A full Saturday of activities got our week started off right. Scott had a large group of nursing students join him on our outdoor friends visits. The group was led by none other than our long time friend, Icee Joe! I guess now we will have to begin to call him Nurse Joe or Dr Joe! Great to see Joe. Robert has lost hope in moving inside and is asking for a larger tent to combat the rain and cold weather coming. If you hear of someone having a 2 or 3 person tent, please let Scott or Brian know. Bread was wrapped, basketball team was fed, John and his group of servants worked on the Bright House II, a good morning to serve the Lord!
Monday and Wednesdays continue to be a blessing to us all. A big group of children join us each day wanting to eat, learn, play and be lvoed! A great time. Please join us between 3 - 5 and experience what God has given us to treasure and lvoe.
Tuesday evening, Brother George led our men's Bible fellowship by talking about light and darkness. The discussion was awesome, reading from Acts 26:18. Brother George asked us, what is your darkness? Never thought about that before?
Thursday evening was a treat as usual. Chapel time was led by our own Tim and Ms Abbie. Tim talked about serving God. If we are not serving God than we are serving something else. Allison prepared the meal of lasagna, salad and watermelon, delicious. The clothing room and Market were busy all night long. We had lots of new faces from the community joining us for the evening. A great evening of laughter, joy and blessings.
Following our meal, Lisa held a short, yea, Board meeting! Lots going on. Our Board is busy attending classes, speaking to groups, involving other organizations with us, all very exciting. Our new newsletter will be going out shortly. A new servant booklet is going to print. Groups coming in. Classes starting up for our community, something for everybody! If you have a unique fundraising idea, let Lisa know.
Prayers for the families who lost their love ones at the community college in Oregon. Don't understand why things like this happen? Prayers for Lisa and her family as they celebrate the life of her mother, next weekend, October 10th. If you want to do something for Lisa, please let Ardis or Momma T know.
This coming Tuesday evening, October 6th, the men's fellowship will again host National Night Out starting at 6. Hot dogs and all the fixins will be provided. Come and join us, hopefully meet some of our neighbors. Let Joey know if you have any questions.
Brother George, said his darkness and my darkness may not look the same? I have been thinking about that statement all week long. Each man was asked, what does darkness look like to you? Some said, not a place where I want to be or go. Others said, not of God. As I thought about that statement, I blurted out, I have been living in darkness and never knew it! That was scary.
I was raised in Lake Charles, attended First Methodist Church growing up. We went to the 8:30 service, sat in the balcony. Not sure why we sat there, maybe so I wouldn't disturb the others? Always enjoyed communion Sundays because the preacher didn't talk so long! Went to Sunday School after the service. Went by and picked up Aunt Merdie and Uncle Ed, no relations to us, just friends of my parents, that's what we called them. My younger sister and I would ride in the very back of the station wagon and we all went for a ride. Stopped for lunch somewhere, drove around some more and back home. We went to Wednesday night suppers at the church. I rode my bicycle to church during the week to see what the youth pastor was up to. Joined the Boy Scout troop at the church. My daddy sold some stock he got from his daddy and bought the church their first set of hand bells. I guess since my daddy bought the bells I was required to play them! We went around the state playing at different churches, once staying at Centenary. When I share my story, I say, when I graduated from high school and when away to college, I also graduated from religion.
Not until one Saturday, over 20 years ago, around noon, in the parking lot outside of the Grace offices on Bert Kouns, after attending a discovering your spiritual gifts class given by Pete, right before I got into my truck, I said to God, ok God I am yours, do what you want with me, did the scales begin to be removed from eyes and I began to see the light. I was living in darkness and didn't even know it.
It is easy to see some who are living in darkness by their actions, like the person in Oregon, a drug addict, an alcoholic, those living in prisons, darkness is their lives. But what about the person sitting next to you in church, teaching Sunday School, singing in the choir, serving the poor, working with the youth, are they living in darkness? Do they know they are living in darkness? I didn't.
I thought from experiences growing up in church, if I didn't kill anybody, didn't need a drink to get through the day, didn't use drugs, didn't fight, if I went to church, I was a good person and that was all I needed to do.
In the verse in Acts 26:18, it says, "to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God . . " I think the great deceiver is doing a great job. Satan is happy for us to go to church and then go home. What good is that? When does the hungry get fed?
Common Ground was founded on servants, shinning not their lights but the light of Christ. Common Ground continues to become a vital part of God's Kingdom because of those of you who now come, leading the way with Christ's light shinning through you. Common Ground is not about us but about God. This is God's Kingdom not ours.
Over the past 20 years I have seen pastors come and go. !00% of the pastors love what we do and what we are about. All say, this is church. And all struggle with getting folks to join in to building God's Kingdom. When something is presented to their congregations to get them involved, the majority of the response, oh no, here is something else to add to my list of to dos!
For me, when I began to see the light inside of me get brighter and brighter, I couldn't do enough for Christ! We need to help others realize, the light of Christ that is them needs to be their center point and lead them in their journeys, not the other way around.Amen.
Have a great week. Hope you can make it by the center and experience God's blessings. If you are far away, please continue to pray for us. Thank you all for being the light of Christ in your part of the world!
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