Just talking

Hope your week was as much fun as ours. Time is flying by, while experiencing God's grace in community.

What a great Saturday we had last week. We got to spend time with our new family from Lake Charles. A great group of young people from St Luke Simpson Methodist church in Lake Charles was concluding their time with us. They worked hard helping us on Thursday with our meal and other activities. Friday, they worked hard all day around the center. Mr Scott led them around to our outdoor friends homes and each stop was memorable. Great to watch the expressions on their faces as they got to experience life as they have seen it before.

When we got back to the center, Momma T and Ms Lisa were concluding their morning activities of U 2. The youth played jump rope and football with our kids. Ms Lisa reported a nice gathering of community had come by and spent time in the garden area. Gradually the community is feeling more comfortable exploring the garden.

Monday was a milestone for one of our family as Matt took William to his rehab home in Logansport. We got to visit with William a little Monday afternoon. He looked a 100% better than he did last Monday when we took him into the emergency room. William says this time he will make it work. Let's pray, Christ takes control of his heart and rids William of this addiction. Matt gave us Williams address where we can write notes to him. Please do so when you have a moment. We are Williams family and he will need all the support he can get. Matt shared this rule if we want to visit William at some point. William says that Sundays are visiting days. However, if someone wants to visit on another day, they can call Brother Wayne Jones at 318 518 3878 and get it cleared through him.

 

William Thomas

Freedom Mission

P.O. Box 1253

Logansport, LA 71049

Monday, as I was looking for something in our old emails, I came upon our discussions with the Methodist conference board and the community center. On Wednesday June 8, 2010, the motion for allowing the Board of Trustees to give the property of Faith United Methodist church to Common Ground was put before the Methodist Conference and after some discussions, was unanimously passed. Just two short years, has gone by and look what God has done. Amazing, what all of you have accomplished allowing the Spirit to work miracles through you. So excited to see what the future holds.

On Monday, Joey came up to me and said mr brian, I need to tell you a story! Joey had "that" look in his eye, of something special had happen! Joey had gone to a house on 69st to get a form signed for summer camp. As he walked up, there were two men standing outside talking. They recognized Joey as being from "that" church on Southern. They had been visited by Ms Dawn and Mr Matt several weeks ago, and had been invited to come for a visit on Thursdays. One of them had never been the other gentleman had not been there in many years. Both of them were full of joy as they shared with Joey how much they enjoyed their time with us this past Thursday. From the preaching, the singing, the meal, the groceries, the clothes. Both men commented on how many smiles they saw and how much those smiles made them feel. They had never experienced anything like that before from "church" people! Because all of you are allowing the Holy Spirit to flow through you, we are beginning to hear more stories like this! Very, very cool.

Tuesday evening was an exciting time for our mens Bible fellowship. At 7:45, I reminded Matt, its time to leave. We were talking so much, time had gotten away from us. Isn't that amazing. Men sharing their stories, talking about Christ, listening to each other, and not one of them said, its time to go!

Our electrician John Williams joined us Tuesday. He accused mr brian of trickery to get him there, but I denied it! I went into the kitchen where John is working every evening to help us get the kitchen up and running. I said to John, we have pizza in the chapel, would you like a piece? I said to John, I can bring you a piece if you like? Then before he could answer, I said, help me take some of these water bottles to the chapel and you can get your own pizza. Well the Holy Spirit wouldn't let John leave, so he spent the evening with us. God is good.

Also on Tuesday, Joey spent all day at the Bright House making it pretty for our new interns for the summer. With 4 young ladies moving in, we decided to let them have the front and middle bedrooms and Joey graciously moved into the back bedroom where Krysten stays. Krysten has moved out for the summer. The Lake Charles youth worked hard cleaning up the house, waxing the floors, it is beautiful. Go by the house and take a look, thank you Joey.

Wednesday began day one of the interns orientation. Thanks to the hard work of Krysten, Ms Lisa, Momma T and others, they have put together 4 days of work, play, getting to know each other, getting to know the center, and understanding our community in preparation of running summer camp. Hard for my little brain to comprehend all that is happening and what continues to happen. God is truly amazing.

mr brian was delayed by a delinquent delivery guy, but our meal went on Thursday went as planned anyway. It is a great feeling knowing God has brought people here who use their gifts to continue our ministries. This community has become larger than anyone person. Amen. As I drove up, what a blessing to see neighbors standing outside visiting together. Our community getting to know others. Kids playing basketball, running up and down the hall. People coming out of the center with grocery bags in hand, smiles on their faces. Thank you all for sharing your hearts.

Thursday evening Bible study was handled by Ms Beth as we read from James 2, talking about not judging others, loving our neighbors as ourselves. praise reports for the continued health improvement for Hat's husband Karl and Charley's clear test results.

Prayer for the beginning of summer camp. Joey has been busy getting forms signed from all the children. Camp will begin Monday, June 18th. Camp will run Monday through Thursday from 1 - 4, with some Thursday being field trip days. Pray for our new interns, to calm their anxieties, to guide them in their journeys, to see God in everything they do. We are blessed this year to have Brookwood youth come the first three days of camp and have vacation Bible school with us.

As I was typing the last of this note the electricity just went out. Thankfully the text was saved. Electricity is back on, but scared it will go off again, so I will end this note.

