How long will it last?

What a gorgeous morning God had planned for us this morning! Hopefully your morning was just as pretty!

We visited our friends living outside Saturday. Everybody was doing good. Our friend, who was not doing well last week, assured us he did not mean to be that way and said he was ok.  Our 14 year old and under Cedar Grove Chargers were winning their 6th game of the season Saturday afternoon. They are now 6 - 0! Work continued in the garden. Our girl scout troop was meeting at the Bright House II Saturday morning. Lots going on in our part of the world.

We continue with our afternoon activities of fun, games and learning on Monday and Wednesday. Lots of help to go with lots of children!

Tuesday evening, we had some new faces at our community men's Bible fellowship. Joey led our discussions, reading from Lamentations 1: 1 - 22. How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! Our center was once deserted, now full of life, what will tomorrow bring?

Thursday evening, chapel was full of music, praise and worship. Our piano man, Wes, played for us, as Ms Abbie led our community choir. Brother James shared the Word, talking about the compassion and the lvoe God has for us no matter what we do. Z and Ms Abbie prepared a feast, as new friends helped serve and clean up. The clothing room and Market were busy with community enjoying their time with us. A blessed evening.

Our undefeated Chargers have two games this week! Tuesday February 14th at 8:15 pm at Bill Cockrell Park. Then on Thursday February 16th at 7:15 pm at A B Palmer.

I want to wish all our ladies out there a Happy Valentine's Day. You are the key to our community, often not getting any recognition for everything you do. Please know you are lvoed and appreciated by us all.

This Thursday at our meal, we will have our annual Mardi Gras parade. The Gemini Crewe will be joining us, dancing and throwing beads to our community, always lots of fun.

We now have a new family member joining our community, Sarah Shoup. You will see Sarah around the campus helping coordinate all our activities making sure everything runs smoothly. She has a heart for community and will be a valuable asset to our community. When you see her, please welcome her into our community.

How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! Part of the first verse of Lamentations 1. I was thinking about that Tuesday morning working on the yard at the new building across the street from the center. Weeds and trash was covering the entrance into the bank building. As we removed the weeds and trash, I discovered beautiful granite steps into the building. It got me to thinking about all the lives, the families, the homes this building must have been a part of when it was built. Now, for whatever reason, it was vacant, deserted!

I don't what to think about it, but this could happen to our community? Those that built the bank building had a passion for our neighborhood. Don't you know, the people of our community were grateful for the presence of the bank and it's employees. Now, many years later, the building is empty, neglected and deserted.

We see this happen all too often. Those who have a passion for something, get together, start living their passion. For awhile, everything is great, a blessing to all, then as time goes on, sometimes that passion subsides. Sometimes those that start the group move on to other projects, or life gets in the way, changes occur and gradually their presence subsides.

Common Ground was started from a passion of several. Some have left, others are still around. Will the passion live on? We need to ask ourselves, where does our passion come from. Is it our passion or the passion of Christ's? We are about God, God's plan, not ours. God's plan will never die. 

The future of our community is exciting. Many new people are coming to us with great passion and desires for our community. As long as we follow the plan God has laid before us, our passion for lvoe and understanding will last for years to come. Amen

Have a blessed week, God is good, isn't He!

Do we have to pray!

Good morning to all! God is good and so are ya'll!

Busy Saturday morning as usual around the center. We made our visits to the camps. Always a joy to see our friends living outside, but also a reminder of how life is hard. A new friend of ours, Shawn, has started going with us on our visits. The past two weeks as Turner finishes his shopping, Shawn whips out his Bible, reads a couple of verses and prays with Turner. We don't hold hands yet, but this is a start with Turner. Turners stands there, listens and then walks off to his home. Wonder what he is thinking?! Our next camp finds our new group waiting for us, sitting on the railroad tracks in the sun, trying to stay warm. Their camp dog, Bo, comes up to mr brian and gets his usual dog treats. I ask Bo where his daddy is? The group says over there on the tracks. We look over and there is Donny, passed out on the tracks. 10:30 in the morning passed out! Sad, sad. Shawn and Dawn walk over to be sure he is breathing, wake him up and he stumbles over to the truck. We have prayed this week, for the taste of alcohol in Donny to not be tolerated. No way to live. Lunch was being prepared for the basketball team as we returned from our visits.

