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Just finished our first week of fall! How was it for you? The mornings have been nice but the afternoons get pretty warm. Hope your week was a good one. Ours was busy as usual.

Saturday was full of activities and adventures. Mr Scott led our visits to our friends. While they were at Richard's gas station, 4 train folks showed up and we helped them out. Then Richard took our group to a place where he knew a couple of folks needed some help. We then made our way over to check on Dale. Mr Matt and his group finished the morning by checking on Smokey. You just never know what God has in store for us on Saturdays, that is one of the coolest parts.

Momma T and Joey played host to our bikers. Showing them around the center and garden area. Momma T and Ms Patty worked all morning long in the garden.

We have been overwhelmed with children in the afternoons this week. We have had over 20 children each day with only Krysten and Joey trying to make do. Ms Abbie helped out Tuesday by pitching the ball as they all played kick ball. Ms Lisa was there helping out also.  Ms Dawn came Wednesday afternoon and joined in on the fun. Krysten and Joey could really use your help, just your presence will help, so come by Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 4:30 - 5:30.

We had a special treat Monday evening, as we had BCM students from LSUS come by to hang out with the kids. Krysten fixed pizza for the children's supper. Everybody had a great time playing all sorts of games. Joey  is working on the students coming once a month to hang out, very exciting.

Tuesday evening, we had a packed house at our mens Bible fellowship. Mr Matt brought Richard by for his first time. Richard said as we were leaving, this is pretty cool, I want to come back. Matt read from 1 Corinthians 12 talking about the Body of Christ. How all parts of the Body need to work together for the glory of God. Some of us talked about how we thought we wanted to be the head when in reality God wanted us to be a foot. How things just never seemed to work out, or we got frustrated with others, only to realize after a period of time, we were trying to be something we were not designed to be. We all have spiritual gifts, those gifts whatever they may be are important and if you do not exercise them and use them, then the Body will not be who God intended it to be.

One of our highlights of the week, was the return of Lomy on Wednesday! It was great to give him a big hug and see his smiling face. When the kids saw him, they all gave him big hugs. Can't wait to hear about his adventures. He said, he is headed to Center to spend a week with his grandmother and then come back home and settle in. Want it be nice to have our boy back with us again! Momma T would say, we will have all our peeps back with us in the Bright House once again!

Thursday afternoon was great, as Joey commented after the evening was over, this has been a good day. Pastor Eddie's wife Ms Jean got Ms Abbie to play the piano and we got off to a great start in chapel. Pastor Eddie took over and read from Mark 4 about the blind man sitting on the side of the road, asking Jesus for help. Pastor asked us, when was the last time we asked Jesus for help? Why do we try everybody else, read every self help book there is, and as a last resort we turn to Jesus? Awesome time in chapel.

Following chapel, we enjoyed a meal served by Matt and Ms Vicki and their helpers from Airline Baptist. They fixed the same meal as last month with left overs, this month they ran out! A huge crowd this afternoon. I think I heard Ms Abbie say they handed out over 70 bags of groceries.

While chapel, feeding and giving out of the groceries, St Luke's Medical van pulled up and began seeing folks from the neighborhood. Hopefully more and more folks will come as they become more familiar with the volunteers from St Luke's. They may start coming every other month.

To conclude the evening, we gathered in the chapel for our Bible study reading John 10, talking about Jesus knowing his sheep and the Pharisees fussing at Jesus for saying such blasphemy things. Know matter what we do or how much we do, if Jesus does not recognize us, it is all for nothing. It is not about us but about Jesus.

Prayer concerns were mentioned for Momma T's dad. He had a stroke Monday and is recovering from that. Continue to lift the Sauls up as they deal with the passing of John's dad. Keep the Bollingers in your prayers, for their son Nick's back procedure and Cari's treatments. Got a nice note from Pete. Pete said, "I miss everyone at Common Ground. Cari's in her second 3-week round of chemo, very time consuming. Tell everyone at CG that I miss them and send my love." Tim brought up prayers for the homeless who are being pushed around downtown, that tempers don't flare up and retaliations do not take place.

In my line of work, I drive to all parts of the city and out in the country each month. The last several years I have noticed a strange phenomenon, gates across the driveways of churches. Most of the gated churches, I have noticed are in the country where they have a gate across the one driveway going into the parking lot.

Many years ago in the beginning of my spiritual journey, when I saw these gates across the church driveways, I thought to myself, they are just trying to protect their property. But now, after realizing everything we have, everything we accumulate, is not ours but God's, how does God like the gates of our churches? If one of God's directives to us is to go out and make disciples, how does  lock gates of His churches accomplish this?

As we talk about in our mens discussions, life has challenges for us everyday, if not every hour. The church must think outside the box and become open to everybody every day, not just on Sundays. For whatever reason the chapel has a calming effect on me when I walk in. Most sanctuaries has the same effect for most people, so the church needs to recognize this and open the doors. Hopefully our churches are not more concerned about the buildings than the people who occupy them.

I have been asking the question to myself, Are we at Common Ground, opening our doors or is our entrance closed? Are we opening our hearts to all? Are we more concerned for the souls we meet or for the stuff we accumulate? Do we make sacrifices for others? Do we think of others first? Are we flexible enough to go with the flow or do we stick to our schedules?

What do you think? When someone asks you about Common Ground, what do you say? Who is Common Ground? Our mission statement says, we are committed to building community through compassionate outreach, genuine care and acceptance of all people. Are we doing that?

Driving up to the center Wednesday afternoon, I see all these signs along Southern Avenue in front of the center. I walk out to the signs and there is one for a free legal clinic, there is another one for chapel service, one for a free meal, one for medical van conducting free medical tests, wow. Then a few minutes later the green area is full of children from the neighborhood playing kick ball. And another group sitting in front of the chapel doing homework. I can think of no better examples of what Common Ground is all about than what we saw on Wednesday and Thursday. And that is just two days out of the week!

When I think of Common Ground I think of each one of you doing everything you do for others. Opening your doors to those who do not have a home to go to. Visiting those who do not have homes. Providing a place where the Word of God can be heard and discussed. Sharing a meal with those who might not have food at home. Giving groceries away weekly, no questions asked. Providing a safe place for our neighborhood children to come to. Building a home for those who do not have a home. The list goes on and on. Each one of you are living out your spiritual gifts as the Body of Christ should do. In so doing, the Kingdom of God is growing.

You guys are awesome and inspiring and a blessing to this community.

Have a great weekend and a great week. Amen.