I hate to admit it, but I like these 4 day work weeks. Does someone want to start a campaign to make every week 4 days? I'll vote for it!!
Thanks to all for continuing to serve while I was gone last week. It is a comfort knowing, all of this is bigger than any one person and life goes on. It had been 3 years since we had been to the beach and it was a comfort to my soul to sit, relax, read, and sleep listening to the waves and birds, to be a part of God's creations.
Mr Scott, Dr Phil, Momma T and Catfish joined together to make our visits on Saturday. With it being the first Saturday of the month, Momma T served communion to 39 men and women in their journeys. Amazing stuff, people of God offering God's grace to the least of them.
Several weeks ago, I received a note from a lady from Chicago whose mother lives on 76 street. Her mother has become wheelchair bound and has no way to leave her house on her own. I contacted Dr Phil and he put together a crew of carpenters and they performed a miracle. Below is a note I got from the lady's daughter.
Tutoring is going on and seems to be going really well. Lots of kiddos and lots of good work going on. Ms Lisa passed out work sheets and the children worked hard on them. Ms Lisa commented on Thursday, she looked at the work sheets and it is scary on how far behind our children are in their learning. I don't understand how the children continue to move up a grade level and still have not mastered the skills they need to achieve at the level they are at? I understand why as they continue to get older, their interest in education drops, they leave school, get pregnant, get into trouble, what else do they have to look forward to? How can we break this cycle?
Tuesday, we began our tile work in the chapel. A gentleman from Grace, came to the open house last year and told John Sauls he would like to donate his services for laying the tile. Finally that day has arrived and he began his work. He is a fireman, so he is doing the work on his off days. What he has done really looks nice and excited to see the floor completed sometime next week.
Wednesday, we had our annual visit from Ms Laura and her students of the Christian Leadership Center from Centenary. We took them around the center and shared our story with them. A bunch of great students wanting to share God's lvoe with others. We have the Center to thank for us being introduced to many of our family interns, Anna and Macy and others. Mary G who was with us this summer, will be part of this program and will be one of our interns this year. Also we had one of the students, Jeremy show up Thursday and helped us tutor. Amazing young people.
Also on Wednesday we had a visit from Jeanne of the Catholic Services operating out of St Catherines. She brought us paperwork from the Fuller house who will begin construction of two houses in Cedar Grove in the near future. The paperwork are applications for ownerships of the houses. So, if you know of a family in the Cedar Grove area, who has a job and rents, this will be the perfect opportunity for them. I thought it was cool, Jeanne asked the Fuller foundation if they had been by Common Ground yet to distribute the information. Our name is becoming recognized as a place to come.
We had a large crowd at our meal. Lots of new faces. Mr Scott made an extra trip to the food bank and picked up peaches, bananas, peppers, tangerines so the folks got an extra bag of fruit to go along with their groceries. We need help to figure out how to take some of the burden off Ms Abbie. She and Ms Dorothy come in around 3 or so, hang clothes, move over to the food pantry and bag food and then move into the kitchen and make Kool Aid and hand out the meals. Too much. I have tried to get her to not do so much but she is not confident enough with others to let go. So how do we help her? Thursday was Ms Abbie's birthday, so when you see her this week, tell her Happy Birthday!
Thursday around noon, I came by the center to check on the tile work and found Ms Hat and her crew in the friendship room tutoring our older children. There were 3 tutors helping 3 young people. It was great. Hoping this will help in breaking the cycle of neglect and poverty.
It was good to gather again Thursday evening. Joey has taken over the meal preparation and did a great job in fixing the meal. Ms Hat brought birthday cake for Byron. Charley, Beth, Wes, Chuck, a new friend of theirs D, and Dr Phil enjoyed the food and conversation. Following our meal we started our Bible study reading from Acts 11 starting at verse 19 and reading chapter 12. As we read and talked about the verses, what I remember was that God's word, God's lvoe, God's presence will always prevail. People, kingdoms, society will always want to suppress God and His followers. But in the end, God will prevail. We must stay focused on His will for our lives and in the end His lvoe will win out. A big comfort understanding this when we go through our trials and tribulations.
Prayers for Wes and his family as they leave Saturday for Houston and Wes leaves Saturday evening for China. What an adventure he will have and the stories he will be able to tell when he returns.
Prayers for the Kairos team as they are sharing God's lvoe this weekend at Wade.
Prayers for rain and the quenching of the fires in our area. We have finally got some relieve from the triple digit heat wave, but still have had no rain.
Prayers for your Board of Directors meeting Saturday as we decern the direction God is leading Common Ground.
Prayers for those who lost their love ones during the terrible tragedy of 9/11.
Prayers for Dr Phil as he transitions into a new position of Chief of Staff at his hospital.
Answered prayers for the safe return of our family from Haiti, Sarah, Scott, Krysten and Emily.
Hoping you all have a great weekend with your family and friends. Continue to seek out God's direction in your lives and may we bold enough to accept that challenge. Amen.