Momma T shared a passage from the book Irresistible Revolution, where Shane was quoting from Dorothy Day on the beginnings of the Catholic worker movements, Ms Day said "we were just there talking and it happened. We were just sitting there talking and people moved in. We were just sitting there talking and the lines began to form. It all happened while we sat there talking and it is still going on".

For some of us to experience what God is doing in this community is overwhelming, to see it from the beginning where there were a few and now there are many is more than words can explain. I keep going back to what we read many months ago, if it is of God, then it will happen, if is of man it will not. Common Ground Community is of God not of man. Amen and Amen!

Have a great week. Come by the center for a visit and meet our new friends. Amen again!

Don't understand? Why?

I could say, with school out, folks beginning to take trips, nothing has happened around the center, but life happens and God is busy.

For what ever reason, you folks have chosen to be a part of this community. You have become friends and family to many of the least of them. Life is hard even when you have someone to walk with, but when you are alone, no family, no friends, and trials come your way, you may want to give up.

Don't understand why, you all don't say, that's it, I give up. Those who we are friends with, do not act the way we expect them to act. They will never appreciate all the things you have done for them. A lot of "church" people, would turn away, wash their hands of the disappointments and move on to other more desirable projects, but ya'll have not, why?

Why do you, take time out of your lives to visit the homeless? Why do you go to India and lvoe on children who no one else lvoes? Why do you go to Haiti, to lvoe on the children who have no one else? You have more important things to do, than take a friend to the hospital. Your money could be spent on your family not those who will never be able to return the favor. You open your home up to serve a meal, to take a shower, to lvoe those who no one loves, why?

You take time out of your hectic lives to have Bible study with the men of the community, doesn't make sense! You walk around the neighborhood, talking with those who are sometimes to drunk to understand what you are saying, for what reason?

You share your resources with others so that they may have a new home, find hope in their lives. You quit your jobs, postpone your careers, so the children of the community can experience lvoe and hope, blows my mind.

We have groups of young people, who travel long distances to share their lvoe with our community, to restore our center, to clean and wax floors, to dig ditches, makes no sense at all. Our summers are spent hosting young adults, who for whatever reason, have decided not to earn a living for themselves, but to give away their lvoe to others in our community, can't explain this?

We have musicians, who want to come and share their gifts with our community, and ask nothing in return. We have a place where everybody is welcomed, where no one is judged, a place where folks who have been to the depths of despair, have a place where they can share their hearts in a chapel.

You have your own lives, your own struggles, your own families, but you take time to go shopping so we might hand out groceries, provide a meal, hang clothes, why? You work behind the scenes, so monies continue to come in, the bills are paid, future housing is obtained, and get no recognition at all, don't understand?

On a hot, sultry afternoon, instead of staying at home in the cool, you are outside, weeding, watering and lvoing on the plants and garden, explain it to me? After you work all day you come to the center. Instead of going fishing on Saturdays, you come to center to build a kitchen, creating a place where one day, new hope and dreams will become a reality, unbelievable?

Because of what you all are doing, we got to experience something Thursday afternoon that we have been praying about for many years. As we were preparing to go inside for chapel, I started to look around. I noticed new faces, new families. I started to look around and see families walking down Southern coming to the center. Babies in strollers, children running after each other. I saw husband, wife, maybe their grandchildren walking down 68 street crossing over Southern, coming to chapel. Men walking together across the grass, from 70 street. Wow, how awesome it was to see and think, this is what it is all about.

God is creating a place where the neighborhood is slowing experiencing something they do not have in any other part in their lives. I think we are being shown, our calling is to be a beacon of light to our neighbors. We will become a place where you can learn to read, leave your babies while you go to work, where you will learn to cook, serve tables, provide for your family. In time, our neighbors will know of a place, if all hope is lost, they can come to. If they need prayer, the first place they will think about is the chapel, anytime day or night.

We need to continue our quest for building relationships with our neighbors. It is not about how many of our neighbors come, it is about us knowing each by name. Met Kayla, Thursday in chapel. I do not know Kayla, she lives in our neighborhood. A sweet smile, a young lady who has blessings to offer us.

I am encourage by what I see happening. More importantly, I think God is pleased. He is showing us, this is where we need to be. We are on the right path, just continue our journeys and His Kingdom will grow. Very exciting, can't wait to see what's around the corner.

Prayers for those returning from Haiti today. Prayers for those in the hospitals. Prayers for us all as we learn to live of life, where those who see us, says there is something different about them. Where God gets the glory.  Amen.

non profit and a church

Another week of God's amazing grace has come and gone. Hope your week was full of blessings and special times with family and friends.

We had a small group from Grace join us Saturday morning for our visits. Momma T is part of the group. They wanted to experience God's lvoe in the world. Most folks have never had the opportunity to reach out to others in their environments, so it is sometimes very emotional. Everybody seems to be doing fine in their camps. No major drama for the week.

We again made our visits with our neighbors. We went back to 69th street to check on everybody. Ms Dawn, gave out flowers, she had potted in the little pots from the greenhouse. They were a hit! Everybody was very grateful for her act of lvoe. How ironic, the little pots, Dr Phils family uncovered many years ago while cleaning out the greenhouse, dirty, broken, now through the hearts of Ms Patty and Ms Dawn are bringing joy and hope to the neighborhood. Awesome.

