God's Lvoe

How's your week been going? Lots of wind, rain and a few storms in our state. Sione is still without electricity in Metairie, but other than that, most of the community has done ok. In the Shreveport area, we got a little rain and some wind. They just opened up a shelter here in town for folks coming from the Baton Rouge area. It seems, flooding has been the biggest problem.

Mr Scott and Dr Phil made their way around to the camps last Saturday. We continue to talk about our visits on Saturdays and what it will look like in the coming weeks. We continue to visit Turner and Richard, we will always continue those relationships, but with Smokey moving out, Shawn and Juan not there this past Saturday, we are wondering if it is time to move our focus to our neighborhood. We know we have homeless folks in our community, maybe it's time to meet them?

Airline Baptist, showed up at 8am and began the task of renovating the house next to the Bright House. We are calling the house, Bright House II in anticipation of Ms Sarah and Mr Scott's youth painting weekend in the months ahead. A huge dumpster was filled to capacity by noon, with lumber, limbs and all sorts of nasty stuff. Masks are a must when you go inside and work. A Bible was found by Mr Matt inside one of the walls. Other than the outside being charred, it looks great. Mike, from Airline, agreed to park another dumpster in the back of the house for us. So if you run out of something to do in the coming weeks, you are welcome to remove the rubble from the house!

Momma T and Ms Abbie spent most of the morning, moving kitchen stuff from the store room into the new kitchen. The new kitchen is starting to look like a kitchen. Pictures are coming.

Forgot to tell everybody last week, Ms Lisa told me, Ms Abbie's granddaughter Kierra, was accepted back into nursing school for the fall semester. Kierra, had trouble with one of her classes preventing her from continuing her education, but through some divine intervention, the school has allowed Kierra to retake the class and continue with her studies. Please Kierra in your prayers as she starts this semester. She is one of the few young people in our neighborhood trying to change the cycle of poverty.

On Monday, Mr Matt and Mr Charley took Dale to the Salvation Army. As of Thursday Dale is still there. Matt said, Dale is talking about looking into his disability situation again.

Tuesday evening, Mr Matt led us in reading in Matthew about the greatest commandment, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and spirit, love your neighbor as your self. We talked about, if we don't love ourselves, can we love others? What does this kind of love look like? More to come on this.

Also on Tuesday, we met with a young man who has grown up at Grace Methodist, about working with us in our kitchen. He has been a chef for the past 10 years and has always wanted to be a part of something just starting out. Amazing how God puts folks together to make things happen.

Wednesday evening, Ms Lisa hosted our annual Board of Directors meeting. These meetings are not some of our favorite things to do, but it is a good way for us all to hear from each other. If you have questions on the finances of Common Ground, please email Ms Lisa. For the most part we are doing ok. All our activities and remodeling has been taken care of through our grant monies. Our biggest costs are the paying of our utilities in the center and Bright House.

Most of the evening was our discussions of what Common Ground does and who we are. Amazing to get a full page listing of all the activities we are involved in. Summer Day Camp. The garden and greenhouse. Ms Patty reported an Eagle scout project is about to start to completely redo the entire greenhouse, replacing all the glass with Plexiglas. Outdoor friends visits were talked about. Sharing we only have two camps left, and whether it might be time to move into the neighborhood on Saturday mornings. Dr Phil and Matt, both said, we would continue to go by and see Turner and Richard as long as they are around. Ms Beth, talked about our sewing classes, telling us the first classes have come to an end. With most completing their projects. New classes will begin soon. U2 Saturdays was talked about by Momma T and the possibility of changing times or maybe having them just 4 times a year. Kitchen update was given by Mr John. We have gotten the final approval from the city inspectors. Our last inspection will be from the state fire Marshall. We elected two new members to the board. Matt Whitehead and David McCormick. Welcome guys. Building Common Ground, Dr Phil shared what is happening. Or you can walk across Southern and see what is happening! One of our outdoor friends, Dave is working hard to build our JJ house. Pretty cool, Dr Phil is allowing a guy who is living in the woods, to build God's dream of new housing in our neighborhood.

The thing that struck me as I sat and listened to everybody, it is not about us but about our neighbors. Everything we do, we build, we learn, is for our community, not to have a pretty place to sit and visit. You are all amazing people.

Thursday was again full of fun and activities. With the last of Issac still providing some misty rain and wind, we did not know if we would have folks show up. As always they came, walking under umbrellas, getting rides, using plastic bags to stay as dry as possible. We got the afternoon started off by Spencer and Pastor Roger leading our chapel time. Spencer had picked out a few songs to sing and have the words put on the screen, but due to some technical difficulties, we could not get the words to display, so Spencer changes what he was going to sing to some hymns we all knew and sang his heart out! Awesome.

