Pastor Ron's Deep Thoughts and Shallow Entries: The Big Give @ Calvin

Saturday, June 4th.

Our second rendition of

THE BIG GIVE. (TBG)

TBG is a day when churches in Ottawa, and a few other cities, all do the same thing, at the same time.

They give things away.

Yep, for FREE!

Yep, no strings attached.

Just blessing our community.

And Calvin did just that on this day.

It was a beautiful day for TBG.

We started at 8 am setting up.

Lots of shelters to keep the sun off of us.

We tried to make things as homey as possible.

Even taking carpets out of the church to make the prayer booth nicer.

Awe.

Annette and Julie greeting each other.

This year we expanded our clothing and yard sale give away.

Starting to take shape.

Phil and Leanne pitching in.

They are the point people for our TBG.

It seemed like the boxes would never end. : )

Time to organize.

Julie and Diane took charge in that area. : )

Ready for people to take what they want.

Nice hats Annette and Wilma.

We had signs made up this year as well.

Ready to go!!!!

Smaller signs as well. Nice pose Jeannine.

There's a story attached to this play pen.

Annet shares it here.

One of the first people to browse through the ladies clothes asked me if there were any maternity clothes. She was pregnant, and this was baby number three. And in her own words; " Totally unexpected, not planned and a big surprise.

However, I believe that God is in control".

She did not find much in terms of clothes. But then she saw a pack and play baby bed and asked if, and how it would fold. We helped pack it up for her and during that time she kept saying; " This is so amazing, we need a bed for this baby, but we cannot afford it".

Then she found a wagon for a little child and asked it she could have that also. In the end this lady went away very thankful for the things that she got for free; things she did need, but could not afford.

Cathy once again did card making.

Something new this year.

Jenga - large Jenga.

Leave it to Jeremy to find another use for it. : )

We also had Bike Repair.

The Prayer Tent.

Ready for anyone who wished to have prayer

Here is a story that comes from the Prayer tent.

Pastor Craig

Toward the very end of the day, we had opportunity to pray with three young women who seemed eager to be invited into the prayer tent. One was rather quiet and asked for very general prayer. The second expressed significant pain over an interpersonal conflict as well as a lack of clear direction in life. The third shared that having been raised a Muslim, she's searching for a better understanding of who God is and the purpose of life. What a privilege to be entrusted with such honest struggling and to get to lift those struggles with them to God in prayer.

Jenga was a hit throughout the day.

Evert was the first to make it come crashing down. Wasn't he?? : )

There was a steady stream of people all day long.

It seemed that there were things needed by people that were just right for them.

Andy and Diane taking a well deserved rest.

Back to Jenga.

We added live music this time.

Turned out to be a very nice touch.

More people trying out Jenga.

The bike repair started off slow, but eventually there was a steady stream of bikes being fixed.

May I help you :)

Test driving the toys she picked from the table.

hmmmmm, that looks perilous.

Sooooo, Kevin......

What are you doing......

there's no way that's going to stay up once you remove that board. : )

Thankfully someone pointed that out to Kevin. He was able to place it back again...for the most part. : )

Card making in full swing.

Cards were made for people to simply pick up, which many did.

More bikes ready to be repaired.

Miriam relaxing after working very hard.

We set up a place for people to just sit and relax out of the sun.

Jammin'

At about 10:30 we started cooking hamburgers.

Free, of course.

Card making in full swing.

Sarah, Olivia, and Amy trying things on as well.

Sorry Wilma and Yvonne.

Caught you at your finest I see. : )

Phil, "Hmmmmmmm, so how do you think things are going?"

Julie, "Fantastic!"

Cathy is a great card making instructor.

Seems that we had some impromtu drumming happening.

We also had some karioki happen during the day.

Have to think about that for next year.

A steady stream for the food during the day as well.

Pastor Craig's turn at Jenga

Leanne

Samantha

I caught these two relaxing, so they tried to make it look like they were busy praying.

Not buying it.....

But Joycegina did have this to say about her time in the prayer tent.

The Big Give was a wonderful opportunity to get to know some of our church neighbours. It was so easy and natural to strike up a conversation with them. One man commented that he always voted in our church building. He was quite impressed with things being given away for free in a time when that is just not the norm. He was pleased to be able to get a free bicycle tune-up since he rides his bicycle almost everywhere.

In the prayer tent, Annette and I met with a woman who wanted to have prayer for herself and her mother as they had a strained relationship due to the mother’s verbally abusive behaviour. This woman was seeking resolution to the matter and just wanted peace. Annette spoke to the woman about forgiveness and how forgiving her mother did not mean condoning her mother’s behaviour. Annette and I each prayed for her. I later saw this woman in the dining area and overheard her talking about doing some of the things we had spoken about in the prayer tent. It was good to know that our time in the prayer tent was already having an impact in her life.