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It was a cool
crisp fall day when we gathered at our church's dining room
to fill the shoeboxes for the Operation Christmas child, a
project that is headed by Franklin Graham, Billy's son.
The ultimate goal for this project is
to furnish Christmas gifts for children in foreign
countries, with the purpose of reaching them for Jesus
Christ.
Many children have never heard of our
Jesus so this is a sweet way to win their attention, as well
as to realize that as they receive gifts from us, they can
learn to receive the gift of Jesus Christ.
Over the year, donation of items for
this cause are accepted to fill the shoe boxes: such as
stuffed animals, dolls, toothpaste toothbrushes, combs,
coloring books, crayons, markers, hard candies, hair
brushes, toy trucks, modeling clay, reading books, bars of
soap, washcloths, etc. Each box is covered in Christmas
gift-wrap prior to the contents being added. A tag is
attached which denotes the gender of the child as well as
the ages: boy or girl, ages 2-4, 5-9, and 10-14.
Each volunteer from the J.O.Y. Bible
class (J=Jesus, O=Others, Y=You), was assigned various
duties to complete this extraordinary service. It was my
duty to place a bar of soap and a washcloth into a plastic
bag in preparation for filling the boxes, while others
filled small plastic canvas boxes with hard candies, others
gift wrapped the boxes, others labeled the shoe boxes for
the required ages of the children, while others carried
unfilled shoe boxes to the various cardboard boxes ready to
supply them with the donated items.
There was a festive aura in the room as
we enjoyed each other's company while we worked toward a
goal of bringing happiness in to a child's life with a toy
or a piece of candy, while we acquainted them with the love
of Jesus Christ, our redeemer.
Our church was the drop off point for
area churches and before the shoe boxes were encased in
larger boxes, the whole church community had filled 900 shoe
boxes. "Thank you, Jesus, we are still spreading the news
of your birth through a simple but fruitful misson and
purpose."
How sweet it is to be a part of the
family of God who enriches our very life when we serve Him
in any capacity.
"Jesus loves me this I know, for the
Bible tells me so! Little ones to Him belong, they are
weak, but He is strong!"
If you wish to enrich your life, please
click on this link for more information on this project,
Operation Christmas Child:
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/
NormaLee Liles |
