Body Work-Out

No, this is not a picture of an Operation Christmas Child parade float waiting to happen (although--hmm, it could be.)

This is proof of the Body of Christ at work.

In March I was unsure of whether we should host another large packing party or not.  I had not been finding any deals on items, the storage container was virtually empty, and I, my OCC prayer team, and others were all praying for wisdom.  

I decided to buy this large load of washcloths that were obtained by one of our OCC Regional Area Coordinators, Loretta, from a textile supplier on the other end of our state.  I wrote and mailed her a check, even though I still didn't know for sure if we'd have a packing party and I had no idea how we would transport those items to Erie.  Loretta was the first member of the body in this link.

In April we decided to go ahead with the packing party and God began to open doors for us to purchase more items.  Loretta found a supplier for pencils and, on faith, I asked her to order some for us.  Still, I had no idea how to get those washcloths (and now pencils) transported.  But our prayer team and other members of the body, linked in prayer for this.

Months went by as we prayed.  Then about a month ago a young man in our church decided to start a Facebook group to encourage people to share their needs and live out the idea of "holding all things in common."  Another link from another member of the body.

Most of these people were not in my social circle or my social media circle.
I posted on this Facebook group my need for getting these items transported and  pretty quickly I had a reply from a couple who volunteered to drive to get these items.  Yes--another link.  And they asked and received permission to borrow a trailer from other church members--another link.

Last Thursday Don Sweatman went to pick up the items from Loretta and Loretta secured some volunteers--more links from the body--to help load the trailer.

Another plea on the Facebook group and some asks at church brought still more links of members of the body of Christ who came to unload that trailer and store those items in our storage container.

In less than two months these bundles of washcloths and boxes of pencils will be unloaded by still more body members and then packed into boxes by still others.

Eventually, members of the body of Christ in other countries will hand the boxes containing these washcloths and pencils to children to tell them of the love of Jesus.

When the children wash with those washcloths and write with those pencils they  will probably never know the Body Work-Out it took to bring these gifts to them.

But God will.  And He will be saying, "That's how it's supposed to work.  Well done."