Our stuff

Can we say good bye summer! This week has been 105 heat index and unbearable. This weekend the temperatures are suppose to drop twenty degrees! Can we say Amen! Hope in your part of the world, the fall weather has gotten there, as we prepare for a new season.

With the van still in the shop, we made our way around to the camps in trucks and cars. Turner was waiting for us as we arrived. Ms Dawn and Mr Scott heard Turner say, as he was finishing shopping in the back of the truck, thanks, I really appreciate this! A first for Turner. Being the first of the month, Richard was not at his gas station. Hopefully he has stayed out of jail and the hospital? We went to Smokey's old camp and there was no one, so drove on! That was a first. We spotted John behind Labor Ready, so we stopped and visited him. Dave walked up not too long after that. Our final stop was to check on Smokey. He is doing fine, adjusting to his new surroundings. The apartment is very nice, clean and cool. We visited with the caretaker in the office and thanked him for watching over Smokey.

While we were playing with our friends, Karl was back at the center working hard in the Bright House II. We have a new empty dumpster, just waiting to be filled up with more debris, so Karl got the ball rolling. Starting to look better inside, not nearly as scary as it use to fill. Lots to do, so you never have to worry about something to do, just come by and take out your frustrations by tearing out some walls!

Some of us had the opportunity to visit Pastor Eddie's church Sunday. Bright Star Baptist Church, is over 100 years old and going strong. The numbers are small, but their hearts are willing. They made us fell welcomed and opened their arms to us. The Spirit was flowing through song and word.

Tuesday, we had our first afternoon back with the children. It was good to have the laughter, smiles and energy from our children. Krysten, Joey and Ms Lisa kept them busy with games and activities in the Friendship room. Come by any afternoon at 4:30 and join in on the fun.

Tuesday, we got our final inspection and it's official, we now have a working kitchen, all approved and ready to cook! John Sauls has done an outstanding job in coordinating everything to make a place where we can proud of for many years to come. Ms Lisa has left some before pictures on one of the counters.. Amazing to see the transformation. Come by and take a look and be sure to tell John when you see him around, what an outstanding job he has done.

Tuesday evening we had another lively discussion about life, as Mr Matt led us in reading from 1 John 3, 11- 24, we must love each other. Verse 18, said, we should love people not only with words and talk, but by our actions and true caring. We talk about getting past, looking at the color of our skins and seeing the color of our hearts. That starts by getting to know each other through Bible fellowship, working together, living together. And we can do that because the Spirit of God is in us and sees no color.

Chapel service started off our Thursday afternoon of activities. Heather and Derrick sang and their dad Richard shared the Word. We had a big crowd for our first Thursday in September, wow! Over a hundred, as we ran out of Kool-aid and food at the end. Ms Sarah and Mr Scott brought their Haiti friend, Diri JonJon, by for a visit. Mr Tom fixed a feast and everybody seemed to enjoy it all. Pastor Jackson will preach next week. TJ and the Brookwood folks will be providing the meal.

After our meal, Momma T and I met with Michele Sauls about organizing our kitchen tasks differently and seeing if we can get more help from our community and others. With our new kitchen up and running, we thought it might a good time to get more people involved. More to come.

Don't forget, Brookwood's 5K run is this Saturday, September 8th. The fun run starts at 8, with the 5K starting at 8:30. Still time to sign up or if you can't, just come on out and support those who are supporting us.

Has everybody seen the pictures Dr Phil has been sending out on the JJ house? We now have walls and siding on the house. One good thing about all this heat and no rain, construction has been going on everyday. Dave's craftsmanship in the building of the house has gotten the approval of our construction company. Everything is looking good, keep praying.

Looking at Amanda's birthday list, we had two birthdays this week! Sorry guys for missing them, David McCormick, our newest Board member. Long time friend of ours, married to the best pharmacist in Shreveport, Elizabeth. David's most important job, being a new dad. Great to see them at supper Thursday. You should have seen Ms Abbie's smile carrying around their new baby! Our other birthday was our own Zig Zag, Allison. Allison is in Atlanta beginning her studies to becoming a clergy in the Methodist church. One of her favorite things to do at school, is working with the children of homeless families, remarkable young lady! We have another birthday this Saturday, Ms Abbie. When you see her next time, don't forget to wish a happy day!

Continue to keep Pete and Cari in your prayers. Pray for Karl as he travels to California. Pray for the families in Haiti, trying to survive. Keep our families in your prayers, relationships that need mending with the power of God's lvoe. Pray for Charley and the team for Kiros as they go into the Wade Correctional Institution starting Thursday.

Next Saturday, September 15th a Sunday school class from Grace will be joining us for a work day. To get them started off the right way, Joey and mr brian will provide breakfast. We just couldn't wait to try out the new kitchen! Not sure what is on the menu, but everybody is welcome to join us at 8:30.

When we showed up Sunday at Pastor Eddie's church, there was preaching going on as we walked in, the Spirit was flowing already. As the Pastor was finishing up his talk, he asked another gentleman sitting next to him, to get up and say a few words. This elderly man told a story about seeing a light outside his front door. His wife called the man to the door and told him go see what the light was. There was a terrible storm going on, raining, wind blowing, trees down, electricity out, but they could still this light. The man got his rain gear on, walked out his door, checking out to see if there were wires or something connected to this light to make it glow but there was not. The man started wondering, what kind of stuff was inside this light to make it glow?

The elderly preacher looked at us and said, isn't that what God is concerned about for us? The stuff we have inside of us, do we let God in or do we keep it to ourselves? The stuff we hold on to, does it carry us down or make us better? Is our stuff more important than anybody else's stuff, occupying all our time? Heard two of our pastors talk about our attitudes over the weekend. How does our stuff affect our attitudes? If we hold onto our stuff, our lights are not as bright as they can be.

We all have stuff, but how we handle our stuff, makes us different. For most of us, we are learning, God is in the stuff dealing business. No matter how small or how large our stuff gets, we can turn to God for help. We are learning, God yearns to deal with our stuff, if we just let him. So, let go of your stuff, and let God in. The more we let go of our stuff, the more room there is for the light of God to shine through.

We talked about Tuesday evening, there are folks who don't want God in their lives and they don't want others to have God in their lives, so they do whatever they can to make everybody's life miserable. We have a choice in the way we live our lives, we can go along with them and fill our stuff up with their stuff. Or we can fill our lives with the power of Jesus and go about our way, full of the light of God. We read Tuesday night, the people who obey God's commands live in God, and God lives in them. Isn't that a better way to live? Each one of us has the remarkable ability to defeat the stuff of the world because God lives in us. Isn't that a better way to live?

Hope your week is filled with the glow of Jesus growing stronger inside of you. Hope your light shines bright with everybody you meet. What an amazing God we have, allowing us to deal with our stuff, so that He may grow stronger inside of us, so that His light will shine bright in our world. Lvoe to all. Amen.