what's in a name

It's Friday already! How was your week? Full of adventures and surprises I hope, God is good!

Saturday was full of activities in and around the center. Karl was again busy with sheet rock duty, doing more work in the library and patching up holes in the ladies bathroom. Looking better every day. John Sauls came by and worked in the fellowship hall ceiling, repairing damage from an old leak.

We made our rounds visiting the guys living outside. Turner, Robert and Robert were ok. Some of us go by and visit with Smokey on our way home. Others go and visit more camps downtown. 

That brings me to something we have been talking about for several weeks. As many of you know, some of us feel led to move out into the neighborhood, while others want to continue our visits to the camps. As soon as our first JJ house is completed and Dawn gets moved in, we will start our neighborhood ministries from the house. Tim has agreed to be our leader in our visits to the camps. So every Saturday, we will have two groups going out and sharing God's lvoe with all, isn't that cool!

Monday was cold, really cold and the kids came. We opened up the friendship room, turned on the heat and the games began. Tuesday our electricity went out, no heat, so we had to send the kids back home. Wednesday, we had a lot of help, so we went into the children's area and did art projects, very nice.

Tuesday evening, with the temperatures in the 20's, Lomax headed out to the camps to check on the guys. Everybody was doing ok. We cancelled our men's Bible fellowship Tuesday evening because of the icy road ways.

Wednesday, Karl was back to replace more ceiling tiles in the fellowship hall. All his hard work looks really good.

Thursday afternoon, was special as we got to sing songs played by Spencer and listen to Lomax share his thoughts about Jesus. What a blessing to have such faithful young men who are willing to share their faith with others. Listening to Lomax talk about his relationship with God, was inspiring. Thank you Lomax. Next week we have Pastor Eddie.

Thursday's meal was prepared by Mr Tom. Served up by Ms Abbie! That's right, Ms Abbie was back and running the show! Great to have her back with us, you were missed. Ms Lisa, checked in all the folks, as Ms Abbie and Travis handed out the bags.

Prayer concerns for the Bollingers. Cari's has started a new round of chemo. Her new treatment will have to be delayed until this round of chemo is over with. Prayers for our guys who are living outside. No fun living in the rain and cold. Prayers for travels for those who will be on the road. Prayers for Ms Sarah as she continues her adventures in Haiti. Good to see pictures ever so often on Face book from her. Prayers for those who are struggling with illnesses. Lots of coughs and sneezes going around.

Don't forget, this Saturday morning, the 19th, at 8:45 our first breakfast of the new year! Come by for some yummy food, hot coffee and good conversations.

Max Lucado, in one of his devotions the last several weeks, talked about, when God came into a person's life sometimes God felt necessary to change the person's name. Saul to Paul, Abrams to Abraham and he mentioned others I don't remember. I worry we take what Jesus has done for us for granted. We all too often think we are in charge, not God. We think what we have is ours, not God's. We get up on Sunday morning, read the paper, go to church, go to lunch, go home, watch TV, get up go to work on Monday, yo hum. Nothing out of the ordinary. Worship is just something we do on Sunday, no big deal.

What if, one weekend, Roger tells us, today, if you confess your sins to God and declare Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, God wants to give you a new name! So on Monday when you go to work, you tell folks, my name is not Dr Phil, it is Dr Luke, or not mr brian, it is mr James or not Joey, it is Mark, or not Momma T, it is Momma Ruth. Would worship change for us? Would we treat our time with God differently? Would our lives change?

Just because Paul got a new name, his friends, family and neighbors still remembered the person of Saul, a persecutor of Christians. So how did Paul convince the town he had changed? At first, it was not by his words but by his actions. We can say we are Christians, that God is important in our lives, but if we don't live it, it means nothing.

I struggle with chapel time and all those who for some reason do not come inside. Is it because they are scared? Is it because they have seen folks who say they are Christians but do not live of life of lvoe? Do they feel like they don't need God? Chapel time, we need to pray for all those standing outside. We need to invite them inside. We need to open the doors and let the lvoe of Jesus flow out. We need to lvoe.

God is good, God is good all the time! We need to show that, we need to live that! It is not about us but about God. What can we do this week to live a life where our name has changed and God will get the glory?

You folks are awesome. You are inspiring. By your lives, others are seeing Christ. Let's continue, persevere and have faith, God's Kingdom will grow one person at a time.

Have a great week. Stay warm and dry. Amen and Amen.