More work continued in the kitchen as John was joined by Hat's husband Carl. They completed the building of the wall for our new pantry. Can you imagine one day, the pantry full of spices and fragrances, ready to spice up our bounty. John W, our electrician went above and beyond. He worked all morning, giving us new lights and getting the fans working in the chapel. Then he moved into the kitchen where the new electrical box and panel is all ready to receive electricity. Pretty awesome. Great jobs guys.

Our afternoon activities continued with the children playing games and having fun. Some of the Mitchells have moved so our numbers are not as large as they have been. Joey had some good help this week from Ray and Zigzag.

Tuesday evening, we gathered again for our mens Bible fellowship. Matt led us in reading from Romans 14. It is not our job to judge others, God will do that. In the Kingdom of God, living right with God, sharing peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Anyone who is living this way is pleasing God and will be accepted by others. Does our actions reflect peace? Do we bring joy to others? Are we building each other up? Is the Kingdom of God visible in our lives?

Big crowd on Thursday. New help continues to come. Mr Tom prepared our meal of spaghetti casserole. Ms Lisa was there with the Legal clinic. Ms Abbie had to make more bags after she gave out over 50 bags. We noticed on the tables, squash from the garden. Some of the neighbors walked by on they way to the meal and picked them. When other neighbors saw the squash they went over and picked more, it was great. So Ms Patty, we have no squash available to cook next week! Joey wants us to remind our friends the garden is theirs, to pick, to weed, to plant.

Joey led us in our Bible study in reading the first chapter of John, or almost the first chapter. What a way to end the evening by talking about Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Word, the Beginning, the Holy Spirit. Not sure why we are so blessed to be in the prescience of such greatness and grace but what a time it is.

Prayers were said earlier in the evening for William. Matt is picking up William Friday, to take him back into the woods out by Catfish. William can no longer live in a place where the temptations of alcohol is so prevalent. Please keep William in your prayers as he continues to struggle with his addictions and his transition. Taking him out the environment will help, but the desire to drink will still be there.

Prayers for Amanda, Krysten, Ms Sarah and Mr Scott as they leave for Haiti this afternoon. Challenges ahead, blessings abound.

Prayers for Charley as he continues his testing procedures. Prayers for Catfish as he continues to struggle with life. He came by Thursday with his granddaughter and her husband. Prayers for Robert as he deals with having to retest a small part again for his GED and setting up his new camp.

Don't forget next Thursday for chapel, we will have Spencer playing the keyboard and Pastor Jackson singing and then preaching. It has been many years since Willie has sung and preached. Long over due. Not sure we will be able to keep him to 30 minutes!

Also, next Thursday through Saturday, we will have the youth group from Luke Simpson Methodist church in Lake Charles joining us. The pastor of this church will be moving to Shreveport this summer to be the new pastor of Grace. They will be cooking our meal for Thursday, working in and around the Bright House Friday and joining us for our visits Saturday morning. Please try to come by and welcome them.

Saturday morning we will also have a youth group from Oklahoma joining us to go on our visits.

Ms Patty will host Grace's Super Servants group in the garden June 7th. There will kids from all over the city working and playing in the garden.

And then there will be Ms Patty and Momma T's U2 Saturday happening at 10 in the garden. Wow, what a week ahead.

I had a discussion with a person this week, that kind of struck me, we maybe doing what God is intending for us to do. This person is fairly new to our community, has been to our web site, been to some of our activities. Quiet, does not say much, but listening all the time. Has been associated with other non-profits before, so kind of knows how things work. This person has worked with these groups before, assisting in fund raising events. I was approached several weeks ago, about a potential fund raiser for Common Ground by this person. This week, the person, said they had been praying about the fund raiser, the idea. The thought that came up to them, Common Ground is not a non profit organization it is more of a church.

When I heard that, I thought, wow, that is cool. We are a non profit to those who need us to be a non profit, but those who we feed, cloth, visit we are a church. We talked about Tuesday night, how if you don't dress right, look right, smell right, or act right you may not be acceptable in the church. I noticed Saturday morning on our visits in the neighborhood, by noon, most of men are well on their way to feeling no pain through drink. Does that stop Mr Matt or Ms Dawn to walking up to them and saying Jesus lvoes you and offering them hope? Not in the least. That is where the church needs to be. If we are not out there offering hope and joy and peace, where are our neighbors going to hear about it? All they know to do is go to the nearest liquor store and drown out their pain.

When we started visiting our friends who live outside, we began to offer them hope by just coming by each week. Not asking anything of them other than to let them know they are lvoed by us and Jesus. Some have joined us for worship, Bible studies, and beginning to understand Jesus offers them a way out.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for being the hands and feet and most importantly the heart of Jesus. Gradually our neighbors are beginning to see the light of Jesus in us all. There is much darkness in our community and it will take time, but we have the great Comforter on our side and nothing is impossible. Continue to pray, continue to share peace, continue to show joy, continue to lvoe and amazing things will happen.

Have a great week. See you around the center. Amen.

Christian by choice

Hope your week was a good one. Hope God was there, by your side as you traveled along your journey.