Then Pastor Roger started his talk, by having children's time! Our first children's time, something we have talked about for months. It was great, the kids were reluctant at first, but gradually they made their way to the front of the chapel. Roger talked about love and how the children can share love with everybody. One of those priceless moments I witnessed, he asked the children, as they went back to their seats to give someone a hug. I was sitting behind a young lady, who got one of those hugs and you could see the joy on her face!

Roger concluded his talk about the sower sowing seeds. We just read the same passage on Tuesday evening the week before. He shared, how reckless the sower was. For those of us who have done some gardening in our lives, you take your time, make a hole, put two or three seeds in the hole, cover up the hole with dirt and move on. This sower, God, just throws out the seed, The Word, knowing that some with take, and some won't. But that is ok, because the Word has been shared with everybody. Thanks Roger for your heart and your smile, looking forward to many more opportunities to hear what God is putting on your heart.

We had a packed house, for Airline Baptist to share their feast of red beans and rice. There was just enough left over for Joey to have supper tomorrow night. Ms Sarah and Mr Scott went and bought groceries for us and stayed around the whole evening. They helped Ms Abbie make grocery bags, worked in the clothing room, and helped out in the fellowship hall, great to have them back with us.

We met for our Bible study to conclude the evening, reading from John 9. We talked about how Jesus healed a blind man from birth and how the Pharisees did not focus on the miracle but how Jesus did it on a Sabbath. Jesus says to them, I  came so that the blind can see . . What do we focus on, our faith or our sight?

Continue to lift up Pete and Cari. They are still going through tests to determine treatment options for her bone cancer. Prayers for Hat's daughter as they determine what is the cause of her illness. Pray for our churches who support us. There are many demands put on a church, their leaders and staff. The financial support, the volunteers, the prayers from these churches make everything we do possible. Continue to lift up William. He is in between treatment options at the moment and the first of the month is here, with the temptation of spending his money on things he should not do. Lift a friend of ours Patrick. He is suffering with bipolar symptoms and the medication he is taking to control this problem.

Don't forget, we are meeting this Sunday, September 2nd, at Pastor Eddie's church on Southern for worship. They begin at 11am.

The Brookwood B5K run is fast approaching, Saturday September 8th, 8am. Please sign up if you haven't and tell everybody you know to sign up too.

Love is in the air lately. Not love but "lvoe". In Matthew 23:37, Jesus says to the Pharisees, the most important command, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. And the second command, Love your neighbor as you love yourself. In 1 Corinthians 13:13, so these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. and the greatest of these is love. As Mr Matt asked Tuesday evening, what does that lvoe look like? Lvoe is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, does not brag, not proud. Lvoe is not selfish and does not get upset with others. Lvoe does not count up wrong things, lvoe is happy with truth. Lvoe patiently accepts all things. Lvoe always trusts, hopes and always remains strong, from 1 Corinthians 13 :4-7.

Roger said on Thursday, don't you just enjoy meeting someone that is full of lvoe, full of the Spirit. He said he met Noel in the parking lot and got that feeling. When someone meets you, do they get that feeling, of wow, I want what you have! Lvoe is hard, I would say impossible, if we do not fully accept the first commandment, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. Because it is not our love that is being shown, it is God's lvoe, isn't it? I do not think it is in our nature to be patient and kind, not bragging or jealous. Only through our relationship with Jesus can we over come ourselves and become the kind of disciples God is wanting us to be.

When Roger says, the sower, God throws out the seed into all parts of the world, I was reminded of you guys. When Matt asked what does lvoe look like, I think of all the things you all make sacrifices for. It is our job to go out, spread the seeds and let God do the rest. For the last several years, you have gone out to camps where there were no seeds and have scattered lvoe everywhere. You make a place of refrug where the seeds of lvoe have been choked out by the weeds and now the seeds of lvoe are being allowed to grow again in fertile soil. You pick up our friends and take them to your house. You take them to the store. You take them to the doctors. You visit them in jail. You sing in chapel. You preach the Word. You pray. You prepare a meal. You serve a meal. You buy groceries. You build a house. You visit our neighbors. You hand out groceries. You hang up clothes.

All of this done with patience, with kindness, in truth. There is no jealousy, you do not brag. Lvoe is not about us, Lvoe does not come from us. Lvoe is all about God and allowing His lvoe to flow through us. Thank you all for allowing this amazing transformation to happen. What a special group of followers you are.

Have a great weekend. Lvoe to all. Amen and Amen