Forgiving Sorrow Gives Life

Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure-not to put it too severely-to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 

2 Corinthians 2:5-7

Forgiveness came from one person, Jesus Christ. He is Forgiveness. If everyone in the world asked for forgiveness, He would give it. He is abounding grace unlimitless, unending, and overflowing with love.

Forgiving can happen in community. Forgiving is all about life. Christ died so that He could forgive all our sins. He doesn't condemn us, He doesn't only forgive and then remember later, He doesn't make us pay for it, the one thing to remember is, He lets it go. 

As in He remembers it no longer. If we are in Christ we are a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17) We can too!

Our challenge today decide on one person that we are going to forgive today...and let it go! 

For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 2 Corinthians 1:5

Update

I've been absent from the blogging world for a couple of years. I've been writing a book, the title currently is Trust Waits For Promise. I hope the manuscript will be finished soon. I'll keep you updated on the process, from queries, to submission, to publishing it on this blog.

Here is my thoughts from my Bible reading on Abraham and Isaac.

The conversation began. Genesis 22:1-9.14

Abraham! And he said, "Here I am." He said take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."

Imagine if Abraham would have said no I won't sacrifice my only son how would the story have changed?

But Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father and said, "My Father" and he said, "Here I am, my son." Genesis 22:6

When we respond to God's call with "Here I am", as Abraham did with Isaac being willing to sacrifice all. Christ responds with "Here am I" and is the Resource and provides the resources. Are you in a moment where God is calling you to a "sacrificing life"? Where He is revealing things that need to change. He is drawing you closer to Him. Don't stop now, take the next step. 

14.Abraham call the place "The Lord will provide." 

1. Recognize and walk with the Lord to hear the voice of the Lord, since we don't usually hear audibly, we read the Bible and pray. Noah walked with God and was protected from a flood that destroyed all of mankind.

2.Willing to sacrifice our desires, For Abraham it was his only son Isaac. It might be your deepest longing that God tells you He has something better if you will let it go. Remember He sacrificed His only son on the cross for you to live a life where sorrow is removed and the fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control can live. Then it can all be sown and reaped and sown and reaped again. 

3. It cannot be accomplished without Christ. He provides the resources and sustains them. 

4. Remember the place and thank Him. Abraham called the place "The Lord will provide"

Where are the moments in your life where you recognize it was time to let it go because God had something better? When it took faith and trust, and listening...

Leaders of Today and Tomorrow

Be the best leader you can be today, so that those who come after you can be even greater! 

We all had a dream bigger than what we could accomplish, greater than we could see, and reaching higher than we could achieve-if we did it alone. This week I've been apart of the Aspiring Leaders Academy in Central. A partnership of Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), Solomon Movement, 4 Kids Foundation, Lighthouse Inc./Heaventrain, community parents, and the youth from Cleveland.

I've had an amazing week thanks to all the youth in The Aspiring Leaders Academy. It's a group of youth from 5th-10th grade simply learning, working, and being leaders in their communities through activities, games, and field trips for five weeks during the summer.

I've often thought if I only had known then, what I know now how much farther I could have been. That's what we are trying to do with this camp for the youth.

 Leaders are guiding and influencing our youth everyday-whether positive or negative, they are watching and learning by examples.

Circles of Influence

Teamwork

The craziest spaceship game ever, from my friend Lashunda that taught about effective leadership and achieving goals.

We are going higher!!!!

Waving the Magic Wand

On June 10th our 2nd Neighborhood Circle Meeting took place in the Central neighborhood. In this meeting our goal was to find some common ground with our "magic wand survey" and come up with the first step in our action plan. 

 On the table was a black magician's hat, some sticky notes, markers, and smiley face stickers. Not the usual items for a magic show. We were missing the deck of cards,  scarves, and of course the rabbit. 

The neighbors wrote on a sticky note what they would change in the neighborhood and put it in the magician's hat. Each person took their turn. Then the hat was passed around and the notes were read. 

Then the magic happened. The neighbors started talking about the possibility of what the neighborhood would look like and what they would do to help out. We voted on each slip of paper with our smiley face stickers the most important item of change.  

Now this is the sad part: I recorded the entire conversation on video but forgot to press play. I couldn't believe the mistake I made. 

Some of the neighbors were unable to atttend so the next meeting they will share their ideas and continue the discussion.

Neighborhood Circles

The first step in getting to know our neighbors is through our Central Community Survey. The goal is connecting neighbors gifts, finding the best part of each neighborhood, and finding what neighbors would do to improve their communities.

After the individual fills out the survey, we follow up with a phone call and an invitation to attend a Neighborhood Circle Meeting.