Another great weekend of visiting with our friends. Mr Scott reported everybody was doing good. No major drama. Richard is seeing a little better in his bad eye. Dale and Tim had new friends in their camp. Smokey and Leroy were visiting with a police officer when we got there. The officer was telling them they were about to close the bridge and to be careful with all the construction about to happen.

Ms Patty and Momma T worked all morning in the garden. Spreading dirt, watering, pruning, pulling. Garden is looking the prettiest I have ever seen it.

John S continues to work every Saturday in the kitchen. The remodeling is coming along.

Following our friends visits, we walked 68th street and met more neighbors. We met the candy lady. We talked about how nice all the yards look on this street. One house was vacant and the grass was tall, we talked about mowing the grass. This week, Ms Dawn is planting flowers in some of the tiny flower pots from the greenhouse and we will take them to our neighbors. Isn't that cool!

With Krysten out of town, we had Ms Lisa and Momma T come by in the afternoons to help Joey with the kids. Monday and Tuesday activities were done outside. Wednesday with the hot temperatures, Joey moved the fun inside to the friendship room. Movies, popcorn, games and "limbo" fun was going on.

Monday, John met the plumber in the kitchen and the plumber worked all day running water lines, setting up the new sink and getting a lot of work done. John Williams our electrician has come by every evening after work and run all the electrical conduit through out the kitchen. In a few short weeks, we will have receptacles that actually work! What a blessing to have these men share their gifts and compassion with us. Please tell them when you see them at church or around the center how much we appreciate all they are doing for us.

Tuesday evening at our mens Bible fellowship, Matt was out of town celebrating his son's birthday, so Joey and mr brian led the discussions. We read from James Chapter 2, talking about lvoing others and faith without deeds is dead. A reminder to us all, no matter who God sends our way, we need to lvoe them as much as Jesus lvoes us. Our works, our deeds, need to be to celebrate that lvoe, not to make us look good or impress others.

Tuesday evening, Beth sent a link showing a fire going on under the bridge where Dale and Tim use to be. Smokey was at Bible study at the time, so we do not know what went on or how it got started. We will find out Saturday and let everybody know what happened.

Wednesday afternoon, Dr Phil, Dan Poole, Momma T met to talk about the first phase of construction on Building Common Ground. Very exciting to hear about what is about to take place. How dreams from many years ago are about to happen right before our eyes. To be honest, it is hard for me to grasp the reality of it and what we are about to experience. God is about to show us, how lvoing He is!

Thursday we had a treat during chapel, Spencer played his guitar and led us in some singing and then Matt shared a few words with us. Joey took time out of work to come and operate the projector, which gave us some fits, but God worked it out and it came on. We need help in getting the chapel cooler, so we need to turn on the a/c earlier in the afternoon. Can someone do that? We can get keys made for you. Also, got to thinking if someone could be sort of the director of chapel, helping those who come in first to sit down in front, so those who come in late have a place to sit. We need some thought about how to handle those who do not go into chapel, instead of standing outside in the heat, where can we seat them, fellowship hall? friendship room? There are some adults and a lot of children.

Willie Jackson came by for a visit. He went out to the New Room and visited with them on Wednesday. I twisted his arm, so on the first Thursday in June, the 7th, Willie will sing and preach for us. Spencer will play the keyboard and sing along also. You don't want to miss this, so make your plans now. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a new friendship.

We had a nice surprise as one of our family members came home, Zigzag. Allison is back with us for the summer or as much as she can with all her other responsibilities. We talked about her experiences on her trip to Philly and how much she has become to realize she is right where she needs to be, among the least of them.

TJ and his Brookwood group prepared our meal of lasagna. With a big crowd, I was late in line, so by the time I got up to the food it was gone! Thanks guys for everything you do for us, great job.

Ms Abbie and her ladies had all the grocery bags packed and handed them out to everybody.

Thursday is full of activities, full of noise, full of lvoe, thanks to all for helping make it such a special day.

Following our meal and clean up, we had Bible study by talking about some of the history of our relationships with Faith and the neighborhood. One of reasons our visits each week is so important is to meet our neighbors is let them know, who we are, because the church did not have a good relationship.

Prayer concerns expressed for the family of a friend of Grace, Charles McCreary. For Gus and his safe return to us. For the upcoming mission group going to Haiti, Ms Sarah is leading it and Krysten. For Charley and his upcoming tests. Praises for good health reports. Prayers for Catfish as he continues to deal with his addictions. For Mary as she continues her adventures in India. Lomax as he concludes his time in Haiti and heads back to California.

Monday, don't forget to stop for a moment and remember the sacrifices our people of the military have made for our freedom. Those who did not come home, their families and those who have come home and struggle with life.

Read something this week, that we talked about at our mens fellowship. As we first turn our lives over to Christ, we have that feeling of euphoria. We can do anything. But as time goes on, that feeling, slowly subsides, our lives become routine. We go to church on Sunday because that is what we have always done. We teach Sunday school because that is we are use to. We sing the same songs, because that is what we have always done. Our friendships and relationships are with those around us because we feel comfortable in doing so. We think of church as a building, as a place where we go to on Sunday.

When we met our significant other for the first time, we get so excited to be around them. We want to do anything for them, because that love is so strong. But as time goes by, sometime we loose that joy and life becomes routine. We take our wife, husband for granted. We go about life the same way everyday, doing the same thing.

