Another week has come and gone. A touch of a cool breeze has blessed us these past two days, more to come. We even had two rain drops Thursday afternoon! By the time I got my windshield wipers unstuck from the glass, the rain stopped! We know the rain will come, just not time yet I guess.
Mr Scott and Catfish had 3 new folks join them on the visits Saturday morning. 3 Centenary students have kind of adopted us and wanted to experience everything we do, so they came. Great young people. Mr Scott said, our number of friends has increased again and served over 40.
The rest of us joined in on our Board meeting and 6 hours later we had talked ourselves out. As most of you know meetings are not my thing, but ever so often we need to come together and talk about where we are going as a community. It is always good to hear what God has placed on our hearts and how that may impact our community. Ms Lisa will send out the minutes when she is able to complete them, so you will have an idea of everything that went on.
Some dreams that come to mind, is Momma T and Ms Patti will be starting on Saturday October 8, U2 Saturdays. Momma T has been praying and thinking about this for many months and said she is ready to move forward on it. It will be an enrichment type activities learning all sorts of stuff, geared towards the young people but also any adults who would like to come.
Dr Phil shared his dream with us of providing housing and jobs for those who do not have a place to live and want to work. He is partnering with a friend of ours in the construction business and will be building "tiny" homes in our neighborhood.
We again talked about moving our weekly meals to another night, either Tuesday or Thursday evenings. Nothing set in stone yet, but looks like we will definitely try it and see what happens. The main reason for this move is to allow other churches and groups who normally have functions going on on Wednesdays, an opportunity to be more of a presence with us. With the completion of the chapel getting close, we want to start our chapel time to coincide with our meals and days other than Wednesday might allow musicians, speakers and others to help out.
We talked about our desire to become intentional in meeting our neighbors. Adopting a block at a time, getting to know everybody in every house and sharing our lvoe of God with them. Learning from them what their hopes and dreams are and can we work together to make them happen.
We talked about having some sort of fundraiser either the end of the year or first part of next year. I am not comfortable asking for money but now that we are in our building, we need funds to operate the lights, air and water. Most grants do not fund these type of items, so we need to come up with monies to maintain our building.
John and Tania shared the drawings of the new kitchen. It was "Amen" to go forward and here we go. Lots of changes and challenges awaits us but oh how amazing it will be when it is completed. They are in the process of obtaining materials from various places and hopefully in the coming weeks we will have work days to begin the work.
Monday and Tuesday we had a ton of kids for tutoring and we had a ton of helpers, wow. Monday, I think we had the entire Centenary campus with us. We had our three new students we also had Mary and Macy. Anna you need to come and we will have all our family together!
Tuesday, our volunteer Ed, completed the tiling of the chapel floor. We next need carpet to cover the raised section, some clean up, some chairs and we will be ready to go. It looks very nice. Excited to see it finally coming together.
Wednesday we had our extended family return. Ms Sarah Mr Scott and their youth joined us again for their help and smiling faces. So many youth showed up, I sat down all during the meal and enjoyed the supper. Ms Abbie kept eying me to get up, so I looked the other way! So nice to have them back with us. I did have to get up from my chair to give to others and in fact Lomax and I had to go and get more tables and chairs to seat everybody.
Thursday, we gathered around the table to experience the fixins of our new chef Lomax. He prepared our main course of red beans and rice with sausage. It was great. Momma T had a pasta salad and dessert. It was good to have William and James with us again. Both had been sick.
Following our meal we continued reading from Acts 13 and 14. Looking at my notes, I see filled by the Holy Spirit, sent out by the Holy Spirit, filled with joy from living by the Holy Spirit. Sounds like that is the key to me, Jesus went to be with his father, but did not leave us by ourselves. He provided a partner, a friend, a companion, one who looks out for us, who wants the best for us, one who will accomplish things we can not do ourselves only if allow the Holy Spirit to be a part of our lives. We all too often try to complicate things, try to say the right stuff, do the right things, be the right way, but we as humans will never be able to do that, and really we don't have to. All we have to do is humble ourselves, allow the lvoe of Jesus, His Holy Spirit to flow in and through us each and every day. Amazing things will happen when we can do that.
Don't forget, this Saturday is our breakfast morning. Be there at 9 to taste some of Momma T's amazing cooking. Biscuits, ham, eggs, cheese grits, gravy, no fried bacon Ms Sarah, hot coffee and lots of good conversations. Bring a friend, see you there.
