Through the eyes of Jesus

Another week in the books. And what a week it was! Hope your week was as fun and full of joy.

Scott and Tim led the way Saturday to visit our friends. Pretty quite, which is a good thing! While Matt, Elbert and Rickie walked the streets of our neighborhood. God at work through these servants.

Sunday afternoon, Momma T, Ardis and Ricky hosted our first group of Centenary athletes. They spent a couple of hours in the garden. The beds are now numbered, so we can keep track of what is planted. The compose bins were moved and filled up. Cleaning up, painting trash cans to be put out around the grounds to help with trash. Pictures are up on our Face book page. Also, Ms Patti's husband, David, has hung the green doors, painted by Ricky, on the greenhouse. When you have a chance, walk through the gardens, have never seen them look so pretty!

Monday afternoon, we had another group of Centenary athletes come and work in and around the center. They power washed all the tables and chairs from the dining hall with Ardis, changed out a light, helped Lisa organize the storage room, worked with Abbey in rearranging the food pantry, hung ceiling tiles, cleaned the chapel, cleaned the kitchen, painted hallway doors, all in a span of 2 hours. Huge amount of work done with smiles! More pictures are up of the afternoon.

We had to keep it quiet because, tutoring was going on at the same time. The different rooms were filled with children learning and reading. Amazing to see it all.

Tuesday evening, was another Spirit led night, as Matt read from Mark chapter 10: 32-45. The men of the neighborhood continue to come and listen, sometimes sharing and hearing what God is doing in our lives. We talked about becoming servants of all. Jesus came to serve not be served, hard act to follow, one our society says, be the best you can be, take no prisoners, look out for number one! I remember hearing someone say years ago, if we learn to serve others, we have no time for our pity parties!

Forgot to mention last Wednesday, Lisa and Abbey spoke to a local Kiwanis chapter at noon. Their talk was well received and they were asked to come back and also speak to other chapters. You never know what God will do when lvoe is talked about to others!?

Thursday evening was full of activities and fun. We again had the privileged of having the Centenary basketball and tennis team and also another group of nursing students. Everybody was busy helping with supper, doing more cleaning up, serving, washing and visiting. Chapel was hosted by our friends, Derrick and Heather and their dad Richard. We talked about how long they have been coming, almost two years now! Isn't that amazing! Abbey prepared supper with help from some of the students. Lisa and Abbie with the help of more students handed out groceries. Matt led Bible study for the girls in the absence of Momma T. A great evening, thanks to all for making it happen.

Continue to lift up William as he goes through rehab. His biggest challenge will be when he is released and goes back into society. How will he handle it all? Tim and Hat continue to be there for him, but William will have to decide if God will be in his heart and run his life.

In this morning's Common Prayer devotion, a thought that has been running through my mind was shared. "Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, wrote, "Whatever I had read as a child about the saints had thrilled me. I could see the nobility of giving one's life for the sick, the maimed, the leper. But there was another question in my mind. Why was so much done in remedying the evil instead of avoiding it in the first place? Where were the saints to try to change the social order, not just to minister to the slaves, but to do away with slavery?"

This week, two different organizations have come to us about working with our children. One to help our children learn about their history and the other one about working with young ladies in making the right choices. I have been involved in this community for almost 20 years now and have begun to see the same situations happening over and over again. Our young girls dropping out of high school, getting pregnant, our young boys, getting in trouble and going to jail.

Years ago, when I visited The Simple Way, Shane Claiborne talked about the Samaritan story to us. He said, it was sad some passed and did not help, he said the saddest part about the story is that the Samaritan was there to begin with. At the time, I was not interested in why the Samaritan was there, I just wanted to help.

Now seeing a new generation of our children doing the same thing their mothers were doing 10 years ago, I am starting to think we to do more than just help them with their babies or visit them in jail. We need, God needs to use us, to stop the cycle of poverty. To show the girls they don't have to have babies to feel love. The boys don't have to steal or lie to get ahead.

I asked another agency this week, is there a place a young teenager can live to get out of their environment and learn about Christ. She thought a minute and said, she didn't know of any? That is amazing to me.

With all the help we had Thursday evening, I got a plate and sat down to eat. I glanced around the room and noticed a young man, who I have seen coming these past few weeks. God forgive me, but I have not stopped before now to say hi to him. We talked and he shared his story. A story that brought tears to my eyes and broke my heart. He is going back to jail because he can not pay his fine of $750 a month. He got out 3 months ago, found a place to live on 61st street, found a job at a restaurant in the kitchen but does not make enough to meet his financial obligations. He was a chef, working at a fancy restaurant on Line but now they won't hire him because of his record and can't make the money he needs, so back to prison he goes. He said, the prison folks knew he could not meet his financial obligations, so they were expecting him back. Sad, sad, sad.

I know we are a small volunteer group, trying to find our way, trying to help all we come in contact with, but there is more. God knows the bigger picture and he is beginning to show us the way of where we need to be going. Is it overwhelming to think, the neighborhood of Cedar Grove needs our help, yes through our eyes. But what if we look through the eyes of Jesus? What can we see? 

We might see a place where little ones can come and learn to read and write before they get to school. We might see houses where children will have their own room and not worry about the roof leaking. Have a kitchen where meals are served, people are learning to cook, girls are learning to serve and learn a job skill, a place where housing is provided for those who are looking to get out from under a bridge, a dorm where young children can come and live, getting away from the unrest of their environment, providing jobs in a retail and grocery store atmosphere acquiring much needed experience. What do you see looking through the eyes of Jesus? Nothing is impossible through God. Isn't that exciting! Amen and amen!

Hope your week is full of blessings. Begin to look through the eyes of Jesus this week, to the people God brings before you, what do you see?