Long Overdue Update

SUMMER CAMP



To date, I have been on staff with Common Ground for 5 months. It has been a wonderful five months! God has taught me many things one of which is that, “He who calls us is faithful.” The summer months began with our 9 week summer camp. We had 5 college interns, and about 70 children. We were with the children 5 days a week for 8 hrs each day. To say that we were busy would be an understatement. Our topic of focus was the Creation, Fall, Redemption Story. The children enjoyed learning that they were created in the image of God. They were sad to hear about the sin of Adam and Eve and hopeful in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. The summer was great! It was such a joy to hear the children recite verses like Psalms 8:1; Romans 3:23. God did an amazing job in allowing us to be a part of bringing His Word to the children while tangibly being able to demonstrate the love of Christ to them. One of the little girls shared how thankful she was to God for allowing us to teach her about the Bible. So neat!!! Overall the summer provided the opportunity for me to build relationships with a few of the mothers in our neighborhoods. I am looking forward to seeing how God will use me in the lives of the women and children.

Please pray for the relationships that God has allowed me to have with a few of the women...pray for salvation and spiritual growth...I will update you soon on these women...

Please also pray for the completion of our minisitry building. We are hoping to be in our building soon. We miss the kids!!!!

Just a Thought

One of the re-occurring questions shared this summer by the staff and the interns was, “what does it mean to love justice and mercy?” I was challenged in many ways to examine my heart in order to identify ways in which I have averted my eyes to the needs of the poor and oppressed. It is so easy for me to be comfortable in my own life, while not giving active thought to the plight of others. Living in the community in which we do, it is clear that the effects of what we see are not simply the results of personal sin. Yes, I emphatically agree that all of mankind and societies problem both on an individual and a conglomerate level are a result of living on a fallen planet. But, what I seem to have overlooked was the contributing factors that leads to or propagate the condition of a neighborhood that is characterized by crime, poverty, broken families etc. Factors such as generational patterns, social and racial injustices... The fact of the matter is God says that we are to actively minister to the needs of the poor, both the spiritually poor and the physically poor. How does one do that? Within Montgomery, there is such a divide not only between blacks and whites but also between rich and poor, church goers and non-church goers. I struggle daily with this divide because honestly at times I feel caught in the middle. Why is there such a divide especially between the races and the wealth? I don’t think I have an accurate, one statement answer. I hope that as I continue to live and serve the Lord here things will hopefully become clearer. I also hope that while I am here my desire is to not avert my eyes to the needs of the poor nor look condemningly on the affluence of the rich, but to learn how to understand this world and community through the lens of the Scripture humbly, respectfully and compassionatley so. May God help me!!!

Hello!!!!

A little about my Past

I am so excited about where the Sovereign Lord has placed me. First, thanks for visiting my blog! :) The purpose of this blog is to share with you, what God is doing with me on a personal and ministerial level, both of which are interwoven in this thing called life. Let me begin, by introducing myself. As you may have guessed, my name is Keisha. I am a simple girl, who serves an amazing God. I am a native of the “don’t worry about a thing” island of Jamaica. Life in Jamaica was simple. Some of my fondest memories of Jamaica includes the simple yet always adventurous days of climbing trees, going for extended walks in the bushes, making toys out of the things of nature and wasted goods, running around bare feet in the mud and best of all was being around my wonderful and godly grandmother. My grandmother was the first person to tell me about Jesus. Living in Jamaica, was hard for my family, although as a child I was very much unaware of the difficulties of living in a third world country. After all I had the basic necessities of life. As a child I remember not having running water and having to walk miles to fetch water to cook, eat, bathe, etc. I remember we were once evicted and had to live in a church. In all these difficulties, my grandmothers’ faith was never shaken. As I write, I can recall her ever sweet and gentle voice, saying, “Di Lawd wi provide (The Lord will provide)!” I always thought that my grandma was insane for always trusting in this God, when we had so little. But, my grandmother’s faith in this God, would radically shape my worldview in such a way that would compel me to tell others about Him. I left the island when I was 10, but the lessons learned would follow me for the rest of my life. The years of living in Jamaica were in fact formative years, not only because they taught me how to appreciate life in America, but more importantly, they taught me about a faithful God who provides for the needs of people, no matter who they are or where they live…

Now in the Present

These lessons have now led me to be on staff with Common Ground (Proverbs 22:2), an urban ministry. I am a missionary!! God’s mission for my life is to live out the two greatest commandments of loving God and neighbor. I seek to do this in the most simple and practical way possible. Thus, I will live amongst people in an “at risk” “under-resourced” community that is severely affected by poverty, drugs, broken families, crime etc. The goal of Common Ground Montgomery (CGM) is to live amongst the people to whom we are ministering, in hopes that many will share in this glorious faith of being a follower of Jesus Christ. I will serve as the only woman staff - I will have the opportunity to learn and teach, counsel, disciple, and love on the people in this community - my new community!

Why Streams in the Desert?

Montgomery is very much like many, if not all parts of the world, in that it is a desert. A desert is a place of “any area in which few forms of life can exist because of lack of water or absence of soil.” Well, we recently had flood in Montgomery, so of course, this desert is a metaphor for a spiritual desert. In our area there are many who live broken lives and are even stoic to daily tragedies. Sin is so pervasive - it affects every area of one’s life, family and community. In our area I am continuously reminded of the effects of sin, there is a spiritual drought in Montgomery, so we are in desperate need of water, THE LIVING WATER. (Jeremiah 2:13; John 4:10; 13) People are spiritually dead. But there is HOPE, we seek to be the channel (stream) of water by which God will use to awaken the spiritually dead, to bring vegetation to a sparse land. We are His vessel, we desire to be a balanced yet ever flowing stream of compassionate love and care for the poor and broken. We desire to show mercy to the people we live with, what better way to love our neighbors than becoming a neighbor…Please, journey and pray with me as I serve the Lord who has entrusted Himself to me, so that I may present Him to others…

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