What if we start today, by taking the phrase Christian by choice into our hearts. For whatever reason, we chose to follow God, why don't we celebrate that in our lives! To be a lover of Jesus is an honor. To be a friend of Jesus is a joy. To have a part of God within us, unbelievable! Lvoe those who God brings into our lives unconditional. As James said, If someone is hungry, feed them. Those who need a coat, give up ours. Our acts, our deeds will be done not because we are suppose to or it will make us look good, but because we lvoe our Lord so much. Nothing will be done out of habit, nothing will be done because of traditions, but because of the royal law, Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Everyday will be adventure. Everyday will be something new. Everyday we will have the privilege of showing others, how amazing our God is. Christian by choice, oh my, what a way to live.

Have a great week. Amen.

The Glory of God

It seems like I just sat down and wrote this note. Can't believe it has been a week. Wow, hope your journey this week was full of joy and blessings. God is good!

We will start our adventure this week with a rainy Saturday morning. It seems like the last several U2 Saturdays, the weather has not cooperated. But being adventurers, Momma T and her gang were troopers and went with the flow. Ms Lisa led a group of folks from Airline, Brookwood and our community in setting up in the fellowship hall. Tables were full of activities, prizes and fun things to do. We had a good group come from the community to participate. Ms Lisa has added pictures of the morning on CG's Facebook page.

Mr Scott drove us around as we tried to miss the rain showers on our visits. Unfortunately we got soaked a couple of times, but we all survived. Turner is back. Richard was not there. Smokey and his camp continues to grow, so lots of folks joined us there. With Dale and Tim leaving from under the bridge, other guys have moved in and they meet us at Smokey's camp. Smokey was concerned about Catfish. Catfish showed up Friday night at Smokey's camp feeling no pain. Smokey tried to keep him at the camp, but Catfish ran off. Dale and Tim were doing ok. Staying dry for the most part. Another tree had fallen on part of the covering, but Tim was able to get it off and get the tarp back up before all the rain hit.

After we went by Big D to see Dave and Travis, who were not there, we talked about going out to Danny's old camp to see if Catfish was there. So we drove out to the west part of Shreveport and found Catfish and his dogs. Catfish's demeanor was not good. He was embarrassed he had started drinking again. He had been sober for over a year. We tried to reassure him, we all fail everyday. We just have to pray to God to help us get back on track and move on.

As we were heading home, Mr Scott noticed from the interstate, there was Richard sitting at his gas station. So Mr Scott drove Ms Dawn and I and we visited with Richard. Richard had been beaten up a couple of weeks ago. He had stitches over his right eye. He said he could not see out of it. He was doing the best he could but had nothing. We gave him some clothes and a some food we had left. Ms Dawn and I took it inside to his bed area. I had been inside before, but not when it was raining. The roof of the station has holes all in it and it was as wet inside as it was outside. The only saving grace for Richard is the sheet rock over his bed area was still hanging protecting him from the rain. Terrible, terrible conditions.

With us making two more stops than normal, we were late in arriving back at the center, so we decided to postpone our neighborhood walks. We will continue that tradition Saturday at 11:30. Come and join us.

We again had two more graduations on Saturday. We had Lauren graduating from University of Arkansas and Allison graduating from Hendrix College. Ms Lauren joined us several years ago one summer. Her joyful smile, her unlimited energy was a magnet for the children. They all lvoed Ms Lauren. Lauren continues to come by when she is in town and hopefully will be able to join us a little this summer.

Ms Allison, aka Zigzag as the children call her, totally rocked our world when she joined our family. Her smile, her undying energy, her huge heart for the least of them has transformed us all. Allison is in Philadelphia at the moment helping the inner city youth. Hopefully she will be able to be around a little this summer. She is preparing to leave us in the fall for her pastoral studies in Atlanta. You never know, but maybe one day, she will come back to us and be our resident pastor? Two special ladies, that God has brought to our community and will always have a special place in our hearts.

Tuesday evening was another special night for our men. We continue to have new faces join us and share their stories with us. We read from 1st Peter talking about living a life of God. Peter pointed out to us, how Jesus made sacrifices for us, we should do the same for others. We talked about, how lonely it is sometimes when you turn away from your friends or even your family, when you start living a life for Christ. Peter reminded us, it is ok to suffer because if you suffer for doing good, and you are patient, then God is pleased.

Also on Tuesday evening we got to experience the smile of one of our long time friends, William. I will say, I am not sure William came to Bible study to read, but to smile and smile and smile. A picture is up on Face book of his smile and his new set of teeth.

To finish off our Tuesday evening of remarkable events, we got to see and talk with Gus. Gus spent the night as he has finished with school and was headed down to south to spend time with his parents. He will be back with us at some point this summer after spending time with Lomax in California.

Early Thursday afternoon, I get a phone call from our construction person, Dan Poole. Dan is working with Dr Phil to get the Building Common Ground up and running. Dan and his company have gone beyond what we asked of them and have worked tirelessly to make this dream a reality. Dan attended a city meeting on our behalf, several months ago to get two pieces of our property rezoned. This whole process takes time and lots of patience. Dan called to tell us, after talking with all the city agencies, we have been approved and we are good to go in the starting of building new homes and giving new life to our neighborhood. Can I have an Amen!

