Whose in charge?

Can you forgive me?! We are in Dallas Friday morning playing with our grandson! What a treat! His baby sitter is sick and our son asked us if we could stay with Lane while they are at work today. Thank you Lord, for your remarkable gift of little ones! Hope your week has been as blessed as mr brian's!

We had good visits with our friends. Turner was doing fine. Richard was not there. Found out later in the week, Richard was being Richard and authorities have locked him up for awhile! Went by to see Smokey and he still was not feeling 100%. His ear was ok, but he was still recovering from  a chest cold. No time yet for a memorial service for Dale. Tim is working on it.

As we were leaving the center, Momma T arrived to work in the garden. Getting close to time for early spring planting. The ladies could use your help in getting the dirt prepared for planting.

Matt was late arriving for our visits, because he was spreading the word about Common Ground to a church in Benton. God is at work in all parts of our community. Very cool!

Last Sunday was Krysten's first day on the job! She is now the youth director at Minden First United Methodist church. What stories she will have as she begins to share God's amazing story with the young people. We will have another youth group as part of our family in the near future!

We were there at the center waiting on our neighborhood children, but they did not come Monday. We had a few show up on Tuesday and none on Wednesday. We need to think about our plans for afternoon activities for the coming school year.

Tuesday evening, we gathered for our mens Bible fellowship. A packed house enjoyed some good home cooking by the wife of one of our guys. Matt read from Romans chapter 2. Talking about not judging people we meet. How often, at our first meeting, if they look different, smell different, come from a different background do we make a judgement. Our duty is get to know everybody. The other part of the chapter was talking about, living under the law. We know all the rules of a christian life. We may act like we are Christians on Sunday, but how do we act on Mondays? As we were deep in discussions Tuesday evening, the electricity decided to go out. The whole neighborhood was out. We lite a few candles and carr y on our discussions. Smokey, said, I have never had a candle light supper before, we did tonight!

As mr brian was leaving Wednesday evening from the center. A familiar face was knocking at the door. One of our first young people to become involved with us and the children of the neighborhood came by for a visit. Chat is Ms Lisa's nephew and was part of the reason Ms Lisa came by to see what Chat was talking about. He lives in California now, the past two years he has been over seas in Japan and China, working in the software business. There are some pictures of Chat on the wall. What a blessing to have our young people come by for visits when they are in town, to check up on us and to let us know how much God impacted their lives while being a part of our community. Good God stuff!

Since we were on the road to Dallas Thursday evening, I can't report on all the activities. Just a comfort to know, Pastor Willie handled chapel, Joey and Lomax ran the show, and Ms Lisa and Momma T kept everybody moving along. Another example of community being community.

Don't forget this Sunday is the monthly party at the Ackermans. Bring something to put in the pot and enjoy the evening.

Prayers for Karl with his neck and back pain. Prayers for the Luginbills as they are spending time together in Haiti. Prayers for our community as Satan is at work mightily. We must be doing something right, if the forces of evil continue to throw obstacles our way.

That reminds me of how much God is in charge. We all to often think, poor me because something didn't work out. We might begin to doubt where we are going or what we are doing. We see the small pictures of life and how it effects us. I have to remind myself daily it is not about mr brian but about God. God is in charge, not mr brian. If we want changes to happen, we need to allow the Holy Spirit work through us, not do it by ourselves. God sees the big picture. God is writing the big picture. He only asks to follow and not lead,  let God do the leading.

I am grateful to be a part of a community that is striving to let go and Let God be the master of their souls. To allow their faith to be in Jesus not themselves. Our obstacles will be challenging as we face them, but know in the long run, God will prevail. God triumphs over evil every time! Thank you for being who you are and showing the light of passion, patience and lvoe.

Have a great week. Let go and let God! Amen.