Saturday was a hot one, for working in the garden, visiting our friends, basketball practices. Momma T and her crew arrived early to start work, but still not able to complete their tasks as the heat set in. Our frozen water jugs were a big hit at the camps. Anything to stay a little cool. Lots of drinking water for the boys as they practiced. A new friend, Shawn was working on the outside of the Bright House II caulking, getting ready for paint to be applied shortly.
Saturday afternoon, Joey and Momma T transformed the chapel into a sanctuary of silence and reflection for us all to enjoy. God is speaking to us, but sometimes we are too busy or too noisy to hear. We got to hear Him Saturday afternoon.
Another exciting week of camp as the children learned about "green". All sorts of crafts and foods were enjoyed. Even mr brian ate some green vegetable chips! Everybody is doing a great job, working together as a team, helping each other out, learning and listening.
Tuesday evening, Brother George led the men's Bible fellowship in the reading of Luke and the feeding of the 5000. A word of praise for Brother George, he has completed all the requirements of his study to become and elder in his church. He will be commissioned the first part of August.
Ms Lisa had a Board meeting Wednesday evening. Lots going on in our community. Kaylan has drafted a new clothing room policy and will begin to implement it in the coming weeks. He asked the community in chapel for help in getting the clothing room organized. With summer camp coming to an end, plans are already in place for the start of our afternoon tutoring program. Allison has met with the principal at our local elementary school to discuss new and exciting ways we can work together to help our children learn. New garden ideas were shared from a meeting with Momma T, Bryce and a new friend of theirs. Big exciting donations were accepted for our community. New relationships with other organizations were started. All working together, for the betterment of our community.
Thursday evening in chapel was special as two old friends were reunited. Willie and Wes were together again sharing their gifts. Willie has been ill for several months, lots of obstacles has been put in his was, but through his faith, he has persevered and back on the road to recovery. He shared his new stronger faith in Jesus with us all, something we can all learn from. Allison put together part of our meal, as many new friends helped serve and clean up. The Market has become a well oiled machine as the shoppers and community have gotten to know one another and move through the shopping process quickly, good to see.
Continued prayers for William. Prayers for all those families affected by the senseless killings in France. Prayers for our friends living outside. Prayers for Robert as he prepares for oral surgery.
Listening has been on my mind this week. After attending the Broken and Whole Silent Service Saturday night, I was in awe of God's majesty. We listened to words of thought, words song by others. We moved around the chapel to experience God's grace in different forms of prayer. All the while, we listened to what God is wanting each of us to do. 45 minutes of listening, not speaking, not trying to impress others by what we have to say, but listening to the quiet voice of God.
Many of us do a good job of talking! We like to hear ourselves talk. Sometimes we feel more important if we can talk to others and let them know that we know it all or have all the answers. These past few weeks of tragedy around the world, there has been a lot of talking. Lot of good talking on both sides of the aisle, some good points can be made on both sides, but it is still just talk, man's talk.
Searching in the Bible for the word listening, up comes hundreds of verses or phrases where the word is used in the Bible. Starting from Genesis to the New Testament. God must know, we need help when it comes to listening?!
I was asked this week, what do you think about the political races going on? I said, not much because I don't watch most of the talking going on. It is one person's talk against another person's talk. I said, I know who is in charge of all of this and it is not us but God. God will lead us through this mess if we just take time to listen.
In James 1:19, my dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. We have it the other way around, we can't wait to speak first before someone else does, slow to listen and become angry at the drop of a hat!
We need to help our community to listen. We need to help each other to listen. Over the past few weeks, with the hot temperatures, nerves on edge, there have disagreements between our community. We are not listening to God but to society and the world. We holler louder than the other, thinking our talk is better than the other's. Just the opposite in God's eyes. God's voice is quiet, just and fair. If we don't listen, we will miss it. Let's listen together! Amen.
Listening together, what a great way to spend this coming week! God is so good!
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