Thanks to all for continuing to serve while I was gone last week. It is a comfort knowing, all of this is bigger than any one person and life goes on. It had been 3 years since we had been to the beach and it was a comfort to my soul to sit, relax, read, and sleep listening to the waves and birds, to be a part of God's creations.
Mr Scott, Dr Phil, Momma T and Catfish joined together to make our visits on Saturday. With it being the first Saturday of the month, Momma T served communion to 39 men and women in their journeys. Amazing stuff, people of God offering God's grace to the least of them.
Several weeks ago, I received a note from a lady from Chicago whose mother lives on 76 street. Her mother has become wheelchair bound and has no way to leave her house on her own. I contacted Dr Phil and he put together a crew of carpenters and they performed a miracle. Below is a note I got from the lady's daughter.
Mr. Hunter, God is Good!. God bless yourself, the carpenters, and Dr. Philip Gates. Our Mother was able to get out into the yard for the first time yesterday in over a year. You have no idea how much of a blessing this has been for her. We appreciate this from the bottom of our hearts. As soon as we are able, we will be making a contribution to the Common Ground Community.
Tutoring is going on and seems to be going really well. Lots of kiddos and lots of good work going on. Ms Lisa passed out work sheets and the children worked hard on them. Ms Lisa commented on Thursday, she looked at the work sheets and it is scary on how far behind our children are in their learning. I don't understand how the children continue to move up a grade level and still have not mastered the skills they need to achieve at the level they are at? I understand why as they continue to get older, their interest in education drops, they leave school, get pregnant, get into trouble, what else do they have to look forward to? How can we break this cycle?
Tuesday, we began our tile work in the chapel. A gentleman from Grace, came to the open house last year and told John Sauls he would like to donate his services for laying the tile. Finally that day has arrived and he began his work. He is a fireman, so he is doing the work on his off days. What he has done really looks nice and excited to see the floor completed sometime next week.
Wednesday, we had our annual visit from Ms Laura and her students of the Christian Leadership Center from Centenary. We took them around the center and shared our story with them. A bunch of great students wanting to share God's lvoe with others. We have the Center to thank for us being introduced to many of our family interns, Anna and Macy and others. Mary G who was with us this summer, will be part of this program and will be one of our interns this year. Also we had one of the students, Jeremy show up Thursday and helped us tutor. Amazing young people.
Also on Wednesday we had a visit from Jeanne of the Catholic Services operating out of St Catherines. She brought us paperwork from the Fuller house who will begin construction of two houses in Cedar Grove in the near future. The paperwork are applications for ownerships of the houses. So, if you know of a family in the Cedar Grove area, who has a job and rents, this will be the perfect opportunity for them. I thought it was cool, Jeanne asked the Fuller foundation if they had been by Common Ground yet to distribute the information. Our name is becoming recognized as a place to come.
We had a large crowd at our meal. Lots of new faces. Mr Scott made an extra trip to the food bank and picked up peaches, bananas, peppers, tangerines so the folks got an extra bag of fruit to go along with their groceries. We need help to figure out how to take some of the burden off Ms Abbie. She and Ms Dorothy come in around 3 or so, hang clothes, move over to the food pantry and bag food and then move into the kitchen and make Kool Aid and hand out the meals. Too much. I have tried to get her to not do so much but she is not confident enough with others to let go. So how do we help her? Thursday was Ms Abbie's birthday, so when you see her this week, tell her Happy Birthday!
Thursday around noon, I came by the center to check on the tile work and found Ms Hat and her crew in the friendship room tutoring our older children. There were 3 tutors helping 3 young people. It was great. Hoping this will help in breaking the cycle of neglect and poverty.
It was good to gather again Thursday evening. Joey has taken over the meal preparation and did a great job in fixing the meal. Ms Hat brought birthday cake for Byron. Charley, Beth, Wes, Chuck, a new friend of theirs D, and Dr Phil enjoyed the food and conversation. Following our meal we started our Bible study reading from Acts 11 starting at verse 19 and reading chapter 12. As we read and talked about the verses, what I remember was that God's word, God's lvoe, God's presence will always prevail. People, kingdoms, society will always want to suppress God and His followers. But in the end, God will prevail. We must stay focused on His will for our lives and in the end His lvoe will win out. A big comfort understanding this when we go through our trials and tribulations.
Prayers for Wes and his family as they leave Saturday for Houston and Wes leaves Saturday evening for China. What an adventure he will have and the stories he will be able to tell when he returns.
Prayers for the Kairos team as they are sharing God's lvoe this weekend at Wade.
Prayers for rain and the quenching of the fires in our area. We have finally got some relieve from the triple digit heat wave, but still have had no rain.
Prayers for your Board of Directors meeting Saturday as we decern the direction God is leading Common Ground.
Prayers for those who lost their love ones during the terrible tragedy of 9/11.
Prayers for Dr Phil as he transitions into a new position of Chief of Staff at his hospital.
Answered prayers for the safe return of our family from Haiti, Sarah, Scott, Krysten and Emily.
Hoping you all have a great weekend with your family and friends. Continue to seek out God's direction in your lives and may we bold enough to accept that challenge. Amen.
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