Monday and Wednesdays we continued meeting with our children in the afternoons, having fun playing games, learning and lvoing on them. You can be sure it goes both ways!

Tuesday evening the men of the community gathered for their Bible fellowship. Brother George shared the Word reading from Hebrews 6: 1-12. Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity , . . is how the first verse starts. Are we moving or standing still?

Wednesday morning, the garden was busy with activity! Bryce had a tiller going or I should say Ms Abbie had a tiller going, tilling up the old garden making way for the planting of potatoes. The new beds look great!

Thursday, our chapel time got started off with our new community choir praising God with their hearts and voices, while Ms Abbie played the piano. A new pastor joined us in chapel, asking us, what type of bags we are carrying? Bags filled with garbage of the past, bags filled with today's struggles or bags filled with God's Word?! It was Mexican night in the dining hall. Z and Ms Abbie created all the fixins you would find at a mexican restaurant. The clothing room was busy as well as the Market. A fun night!

The Cedar Grove Chargers have a basketball game this Saturday, February 4th at noon at Bill Cockrell Park. No games next week. Come if you can.

Prayer keeps coming to me this week. I will ask Joey for something or an idea I might have and the first thing out of Joey's mouth, let's pray about it. I don't want to hear that, I want to do it! Many years ago, I had an idea of feeding the community at Faith church. I was so excited about "my" idea, couldn't wait to get to Pastor Jackson's office to tell him. The first thing out of his mouth, he said, brian we need to pray about it. My frustration level got higher. I like to do things now, not pray about it! Well after several months of painstakingly prayer, for me! God shared a story in the Upper Room with me early one Tuesday morning, telling about a church who provides a meal to their community. God even gave us a name, Kitchen Angels! And we are still doing it!

When the church moved out of the church building which is now our center, sitting there vacant for months, I told everybody we need to move into it now! There was no budget, no money, no idea of how to get it renovated, no help, our small group prayed about it. Several months later, as we worked across the street at the Bright House, wishing we were in the building, Lisa shows up to tutor. We find out she is a lawyer with a passion for our community, likes to get things done and well we see what has happened!

One of my favorite prayer stories is our lack of rain! As we became homeless, the church asked us to leave the building, we started serving our meals at the Bright House. We first tried to eat inside but it was too crowded, so we moved to the driveway area. For two years, our small group prayer was each week was, for it not to rain on Wednesday evenings for our meal. Well, in spite of two hurricanes, multiple thunderstorms, we were never ever forced to not have our meals outside. Some Wednesdays, we had to eat in a hurry, but we ate! God will provide.

In chapel last week, really every chapel begins with asking the community if they have prayer requests. You can see and hear the community getting more comfortable speaking out, with their prayer requests. One couple spoke up last week, needing prayers to find a home or a place to stay. When Brother George asked for prayer requests this week, the lady spoke up and said, they found a place to stay! Everybody clapped!

Several weeks ago, Brother George shared his heart of wanting the young men, who come for the meal on Tuesday night, to also stay for the men's Bible fellowship. You can tell they are hunger, maybe getting the only good meal for the day at the chapel, but he also wanted them to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So we prayed for them as we opened up our fellowship. This past Tuesday the young men were there and guess what, they stayed the entire night! 

We all have prayer stories. Things God has done for us. The one common theme I am reminded of when it comes to prayer, if God thinks it needs to happen, it will in His time, not mr brian's time. There is a method to His madness. It is all about Him and His Kingdom building. Over the years, I have learned patience when it comes to prayer.  He has taught me obedience when we go to God in prayer. And my faithfulness has increased because I know if the prayers are of God's will, then God will provide. He provides in ways that I had no idea or expectations of it happening the way it did. God has a plan for the building of His Kingdom. We don't know the plan, that is not our job to know the plan. Our jobs are to pray, to be obedient, to be patient, and  to have faith God will provide. He will because He is God, because He is Good! Amen!

God is with us!

