Do you need a sign?

We are in the fall season, or so it says on the calendar. Our weather still believes it is summer! Hopefully you have gotten to experience some fall in your part of the world.

Being gone this past Saturday, don't have much to report on. Basketball, bread, visits, garden work all continued.

Monday and Wednesday afternoons you will find us busy with our children. Allison puts out a nice spread of healthy snacks for the children to enjoy when they arrive. Joey leads the children in a time of prayer. Chuck gets them to do some exercises. Then they break into small groups for their reading training. Great to see so many friends willing to take their time out to help our children. You will find groups of children in just about every room of the building!

Tuesday evening, Noel led the men's Bible fellowship reading from Colossians 1. Paul writes to the church in verse 3 and 4 saying, "We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God's people." Isn't that nice to be thought of like that, a community made up of believers and lvoing others! Sounds like you all!

Thursday was filled with a packed house. Being the end of the month, there were no room in the inn! Chapel was full as we listened to Brother Chester and a new friend from another community, the Yellow House. Bryce led us in music and praise. We had Matt's nephew and his friends from Barksdale Air Force Base cook our meal, serve and cleaned up afterwards. Then we had Centenary men's basketball team join us to help out in the Market and work with our boys on the court. We had a nice visit with Pastor Juan's father, who was in town for a short visit. It was a packed house, full of joy and excitement. As one of our pastors would say, this was church!

Please keep Lisa and her family in your prayers as they deal with the passing of her mom. With family all over the country, the funeral will not be until Saturday, October 10th in Ringgold, LA. Visitation will be in Ringgold on Friday. Lisa can fill us in on the place and times of both as we get closer to that weekend.

Bare with me, I do have a point to this story. Do you need a sign?  I drive every day with a sign on my truck. This week I drove over to Bossier City with my signs on my truck. After I was finished with my job, I took my signs off and drove to the center. I caught myself driving different on the way back, why?  I find myself in traffic, making decisions that if they are wrong will affect more than just me. When I take my signs off the truck, then it is just me or is it?

If I run a red light, honk, don't let somebody in, drive fast when I have my company's sign on the truck, I represent more than just me. I let down my wife, my in laws, my extended family. I don't want somebody calling my wife or my mother-in-law saying, I saw one of your trucks run a red light! Or he cut that driver off going down the highway!

Why is it when my signs are not on my truck, I sometimes deviate from the way I drive? I caught myself saying, while driving back without my signs on the truck, wouldn't Jesus be sad in the way I am driving? You see people with a cross dangling from their rearview mirror or a fish decal on the trunk to signify they are Christians, but are they driving that way? Do I drive like I am a Christian, representing Jesus to everyone?

We are all children of God. We are His hands and feet in this world. He lvoes us. We are His. No greater community to be a part of then the family of believers. Paul prayed for the folks in Colossians because of their actions. Paul knew because of their faith they lvoed God. That is what can be said about our community of common ground. 

Let's not forget this week, who we are, whose we are! Let our actions let others know, we are children of God. Let our driving skills, let our life skills make someone call our office and say, that person must be a Christian!  Amen!

Hope you have a great week. God will be good because His is always good!

Busyness

We have come to the end of another week or I guess I could say, the beginning of a new week. I like the latter better, the beginning! Our summer weather has creeped back into our world, hopefully it hasn't in yours!

We got started off our last week, with some new friends from First Methodist joining us Saturday morning. This is the first time we have had adults join us. They worked hard all morning long in and around the center. Hopefully this is only the beginning of this relationship. Our visits went well, everybody trying to stay cool and keep hydrated. 

Sunday night we hosted Grace's Discovering Discipleship class. A good way for us to be able to share our community with others.

Monday and Wednesday afternoons you will find us busy with our new group of children from Atkins Elementary. We have been testing them so we can put them into groups. While they were being tested, others were involved in games, exercises and challenges. A new beginning of working with little ones wanting to do better in the classroom. We can always use your help. Please join us between 3 - 5 in the afternoons.

Tuesday evening, Rickie led our men's Bible study reading from James 1: 1 - 8, trials and temptations.  Verse 2 begins by saying, consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds . . Where does the joy come from when we are in the mist of our struggles?