What a Thursday afternoon we had. I guess we can call it, A Picnic in Garden! Ms Patty and her crew, Joey and his guys, Ms Abbie and her ladies, moved food, juice, tables and chairs and we had our meal in the garden. It was great. mr brian grilled hamburgers and the smoke and smell attracted new friends and neighbors to join us. Ms Patty brought flowers for the tables and everybody seemed to have a good time.

As I was cooking the hamburgers, I got a tap on my shoulder, turned around and you will never guess who appeared, . . .  Willie Jackson! Pastor Jackson was the pastor appointed to Cedar Grove United Methodist church back in 1998. The Methodist conference changed the name of the church to Faith United Methodist church when Pastor moved there. Pastor Willie has a heart for missions and has been gone too long from where he is destined to be. I turned over the grilling to David Leeth and we showed him what God has been doing with the center since he has left. More about our visit.

Also on Thursday, Beth, Charley and Hat attended a graduation of one of our outdoor friends, Robert. Beth has put pictures on Face book. Robert has been studying for over a year and has persevered to accomplish the task of getting his GED. What I find remarkable is Robert did not pass all of parts of the tests and had to continue to study and retake the test. Robert did not give up, like so many of us do when obstacles get in front of us. Through the encouragement of many of you and others, Robert was able to go forth and now can say he is a high school graduate. Praise God!

One more event on Thursday that will thrill those you who have been working on the kitchen our plumber and his helpers showed up and began the process of running new water and gas lines.

Prayers for Catfish as he deals with life and how to best handle his demons. Prayers for Krysten as she travels. Prayers for Mary and her adventures in India. Prayers for Lomax and his group in Haiti. Prayers for family relationships. Life is too short to be mad at each other. Lvoe, lvoe, lvoe.

Walking through the center with Pastor Willie was very emotional for both of us. Showing Pastor, where his office use to be is now a library. We walked into the room where the old library use to be. Where the leak in the roof had caused mold and mildew, now it is a room, bright with color, where children are learning how to read. You forget. Walking into the fellowship hall where it was dark and depressing, is now bright and full of life, you forget. Walking through the second story with Willie, remembering what use to happen and what is going to happening, you forget from where it all started and how far we have come.

Ms Lisa was looking through the pictures that we use to have hanging in the Bright House. She was asking who is this, don't remember them, seeing the dedication of the garden with Rob and Pastor Willie praying for us, you forget. Dealing with the obstacles of today, you forget about the journeys we have taken already.

The one thought Pastor and I said over and over in our walk through the center, God is good. Look what God is doing. Isn't God amazing. God is at work here. God is Good!

As we move forward in our journeys, we need to remember, it is not about us but about God. It is about God working in and through us, that all of what we have accomplished so far. We talked about Tuesday night, how do we share with others, it is not about us but about God. Especially when we have the opportunity to share our story with others, folks will come up to us and say, man you are doing great things over there. That phrase almost most me sick, because I have not done my job in expressing to others it is not me but the Christ that lives within me.

As we continue to reach out to our neighbors, it is not about us but it is about sharing the lvoe of Jesus with others, giving God all the glory. As we start building a new community of home owners, it is not about what we do, but about God receiving all the praise He so richly deserves. As we talk about funding for our future, we need to talk about how do we do so in that God receives the glory. God has blessed our community in ways that defies description. All that we do, all that we are, all that we hope to be, all accolades, all praises, needs to go to God. As Paul said so many times, it is not me but the Christ within me.

If we focus on God, it takes the focus of us. We will become less selfish, more giving. We will become less prideful more humble. We will become less jealous more compassionate. We will have less stress and more peace. May our week and the weeks ahead of us, be filled with the grace of God, the joy of knowing Him and humbleness of realizing it is not about us but about Him. Amen.

Wonder part two

How did everybody like "wonder" part one? I will admit, I was not very Christ like this morning about 8am. I go to click send and lost the note. After much fowl language, kicking the dogs(not really), ranting and raving, I have given up trying to find it and will attempt to retype the note. What if I told you, as my frustration has subsided during the day, I have thought of things I needed to say in the first note that I now have the opportunity to say. Wonder if I was suppose to send part one?

We had a great Saturday last week. By the time I arrived at 8:30, John S and his crew had dust flying everywhere in the kitchen. The 3 - 17 foot beams were cut, hoisted and nailed to the ceiling in preparation of the installation of the exhaust fan and new a/c unit. John W, our electrician, was there, beginning the process of rewiring the entire kitchen. Lots of good work was done.

Ms Patty and Momma T was in the garden all morning, moving dirt, weeding and getting the garden ready for this weekend for U2 Saturday. A couple of the neighborhood girls came by and helped them out for a little while. Amazing what is going on in the garden.

Mr Scott led the way on our visits. No drama was reported which makes for a good weekend of visits. Mr Matt did get a call from Tim this week, a tree has fallen on the canopy of their camp and will need help getting the rest of the tree down. We will attempt to do that this Saturday.

Following our return from our outdoor friends, we gathered and prayed for our first official Community neighborhood walk. Ms Dawn, Mr Noel, Mr Matt, Mr Scott and myself left the center visiting Isidora first and then walked up and down 69th St. We got to meet old friends, made new friends, gave out hugs, Ms Dawn gave out lollipops to the children, Mr Matt talked to the men about bible fellowship, Mr Scott picked up trash and wrote down the names of our new friends, what a morning. It was great, very uplifting. We plan to meet every Saturday at 11:30. Can't wait to see our new friends again. Come and join in on the fun.

