The Biggest Loser

One of the biggest struggles I face is trying to decide when and what to buy for our Operation Christmas Child boxes.  This week I knew it was time to start stocking up on soap and toothpaste for our boxes.  If I order 10 cases (5000 bars) of soap every month from now until September I'll have enough.  Last year I waited for some great deal that never came and when I tried to order 30 cases in September I almost couldn't get enough.

So on Tuesday I placed an order for the 10 cases of soap and a case of small tubes of toothpaste to see what they look like.  I'd love to put a large tube in each box and I have 3000 larger tubes already, but I have my doubts that I'll get 20,000 of them by September.

I'm never sure how the finances will work out when I make these orders but today God provided in a neat way.  I found out I won the Biggest Loser contest my coworkers and I have had for the past 16 weeks.   We each contributed $30 at the start of the contest and by losing the highest percentage of weight, I won.

When the winnings were added to a generous contribution from a woman who loves to support our packing party, it's nearly enough to pay for this first load of soap.

That got me thinking about how in God's economy winning is often about losing.  Today in Matthew 16:25 I read, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."

God willing, I want to learn to become a really BIG LOSER.