Thursday evening was packed full of adventure and fun. Brother George, Spencer and his friend Zach led us in chapel. Our long time friends from Clearview Church brought food, served and cleaned up. The Market was full of shoppers. The Clothing room was overflowing with community looking for bargains. A very nice evening.

The Hunters will be headed to Dallas, prayers for safe travel. Prayers for God's direction in our lives and in our community.

In one of Max Lucado's devotionals this week, said, "The key to spiritual growth isn't increased church attendance or involvement in spiritual activities. People don't grow in Christ because they're busy at church. They grow in Christ when they read and trust their Bibles".

Are you all a part of a Bible study group? Do you read your Bible every day? Do you take time to listen to God? Do you have quiet time with just you and God?

You all are such caring people, I worry you do not take time for yourselves. You are part of a community that puts you in the middle of the struggles of living in poverty. Because of your compassion for others, you want to help everybody, but you don't take time for yourselves. The demand on your time, your resources, your family can become overwhelming. It is easy to loose focus on where God is leading you and focus on the despair of your community. We must stay focused on God and His way for our lives.

In verse 5, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God . . . We need to go to God for our answers, not others. We need to seek after Him through His Word.

Not taking anything away from what you all do, you are truly servants of Christ, but don't let your lvoe of others surpass your lvoe of Christ. We must stay grounded in our Lord, and His Word, then all things will be given to us. Amen.

In the coming week, let's find something in His Word, we have not read before. Let's find time to spend with Him. Amazing things will happen to us all! God is good . . . 

Doubt

It's Friday! How was your week? Has the weather cooled down a little in your part of the world? What blessings did God share with this week?

Our Saturday was a busy one last week. We had some new faces join us for our activities. Our new friends, tried to do it all, so they joined Scott on his first couple of visits, found their way back to the center to help Ardis and Ms Abbie finish with the bread wrapping, finishing up the morning helping Vickie serve lunch to the basketball team! Momma T and Tim were busy in the garden, John and his band of servants continued their work on the Bright House II. Lots of fun things to do every week, come by and join in on some of the fun!

Later that afternoon, our center hosted a family gathering of one of our community celebrating the passing of a family member. We received a nice thank you note from the family. I wanted to share it with those who made our center feel like home. From the Morgan family: "To the Common Ground Community Center, Friends, we the Morgan family thank you for your support of love and concern for our family during our bereavement. We will forever be grateful for your love and kindness."

Tuesday evening, Rickie led our men's Bible fellowship reading from Matthew chapter 8: 23-27, Jesus calms the storm. The disciples were scared for their lives as a furious storm came upon them out in the lake. They immediately went to Jesus and asked for help. Do we do the same, or wait to try and solve the problems ourselves?

Wednesday afternoon, Allison and Lisa hosted a gathering of our tutors for the coming school year. Following the session, Allison and Lisa hosted an open house for the parents of the children. Exciting times to get back with the little ones again. We will be hosting around 20 children with a long waiting list of others who want to come. We will start this coming Monday, with the children arriving around 3 until 4:45. Please join us, enjoying the energy and excitement our young children bring with them.

Thursday got started off with Willie and Wes sharing their gifts of song and Word.Willie shared his anxiety of having an operation this month and how God got him through it, inspiring. A long time friend of ours and his men's small group provided the food and service for the evening. Jennifer and her band of servants kept the clothing room organized and flowing. Pam and her shoppers kept the Market stocked and lively. Great to see our community coming and going all through the center finding treasures around every corner.

Where were you today, 9/11? Prayers for all who lost a love one, who continue to struggle with grief and trying to find answers. Prayers for one of our own, Allison Sauls or I should say Pastor Allison! Her brand new church will have their first worship celebration this Sunday! Prayers for our community, who continue to struggle with the challenges of living in poverty. Prayers for our children and tutors as we begin a new year of relationships.

Several weeks ago, I asked a pastor, what his sermon was going to be about. He answered, "doubt". Been thinking about that word and how it has not entered my mind? Doubt was is it? How does doubt play a part in our lives? Where does doubt come from? How doe we get rid of it? Is it of God? or Satan?

It maybe my simple mindedness but, can't say doubt has a hold of my life? I have no doubt the sun will come up in the morning. I have no doubt the birds will fly each day. I have no doubt our dogs will eat and bark today. I have no doubt, it's Friday and we will play golf this afternoon! So where does doubt come from? Why does doubt cripple us so in our daily journeys?