While all of this was going on around the center, we had two of our family members graduating from college. Macy and Mary walked across the stage without tripping and are now Centenary alumni! Congratulations ladies. Macy was one of our first interns over 4 years ago. She and her group came as much as they could for tutoring. Macy has also helped with our summer camps. Mary joined us last year during the summer as one of our interns. She has come every week this year helping with tutoring. Mary will again join us this summer for our camp. Mary is in India at the moment. Her blog is, http://realworldubuntu.blogspot.com/, if you would like to keep tract of her adventures. Both ladies will be leaving in the fall to pursue more educational  opportunities. Macy and Mary, you two have been a blessing to us and our community and will always be a special part of the common ground family.

On Wednesdays of each week, there is another opportunity to serve. A ministry in West Shreveport called the New Room opens up their doors to serve a meal, hand out clothes and groceries. There is also a free medical clinic going on called the Pool of Siloam. Terry Strain and her crew of doctors and nurses treat many of our outdoor friends. Terry started the Pool at the center when the building was part of a congregation. Unfortunately they did not support Terry so Terry moved to her current location. Maybe one day we can a small satellite office of the Pool. Several years ago, with leftovers from the meal Sione and Catfish, took them to the camps. They also would make stops downtown in the alley ways and park benches serving the homeless. Michele and Pat still do that part of the ministry in a parking lot behind First Methodist Church. They are always looking for help. Last week they fed over 80 people. Remarkable group of servants.

We had a big group of men joining our Tuesday Bible fellowship. Mr Matt led our reading of First Peter. Peter was talking to the church, telling them they would have struggles in church. Pride, selfishness, greed would make things messy in the church. He told them there was a way to correct their mistakes and get on the right path. They needed to turn their thoughts, to Jesus Christ. Your faith with protect you. Your purity of faith will bring you praise and glory and honor. You will be filled with a joy that cannot be explained, a joy full of glory.

Thursday, we again had the opportunity to meet in the chapel and sing and hear about the word of God. Heather, Derrick and Richard shared their gifts with us. Following our chapel time, we made our way to our meal of spaghetti and salad, delicious. We had an old friend, Mark Williams, his wife and another from North Point Methodist church help us serve our meal. Following our meal, Ms Abbie and Ms Dorothy handed out groceries and clothes to the community. What a blessing these ladies are.

After our meal and clean up, we had our Board meeting. Ms Lisa walked us through the numbers and her agenda. Amazing to see on paper what we get to experience each week. Krysten gave us dates for summer camp. They are June 18th through August 2nd. Lots of planning and thoughts have been going on for the camp, amazing to hear it all.

We talked about and voted to go forth and explore the possibility of obtaining one lot next to the two lots we already own for the Building of common ground village. We also voted to have Ms Lisa move forward in acquiring the house and land next to the Bright House.

We approved the suggestion of Ms Patty to make a gate in the fence along Southern Avenue. Ms Patty feels with a gate there, it will make it more inviting for the community to come into the garden area, hopefully encouraging them to take an interest in the planting. Ms Patty suggested we have a community meal there, so next Thursday we will. Cooking hamburgers, chips and Kool-Aid, in the garden doesn't get any better than that!

We decided to take on the tasks of mowing the garden area ourselves. The cost of our yard crew to mow both the center and garden area was becoming too expensive. So if you are looking for something to do this summer and would like to help out, let Krysten know, so she can put you on the schedule.

We again will be blessed to have several churches and organizations coming this summer to help us around the center. More information will be coming on the specific dates and groups.

One of our last discussions was the topic of a fundraiser. As Ms Lisa has shared with us before, we can get funding for projects and events, but not for our expenses of operating the center. Paying the electric, water, gas bills. Internet expenses. The costs of doing business is not covered by grants. So we need to come up some sort of fundraiser to help with these costs. October 20th is the date at the top of the list right now. A couple of ideas that were expressed was to have a dinner and silent auction going on in the center. Another idea was to have a cook off with celebrity chefs. Be thinking of ideas, no one idea is too crazy. Email Ms Lisa with your thoughts. It was suggested we need to send out notes shortly allowing folks to put the fundraiser on their calendars, so now is the time to think and be creative!

We will have U2 Saturday this Saturday. Lots of special surprises will be happening for Mother's Day. Momma T and Ms Patty will gone due to a death of a family member at Grace, so we will have substitute helpers. Please come if you can to lend a hand.

Happy Mother's Day to all our moms and those of you who are not moms yet. You are very special to us and our community.

This past week one of the authors of the Common Prayer devotionals wrote this, I do not pray for success I asked for wonder. What a great way to think about God's amazing blessings in our life. We all too often want to put God in our box, asking for something we think we want or something we think we need. But thankfully God is bigger than all of that and we get to enjoy His wonder in our lives. he is more interested in our hearts, in our lvoe.