Can it be possible, another week has come and gone! Wow, God is busy in our part of the world, what about yours!

Last Saturday, the weather was not nearly as cold as it has been, so our visits were nice. All seem to be doing well. Met some new friends at one of our camps. As we open the tailgate of our truck, it is heart warming to see our longtime friends helping our new friends with God's gifts to them. Basketball practices continues as well. We hosted a garage sale, helping students from one of our elementary schools raise funds for a trip. A busy morning!

Monday and Wednesday, we hosted our afternoon tutoring activities. Tables and chairs are set up with each table having a different color of table cloth. The children come in and go to their table, with their name tag and snacks waiting for them. They stand, waiting to say their prayer, then sit down and enjoy their snacks. For a few minutes, their table leader, shares a Bible story and talks how God works in their lives. Then one of the leaders comes into the dining hall, telling each table to go with their tutor to their private area to begin their learning session for the afternoon. At 5, a bell is rung, the children line up in the hallway waiting to get on their bus. Another snack or treat is given them as they leave for the afternoon. An amazing experience to see it happening every week. Hugs, smiles, conversations about "their" child is awesome to hear!

Tuesday evening the men of the community gathered for a delicious meal and conversations about God working in their lives. Brother Rickie led the discussions from Isaiah 43: 1-7. God saying to the people of Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine!" Wow, we are His! How awesome is that!

Tuesday evening, we also had a basketball game going on! As Coach Chuck said, with the help of the Charger cheering fans, the Chargers came back from a deficit in the first half to win their game! Chuck said, it was great to see all the fans in the stands, supporting them. Thank you all for being there.

Thursday evening, was a blessing as always. We had a big crowd in chapel as Brother George shared the Word and Ms Abbie played the piano! Our community choir got into one of the songs and wouldn't stop singing! What a blessing! A delicious meal was prepared by Z and Ms Abbie. Lots of helpers served and cleaned up afterwards. We had many servants helping in the clothing room and the Market. It was great to see our friend Ms Pam back in the Market from a 3 month absence! You were missed Pam!

Next basketball game for the Chargers is Tuesday, January 31st at 7:15 at AB Palmer. Then there is another one on Thursday February 2nd at 7:15 again at AB Palmer. The boys and the coaching will appreciate having a cheering section in the stands!

Monday night in another men's Bible study, we read Psalm 139. King David is singing his praises to God, "Lord you have examined me and know all about me. You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them, You know thoroughly everything I do. Lord, even before I say a word, you already know it. You are all around me, in front and in back and have put your hand on me". Isaiah tells us in verse 2, When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you".

Two reminders this week, God is with us. God knows us. God is there for us. Life presents challenges to us everyday. We live in a world of corruption and deceit. Half truths and bickering. Sometimes it feels like there is no way out. We take one step forward, then something happens, we take two steps back. I try to do it my way, and things mess up! We get frustrated. We get angry at people. We get mad at the world. How can we possibly go on?!

The life God has chosen for us to be in community has obstacles and challenges. Often things don't go the way we think they should go. People don't act the way we think they should act. Decisions are made in ways we don't understand. But there is a way we can get by. There is a way we can understand and lvoe. 

In the first part of verse 4, God tells Isaiah,"Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you . . . " God lvoes us. We are precious to Him. He will not let anything happen to us that is not of God, as long as we are focused on Him. In Deuteronomy 31:8, says, "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you, he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged". God is there with us, in our times of trouble and misunderstandings and in our times of joy and blessings. God knows our challenges and has already worked a way out for us. God won't let our obstacles overwhelm us, for He loves us too much. We must trust Him. We must obey Him. We are precious to Him! Hallelujah!

Have a great week. Blessings to all. God is mighty! God is true! God is good!

Grumbling?

We go from cold, to warm, to wet? Hopefully your weather in your world is not as crazy as ours!

A full crew of folks met our friends living outside. If you think we are tired of this wet weather, you should try living outside! Nothing is dry you touch, your bed, your shoes, your clothes. Hard, hard life. Our 14 and under basketball team, had their first game of the new season Saturday and are undefeated for the season! Congratulations to all.

