We visited our friends living outside Saturday with the temperature of 18 degrees happening! The only saving grace, was the wind was not blowing. I excitedly walked to Turner's camp hoping to see his fire going and we were not disappointed! In fact, I asked if we could come down the hill to his camp to enjoy the heat, he agreed! The heat from the fire was nice, he even went over to his pile of leaves and threw some leaves on the fire to spruce up the heat! It was so cold that morning, Jerry never left his tent during our visit. I had gotten a call from one of our former outdoor friends, Smokey, inviting us to his apartment for lunch. As usual, this man of God, had hot bean soup, cornbread and pop for us to enjoy and warm us up! What a treat!. By the time we arrived back at the center, Ms Vicki was hard at work in the kitchen preparing breakfast for her boys on the basketball team.
Monday and Wednesday we welcomed back our children for our afternoon tutoring activities. It was good to have their energy and excitement around the campus as we all had missed each other.
Tuesday evening, the men of the community met to enjoy a delicious meal and talk about God's lvoe for us all. We read from John Chapter 3. Nicodemus had witnessed some of Jesus' miracles and wanted to know how he could be a part of all of this. Have you asked God to be a part of your life?
Wednesday evening, Lisa held a Board meeting. Lots going on in our part of the world. It had been awhile since I have attended a Board meeting. I had forgotten how many decisions need to be made to continue our work with the Lord. Sometimes those decisions are hard, but necessary. Please tell our Board members, how much we appreciate all the hard work they put into their responsibility as board members.
Thursday evening, we had a special treat as Wes joined us to play the piano, as we sang songs of praise. Brother George, introduced us to a new lady, who shared the Word of God. A meal of gumbo and all the fixins was enjoyed. The clothing room and Market was busy all night. We have begun offering a time during chapel, where our moms of the community can read books to their children. It is great to see this new part of our evening activities happening. Praise God for all the blessings of the evening.
Prayers for God's peace in our lives. Lots going on, our time is taken up by stuff, where do we find time for God? Prayers for those who are traveling. Prayers for relationships that need mending, where we can find common ground to resolve those relationships.
A new season of basketball games for the Cedar Grove Chargers is about to start. There is a game, this Saturday January 14th at 3 pm at Bill Cockrell Park. This game is the 14 and under boys. They would enjoy seeing you at the game!
We have a big group of students from Centenary joining us Monday morning for a work day to celebrate Martin Luther King Day. We can use your help and supervision, please come.
The men read in John 3 about this man called Nicodemus, a leader of the Jewish council, wanting to talk to Jesus about His miracles. He was a teacher of the law, but didn't understand what Jesus was up to? In verse 3 Jesus tells Nicodemus, " very truly I tell you,no one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again." We must let go and let God in our lives to be able to be born again. That is a concept Nicodemus struggled with and we do today. We try to make it difficult. We add man's rules and traditions. As educated people, it can't be that simple. But it is! All we have to do is let go of our pride and egos and let God be our power.
When we let go and let God in our lives, we are a new person. A new body full of the Spirit that is alive and raging through us. This Spirit of God, is not quiet but mighty. This Spirit is of lvoe not hate, jealousy or envy. This Spirit will not let us be the same person we were before. This Spirit will make us live our lives for others not for ourselves. In Acts 9 verse 20 after Saul, the hater of Christians, had met the Spirit and was born again, "At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. Verse 22, "Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah."
People knew something was different with Saul. People need to know there is something different about us. Saul spoke the words of Jesus, but he also lived a life like Jesus. Common Ground is made up of people living a life like Jesus. We need everyone of you to be our Saul, now Paul. The light of the Spirit is bright with one, but when there are many lights of the Spirit, the darkness goes away in a community. We need the darkness in our community to go away! Amen.
See you at the game Saturday, or around the campus this week. God is good
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