I saw "wonder" in our Board meeting last night. I am blown away by the thought of having young interns coming to our community and spending the summer with us. My heart is filled with joy when we have our older interns come back to us and spend time in our community. Seeing Ms Patty and Momma T talk about their hopes and dreams and their ideas for the garden. I am filled with awe at their amazing hearts. Listening to Ms Lisa talk about numbers, making phone calls, running down leads, working behind the scenes to make all of this stuff happen is truly an act of servant hood. Watching Ms Dawn plan a tea party with her new friends, listening to Mr Matt talk about his passion for Christ is "wonderful" and inspiring.

Reading the ministries God has blessed us with, summer day camp, garden, greenhouse, community meal, chapel time, food pantry, outdoor friends, tutoring, adult education, U2 Saturdays, building common ground, lawyer clinic, mens bible fellowship, community neighborhood walk, mission groups coming, kitchen remodeling going on, is hard to comprehend the magnitude of it all. It is so wonderful and so full of indescribable joy.

May we all have the opportunity this week and the weeks before us to live the life God has given us, to "wonder" in the awe of His majesty and grace. Amen and amen.

Lvoe

How has your first week of May gone? Saturday night at 10:30, the fullest the moon will ever get for the year will be happening. Enjoy God's amazing gift to us.

Mr Scott led us around on our visits last Saturday. Did you see some of our pictures of the morning? Our first stop was to see Turner. Turner has not been there for a couple of weeks, but we know he is ok. He leaves us a cardboard sign, Turner's version of "flying the sign". The sign has requests he needs for the coming week. Priceless! No Richard. Smokey and Leroy have finished their new entrance to their camp, so we park in another area to greet them. That is where I noticed this ministry has gone to the dogs! Noel has Little Bit, Matt has Rosey, Catfish has his three. More dogs visiting the guys then we had people. The guys love the dogs and seem to enjoy their company. Tim was back at camp after spending 10 days in jail. Unfortunately Tim lost his job. But what a spirit Tim has, He said, that's ok, I can always find work, there is a job out there for me. Dale was doing ok. Tim found a little dog and brought it to camp. It is Tim's dog, so Dale says, but everywhere Dale walked the little puppy followed him around. Dave is working some with Big D and finding odd jobs. 

A bunch of children all week. No matter what the temperature, what is going on in their lives, they make their way to the center. They come and hang out, play games, get up a game of basketball, ride bikes, get their snacks, have a good time. I hear from customers, I will be so glad when this year is over with, so my children won't have to do so much homework. Our kids have not come with work to do in months? Wonder what's going on? As we wind down for this year, be praying and thinking about our roles in their lives for next school year. What are we called to do? What do you feel led to do? Where is God calling you?

Tuesday evening, Matt led us in the reading of the passage, "I am the vine and you are the branches". Reminding us, to remain in Him and He will remain in us. All of this is bigger than anyone of us can handle. We are being asked to go beyond what we can do by ourselves. Only through us abiding in Him will we be able to deal with life and the building up of God's Kingdom.

Thursday was an enjoyable supper. Being the first of the month, our numbers were smaller allowing many of us to sit and talk with our neighbors. It was great to see Pete sitting down, eating supper and enjoying conversation. It was great to have Ms Judy Livingston back with us again. She has been out for several months. Mr Tom was back preparing our meal. With the kitchen out of commission, we are making due and everybody is working together to have a good time.

We had a special treat after supper, our Lomy joined us and we listened the whole evening to his adventures. He looks good, seems relaxed, his spirit is beaming and he seems to be in a good place. We asked questions about his favorite things to do, people he has met, the communities he has lived with and his adventures along the way. He pulled out his camera, put his disk in Joey's computer and we got to see some of his trip. He won't be here for long, leaving for San Antonio Sunday, so if you weren't able to see him Thursday try to do so before then. He is off to Haiti and then back to California for more exploring and adventures. He won't be home until the end of summer.

Our electrician, John Williams toured the kitchen with John this week and they have worked out a plan of attack for rewiring the kitchen. It will be quite a change, having receptacles that work, none of them have worked sense we moved in. Our plumber, Josh was suppose to work last weekend, but got sick, so we are hoping he will be here this weekend. The contractor for the vent hood and the new air conditioner will be starting next week. John Sauls will be working this Saturday as he always is. He needs help hoisting up the large beams into the ceiling to hold the weight of the new appliances. Come if you can.

Prayers for William as he continues to struggle with his addictions. So sad, he gets his check at the first of the month and by day 6 of the month he is broke. What else can we do to help him through his struggles.

Prayers for Ms Sarah and Mr Scott for this weekend as they deliver the message at the grown up side of Grace.

Prayers for this Saturday at 11:30 as we begin our first journey into our community walk. Ms Dawn has agreed to be the point person for us, so prayers for her as she leads us as we follow the path God has set before us. Very exciting.

Prayers for Pete Bollinger as he prepares to led a new ministry at Grace and beyond. God is preparing Pete to lead people through prayer and then reaching out to the poor. With the exposure Pete has had through Common Ground, he feels like we will be a valuable part of this new ministry.

Hate to be redundent, but folks, exciting times are a head of us. It seems God is preparing people to come and be a part of our community. We have been obedient, we have listened, we had faith, some of us has had patience and now God is preparing something truly special beyond what we could have only imagined. Continue to pray, continue to listen, continue to lvoe as we travel along our journeys. Amen.