Monday was a holiday, so we only had our afternoon children with us on Wednesday this week. It was fun just the same. Lots of helpers to be a support to our loyal team of teachers.

Tuesday evening, Brother George led our community men's Bible fellowship reading from Philippians 2: 12 - 19, do everything without grumbling. Is that possible?

Thursday evening, our community came and came! We had the St Luke's Medical van and their staff joining us for the evening. Chapel was led by another new pastor, while Ms Abbie played our hymns of praise. Z, with help from Ms Abbie cooked up a banquet. Our clothing room and Market was full of community shopping and looking. Lots of help from our students from Centenary, making the evening go smoothly and full of blessings.

Prayers for the process of growing. Change is never easy, but sometimes necessary. Prayers for a longtime friend of ours Terry Strain. Terry started the Pool of Siloam, which was housed at Faith Church in the very beginning of their ministry. Terry is having health issues causing her to become unemployed at the moment.

This week, we have two opportunities to see our basketball team play. On Tuesday, January 24th at 6:15 pm at AB Palmer and then Thursday January 26th at 6:15 pm at AB Palmer. If your schedule allows, please come and cheer on our Cedar Grove Chargers.

Do everything without grumbling, is the headline in the passage we read on Tuesday night. Easy to not grumble when we are doing things we want to do. Hard to do when we do things not of our liking. I enjoy playing golf on Friday afternoons with the guys. I don't like it when the weather is too cold, too wet or I have a meeting. I grumble when I can't go play golf. I grumble all the time when things don't work out the way I want them to work out! I grumble when I have to go out of my way to take home folks from the community. I grumble when a child is running down the hallway.  I grumble when I have to pick up after someone else. It is in my nature to grumble, because mr brian is not holy.

In verse 13, Paul tells the folks, "for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose." I need to get past myself and allow God's will to flow through me, realizing the grumbling will subside! 

Reading on, the men talked about, there is a reward if we allow God's Spirit to fill us. If we do everything without grumbling or arguing, the last part of verse 15 - "Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky. verse 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. If we get past ourselves, realizing it is not about us but about God, His Spirit will flow through us producing the light of Christ in us. I can't think of a brighter, more pure light than that! Amen.

Have a great week, hope to see you around the center or at the basketball games! May God's light shine in and through us this week and the weeks to come in this new year.

Grumbling?

We go from cold, to warm, to wet? Hopefully your weather in your world is not as crazy as ours!

A full crew of folks met our friends living outside. If you think we are tired of this wet weather, you should try living outside! Nothing is dry you touch, your bed, your shoes, your clothes. Hard, hard life. Our 14 and under basketball team, had their first game of the new season Saturday and are undefeated for the season! Congratulations to all.

Monday was a holiday, so we only had our afternoon children with us on Wednesday this week. It was fun just the same. Lots of helpers to be a support to our loyal team of teachers.

Tuesday evening, Brother George led our community men's Bible fellowship reading from Philippians 2: 12 - 19, do everything without grumbling. Is that possible?

Thursday evening, our community came and came! We had the St Luke's Medical van and their staff joining us for the evening. Chapel was led by another new pastor, while Ms Abbie played our hymns of praise. Z, with help from Ms Abbie cooked up a banquet. Our clothing room and Market was full of community shopping and looking. Lots of help from our students from Centenary, making the evening go smoothly and full of blessings.

Prayers for the process of growing. Change is never easy, but sometimes necessary. Prayers for a longtime friend of ours Terry Strain. Terry started the Pool of Siloam, which was housed at Faith Church in the very beginning of their ministry. Terry is having health issues causing her to become unemployed at the moment.

This week, we have two opportunities to see our basketball team play. On Tuesday, January 24th at 6:15 pm at AB Palmer and then Thursday January 26th at 6:15 pm at AB Palmer. If your schedule allows, please come and cheer on our Cedar Grove Chargers.

