Emmanuel--God With Us

Lots of Operation Christmas Child questions swirl in my head on this Christmas  Eve morning but I'm trying to put them aside for awhile.

I've been staring at the lighted Christmas tree, pondering what it meant for Jesus to become Emmanuel--God with us.

Are you having family problems this Christmas?  --  Jesus knows about that.  His family thought He was insane.

Are you having leadership problems this Christmas?  --  Jesus knows about that.  His team of twelve had a hard time following Him.  They often didn't understand the crucial concepts He tried to teach them and in His hour of greatest need they abandoned Him.

Are you having financial problems this Christmas?  --  Jesus knows about that.  He didn't have worldly wealth, didn't have a home, didn't have a budget for His ministry.  Yet He understood the sufficiency of full dependence on the Father.

He always had enough.

Emmanuel.  Enough.

Incarnation

As we gear up for our big family Christmas celebration this weekend, I know time will fly by over the next few days.  My daughters are coming from New York City, Chicago, and the Pittsburgh area to be home for a short holiday visit.

When they leave the actual days of Christmas will be pretty quiet, I think.  My plan is to spend more time reflecting on the incarnation--God becoming man.

A friend reminded me of a poem I wrote a few years ago.  I can't remember exactly when.  I dug it out and wanted to share it with you.

Incarnation

Just six or seven pounds of baby flesh

Rests whimpering in swaddling clothes this night.

Who could have guessed his wrinkled skin would mesh

Majestic God with frail mankind's plight

Embodied in that tiny God-man there

With pursed lips searching, looking now to feed.

Sufficiency released, He grasps for care

Identifying with our human need.

The voice that first spoke breath into a soul

Now gurgles, swallows with contented sighs.

Almighty, awesome, ageless One still whole

Empties Himself, obediently lies

In human arms, His flesh to ours pressed tight.

Emmanuel--our God with us tonight.

--Kathy Schriefer

Ho, Ho, How?

Tonight we had a meeting of the team that spearheaded our large NWPA Community-Wide Operation Christmas Child Packing Party.

This was the 5th year for our packing party and as we debriefed the event we talked about how each year brings new challenges.  We can make notes about ways to improve for next year and then when next year comes we find out things have changed--different boxes, different items, different volunteers.

So we sat and casually planned a date for next year's party--tentatively October 4, 2014.  We added up the total of boxes packed over the past five years (77,989) and realized that if we pack just 22,011 more we will go over 100,000.

Yet at this point our storage container is nearly empty.  There are some leftover cartons of paddleball games and a few cases of pencils.  Oh, and there are 39 cases of donated paper.

Still, the thought of collecting enough items for 22,011 boxes sounds a bit daunting.  As we looked back over the last five years tonight we saw the changes and the challenges but we focused on the one thing we KNOW.

The only thing we know is that our omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God NEVER changes.  He is always good, always faithful, always enough.

He has the next 22,011 boxes already packed.  He knows how.

13 for More Than Luck

Last week was quite a ride!  We had our Operation Christmas Child celebration on Monday night at Chick-fil-A but our total was only tentative.  As I related in my previous blog we left there on Monday to go receive more boxes at the collection center.

As I was doing my Bible reading on Tuesday morning I began to think about the fact that the truck wasn't pulled yet and that some boxes were still being delivered from an outlying relay center that morning.  Then I thought about some extra shoe box items that had just been donated.  Then I decided to get up and try to fill some more boxes.

I had a half hour before I had to leave for school so I had to move quickly.  I started with 9 boxes and then decided to do 4 more.  And, of course, I had just enough of everything.  Every item I had was used to pack into those boxes.

This year, more than any I can remember in recent history, I feel like I "left it all on the field" when it came to packing boxes.   Every box that could have been made by Tuesday morning was made.  We have lots of paddleball games and pencils left in the container but that's about it, and for that I'm grateful.

I dropped those 13 boxes outside the collection center on my way to work on Tuesday morning.  One of those "drop and run" folks you hate.

It was Wednesday before I got our final total this week.  And the final total is--

47,604

We prayed all year for 45,000 and God gave us 47,604.  Just because He can.  This is 7,228 more than last year and a 17.5% increase.

I had some family obligations this year that kept me from giving OCC my full attention.  I don't know if I did all I could have or should have this year in leading our team.

But this I know.  

God is good.  God answers prayer.  God can use us in spite of ourselves.

No luck needed.

An OCC Thanksgiving Story

Last Monday evening our Operation Christmas Child area team met at Chick-fil-A to celebrate the end of National Collection Week.  Little did we know, but God had more boxes to add to that collection.  Before I even got a chance to order my chicken sandwich my phone rang.  It was Cindy, our relay center coordinator in Conneaut Lake, calling to tell me they'd received another load of boxes.  We agreed it was a good problem to have.

After conferring with Seph, our Erie collection center coordinator, it was decided that Cindy and her husband, John, would drive the boxes to Erie and we'd meet her at the collection center at 8:00 PM.

