38001!?

Just when you thought it was alright to start planting in the garden, we have cold weather approaching again. Our Easter cold snap is upon us! Oh well, what'cha going to do! Hope you week has been a good one, with lots of blessings and joys.

We got our week started off great with our Saturday morning breakfast. Momma T and her crew of young people from the neighborhood helped her cook, french toast, ham, serving fresh fruit, coffee and lots of good conversations. Don't forget, the third Saturday of each month we will gather for more good food and fellowship. Come and join us.

Momma T had her Christmas come early this year on Saturday! Her friend Jeff, brought her a wood chipper! Momma T spent all morning shredding limbs into mulch! You could hear her singing all morning long!

Tim, Matt and Scott went around to the camps after breakfast, serving up some of our breakfast leftovers. Everybody enjoyed the meals.

Tuesday, Ms Lisa and her van took another family from the neighborhood to Norton Gallery gardens. Lomax, Joey, Mara, a new friend Logan all joined in on the fun, pictures are up on our Face book page. A great afternoon, thanks to all for making this special event happen for the children.

Mr Matt got our Tuesday men's Bible fellowship started off, with a meal of spaghetti prepared by a friend of theirs, yummy! We then talked about Paul sharing how great is God for our lives, to remember He is in charge, and give Him all the Glory.

Wednesday evening we gathered at Ardis' house for our family Bible study. We are reading the book Dr Phil and his friend Harold wrote. We shared our thoughts on the introduction and the first chapter. In two weeks, we will gather at the Bright House and discuss chapters 2 and 3. 

Thursday evening got started off with chapel being led by the singing of our friend Spencer. The Word was shared by a new friend, Elbert Brown. Both did an outstanding job of using their gifts to praise God. Our meal was prepared by Tim, who spent  Sunday afternoon cooking on the grill. The pork was delicious as well as the rest of the meal. Thanks Tim. You need to do that more often! We had a large crowd of folks for supper. Ms Lisa handled the handing out of our grocery bags. We have had to make our bags smaller because of the numbers we are having, in order to make our budget stretch as far as possible. 

We will have two groups visiting us this Saturday. Our new friends from Blackwater Methodist church in Baton Rouge will be here. We will also have a group from Barksdale joining us. The youth from Blackwater will be around Grace Sunday, so please introduce yourselves to them. They will be with us through Tuesday.

We will have our annual Easter egg hunt for the neighborhood children Thursday afternoon following our meal. Ms Vicky and friends will bring some eggs. Joey and the BCM young adults will hide our eggs. Also, we will have a special appearance by our Easter bunny?! We can use all the eggs we can get, so if you can, please bring some by and join in on the fun please do so.

Also, it has become a family tradition, for us to hide eggs Easter Sunday around our neighborhood. We will gather at sunrise, bless the eggs and hide them in the yards as we walk around the neighborhood. This has become one of our biggest joys each year as we walk for Jesus. We are done in a couple of hours allowing you to get to church. Come and join us, bringing as many friends and family members as you would like, bringing as many eggs as you can. A joyous time!

We have talked about it in our mens Bible fellowship and we talked about it Wednesday evening, worshiping traditions or doctrines, loosing the power of Jesus. Harold wrote in the introduction, he was on fire for Jesus, reading the Bible everyday for more than 6 hours a day. He then came to the USA and began to be introduced to the various religions of the country. It was not long, he became lost, knowing the laws, knew what was right or wrong, but lost his passion for the Bible or the things of God.

Several years ago, I was attending a funeral for a friend. During the service, the pastor said, we are going to have communion now, but only for those who are members of our faith! When Jesus broke the bread and served the wine, he did not ask each disciple what "religion" are you? He only asked do you love my father?

Harold says in his book, there are over 38,000 Christian denominations! 38,000 that is amazing! Just in our little neighborhood of Cedar Grove, you can go a block or two, maybe three and find a church on every corner, why? Man has added, subtracted, multiplied, divided the Bible in so many ways, we have gotten away from the radicality of it. We are here to serve others, not ourselves.

I ask you to help me, for common ground not to become 38,001. Not another Christian denomination where we are more concerned about our beliefs, our traditions, our programs, and we loose our compassion for Christ. I guess that is why God has been convicting me for the last several months, it is not about mr brian, not about common ground, but about Christ who is in me. 

May we all allow the Holy Spirit, burning inside each one of us, to shine through us and that everything we do, we say, we are, allow the glory of God to be glorified. Exciting times are ahead of us as we become the people of God.

Have a great week, remembering our special celebration fast arriving next weekend. What a sacrifice His son made for us, may we honor that sacrifice in everything we do and say this week! Amen and Amen.