So a group from my church went down to Denver last week. It wasn't to go skiing or snowboarding, but it was to go to the Operation Christmas Child processing center. I have never done it before and I wanted to so when I heard a group were planning on going I jumped right into it. I only did two days of processing the Christmas shoe boxes people sent in to be sent out. All the ones we did in Denver were going to Mexico and if any were left to places in Central America. At that site alone they had 800,000 boxes to sort through and were doing about 50,000 a day (most of the time way more then 50,000). In the end I loved it and wanted to do more days. I also want to come back next year and might even make it a family tradition once I have kids (13 and over).
Why do I like it so much?
Well I always make a shoe box and pray over it and know God is going to give that gift to a child who needs it and also a Gospel message of the greatest gift...Jesus and the salvation He gives from the death on the cross! What more do you need to be excited about it?
Well I went to Denver not knowing really what to expect and the job I did the most was the "Heavy Lifter." You guessed it...I lifted heavy boxes :) But it was so much more than that...I got to pray over every full box I lifted up and sent on it's way to Mexico. I got to see the cool stuff people were sending to these kids and in my mind the joy the kids will have opening the box. I got to share the joy in finally packing 23 shoe boxes in a box (that is the most you can pack in a box).
But what really made the trip were the stories I heard from different people. I heard stories from people who went and delivered boxes to kids. I heard stories from people who have volunteered for 10 years. I even got to hear a story from a women who got a shoe box when she was an orphan in Russia. That was a tear-jerker story..
Her name is Tatyana and at her orphanage she had no hope there. The girls there didn't expect much coming out of the orphanage. They would most likely end up on the streets or as a prostitute. On top of that crazy future the girls would get one shower a month with no soap and had 1 toothbrush to share with 30 others. Just let that sink in...I wouldn't share with one other person but they did it with 30!!!! So yeah no hope...then one year her orphanage got the shoe boxes. Her favorite items from the box she got were: 1. Candy of course. 2. Bar of Soap 3. Her very own tooth brush 4. A slinky. One of her favorite things was a slinky!!!! Her reason was that they didn't have a lot of color around them and this slinky was so colorful! For just a little moment she experienced Hope in a time where there was no hope!
What a thought, but that is like our Christian lives. We have no hope in this world or in our future without the person who gives us hope, Christ. If it wasn't for His greatest gift to die on the cross for you and me. If it wasn't for this free gift of salvation then what hope would I have in a hopeless world. But I do know the Father and I have hope in God and what He has planned for me. I have experienced True Hope in a time/place that there is no hope!
So this Christmas season remember the great Hope we have in the birth of Jesus. Also as you give gifts think about the kids that will be receiving the Operation Christmas Child gifts and pray that they will receive the true Hope we find in Christ!