I was thinking about Moses. Didn't he argue with God, I am not worthy to lead my people, but he did not doubt? Noah being asked to build a boat out in the middle of nowhere. He questioned God but didn't doubt Him. Job, going though all his trials, he never doubted God. We have had a thousand questions as we have made our way along our journey, but have we doubted God's plan?

I clicked on "doubt" in my Bible app and up comes 20 different verses of doubt being used in the Bible. Willie shared in chapel, he has been a pastor for over 30 years, talked to God for hundreds of people, seeing miracles happen to them. Now when he faces an operation, doubt creeps into his mind of what is about to happen! Each one of us, has stories of what God has brought us through, but sometimes when the storms of life come upon us, doubt takes over and we loose our focus.

When I got back into reading the Bible, I could always identify with Thomas. He had been following Jesus during his ministry, knowing Jesus was going to die, realizing at some point Jesus would come back, but he didn't believe. In John 20, Thomas hears others has seen Jesus, but still he has his doubts. Unless I see Jesus, I won't believe. So in verse 27, Jesus says to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

Willie said, God has brought us this far, He won't leave us now. That can be said for common ground. We have come along way in a short amount of time. From giving out groceries in the back of our cars, to having a Market where our community can shop! From eating outside on the driveway to a building where there is air conditioning and heat. From being homeless, to a center where we can share God's lvoe with others. 

Looking through the verses with doubt in it, faith has a big part to play with how we deal with doubt. Matthew, you of little faith, he said, why did you doubt. James, you must believe and not doubt. Luke, why are you troubled and why do doubts rise in your minds. God has been with us every step of the way. He has brought us through the trials and will continue to do so. He has made a way for us, where there was no way to go.

 Believe! Faith! Perseverance! Obedience! Prayer! Relationships! Doubt has no room in our hearts to live! Amen.

 

Hope you can join us this week. If not please pray for us. Hope your week will be filled with faith and belief with no doubts!

What's important?

Another week in the books. Hope your week was filled with blessings and surprises!

Our week got started off last Friday morning with a bang! We had our first group of students from Centenary join us to organize, clean, paint, pull and laugh around the center. A great morning of relationships being formed. More trips will be coming.

Saturday was busy as usual. Visits, bread wrapping, gardening, practices, craft activities, lunch were all going on. Come and join us every Saturday morning for some fun.

Tuesday evening, Noel led the community men's Bible fellowship, reading from 1 Timothy chapter 4, talking about us following false prophets who look good, sound good, act good, but are not of God. Are we following the Holy Spirit or following our own desires? Timothy also wants us not to only be hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word. Verse 6 says, "if you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus. . . " Verse 12 says, ". . . but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." Our actions and words should lead others to Christ, do they?

Wednesday, we said goodbye to one of our community. Dawn had the opportunity to get a home of her own, the only problem, the home was in Florida. God's blessings to you Dawn, as you start a new chapter in your journey, you will be missed by us all.

Thursday was a day filled with laughter, joy and blessings. We had our old friends from First Methodist church, Derek and Heather and their pastor lead us in worship. Great to have them back and hopefully they will be joining us more often as time allows. The community was treated to a scrumptious meal prepared by Allison, Ms Abbie and Vickie. The clothing room was packed with community as well as the Market.

We are making preparations for our afternoon learning activities to begin. Allison and Lisa are busy putting the final touches on our schedules. There will be a training session Wednesday afternoon, September 9th.  The kids will start back Monday September 14th. There is a waiting list of children who want to come, so we can use all the help we can get. Please let Lisa know if you would like to become involved.

Prayers for our community who are beginning the school year. Prayers for all who seek violence to solve their problems and those families who suffer with those decisions. Prayers for Chris Broadwell and his family with the passing of his dad.

Last week we heard the media talk about it being 10 years since Katrina hit the New Orleans area. Saturday morning, Scott asked Turner about his experiences. Turner talked more than we have ever heard before. He was living in the 5th Ward area. The water started rising and they had to get out in a hurry. He said his area ended up with 20 feet of water. He made his way to the Superdome, spending several days there. Then when the authorities said it was time to get out of the Dome, he happen to get on a bus headed to Shreveport. He ended up at Hirsch Coliseum for a few days, then to the mission and then under the bridge where he is now.

