Being called out

What a beautiful week we had in our part of the country. Cool nights, bright, sunny days. Hope your week was as nice.

Last Saturday was filled with planting, pulling and nailing. Momma T and Ms Patty led the attack in our garden area. Seeds were planted, compost was spread, beds were prepared. We had some help from Brookwood and the neighborhood. Can't wait in couple of months to see the result of their hard work.

While they were outside enjoying the pretty weather, John was busy in the kitchen. We now have a new entrance going into our cleaning room. The original kitchen area will be for preparing and cooking food, the room next to the kitchen will be for cleaning the cookware and dirty dishes. The kitchen area will almost double in size. Amazing to see it all coming together.

While all of this was going on, Mr Scott was leading our visits with our outdoor friends. Their first stop was to see Turner. Turner was not there, which is unusual but as they approached the camp, they found a note left by Turner. "Noodles, gatorade, leave in the box"! Priceless! Mr Scott did have some drama at Smokey's camp. The word is out on the streets that the church is stopping at Smokey's, so some of the guys were there in the parking lot waiting on the van. One guy pulled out a shopping list! This is not what we are about, we have been there done that, so we need to come up with another plan. Smokey has suggested we move our stop to another location. Smokey has finished his new walkway and he told us where to park, so we will try that this Saturday. Dave and Travis seem to be doing fine. Tim was not in his camp.

I had the opportunity to attend a homeless discussion Monday afternoon at Centenary. Jeremy led the program. One of his friends from Houston, Ms Gay gave a talk about her story of living on the streets and how she managed to survive. How her addiction to alcohol cost her everything and how she was able to remain sober for 3 years and counting. Met some folks from different organizations. They want us all to get together and see how we can work together in helping our outdoor friends. I talked with Cassie for a few minutes. They are close to opening up their new center.

Krysten and her crew continued to offer a safe place for the children to come in the afternoons. With the pretty weather, games and playtime was done outside this week.

Tuesday evening, the men of the community came together for Bible fellowship. I agree with Matt, the highlight of his week has become Tuesday evenings. We read and discussed what it must have felt like to the disciples to be present with Jesus, when He fed the 5000.

Wednesday afternoon John was again busy in the kitchen preparing to meet with the air conditioner and vent man and John Williams our electrician. Also John is preparing the ceiling for our new beams which will be arriving soon. John was trying to explain all that is about to take place, he lost me with all his technical talk. But I want you all to understand what a blessing it is to have John on board and running this remodel. It would not happen if God had not sent him to us.

Thursday meal was busy. We had Airline Baptist church serve our meal for the first time. Red beans and rice were served to over 100 people. One of our neighbors came to me and asked if he could say the prayer, pretty cool. Ms Abbie and Mr Pete passed out over 40 bags of groceries. Lots of excitement.

Following our meal, Joey led us in rereading the first parts of Ephesians asking, what is church? Conclusion, ones being called by Christ for Christ.

Prayer concerns were expressed for Ms Sarah, not feeling well. Ms Sarah, you need to slow down. Prayers for James who is sick. Henry and his mom Peaches. Henry struggling in school, Peaches was sent to the hospital with a low blood count.

Krysten and Joey told us Sinotra was back from Boot Camp. He did not complete the program but both noticed a change in Sinotra. Krysten, worked with him in filling out a job application. Krysten was blown away, by Sinotra taking notes on things she was telling him. Hopefully his new attitude will continue with our support and prayers.

Many of us had the opportunity to share some of our stories by being videoed from Airline Baptist video crew. They are putting together a video about Common Ground. The video will be presented to the congregation during church one Sunday morning. Very exciting Airline will be becoming more involved in our community.

So many wonderful things going on in our community. So many things are about to happen, God is up to something. Continue to live your lives as Christ has called upon you to do so. Blessings will flow from you and through you.

Hope you all have a great weekend and a better week.