We continue our Saturday activities in and around the center. Turner had his fire pit going Saturday morning. He has draped a tarp over his new tent to keep the rain and cold weather out. We couldn't fill his thermos with coffee because he had already made hot chocolate that he had filled the thermos with that! Another camp was closed because the guys were staying at apartments with their former camp mates. Very nice of them to get their brothers in out of the cold. Jerry's brother had brought them a load of firewood, so Outdoor Joey was busy building a fire with it. Anything to stay somewhat warm! Z and her crew were busy in the kitchen preparing breakfast for the community. We had a good number of friends show up to eat and enjoy each other's company. The young men of the basketball team showed up around noon to eat their lunch. Always a fun time on Saturdays.
More tutoring going on this week on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. The children were learning, playing games and listening to stories about Jesus. This week, they learned about the birth of Jesus. Next Monday we will have their Christmas party.
Tuesday evening, the men of the community gathered and listened and talked about God. Rickie led the discussions as the men read from 1st John 3: 17-18. Two good verses to live our lives by. What do they mean to you?
Thursday evening, we sang Christmas hymns as Ms Abbie played the piano and one of our friends from Elizabeth Baptist Church shared the Word. Z prepared chicken and dumplings for our meal. Clothes were shared with the community. Pam and Bruce prepared the Market for our shoppers. A good evening.
Thanks to John W and Bruce K, we now have new lightning in our dining hall. We heard several comments this week, sure is bright in here!
Hopefully those of you in town are not reading this note this morning but at the center helping to set up the Christmas Market! We will be there all day, if you can go by and help out. Starting at 9 am Saturday morning the Market will open. We need your help, we need your prayers. Come and join in on the fun! Don't miss Santa walking around!
Please keep Ginellen in your prayers. She came through her procedure last Friday fine, but the outcome was not what we wanted. She has an infection in that area, that needs to heal before anymore work is done.
The word that comes to mind this week has been miracles. In our busyness of life, I am afraid we don't see the miracles of God happening all around us. It is easy to pass over them, not recognize them or appreciate them. I think we all to often take for granted life and the part we play in it?
It all started Monday night as the men of Grace started reading about the birth of Jesus. Each year, Billy Graham puts out a list of Bible verses associated with the Birth. This week the men read from the Old Testament about the coming Messiah. We started reading Isaiah 7: 13 - 14, predicting the Messiah would be born of a virgin. Malachi 3: 1 - 4, which said the Messiah would be God's messenger, Then Micah 5: 2-3, predicting the exact place of the birth. We read Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7, announcing that God's son would be born as a baby. The question was asked, when did Isaiah take place. It was determined almost 700 years before the birth! 700 years! What a miracle, that God had a place in mind, knew He wanted his son to be born as a baby, from a virgin! Wow!
Tuesday night, Rickie brought pictures of his terrible accident he was involved in several weeks ago. Folks, I looked at the first picture of the burned out truck and could not look at any others! The shell of the truck, looked like some of pictures we have seen on TV of the horrors of the bombings in the Middle East. The only part of the truck left standing was the metal, no tires, no seats just metal! To see that picture and then to turn and look at Rickie alive, is a miracle! Rickie has shared with us, he knows God was there with them, sitting on the seat next to them, helping them get out!
Several weeks ago, Scott told us his miracle story. He had taken his daughter's Jeep to a garage on Bert Kouns to get new tires. While the Jeep was there, he walked down to one of the restaurants and got something to eat. As he was walking back to the garage, he was walking across one of the bridges on the highway, noticed one of his shoe strings had come undone. He stopped reached down to tie his shoe strings, his phone fell out of his pocket. As luck would have it, the phone fell down one of the expansion joints on the bridge. The joint was just wide enough for his phone to fall into but not wide enough for his hand to reach down to get it. He tried to get it, but had no success. Frustrated and annoyed, he found a doctor's office near by. Going in, he said, I know this will sound strange but can I borrow a coat hanger! He went back, but ended up knocking the phone deeper down the expansion joint! Panic beginning to set in, as time was getting short. He took the Jeep in because his daughter was on a school trip, but he was scheduled to pick her up from the airport shortly. He hurriedly walks back to the garage thinking they would have some sort of something to get the phone out. They rig up a stick, he walks back to the bridge but no luck. He prays constantly now, Lord, I need my phone, please, please help! He thinks, I will call someone else to go get his daughter, oops, he does not have his phone. He goes back again to the bridge, tries other ways, but no luck. As he is walking back to the garage, a van pulls up behind him honking. He turns around and it is the nurses in the doctors office with his phone! No doubt now, Scott will tell you, God answers prayers, a miracle occurred on that highway!
Common Ground is a miracle! All of you are miracles for answering the call of Jesus! If you live out your lives, the way God has intended for you to live, miracles will occur! Reading some of my notes from 2007, a preacher told us, you don't need to advertise, you don't need to preach, you don't need to beat the bushes, just live out the radicality of the Bible, people will come. Why, because, nobody else is doing it. As we know, when people come, the presence of God is felt and miracles occur.
God is in the miracle business. If we take our time, begin to listen, understand His voice, stop and look around, we will see His miracles! We have experienced many miracles in our community, there are many more to come! Enjoy and be blessed by them all! Amen!
Hope to see you at the Christmas Market today or tomorrow. What a miracle!
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