This picture is from one of our earliest packing parties--2009 or 2010. Life was different then in many ways. 2020 is not the same as 2010. This I know.
But God is the same in 2020 as He was in 2010. The God who provided miraculously for us then can do the same for us now. This I know.
In 2010 a whole community of hundreds of people came together to pack 12,670 boxes resulting in many blessings. In 2020 a whole community of hundreds of people cannot come together to pack our goal of 22,000 Operation Christmas Child boxes. This I know.
Our gracious God provided almost all the items we need to pack 22,000 shoeboxes before this pandemic hit. It was an 'unprecedented' (can I say I have grown to hate that word) gift from a God who loves children around the world and wants them to know He loves them. This I know.
I need to concentrate on what I know because there is so much I don't know right now. We have been praying for months about how to get these boxes packed this year. A few months ago we thought we had a contingency plan that would allow us to pack one truck of boxes in August, two trucks in September, and one in October--but we couldn't get permission to use the church facility for extra days.
Yesterday Pam and Patti from our team met with Pastor Scott to get guidelines for how our packing party could be executed this year, based on our county staying in the "green zone" which would allow a group of 250 socially distanced persons in the building with masks, gloves, and frequent sanitizing.
Not more than two hours after that meeting Governor Wolf announced the following:
Events and gatherings must adhere to these gathering limitations:
- Indoor events and gatherings of more than 25 persons are prohibited.
So...we are back to working out a plan that involves no more than 25 people packing boxes at one time. We need to revisit the possibility of using just our team and a very few others to pack these boxes over several different weeks.
How will this work? I don't know.
We are going to pray about it and ask you to join us and we are going to expect God to answer in ways we can't begin to imagine.
Because our omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God is not surprised by any of this. He has a plan and will lead us step by step. Or, in my case, may be dragging me by the scruff of my neck as I, his stupid sheep, prefer to sit baaaaaing in the mud. Despite everything He loves me. And this I know.
