery furnace and not dying. 

There were several of our young basketball team players listening to this story told by Rickie. These young Jews, would rather die than bow down to something they felt was wrong. Their faith was strong enough to be bold in their decisions to say no! The timing couldn't have been better, our young basketball team needs to hear from men of God. Matt and Rickie are good role models for our boys. Coming to Bible study the boys will be ridiculed at school and in their neighborhoods, but Rickie told them, it is ok, because you boys serve a God who will take care of you the rest of your lives.

Rickie pointed out when the 3 young men were thrown into the furnace, there was a fourth person already there. In verse 25, the king said, Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods. Rickie said, you guys, have someone who goes before you in your struggles. You have someone who has been through all the trials you will face in your life. You have a man, who has tasted evil and defeated it.

The end of verse 28, the young Jews, trusted in God and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Rickie said, we need to let go of our hatred, our jealousy, our pride and turn it all over to God. God is bigger than anything we can throw at Him. He will make a way where there seems to be no way to go! Amen.

Hope you all have a great week. See you around the center. 

The lvoe of Jesus

The month of October has come and gone. The year has come and gone! Wow, hope you all had a great week!

Sunday evening, Momma T and I had the privilege to meet with some folks at Grace, sharing our stories with them. Hopefully this will only be the beginning of something new.

Saturday was another day of activities in and around the center. Scott visited the camps. It was chilly, hot coffee was good. Turner told Scott to not buy him anymore new National Geographic magazines! Scott asked why, because Turner didn't want him paying that much for a magazine! Brad was shaking pretty bad. Not sure if it was the cold or other problems. Michael and Donny met us down town, not sure what is going on there? Michael says he still has his apartment, but they meet us downtown?

Matt, Chuck and Byron continue to work with the boys and teaching how team work is important in playing basketball. Vicky and Tim led the girls in cleaning up the Friendship room. Ardis and Momma T led their group in wrapping up the bread. Always a busy place, with God working in all areas of our community.

Tuesday evenings has become a bee hive of activity. Our basketball team plays a little then gathers together for Bible fellowship. This week, they joined the men as we discussed Acts 3: 1-10. A lame beggar was healed by Peter. Can we be healed of our inflictions by allowing Christ to come into our lives?

Monday and Wednesday afternoons continues with the reading skills of our children. We are getting to know the children and learning from them as well. We meet from 3 - 5, come and join us.

Lauren and Chanel continue to meet with the young ladies on Monday afternoons teaching life skills to them.

Thursday evening got started off with a packed chapel. Our friend Noel shared a few words and our other friend, Clayton played his guitar and sang. Another friend TJ, spent all afternoon cooking up our meal of chili and bread pudding. We noticed lots of seconds and thirds being handed out! The grocery and our clothing rooms were busy all night long. For the first Thursday in the month, we had record crowds.

Following our meal and clean up, Lisa had a Board meeting. Finances were doing ok. Discussions about making changes to Thursday evenings. Lisa is in the process of making invitations to our "No-show" Ball. A new youth director's job description was talked about. Our Thanksgiving meal will be November 20th. The new pastor at Grace, Juan will be speaking in chapel that night. Lots of folks will be coming, help will be needed. On Thanksgiving Day, we will be open for a meal at our regular time. December 20th will be our second Christmas Market happening. Lots of exciting times ahead for us and our community.

Lisa will be conducting a Common Ground tour Saturday. It was suggested, we offer tours of our campus, our dreams and our story to new folks who are looking to plug in. We are looking for "tour" directors for future times.

Prayers for Mary Dark, Tom's wife. Tom has been one of long time helper in the kitchen. Mary is suffering from complications from a back surgery. She is home now, but will be going to rehab for weeks to come. Continued prayers for my wife as she recovers. Still in lots of pain. Back to the doctor next week.

A lame beggar or it could be a disinterested man today, does the same thing every day of his life. He gets up, goes to work, comes home, goes to bed, back to the same routine each and every day. Day after day, month after month, year after year, nothing changes, his rut gets deeper and deeper.Then one day, two men, Peter and John, see this beggar and say, we don't have alms, but we have something better.

Peter and John shared the lvoe of Jesus with the lame beggar and his life was never the same after that. Through the lvoe of Jesus, hope was offered where there was none. A new beginning was granted when all looked lost. All things are possible through the lvoe of Jesus. Nothing is too great or too small when Christ is involved. Peter and John recognized it was not about them, but about Jesus Christ of Nazareth working in and through them.

 Someone shared the lvoe of Christ with us and changed our lives. We need to do the same with others. Amen.

Hope your week is full of blessings and joy. Can you share the lvoe of Christ with someone this week and help them get out of their rut!