God's Name Tag(s)

Recently the Connections' community was discussing what it meant to live and pray this line from the Lord's Prayer:

"Hallowed Be Your Name"

We concluded that we honor God and His Name when we thank Him for who He is and what He has been doing in our lives. To get more hands on with this we grabbed some sticky name tags and used them to write things that would hallow God's name. Here's a summary of the words of thanksgiving or titles for God that came out of our hearts:

God who is loyal, giving and patient
Thank God for what you have done for my family.
I love you.
God of Love
God the Provider
God of patience, love and forgiveness
God of new beginnings
Love, friendship and the sunshine
Entrusted
Ordering/Directing
God of love, friendship and family
God you are so good to me
God you are my all in all
Thank you for life, experiences and people who surround them
Thank you for the life you have given us
Salvation
Majestic Creator of all Beautiful Things
Provider
Thank you for being my father and making me feel loved no matter what
Guide and Affirmer
Faithful One
God of guidance
God who is always faithful
God is good to me because he changed my life
G-d my protector and my provider
Thank you Lord for providing us with a home
Strength
Thank you not just for providing but for satisfying my life
My Healer
Thank you for being my provider and for your mercies
Thank you for providing for my family
I want to thank you for giving me life and a family that loves me
God of Love
Eternal, Perfect, Holy One, Abundantly Patient
God of family
Thank you for loving me and always giving me the chance to come back and make it right with you
Thank you for my daughter
Thank you for family and friends
Thank you for giving me the courage to grow spiritually
Our Father In Heaven
God who is Creator and Lover of all creatures and things He has created
God of provision
God is love
Thank you God for your love Grace & Guidance
Thank you for being my protector
God who listens
God of faithfulness
Independence & Dependence
Thank you for being the God who never leaves
Thank you God for giving me strength to keep going
Comforter
God who never changes
God of Creation
Thank you for loving and providing
God of Safe Passage
God who provides for all of my needs
God of Grace

How about you? If you were to write a name tag for who God has been in your life lately, what would it say?

Joy for sharing

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

What a wonderful gift to the world this guy's (kinda goofy) little dance is! I love seeing the interaction he attracts and the impromptu micro-communities he joins or creates. If I saw him, I would totally get out and dance my own little (really goofy) dance.

Tearing Stuff Up

For a few years now Connections has had a dream to have a physical space that we could share with our neighbors to bless them. A couple of weeks back we signed a lease on a new facility. Now we're starting to clean it up. Last Friday about 14 of us got together to do some demo. We got off to a great start- taking down mirrors and pulling up flooring.





But there's still plenty to be done. We'll be having a work party this weekend as well. We're planning 3 sessions (Fri 7-10pm), (Sat 8-Noon) & (Sat 1-5pm) and will have a variety of projects available (from light cleaning to heavy demo). If you're willing to lend a hand, contact Kevin Campbell (kcampbell58@gmail.com). Also, here's a list of the tools we think may be helpful this weekend. Let Kevin know what you might be able to bring with you:

• window scraper/razor
• digging bars
• utility knives (carpet knives esp.) w/ lots of spare blades
• phillips and flat head screwdrivers
• cro-bars
• wonder bars
• water cooler and cups
• pliers
• different sizes of wrenches
• heavy duty large trash bags
• floor scrapers
• wheelbarrows
• step ladders
• large floor/box fans
  

4th of July Picnic Update

Here's the latest status on the picnic for the homeless that our friend Hugh is planning.  There's still plenty of room for you to help out if you'd like.  Give Hugh a shout!

Dear Friends,

Well, our picnic on the 4^th of July is coming together. I have had a lot of response and a lot of people offering to help - thank you all!

This email is to let you know where we are, what we are still missing and how you can help. Many of you have asked for a list of things that are still needed.

Time & Place

Just so you all know, we will be setting up at about 3:30pm on the Person Street side of Moore Square in Downtown Raleigh. We hope to start serving about 4:30pm, but would like all the food to be there by 4pm so we can rush and buy whatever we lack.

Things we still need to have someone bring:

• GRILL: we have one grill lined up, but we need at least one more. If you have a propane grill we can borrow, let us know. If we have to, we can get someone to come pick it up, but if you could deliver it, that would be just awesome.

• HOT DOGS: We have several hundred committed to, but we could use a few hundred more. I have been told that Lowe's foods has them on special, buy one get one free. If you can bring hot dogs (please bring the all beef ones, not the mystery meat pink ones), let me know how many you are bringing.

• Buns: We MAY have a source for these, but if not, we will be buying buns on Friday. If you can bring buns, let me know how many you are bringing.

• Condiments: Mustard, relish, ketchup. Squirt bottles would be easist.

• Watermelon: Again, some are coming, but we are lacking about 10... if you can bring one (or more) let me know.

• Chips: We need 200 small bags of chips, assorted. They are available by the case fairly cheaply at Costco.

• Some more baked beans. I have beans for 100 committed, with some more that may be on the way. I really need to have some assurance on the beans and hot dog counts... we can run out of almost anything but these.

• Cash: If we don't get enough donations and food, we will be buying stuff out of pocket. The pockets are pretty slim... if you want to drop off some cash to buy food with, or a gift card to a local grocery or whatever, please email me asap about where we can meet. A few have done this already - Thank you!

Things we have plenty of (I think)

• Paper products (plates, napkins, cups,etc.) If you are bringing these, please remember plastic forks and black trash bags.

• Lemonade - again, we have plenty committed.

Cool things to bring:

• Frisbee

• Wiffle Ball

• Guitar

The Salvation Army has confirmed that they will not be feeding that night (they had considered it, but with us setting up they decided not to). Therefore, these folks are counting on us... not counting those of us who are reading this email, we can expect about 175 or so homeless and poor to eat with us... with all of us, I am thinking maybe we will be feeding as many as 200-225.

Please email me with specifically what and how many of whatever you are bringing, so I can be sure of what I have before I go to the grocery Thursday night.

Thanks for everything, and God bless you all.

Love Wins. Always.

Hugh Hollowell

http://lovewinsalways.org