What do you want me to do for you?

Another summer week has come and gone. Was your week a good one? How did God bless you this week?

Not being around Saturday, I can not report on our activities. In addition to all our regular activities on Saturday, bread wrapping, basketball, garden work, visiting we now have Bright House II goings on! The Church at Red River, John Williams' church, is beginning to host Saturday events there each week. If you are looking for something to do and want to meet some great folks, please join in.

Summer camp concluded week number 2. It was a great week of fun and activities, concluding with a trip to a skating rink! Please come by for a visit and see what great fun is happening.

Tuesday evening, the men of the community gathered for Bible fellowship as Rickie led in reading from Luke 18: 35-43, the blind beggar receives his sight! We talked about an individual in society who was the lowest of the low, not just a beggar but a blind beggar! Having the boldness to speak out to Jesus. Can't we all have the same type of faith!

Also on Tuesday, if I may boast for a moment, Ginellen and I celebrated our 42 wedding anniversary! How time flies when you are having fun! Hopefully we can have 42 more years of wedding bliss!

Wednesday evening, our family gathered at the Bright House for family time. It was been many months since we gathered. Thanks to Joey and his passion for community, many of us were able to come together to share bread and share the Word. It was good to be together.

Thursday is always a special time of the week, starting off with our long time friend Spencer and one of our pastors George, leading our chapel time. I think we have found a new them song for our community, Lean On Me. The song seems to get out juices flowing and the Spirit moving! Our longtime friends from Clearview church helped us in the kitchen, dining hall, clothing room and Market place. People were everywhere enjoying the evening. What a blessing.

Prayers for the week. Continue to lift up Ginellen. The doctor was pleased in what he saw and what he did. He said, now it is time for healing. We know who the best healer is, don't we!! Pastor Willie called and said, his kidney functions are declining to a critical stage. Discussions going on what the next steps should be. Our long time friend Izzy continues to have severe back pain. Looks like surgery is in his near future. Continued prayers for our community. Life is hard, even more so when you are faced with poverty.

Lisa has worked her magic again and obtained the property behind the parking lot in the back. There were some issues of parking and this area should help with that situation.

Just want you all of you to know, God is at work in our community. There are people, churches, organizations who are becoming aware of what Common Ground is about and wanting to be a part of our community. Very exciting times ahead for us all.

I am always amazed at God's Word. His Word has such an impact on us, we can read about a blind beggar getting his sight back, 8 short verses and talk for an hour about it!

The verse that stills haunts me this morning, is verse 41. After the beggar shouts above the crowd noise to Jesus as he walks by. Was told by others to be silent and not bother him. The beggar ignores the crowd and shouts even louder to Jesus. Jesus stops, calls out to the crowd to bring this man over to him. Jesus looks at him and asked him, What do you want me to do for you? The beggar says, Lord I want to see.

I got to thinking, of course the blind beggar wants to see. The lame wants to be healed and walk. The man wants the demons out of him. The women wants the bleeding to stop. But when I call out to Jesus and Jesus sees me and asks, What do you want me to do for you? What do we say?

Do I say, heal my wife? Take care of my family? Aliveate poverty? Increase my faith? Be more like you? Make our community stronger?  I don't know, what would you say?

What is most important in your life? What is keeping you away from the relationship with Jesus He so desires for us? The blind beggar risked everything to be with Jesus, can we do the same? Can we let go of what is holding us back?

The blind beggar showed his bold faith to Jesus and in verse 42 Jesus says to him, Recieve your sight, your faith has healed you. Will Jesus say the same to us? Let's hope so! Amen.

See you Saturday at the Bright House II or in and around the center. See you at camp. Lots of God's work going on, come and join in on the fun. Have a great week and may we all have an answer for Jesus when He asks, What do you want me to do for you?

Serving the Lord

Another week in the books! Here's hoping your week was full of many joys and blessings.

Saturday was filled with excitement in and around the center. Our youth from Luke Simpson were with us to go on our visits to see our outdoor friends. What an impact the children have when our friends can visit with them and let them know, they are being prayed for all across the state. Basketball and bread wrapping was going on in full force.