Scott and I talked about his experiences, how sad  not knowing any one in Shreveport, fending for himself and trying to survive. We asked the question to ourselves, could we do it? Leading us to ask, if we had water coming into our houses and had a few minutes to get out, what would we take with us?  What is important to us? After the kids and our pets, what would come with us? The big screen TV, our car, our clothes, our jewelry, our golf clubs, our gun collections, what is important to us?

Several years ago, we had the opportunity to visit the memorial in Oklahoma of the office bombing. Very sad all those people loosing their lives. One room in the memorial is a room filled with individual glass cases of each person who died. These small cases were filled with items that were important to that person. God forbid, something happen to us, what would go in your glass case?

I remember a pastor saying, when he was asked to perform a funeral of someone he did not know, he would go to the house and go into the bedroom looking for the person's bedside table. The pastor would check out what was on the table. He said, usually what is important to that person would be there. What is on your bedside table?

What is important to you? Is it things or Christ? Does our lives reflect that? Do we lead others to Christ by what we do every day or turn them off? One of our men on Monday night said, as a child he went with his parents to visit one of the leaders of their church at work in the oil field. He was cussing, swearing, being a bully to others. He said, that made an impression on him, saying to himself why should I go to church if you end up talking and working with others like that? It took him a long time to get back into the Word.

The last verse in chapter 4 says, " watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers." It is easy to fall from grace. It is easy to follow someone who is saying what we want to hear. It is easy for us to follow our pride and egos. But Christ is asking us to persevere, stay strong in our faith, live pure lives, be uplifting in our speech, slow to anger and lvoe, love, lvoe. If we do, great rewards will follow! Amen.

In the coming week, let's show others we are children of God by our words and actions. Have a blessed and joyous week!

Love your enemies

It's Friday!! Yeaa! How was your week? Was God good? Of course He was, but did we listen?

I was out of town Saturday, but the work of God never stops, so things were going on as usual. Basketball practice, bread wrapping, garden work, construction work, youth activities, visits to our friends homes, all continue through the hearts and dreams of all of you.

We continue to work in and around the center to get it back in shape. Things are looking better but still a long way to go. If you are looking for something to do, we could always use your help. Come by in the afternoons and find Joey to see what work needs to be done.

Tuesday evening, Rickie led our men's Bible fellowship reading from Luke 6 starting in verse 27, love your enemies. Ouch, sounds good but hard to do. How can we love someone who does us wrong?! Not natural, not possible? Only through the Holy Spirit working in us, will things happen.

Also on Tuesday evenings, you will find Vickie, Matt and Chuck surrounded by a group of young boys learning what it is to feel lvoed. What a great sight to see the boys engaged in conversations, learning team work and having a good time. They can always use your help, come by and see what you could do to help out.

Thursday evening got started off by a standing room crowd of chapel folks, singing with Ms Abbie and listening to the Word shared by Brother Chester. We were treated at the end of chapel by one of the community standing up, singing and praising God for bringing her back to life! What a special time. Pastor George's church helped with the meal and the serving. The clothing room and the Market were busy all night long.

Common Ground was one of 3 non profits chosen to participate in a Non Profit Board training program. The sessions are happening on Thursday evenings, so some of our leaders will be gone. We can always use your help, please come.

Prayers for Cari Bolinger fighting an infection and hospitalized at the moment. Continued prayers for Lisa's mom. She underwent a heart stint procedure this past week and still not feeling as good as everybody would like.

We talked about loving your enemies on Tuesday evening, Brother Chester led off his talk Thursday by saying we need love those who do us wrong, so I guess God is trying to tell us, lvoe, lvoe, lvoe is important.

It is easy to love someone who does you no wrong, looks like you, dresses like you, goes to the same church as you. In verse 32, Jesus says, "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them." But God, don't ask us to love someone who cusses us out, talks behind our backs, does not do what we want, asks for more than we can offer, is disagreeable, hard headed, takes advantage of us. God, we can't do it! It's too hard! Won't make a difference! Please God don't ask!

In verse 35, Jesus says, " But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great and you will be children of the most High . . " Some of us in our journeys got started late in life. We did things then we are not proud of now. But when everybody else turned against us, who welcomed us with open arms?! If God can lvoe us, why can't we lvoe others the same way? If we do, then our reward will be to get to play with Jesus in heaven! Won't that be fun!

