Scott had a new friend join him on our visits with our friends living outside. Shawn, joined in on the fun, learning all sorts of stuff while wondering if Scott's truck was going to make the trip?! Everybody is doing fine, tolerating the heat and mosquitos.
Monday started our final week of camp, hard to believe! What a great group of leaders we had this year, bonding together to show our children the lvoe of Jesus. Wednesday was Awards and Art Show Day. Everybody receiving an award for participating in camp and pulling together as a group. A packed house of family members enjoyed the afternoon as everybody walked around the center to enjoy all the unique and special projects created by the children. The art projects are still up if you have a chance to come by the center and see, they are amazing! Camp was concluded Thursday afternoon with our traditional field trip to Splash Kingdom. Unfortunately the rain came and the trip was cut short, but all the children returned with big smiles on their faces!
Tuesday evening the men gathered for Bible fellowship as Joey read from Acts 2, the Holy Spirit comes to Pentecost. This night was unusual as the men became the Bible lesson! Joey challenged the men, to become one. One group praying for each other, for God's direction in an upcoming event, as the men agreed to pray every morning at 7am. This night, was not about reading about what God has done, but the men putting their words into actions!
Also on Tuesday evening, many of us had the opportunity to see our 12 year old team compete for the basketball championship of the city summer league. The high school gym was packed with players and families. Our boys did not win the championship but won the respect of others! They played hard, played all out and most importantly played as a team. It was great to see and experience what great jobs Matt, Vicki and Chuck are doing with the young men.
On a rainy, cloudy Thursday afternoon our festivities started. Chapel was led off by a new trio of musicians! Ms Abbie was playing her piano, Bryce joined in on his guitar and Brother George led the singing. We even had some children showing us how to Lean On Jesus! Brother Chester shared the Word to a packed chapel. We had lots of help in the kitchen, dining hall and the Market. It was a good evening despite the rain.
Jerry came to me Thursday evening, one of our friends living outside, asking me to take him to a hotel for the evening? The VA folks have finally woken up and have arranged for Jerry to be inside while his paperwork is being completed for funding his apartment. It has sorely been needed, thankfully happened, Jerry slept inside last night! Praise God!
The month of August will busy for us as we prepare for our upcoming tutoring sessions. Lots of new ideas and new strategies are being looked at and will be implemented. If you have a desire to help out, please let Lisa or Allison know. We can always use your help.
Prayers for one of young people as a new chapter will begin to open up this weekend. Saturday afternoon, our Lomax and his Stephanie will be getting married! How exciting to see the two grow together as one. If it weren't for Common Ground the two would have never met! Another example of you never know what your time and presence mean to others! Blessings to you two as you start your new journey together!
Many years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Philadelphia with Brian Lewis to participate in a family reunion of the Simple Way. The Simple Way is a group of misfits, as they called themselves, formed by Shane Claiborne and his friends. Once a year, communities from all over the country would gather together and share their stories. It was great to hear what was going on and also gratifying to hear you are not alone trying to be the hands and feet of Christ. For those of you who have not read Shane's book, The Irresistible Revolution, please do so. It will rock your boat!
We had the opportunity to stay at the Simple Way with Shane and talk with him. He shared his stories, his dreams and his fears about what they were facing in their community. His stories could have been ours. Many of his frustrations, were felt by us. As we were heading back to the airport, Shane said to us, have you figured it out yet? Brian and I looked at each other and wondered what he meant? I said to Shane, I don't think, tell us? He said, no, that is for you to figure it out?
This week, the answer to Shane's question, came in the form of a Common Prayer devotion. "People may come to our communities because they want to serve the poor; they will only stay once they have discovered that they themselves are the poor."
When I first began to be a part of this community, I thought I was the white knight in shining armor. I had come to save the day. I thought if I showed others how to behave, how to interact with each other, how to love each other, how to respect each other, everybody would see how great I was and everything would be alright. Over time, when things didn't get any better, I begin to realize, it is not about me, but about Jesus. No matter how much I tried to be nice to others, they still didn't get it! Fights broke out, hollering continued, things came up missing, where did I go wrong?
It took me awhile to realize, we are all the poor! We are all in this journey together. Nobody is better than another. We may have different troubles or obstacles in our lives, but we all have them. In God's eyes, we are all His children. Yes, we want our children to read better, we want our friends to live inside, we want the hollering to stop, the fighting to end, but the only way to make it happen is to understand, we are the poor, we are the ones who need help.
Where does that help come from, Jesus! It is our job to be the hands and feet of Christ, bring others to Christ. Let Him stop the beatings, the fights, the shootings. When our hearts are changed, we change. When our hearts are filled with the lvoe of Jesus there is no room for hatred. When lvoe takes over our lives, we loose ourselves and we become the light of Christ. A heart of Christ, allows us to see each other as one!
My prayer for us all is to remember, it is not about us. For us to understand as Shane wanted us to know, we are the poor in the eyes of the Lord. Only through our conversations with Jesus will we be able to understand that and allow hearts to change as we grow closer to Christ. Amen!
Don't forget to come by the center and see all the art this week. Lvoe is in the air and on the walls! Have a great week! God is good!
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