We spent our afternoon today serving the people in the Housing estates of Ascot Vale. The team at Operation Stitches had decided to put on a pre-winter carnival for the people who live in these estates. 20-plus of us were off, and it was a quite a sight; with a trackless train, giant and mini jumping castles, pamper parlour (hair-braiding, manicures, perfumes), temporary tattoo stand, fairy floss and popcorn, loot bag stands. I volunteered to be stationed at the scarves and beanies stand - each person had the chance to pick a beanie and a scarf to prepare for winter for free. Each beanie and scarf was lovingly knitted by the folks at kogo (Knit One, Give One), an organisation made up of people who knit for the sake of giving.
The Husband was first to volunteer to be in-charge of the giant jumping castle, and with his black t-shirt tucked into the back trackpants, finished with a pouch bag; he really did look more the part of a bah-kut-teh seller. He had a ball of a time; though he needed to be quite stern with some of the boys, trickier moments like that were balanced out by some kids who exclaimed to him, "It's the best day of my life!!!"
It was quite a fantastic experience, to be able to see these people as individuals and serve them and love them, particularly the children. Even though it went on for a couple of hours, it felt too short a time! It wasn't so much of "doing charity" or "helping the needy"; but rather an eye-opener to see these people as our equals. To see them as how God sees them, and who they (and we, for that matter) have been called to be. To see them as deserving love just as much as we do; to see them being shown grace just the way we have been shown; shown the courtesy we would expect for ourselves and our friends.
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