We continue to lift up Wes as he journeys to his new home in China. The last we have heard he has made it to Beijing but nothing since. The internet is slow at best in the country, so his mom and dad are awaiting his email or phone call.
After Beth and Charley saw Wes off, they drove to New Orleans to visit old friends and places. They had a chance to visit with Sione and Beth and both seem to be doing great. Sione did express concern for his talk this Sunday. It seems the Saints are playing at noon and he is concerned there maybe no body left in the sanctuary when he is finished preaching! Good luck Sione, at least you will know why they left, not because of what you said.
Prayers for Hat as she travels. For Lomax's mom as she travels here to visit with him for a few days. It will be good to see her again.
Relationships. As we as a community continue to decern God's direction in our lives, I relate it to our relationships to God, each other and to others. When you first meet someone, you say, how are you doing, smile, maybe shake their hand and go about your business. As time goes on, and that relationship continues to grow you begin to see beyond the smile or the words and see their heart, their hurts, their needs. Sometimes it is good, sometimes it is not. There will be times when that relationship maybe strained. There will be times when that relationship will be great. I see us at that point in our community.
Years ago, I think it was ok for us just to be there. To provide a place where the children could come and feel lvoe. Where adults could come and get a bag of food, some clothes, a meal. But I think God is asking us to go deeper in our relationships with our community. He is asking us to go out and meet our neighbors. To listen to them. To hear their hurts. To witness their triumphs. To become a part of their lives and help them achieve their dreams.
He is asking us just not to be there for the children but to train them in the ways of Me. As we have seen over the years, the children are survivors because that is all they know to do. Education, manners, dress, attitudes are secondary at best to them because that is not important to them. I would like us to see how we can provide a place where those who have a desire to get an education to do so. For those of them who are surviving and need a place to feel safe provide a place to do so.
As we go deeper into our relationships, it may get messy. Life is messy. We may not like what we hear. We may get discouraged. We may not want to continue. But if we do, if we continue to humble ourselves for others, if continue to allow the Holy Spirit to flow through us, I guarantee the rewards will be mighty. We are at the beginning of something special. God is preparing a way for us, that we have no comprehension of what is about to take place. Community as we know it now, will be different, new, alive. Are you ready? Do you want to be a part of this Kingdom building? Please pray and ask God how can I use my skills, my talents, my gifts in the coming months and years as we all journey together.
Have a great weekend and looking forward to seeing you all around the center next week. Amen.
Mr Scott and Catfish had 3 new folks join them on the visits Saturday morning. 3 Centenary students have kind of adopted us and wanted to experience everything we do, so they came. Great young people. Mr Scott said, our number of friends has increased again and served over 40.
The rest of us joined in on our Board meeting and 6 hours later we had talked ourselves out. As most of you know meetings are not my thing, but ever so often we need to come together and talk about where we are going as a community. It is always good to hear what God has placed on our hearts and how that may impact our community. Ms Lisa will send out the minutes when she is able to complete them, so you will have an idea of everything that went on.
Some dreams that come to mind, is Momma T and Ms Patti will be starting on Saturday October 8, U2 Saturdays. Momma T has been praying and thinking about this for many months and said she is ready to move forward on it. It will be an enrichment type activities learning all sorts of stuff, geared towards the young people but also any adults who would like to come.
Dr Phil shared his dream with us of providing housing and jobs for those who do not have a place to live and want to work. He is partnering with a friend of ours in the construction business and will be building "tiny" homes in our neighborhood.
We again talked about moving our weekly meals to another night, either Tuesday or Thursday evenings. Nothing set in stone yet, but looks like we will definitely try it and see what happens. The main reason for this move is to allow other churches and groups who normally have functions going on on Wednesdays, an opportunity to be more of a presence with us. With the completion of the chapel getting close, we want to start our chapel time to coincide with our meals and days other than Wednesday might allow musicians, speakers and others to help out.
We talked about our desire to become intentional in meeting our neighbors. Adopting a block at a time, getting to know everybody in every house and sharing our lvoe of God with them. Learning from them what their hopes and dreams are and can we work together to make them happen.
We talked about having some sort of fundraiser either the end of the year or first part of next year. I am not comfortable asking for money but now that we are in our building, we need funds to operate the lights, air and water. Most grants do not fund these type of items, so we need to come up with monies to maintain our building.
John and Tania shared the drawings of the new kitchen. It was "Amen" to go forward and here we go. Lots of changes and challenges awaits us but oh how amazing it will be when it is completed. They are in the process of obtaining materials from various places and hopefully in the coming weeks we will have work days to begin the work.