No better place to emphasize the spelling of "lvoe" we use in our community. We can not love our enemies, turn the other cheek, give them our shirt, expecting something in return on our own. Only through the Holy Spirit working in and through us will God's "lvoe" shine and allow us to do good to those who hate us. It is not us loving but God lvoing others through us. That is why God put the Holy Spirit in us to do the impossible! The world needs to see how this remarkable lvoe can change hearts and change the world. Amen!

Let's pray to God this week in a mighty way, to help us lvoe those who do not like us and let's see how God can change their life through us! What a testament to God's unfailing grace it will be! Have a great week. See you around the center.

God provides

Hope your week was a good one! God is full of blessings and grace for us all to enjoy!

We visited our friends who live outside Saturday. Hard to imagine living in surroundings where you never cool off or never stop swatting the mosquitos. The ice water is a welcome addition to their gathering of items. It helps defer some of the tough conditions of living outside. Joey put out a plea in chapel for help with our bread wrapping activities and one of our community members came. It is a start, a welcomed addition to our group. Momma T and Tim were busy early in the morning in the garden trying to beat the heat. Then Momma T moved inside and worked with the girls making t shirts, a fun morning. Lunch for the basketball team was being prepared as we were leaving the center. Lots going on Saturdays, won't you come and join in.

During the week, in the afternoons, you will find Dawn, Joey and Alan working in and around the center. The center needs lots of attention, so they have begun helping out all around the building. You should notice a nice change in it's appearance, let them know what a great job they are doing. If something needs to be dropped off, you can just about find someone there from 1 - 5, Monday through Thursday.

Tuesday evening, Noel led the community Men's Bible fellowship. Always a good evening of laughter, surprises and conversation on how God is working in the lives of our men.

Thursday activities got started off by Willie and Wes sharing their gifts of song and word. It is great to see Willie walk over to Wes and say, the Holy Spirit wants me to sing this song instead of what we have prepared. Wes, says ok, Willie goes to singing and Wes goes to playing. Always magical in seeing the Holy Spirit working in these men. We had a couple of new churches provide us with our meal. The Market was busy as usual. An added bonus this week, was the giving out of back packs to our children. Great to see them walking around the center with their brand new backpacks on their backs, big smiles were everywhere! It was a great evening.

Prayers for Lisa and her mom. Her mom fell and surgery will be needed, happening this morning. Prayers for those who are traveling. Prayers for my sister's family in California. My sister has been battling cancer for two years and late Wednesday evening, she lost the battle. She was the leader of her family and her children will be struggling for awhile to cope with loosing their mom. Prayers for Ginellen's mom, she fell and hit her head, ending up with 19 stitches across her forehead. Prayers for Willie as he in going in this morning to have a stint placed in his arm for possible dialysis in the near future. Prayers for our community. Prayers for the direction God is leading us.

God provides. How many times have we said that expression? God provides.

We go through life trying to make ends meet and in the end, God provides. Just when you think there is nothing left, all hope is lost, God provides. How many times, does it look like there is no light at the end of the tunnel, God provides. We are faced with all sorts of storms, so many obstacles we wonder if we will ever survive, but we do because God provides.

Several stories this week, I have been blessed to see and hear, reminds me of God providing for us. Momma T takes her granddaughter to a new school. Lots of emotion and anxieties going to meet the granddaughter's teacher. She walks in and sees Terry Strain in the same classroom? Momma T's first thought, does Terry have a granddaughter attending the same class. Then she realizes, her granddaughter's teacher is Terry's daughter Hanna. Momma T was a big part of Hanna's life growing up at Grace. Now Hanna will be a big part of Momma T's life as she takes care of her granddaughter! God provides!

Several of us have been receiving calls from other organizations about school supplies and backpacks. We have been blessed in the past of Grace supplying us with back packs and supplies. This year we were blessed to receive some backpacks but very little supplies. Lisa was wanting around 90 backpacks to meet our needs for the community children. The numbers of back packs we received we not nearly enough to meet our obligation of giving away the backpacks this past Thursday, our anxieties began to increase. Then Lisa started getting phone calls from people, saying I have back packs, do you want them? Lisa goes back to Grace Wednesday afternoon and finds a bunch of backpacks that were in a different place adding to our total. Folks we had not heard from in awhile, calls and says, I have school supplies can I bring them by. We were able to pack the bags with pencils, pens, notebook paper, folders, glue and more! After we gave away the bags to all the children Thursday, we still had a few bags left! God provides!