Cindy and John arrived right on time and opened the back of their vehicle.  It was full of stacked GO boxes.  As we started to unload, they told us the story behind them.

That evening they were only scheduled to collect boxes from 5-6 PM, and since they'd already delivered their main load of boxes to the collection center, they were actually hoping for no more than a few stragglers.

Imagine their surprise when a woman arrived with her two daughters and a vehicle full of boxes.  Cindy and John asked her what church the boxes were coming from and the woman explained that these were personal boxes from their family.

She went on to say that they don't have an actual house to live in right now.  They are living in the "milking house" attached to the goat barn.  They had two goats and God blessed them and multiplied their 'herd' (is that what you call a group of goats?) to a total of 53.  Because they'd experienced God's blessing they wanted to give back by packing all 188 of these boxes themselves to bless children around the world.

I'm not farm savvy, but John explained to me that a milking house doesn't have heat and that this family obviously has many needs of their own.   John was so touched and amazed by their gift and said, "This makes it all worthwhile."

I'd say that family knows how to be thankful, wouldn't you?  And their gratitude is being passed along to change the lives of children around the world.

Those children will then be filled with gratitude.  And the gift of thanksgiving goes on....

And the Number Was? Is?...

What a crazy day of Operation Christmas Child blessings.  I haven't really been keeping a running tally of our shoe box numbers and though I knew our numbers were up at our collection centers I wasn't sure how close we were to the goal of 45,000 boxes we've been praying for all year.

I got a text late this morning with an update from our Erie Collection Center with good numbers but still hadn't heard from the Warren Collection Center.

Then I got distracted with a couple of live lice I found in someone's head and kind of forgot about shoe boxes for an hour or so.

But near the end of my work day the call came from Warren and I did a little rejoicing there in my school nurse's office as I knew God had answered our prayers.

I went home and was ready to make posters to announce the total at our Chick-fil-A celebration when I got a call that more boxes were on the way to the collection center.  Another call confirmed that 298 boxes were added to the total so I made the posters, went to Chick-fil-A, ate a great meal (including the free yummy cookies CFA blessed us with) and then, according to our tradition, opened the folders showing the last digit first (9), then the fourth digit (6), then the third (2)----and then after the count of three--revealed the first and second digits (4) and (7)

But that's not all---

A call came in while were were at Chick-fil-A that one of our relay centers just received another load of boxes.  They were nearly an hour away and had already dropped off all their boxes and cartons. But they graciously drove the boxes to Erie.

Our Erie collection coordinator, Seph, and my husband and I left CFA and headed back to the collection center.  When Cindy and John Catlin came with the load of boxes they were nice enough to stay to help us cartonize them and get them on the truck--all 226 of them.

So the revised total now stands at--

47, 495

And the truck hasn't left yet.

WOW!  We stand amazed!

OTRA & LOPP

OTRA--On the road again--this morning.  I should have left my house earlier, but there were a few morning chores to accomplish.

First I had to hit the grocery store and do some coupon shopping to net me enough gas points for 30 gallons of free gas.  Then I put gas in the car, lugged the 3 extra 5-gallon cans of gas home and to the garage, and headed out to visit Operation Christmas Child relay centers (after putting all the extra GO boxes I had in my car.)

On the way I stopped at Staples to use a coupon to get a deal on toilet paper (you might think that wasn't necessary, but, yes, it was) and then at our storage container where I loaded left over shoe box items into my minivan.  My plan was to take those items to the relay centers so they could pack extra boxes.

I was surprised, though, to find that the relay centers had all their boxes done and in cartons and one had them all loaded into their truck already.  No one needed GO boxes or leftover items.

So after my little 60 mile jaunt I headed to our collection center in Erie to help unload a truck coming in from our relay center in Meadville.  Well, I didn't actually help unload--I just wrote numbers on cartons in the truck while I watched the snow fall.

At 1:30 I headed home with a plan to have a private LOPP (Left Over Packing Party) because I didn't want to haul all that extra stuff back to the storage container.

My faithful OCC team member, Pam Niedhammer, called to give a report on the relay centers she visited and offered to come join the impromptu packing party.  She even brought her own extra items.

So we started packing with no real plan except to make as many boxes as we could.  We kept folding boxes and circling them on my table and filling and labeling and stacking...and before we knew it several hours had passed and we had 60 boxes finished.

When Pam left I kept packing--determined to make every box I possibly could. I took a break to carve the turkey I roasted and throw a frozen pumpkin pie in the oven.

The count right now stands at 121 for this LOPP but I think I might be able to make more in the morning before the day cranks into full gear and I get OTRA.

It's scary when I realize there are so few hours left in National Collection Week.

Because the time is short...and so many children are waiting.

....ps--as of 2:00 am on 11/24--final count at 139 boxes with every possible box made...every stuffed animal and clothing item used.