Sunday evening, we attended part of the Methodist Conference. Some of us attended the opening ceremonies, while others attended the closing part. Some of our children were participants in the opening ceremony. Common Ground was asked to receive the bread brought by the churches to the conference Sunday night. We kept some of it, but also shared our blessings with other organizations around the city.

Tuesday at lunch time we hosted a small gathering of folks. We had the opportunity to with Dr Elaine Heath, she was one of the speakers at the conference. She wanted to see what the Common Ground place was all about. We shared some stories of our beginning and showed her around the campus. She was so impressed by what she saw, she talked about us and Grace in her talk on Wednesday at the conference.

Tuesday evening, the men gathered. Rickie led us in the reading of Joshua 24: 1-16. We had a special guest. Sione joined us for the evening. Joshua was sharing with his people, God has brought you out of captivity, fed you, kept you safe and still you worship your idols. What other gods do we worship, that takes us away from our God?

Thursday evening, we gathered in chapel as Willie and Ms Abbie shared their gifts. Our food was prepared by Brother George's church. Our market was busy all night long. Our clothing closet was full. A good evening of fellowship.

This morning and Saturday morning, Lisa and Momma T will be hosting our summer camp orientation. It was great to see Thursday evening, some of our returning interns. Can't wait to see how God will us our camp to build relationships.

Summer camp will begin Monday. Lunch will be at 12:30, with camp starting at 1. We have a full compliment of children and interns. Exciting times ahead for all involved. Come by and check out camp, guaranteed you will have a good time.

This coming week we have basketball games happening. If you can make it, the boys and Matt and Vikki would really appreciate it. The 14 year old games will be Monday June 15th at Princess Park. The game will start at 10pm. Their next game will be Thursday evening at Princess Park, starting at 9pm. The 12 year old games are Tuesday June 16 at Southern HIlls starting at 8pm,  Wednesday at Bill Cockrell Park starting at 7pm and Thursday at Airport Park, starting at 8pm.

Prayers for my wife Ginellen for her upcoming surgery this coming Friday. We knew this may happen, but it is still a shock to your system when the doctor says, I need to do more work. She has come a long way in her recovery and to hear more surgery is needed has been hard on both of us. Prayers for Sunday afternoon at 2pm as a new church family will be meeting to determine if they want to support our community both financially and prayerfully. Prayers for our upcoming camp, that it is not about all the stuff that will happen but about the relationships that will occur. Prayers for the Methodist pastors as they can take back what they heard and saw and are able to share that with their congregations.

Joshua says in the last part of verse 15, "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord". Famous line, good one to remember, but do we do it? Joshua is sharing with the people, you and your ancestors have been brought out of bondage, given fertile land to grow crops on, protected from their enemies and still you turn away from the Lord. How could they?!  How could they worship other gods? But don't we do the same thing today?

The questioned was asked Tuesday night, what gods are we worshipping? Are we after that pot of gold? Fighting to get that bigger house? Allowing our egos and pride to dominate our lives? Trying to get more stuff, to make us happier?

God has brought us this far and still we turn away from Him. We take over our lives, because we think we can do it better. We make decisions concerning our families without going to God in prayer. Willie asked in chapel, does your God talk to you? Does your pot of gold, does your new car, or your bigger house bring you comfort and peace? Do they answer you?

But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. No better way to live our lives. No better way to find comfort and peace. No better way to let go of our trials and obstacles, our anxieties and frustrations. Only one way to find joy in your life, serving the Lord. Amen.

May our prayer be this week, letting go of those gods we might be holding onto and let's serve the Lord. Amazing things will happen. See you at camp this week. God is good!

The little things

Let the flooding begin! I guess it won't be as bad as Noah had to face, but . . . With all the rain in our part of the country, the river that runs through Shreveport is overflowing it's banks. Please pray for those who are having to move out of their houses and dealing with this disaster.

With me out of town, this past weekend can't report on our Saturday activities. Others will have to fill in the blanks. I do know, the basketball team is in a SPAR league, that plays most of it's games late at night. The City is trying to give the boys a place to go that is safe and a place where the boys can get off the streets. I know they had a game Monday night. Matt and Vikki are doing their part by being there for the boys.