Monday and Tuesday we had a ton of kids for tutoring and we had a ton of helpers, wow. Monday, I think we had the entire Centenary campus with us. We had our three new students we also had Mary and Macy. Anna you need to come and we will have all our family together!
Tuesday, our volunteer Ed, completed the tiling of the chapel floor. We next need carpet to cover the raised section, some clean up, some chairs and we will be ready to go. It looks very nice. Excited to see it finally coming together.
Wednesday we had our extended family return. Ms Sarah Mr Scott and their youth joined us again for their help and smiling faces. So many youth showed up, I sat down all during the meal and enjoyed the supper. Ms Abbie kept eying me to get up, so I looked the other way! So nice to have them back with us. I did have to get up from my chair to give to others and in fact Lomax and I had to go and get more tables and chairs to seat everybody.
Thursday, we gathered around the table to experience the fixins of our new chef Lomax. He prepared our main course of red beans and rice with sausage. It was great. Momma T had a pasta salad and dessert. It was good to have William and James with us again. Both had been sick.
Following our meal we continued reading from Acts 13 and 14. Looking at my notes, I see filled by the Holy Spirit, sent out by the Holy Spirit, filled with joy from living by the Holy Spirit. Sounds like that is the key to me, Jesus went to be with his father, but did not leave us by ourselves. He provided a partner, a friend, a companion, one who looks out for us, who wants the best for us, one who will accomplish things we can not do ourselves only if allow the Holy Spirit to be a part of our lives. We all too often try to complicate things, try to say the right stuff, do the right things, be the right way, but we as humans will never be able to do that, and really we don't have to. All we have to do is humble ourselves, allow the lvoe of Jesus, His Holy Spirit to flow in and through us each and every day. Amazing things will happen when we can do that.
Don't forget, this Saturday is our breakfast morning. Be there at 9 to taste some of Momma T's amazing cooking. Biscuits, ham, eggs, cheese grits, gravy, no fried bacon Ms Sarah, hot coffee and lots of good conversations. Bring a friend, see you there.
We continue to lift up Wes as he journeys to his new home in China. The last we have heard he has made it to Beijing but nothing since. The internet is slow at best in the country, so his mom and dad are awaiting his email or phone call.
After Beth and Charley saw Wes off, they drove to New Orleans to visit old friends and places. They had a chance to visit with Sione and Beth and both seem to be doing great. Sione did express concern for his talk this Sunday. It seems the Saints are playing at noon and he is concerned there maybe no body left in the sanctuary when he is finished preaching! Good luck Sione, at least you will know why they left, not because of what you said.
Prayers for Hat as she travels. For Lomax's mom as she travels here to visit with him for a few days. It will be good to see her again.
Relationships. As we as a community continue to decern God's direction in our lives, I relate it to our relationships to God, each other and to others. When you first meet someone, you say, how are you doing, smile, maybe shake their hand and go about your business. As time goes on, and that relationship continues to grow you begin to see beyond the smile or the words and see their heart, their hurts, their needs. Sometimes it is good, sometimes it is not. There will be times when that relationship maybe strained. There will be times when that relationship will be great. I see us at that point in our community.
Years ago, I think it was ok for us just to be there. To provide a place where the children could come and feel lvoe. Where adults could come and get a bag of food, some clothes, a meal. But I think God is asking us to go deeper in our relationships with our community. He is asking us to go out and meet our neighbors. To listen to them. To hear their hurts. To witness their triumphs. To become a part of their lives and help them achieve their dreams.
He is asking us just not to be there for the children but to train them in the ways of Me. As we have seen over the years, the children are survivors because that is all they know to do. Education, manners, dress, attitudes are secondary at best to them because that is not important to them. I would like us to see how we can provide a place where those who have a desire to get an education to do so. For those of them who are surviving and need a place to feel safe provide a place to do so.
As we go deeper into our relationships, it may get messy. Life is messy. We may not like what we hear. We may get discouraged. We may not want to continue. But if we do, if we continue to humble ourselves for others, if continue to allow the Holy Spirit to flow through us, I guarantee the rewards will be mighty. We are at the beginning of something special. God is preparing a way for us, that we have no comprehension of what is about to take place. Community as we know it now, will be different, new, alive. Are you ready? Do you want to be a part of this Kingdom building? Please pray and ask God how can I use my skills, my talents, my gifts in the coming months and years as we all journey together.
Have a great weekend and looking forward to seeing you all around the center next week. Amen.
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