The goal of a Neighborhood Circle is to bring neighbors together but keep it small and multiply the circles in a neighborhood. When I think of what we want to accomplish it's listening to the voice of the community, sharing talents, meeting neighbors, and creating new friendships.

We invited between 6-8 people for our first Neighborhood Circle Meeting.

We stamped, cut, and pasted hand-made invitations for all attendees. Part of the fun of being a host of Neighborhood Circle is all the planning and preparation. Not really work when you are having so much fun!

Finding a place where everyone would feel comfortable was very important.

The Neighborhood Circle met at the Cleveland Public Library Sterling Branch.

Three weeks before the meeting, each of the attendees received a hand-made invitation in the mail with the details of the meeting. Everyone RSVP'd for the event within two days!

Another important part is making sure that the individuals were welcomed with good food. Since we didn't have time or a kitchen to make food we decided on ordering a take out from Hot Sauce Williams.

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together- African Proverb

This quote was our theme for the meeting. Everyone participated in the "mapping of our lives." Looking for common ground and sharing the impacting stories that brought us to where we are today. It was important that we shared something that was personal to us-to establish trust between each other.

We found common ground: most of us have moved a couple of times, experienced different neighborhoods, and been challenged in some kind of way to make us grateful and stronger and part of who we are today.

One of our friend's sharing his story

Brandy and a friend looking for her birthplace in Cleveland.

The lady in the blue t-shirt is a good friend of mine I've known for about 2 years. Through our conversations on that day we both found common ground in one of our dreams, "we both have aspirations of being teachers."I look forward to sharing more of her story in another blog post. She is pretty amazing!

 The next meeting, we'll share a potluck meal together and continue our conversations.  

Bunnies, Worms, and Chocolate Frosting

Happy Easter...this post is way late!

On Easter Sunday, it was cold and rainy. Not the kind of weather you want kids running around the yard looking for hidden gems-eggs filled with candy and goodies. The easter egg hunt was postponed instead we brought the party inside at Cedar.

Mike and Ike Candy, Brite gummy worms, and sugar wafers

Stamps, colored paper, stickers and stamp pads for cards

Making our bunny planters...

 The Glue for the wafers-chocolate frosting...yummy!

Stamping and coloring cards for family...

They were so creative! They became rabbit family cars, worm farms, and even a rabbit house!

 Cleaning off sticky-chocolate fingers !

 The kids were great and we had a lot of fun :)

When it was over the children went home with a bag of candy, easter eggs, and a couple of bologna and cheese sandwiches. 

A Perfect Fit

It's been awhile since I checked in. I have been very busy! I taught my first time on Heaventrain. The most people I've ever taught before was probably 25-50. I knew it was going to stretch me and challenge me. I'm so glad I took the step!  I had a total of 784 kids and families on Heaventrain that Saturday. I hope to repeat this experience again.
 I have been without a job since March. I was contemplating returning to school. I also was looking for a job in the Central neighborhood. I had been sending out resumes and only a few hits with little hope of a job.
I filled my time by volunteering in the Central community. I mentor with CMHA PAL, the Police Athletic League. I am very impressed with the young lady I mentor. She is smart, energetic and full of life! We both love to watch Cake Boss and tacos are one of our favorite foods.

The latest development, I now have a job. To my surprise I found a perfect fit! I am an Americorps member with Lighthouse, Inc and the Communities First Association. In November they hired me, and another lady from the community, to do asset based community development in the Central neighborhood. I receive a monthly stipend, education stipend, and my volunteering with tutoring, mentoring, and Heaventrain can count towards my hours needed for the job. I think it's pretty cool!

I was surprised when I met the other Americorps member Lighthouse hired. She is the mother of the young lady I mentor! We will be working side by side. We spent a couple of days in training in Chi-town, with 30 other Americorps members from around the US. We met at the Cinacle Sisters Retreat Center, a convent and retreat facility. It's very quiet and serene, a perfect place to spend a personal retreat.

I tutor at East Tech High School once a week. I have never been a tutor before but thanks to our great group of former teachers who have experience, I am learning a lot.

The group of tutors last year saw a measured improvement in the students and experienced an average growth of 2-3 grade levels in reading and math.

 It has not been easy this year. With all the shake up and changing of schools there have been difficulties. My first week one of my young men was suspended. Then I find out he is transferring to another school. I'll start with another new young man this coming week.

My other student is bright and an excellent reader. He comes each week on his own and is eager to read together. Our typical schedule, he starts by reading out loud for 30 minutes and then he writes in his journal another 20 minutes. The last 20 minutes we work on his homework.  He usually brings his math homework. I think I'll pick up Algebra for Dummies the next time I'm at the library. I sure could use a refresher course.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Thank you for the nice comments each week. I'd love to hear about your own Americorps experiences or asset based community development going on in your communities.