We had air conditioning problems a couple of weeks ago at the center. We were able to get the units running before Thursday, God providing again. But this Thursday, one of our main units in the dining hall was not performing up to it's capacity. It gets hot in the room when you have 125 people in there! Ardis comes to me beside herself with frustration of the room not getting any cooler. I say to her, I guess we need to call our electrician to see if he can come by to see what the problem is. I walk into the dining hall and guess who was sitting down at the table visiting with the community?! John and our new Jim had just walked in. They finished their meal and immediately went to find our problem. They did and are working on getting our unit working back at full strength! God provides!

These are just the stories from this week. Stories like this happen everyday to everybody. We need to share our stories with others to let them know there is a God who lvoes us, cares for us and watches out over us. The world is full of negativity, hurt and confusion. Willie shared in chapel, people of faith need to share our stories of lvoe, compassion and faith with others. As Willie pointed out in Philippians 2 verse 2, Paul says, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. As Christians, we don't need to let the world bring us down. We need to have joy in our hearts knowing there is a God providing for our every needs! Amen.

Wonder what God providing stories will happen this week for you? Be able to share with others, share it with us. Have a great week. God will provide because God is good!

Came to seek

Baby it's hot outside! I think every day this week the temperatures have been at 100 degrees or hotter!  Hopefully in your part of the world it has not  been as bad. How did God bless you this week?!

Being out of town this past Saturday, have not heard what went on. We are gearing up for the start of school and the fall basketball season. Always lots of activities going in and around the center, come by one Saturday and check it out.

With summer camp coming to an end, it is time to give our center a much needed face lift. Kathyrn, our cleaning expert, has done a great job in getting the floors looking brand new again. Still lots to be done, we could use your help.

Tuesday evening, Rickie led our men's community Bible fellowship reading from Luke 19: 1-10. Reading about Zacchaeus the tax collector, wanting to see this man called Jesus so he climbs up a tree to do so. What do we do to see Jesus?

With school starting next week, we will begin preparing for our afternoon reading activities. Allison will be taking over the leadership role for us this year. We had a great year last year. Looking forward to meeting our new group of children. As dates and times become available, we will let you know how to get involved.

Joey will be hosting prayer time in the chapel every day this week starting at 9am. No better way to get through the day, than spending time with Jesus.

As the temperatures hovered around 100, we got our Thursday activities started by listening to Ms Abbie and Joey in chapel. We had a large crowd, being the first of the month. All our ministries were busy, clothing room, market and the dining hall. It was great to see old friends and meet new ones.

Prayers for a police officer's family in Shreveport who was killed in the line of duty Wednesday night. We need to develop a better relationship between our police staff and the community. Prayers for our friends living outside. This oppressive heat wave is making for short tempers. Prayers for our community children as they return to school.

Verse 10 as stuck with me this week, For the Son of Man came to seek, and to save the lost. Jesus walks to the streets, meeting folks and going into their homes. Jesus is doing what the church needs to be doing.

Zacchaeus, the tax collector, one of the most hated men of his time, stops what he is doing and climbs a tree to see Jesus. Jesus, who is always watching out for us, spots this man, recognizes him and says, I must stay at your house today. Jesus is wanting a relationship with us, we don't have to climb a tree, just open our hearts up to Him.

When the people on the streets hear Jesus saying, I must go to the tax collector house, they start to grumble. How can a man like Jesus go to a sinner's house?! The church opens the doors and hopes people will come. We welcome those who come who look like us, but do we do the same for someone who does not?

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. We need to constantly be going out. It is very easy for us to drive to the center, walk inside, get comfortable in our surroundings and leave. We need to get out of our comfort zones and go out and seek. We need to build relationships with our community in their homes. We need to go to their schools. We need to go to their churches. Jesus walked the streets most of His time on earth, spending very little time in the synagogues.  We need to do the same. As Joey, said in chapel, we are stronger together than we are separate. We have found Jesus, we need to go out and do the same for others. Amen.

Hope your coming week will be a good one. Let us, say a prayer, put one foot in front of another, and go out and seek. Amazing things will happen when we follow Jesus!