God-Growth

You shouldn't spend too much time looking in the rearview mirror but sometimes reflecting on the past can be just what you need.  It helps to see those "memorial stones" in the past so we can see how far God has brought us.

A few days ago one of my long-standing Operation Christmas Child area team members posted as her Facebook status an excerpt from an e-mail I sent to the team at the end of Operation Christmas Child National Collection Week in 2007 about the number of gift-filled shoeboxes we packed that year..

"The GRAND TOTAL is ........... 4,753 !!!!!!!!!!!! (4,665 were packed by us as a team and 88 were brought in by others) The 4,665 we packed is a 150% increase over last year's total of 3,100. Who could have imagined that when we finished last year?

Isn't God AWESOME?!?!?!? 

I looked back to my journal entries in July when I was wondering if we'd make it to 4,000. We're just along for the ride as we watch what God does every year."

So here we are 5 years down the road and we're trusting God to allow us to pack 20,000 boxes in a two-day packing party just 22 days from now.  When I think of all the hours our team has spent over those past 5 years to get to this point....well, I guess it makes sense that weariness is creeping in. Seeing God do what only He can do is exhilarating but it doesn't negate the work involved.  So if God wants us to continue on this mega-box journey I'm asking Him to send more folks to come alongside us--folks with strong backs and full pockets and passionate praying hearts.
  
If you want to know more about our packing party here in Erie, PA, join our Facebook page at "Operation Christmas Child NWPA".  Wherever you are, we need your prayers.

Because at the end of the day, at the end of the 2012 National Collection Week, there will always be millions of children waiting to know God's love.

Lord, help us remember why we've held on so long.