Update Tuesday - 19/7/11

If I were to summarize this past week in one word it would be "food."  That is probably why it was such a great week.  My oldest son was on a mission trip in Alberta.  My oldest daughter got to spend three days on set of the television show "Murdoch Mysteries" looking after her eight-month cousin Milo as my brother and sister-in-law each had roles in the same episode.  My two youngest kids spent the week in a Triple Threat (singing, acting and dancing) camp run through the Hamilton Conservatory of the Arts (and if I may take a proud father moment - they did an amazing job at the end of week performance!).  This meant that Kim and I had most of our days child free and so used the time to explore the city and our neighbourhood a bit further...mostly through food! Pizza at the new NaRoma Pizza bar, Lunch at Earth to Table, subs at Murphy's subs and ice cream from the Scenic Paradise store atop the escarpment overlooking the city, were just a few of the highlights.
Lest you get the impression that I just ate all week (but really would that have been all that bad...Jesus spent a lot of time eating, go look for yourself!  Maybe that is why I like Him so much...that and the salvation part as well) I should mention some of the other things going on.
On Friday, we welcomed Shelly and Kelly, our friends from North Carolina.  We first meet them when they came to Milton with a mission trip from their church Biltmore Baptist, which is the home church of Jim and Joy Danielson, with whom we worked in Milton.   Shelly and Kelly came on their own this time, investing some of their vacation time to come and visit and help out a bit.  The girls spent a few days with the Danielsons in Milton before coming to spend the last four days with us here in the Hammer.    They are actually on their way to the airport as we speak.  It was a lot of fun to share about what we have been up to, and to show them around Hamilton (as well as to get them up to the cottage for a day in the middle of their time here).   For us it was a great excuse to geek out and do some of the touristy things that you wouldn't ordinarily do around you own city.  The mini train ride around the harbour was actually a great opportunity to help us get to know some of the sights and places around town that we were not sure how to get to!  We, of course continued the food theme through their visit as we allowed them to experience sausages from Beach Rd. Meats (apparently the Pope loves these sausages.  Judging by the sepia tones of the news article on the wall it was the last Pope.  I may not agree that what the pope says is infallible and on par with scripture, but his taste in sausage is bang on!) and poutine from Chuck's Burger Bar (an order of original Quebecois poutine with fresh Quebecois cheese curds and, for our southern guests, pulled pork poutine!)  Our last night together we spent having ice cream at the Scenic Paradise store that Kim and I had discovered earlier in the week.  We each had a Hewitt's Dairy ice cream cone that we ate at the lookout atop the escarpment overlooking the city.    This has become one of my favourite places to go and pray over the city,  our neigbourhood standing in the foreground of a view of the entire lower city.  There is also a set of stairs up the escarpment  where there are always tonnes of people climbing the stairs as a part of their workout.  The kids convinced Shelly and Kelly to go down with them while Kim and I wisely stayed at the top.  We ate our ice cream at the top of the stairs as and endless stream of people, huffing and puffing, limped by reaching for their water bottles.  Kim leaned over and said, "I kind of feel bad standing here with a cone,"  but I noticed she didn't put the cone down.  I guess she didn't fee that bad.  Soon enough the boys made their way to the top, having run all the way to the bottom and back - 289 stairs each way.  Following, not so closely behind, were all the girls arriving at the top with a sort of laboured smile  that only thinly veiled the pain in their legs and lungs.  We finished the evening in our living room with an informal and impromptu time of worship and prayer for the family, our work, and the city.  We did it sitting down.   
Yesterday morning we also had the privilege of welcoming a mission team of about 33 people from Stewarstville Baptist in North Carolina.  They are here for a week serving in Milton but came down to spend the morning with us in Hamilton.  Part of the group stayed at the house and helped Kim prepare meals that we will be able to take to the Ronald McDonald Room at MacKids.  As I mentioned last week, we learned that since the Ronald McDonald House serving the children's hospital has been closed for renovations and expansions, the room within the hospital has not been getting meals.  During our stay at the hospital with Liam we were so blessed by the room and the services it provides we really see this as an outreach opportunity that God put in our path and allowed us to experience.  With the help of the mission team, we were able to make a number of meals that we will take over in the coming weeks.
The rest of the team  broke up and headed out into the community to do some prayer walking.  With such a large team we were able to cover most of the streets in our target area.  We met some neighbours, had some good conversations and, most importantly, invest time and energy in prayer in these early and formative times for our new work.
My favourite time with the team was lunch (that food theme again!).  Stewartsville has been a part of our prayer initiative and have bee praying for a street called Chatham St.  It was not until earlier last week, when my wife and I went to Murphy's Subs, that I realized that this shop was on the corner of Dundurn and Chatham.  With this in mind, I asked if the group would be willing to be flexible with their plans and to make a group order from the shop that was on their adopted street, and they graciously agreed.  Murphy's Subs has been in the community for over 40 years, run by Murphy (his last name by which everyone calls him) and his wife.  Everyone knows Murphy and he knows everyone.  In fact, Mark, who renovated our house, told my wife that while he was growing up Murphy was like a second father to him.  I wanted to give them a heads up about the order but the store was closed so Mark gave me Murph's home number and I called him there and placed the order!  About a month ago, Murphy's store was held up in broad daylight, his wife was assaulted and he was beaten unconscious and put into intensive care.  It has been amazing to see the community rally around him and show support.  It was a great opportunity to be able to join in that support.  A group from the mission team came with me as we went to pick up the order and they were able to meet Murphy and his family, to greet them, thank them and encourage them.  It was a great opportunity for us to begin a relationship with this person who is at the heart of the community. 
If you would like to read about the story you can do so at the links below:
The Robbery
Murph Back at Work

After speaking with Murphy, he let me know that he still gets really bad headaches and I also read that he was going to have to undergo some more tests.  Please pray for Murphy.

I would be remiss if  did not end off this update with a story of praise from Sunday morning.  On Sunday morning my good friends Liz and Grant dedicated their daughter Charlotte Grace.  Having been a part of the same small group for a number of years, and having walked with them through some very hard times, we just knew that we had to be there on that day of the celebration.   God has done an amazing work in their lives and in the life of their precious daughter.  It was a very special time.  But there is even more that God can be praised for.  This was our first time back to Milton since our official roles ended back in June.  Only a few weeks later and I was able to see people stepping up into new roles and even see some new faces!  We were treated to an amazing service with a powerful drama led by the visiting mission team and if all that were not enough, the church was heading our from the service to meet at a members home to celebrate a baptism.  God is doing an amazing work in and through our family in Milton!

Well that's it for now.  We thank you for your continued prayers and support.  If there are things that we can be praying for for you, please don't hesitate to leave a comment here of drop me a line at
jason@jasonmcgibbonproject.com