On a Sunday in mid
November and the following Monday my family and I were so blessed to
participate in packing shoe boxes. This may sound a little strange to
some of you but there is a program through Samaritan's Purse called “Operation Christmas
Child” that takes shoe boxes packed with some items
like candy, toothbrushes, washcloths, school supplies, toys, etc., and sends them
across seas to children who don't even know what Christmas is!
My family
and I drove an hour to participate in a church potluck (the church was called Brush
Fire Ministries) where they were packing shoe boxes. This church was
located in Bitterwater near King City. We, with a few other families
in our fellowship, caravanned to this church for a “party packing”
day. Their goal was 1000 shoe boxes (last year they did 800)
and they did approximately 1200 shoe boxes this year! It was truly
amazing to participate in this way of blessing others.
On Monday our
family packed our own boxes too. As a family we did 6 boxes, 3 for boys, 3 for girls. I felt
so wonderful knowing that I had helped bless children in other
countries who, some of them didn't even know what love felt like.
Some of these kids live in war-torn countries where their parents have possibly been killed in front of
these children. The stories of what these kids face or faced is so
amazing and touching. As a family we donated online and printed out
labels for our boxes that enable us to get an email saying which
country our boxes went to. This Christmas season “Christmas” has
truly come alive for me. I've realized what Christmas is all about,
giving and not receiving.
