Look at these children!
Are they happy or what??!
WHY???
Because they each received one of these:

A Christmas Shoebox from the Operation Christmas Child ministry of Samaritan's Purse, a ministry of the Billy Graham Association.

Our church, Grace Fellowship, has a new goal this holiday season.
It is to send out 2,000 Shoeboxes. Last year (our pastor reported last Sunday) we sent out 1600. Now, before you wonder how in the world a church in a suburb of the Capital Region of NYS can send so many, please keep in mind that we have over 700 members in the church and about 2100 people who regularly attend the 3 services. PLUS, on December 7, our new satellite church will be opening its doors in a town a few miles north of here. So....it is not that difficult to get people to fill shoeboxes. Our pastor expects it. The children love it!

So....to help with the church's goal, my family decided to take one box per person this year rather than just our normal two.
My children have been rather spoiled at Christmas. As we have become more and more immersed in our church community, we have learned to scale down our own gifts to each other so we can reach out to families/children who have far less than we do.

This has been a great experience for our kids.
I put less in their stockings now so we can spend more on others. I need my daughters to really understand that gifts at Christmas is an expression of love and that the amount does not matter. God sent us just One Gift...but...it was the Greatest Gift of all....His own Son, Jesus.
My kids get that.
What they don't often get is that money does not just fall from the sky.
That children in other countries just eat once a day, if that.
That Christmas is celebrated in other places, not just America, Canada and Europe.
That in those other countries, on those other continents, there are other religions besides Christianity....that there are lost people. They know it. But they don't often "get it".

So....once again, we are taking today to shop for girls who are most likely much needier than my own children. Needier in all ways: physically, academically/educationally, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.
And we are trusting the Lord that the boxes we pack will be sent to just the right child.

We pray for the Samaritan's Purse workers who will be presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ in those childrens' cultures and languages.

And I personally pray that this year, my children will truly see that they are blessed more than they could ever imagine and that one of their purposes is to spread the Light of Jesus around the world. Even if it means giving up some of their own new "stuff" in order to fill up a box for a child their age.

It's just a shoebox.
But.....it means much to a child who receives it.....


What about you and your church??

Will you be participating in Operation Christmas Child this year??

If you have never done this as a family, or as a church, think and pray about doing it this year. Do it soon as boxes need to be shipped by end of November!

For more info head over to the Billy Graham Association website. You can reach it via my sidebar under the heading Informative Websites.

Around our house.....time to get ready for some Christmas shopping!