Do everything without grumbling, is the headline in the passage we read on Tuesday night. Easy to not grumble when we are doing things we want to do. Hard to do when we do things not of our liking. I enjoy playing golf on Friday afternoons with the guys. I don't like it when the weather is too cold, too wet or I have a meeting. I grumble when I can't go play golf. I grumble all the time when things don't work out the way I want them to work out! I grumble when I have to go out of my way to take home folks from the community. I grumble when a child is running down the hallway.  I grumble when I have to pick up after someone else. It is in my nature to grumble, because mr brian is not holy.

In verse 13, Paul tells the folks, "for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose." I need to get past myself and allow God's will to flow through me, realizing the grumbling will subside! 

Reading on, the men talked about, there is a reward if we allow God's Spirit to fill us. If we do everything without grumbling or arguing, the last part of verse 15 - "Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky. verse 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. If we get past ourselves, realizing it is not about us but about God, His Spirit will flow through us producing the light of Christ in us. I can't think of a brighter, more pure light than that! Amen.

Have a great week, hope to see you around the center or at the basketball games! May God's light shine in and through us this week and the weeks to come in this new year.

Born again

What's the old expression, if you don't like the weather now, just wait until tomorrow, things will change?! Well, from the subfreezing temperatures of last week, we now have the high's in the 80's this week! What a world, what a God!

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

More fruitful

Are  we in the north country or what!? Not liking this cold, cold, weather at the moment! Need to think warm thoughts about God!

We visited our friends living outside Saturday to get our week going. Basketball is still being played in the gym at First Baptist. And food is being prepared by Z and eaten by all of us!

It's been a quiet week around the center with schools still closed for their holiday break. That will all change next week, which is good!

Tuesday evening the men of the community came together to share the Word and some good food. Brother George led us in the reading from John 15, The Vine and the Branches. How many times have we read that passage and still the Living Word shows us new and exciting things to talk and think about.

Thursday evening, was misty and cold with a small community gathered in chapel to hear Ms Abbie play the piano and listen to a new friend share the Word. Our meal was prepared by Z with help from Sinotra. The clothing room and Market was open to provide needed help to the community. A good evening of food and fellowship.

Thinking back on Tuesday night, two things come to mind, with Jesus talking, He says in verse one, I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. The word "true" stuck with me. I typed in "true vine" and this is the only passage the word "true" is mentioned. There are numerous passages with vine in them, but just this one with "true"?

Got me to thinking, we can become attached to many different vines in our lives. We can grow branches, produce fruit, but is it of God? We can work hard, be productive, make money, have a nice car, a big house, 2.5 children, but what does it do for God? We can go to church, teach Sunday school, attend Bible classes, sing in the choir, play in the band, but is it for God? 

I thought I was a pretty good guy, hadn't killed anyone, didn't drink too much, hadn't robbed a bank, worked in the Scouting program, but as I began to get back into the Word, I realized my vine was my own vine. I was living for me, my pride, not for others.  I was not attached to the "true" vine, so my works were good but not of God.

The other part of verse one, that has stuck with me is,  . . while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. God is not interested in just producing fruit, He wants to produce the best fruit there is. Most anybody can produce an orchard of fruit, or a field of grapes, but it is the special few that can produce the best. Grape farmers are not honored for producing quantities of grapes, but they are recognized for the quality of their harvest. So is God. He wants the best of the best.

 I remember years ago, Momma T and I were in the garden talking about pruning our peach tree. I suggested we needed to do some pruning, but Momma T's caring heart, did not want to cut anything away, pruning is painful. Several weeks later Momma T comes to me and says, I did it, the tree is pruned!

As we begin a new season, start a new year, two things come to mind for us to think about. One, are we attached to the "true" vine in our ministries of common ground?Common ground is a community of things that are good. People come to be lvoed. People come to be fed and clothed. People come to be listened to. Children are educated and hugged on. The Word is being shared. Lives are being changed. All good things. All great things. Are they attached to the "true" vine?

Two, are we willing to be pruned if it will produce even better fruit? Pruning is hard, could be painful. It will be hard to let go of something we are doing now, in order for something else to grow. We have to remember God wants only the best fruit. God is the gardener. He know what's best for us and our community. Let Him produce His best in you. Then we all will be blessed beyond our comprehension!  Amen.

Have a great week, stay warm!