Tuesday evening, the men gathered for Bible fellowship. Always a good time to hear what God is up to in the men's lives. It is a time where men, who may not have a place to go, can come, eat and be welcomed to share their stories.

Wednesday evening, Lisa had a Board meeting. Lots going on in our community. We were introduced to a new ministry partner, KC and the Geaux Bags partnership. KC provides bags filled with the essentials to families who are sheltering children displaced from an abusive situation. She has served over 900 children these past two years. She has a great story and a huge heart for the children.

Our summer interns will be arriving this week, with our orientation taking place, next Friday and Saturday mornings. Then camp will start the following Monday, June 15th. Camp will start with lunch at 12:30 prepared by Ms Abbie and Peaches. Activities will start at 1 going through 4, Monday through Thursday. Most Thursdays, the children will go a field trip. The Bright House will house the boys. Bright House III will house the girls. Exciting times, new relationships being formed, lives changed. You are always welcomed to come by and join in on the fun and magic that will be happening.

Shannon shared a new idea of filling our Food Market, "Adapt an item". Your Sunday school class, small group, work, adopts a food item like a can of beans, corn, peanut butter, whatever, each time you gather as a group, you bring your food item with you! Isn't that cool! Start it with your group and report on how it goes.

Shannon and Vikki talked a little about their visit with a community in Detroit, Cass. This community is always on the lookout for things that will help their community. Their community needed jobs, so they created two unique opportunities for them, picking up old tires and shredding papers. Started very simple and now has grown into big businesses. The key, is to just do it, start small and see where God leads you.

We have another new partnership as a part of our community. Shannon will now be employed by a counseling service called Family Plus. They will be housed in the Friendship room during their sessions. Another tool for our community in helping them cope with their environment.

The Board was presented with two new ideas. One for the potential funding of the restoration of the two story and the other a church family adapting the Bright House II. Please put these two proposals on your prayer list and let's see what God can do! Very exciting!

Thursday afternoon our youth group from Luke Simpson showed up and got started right away in helping us out. They attended chapel hosted by Ms Abbie and Joey. Then they helped with the meal provide by First Methodist, served, cleaned up, were shoppers in our Market, and played with the children. A great night for everybody. It was also great to see our long time friend and almost official minister, Allison Thursday evening.

Allison is back in town, about to be ordain as a Methodist minister. Her ceremony will be at First Methodist church, Monday night at 7:30. Please come and cheer her on!

Joey's birthday is today! He has been with us for 8 years. Can't imagine our community without Joey's heart and prayers for our community. Please stop for a moment and send our Joey a note. And as he told me this morning, it is also National Doughnut Day! Doesn't get any better than that.

Prayers for our community, that we stay focused on God's direction in our lives and the lives of our community. Prayers for Ginellen as she meets with her doctor Tuesday afternoon to determine the next course of action for her.

We heard a story at our Board meeting that brought tears to our eyes. A person, who was down and needed help, was  told they couldn't get food because they didn't have all the paperwork needed at a food bank in town. They were very discouraged, distraught, filled with fear and anxiety, overwhelmed with emotion, came to us and was treated with respect, lvoe and went away with everything she needed. Now back on their feet, never forgetting what they received from us, wants to give back to us for our kindness.

We did nothing special. Offered them some food, a lvoing hug, treated them as a person, not an object, and they went away with a new self esteem of them self. It is the simple things in life, that often has the greatest impact on people. Always showing God's lvoe and spirit in our every day lives will have the greatest impact on God's Kingdom.

It is hard sometimes to feel lvoing when your world is crashing around you, but that is when God's light and mercy needs to shine the brightest. Your smile, an extra spoonful of food, a new shirt off the rack, a cup of coffee in the mornings, helping a friend shop, all makes a difference. We may never see the impact of our actions, but that is ok, that is not our job. Our job is to lvoe, plant the seed and let God take over. Amen.

Let us be able this week to show God's lvoe in the simple things we do each day and brighten someone's life tomorrow. Have a great week. All the time, God is good!