Making Space

 

Does anyone else feel like life involves constantly making space? In a spiritual sense I've been struggling lately to move out sinful attitudes and bitterness to make space to love others and abide in Jesus. It's a never-ending battle I've been fighting all my life. Even with the Holy Spirit working in me I can never seem to make space the way I should. I'm so glad Paul wrote in Romans 7:15 "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." It gives me hope to hear him say he struggled too.

And in a packing party sense we were making space today in our storage container. We know we have to use every square centimeter of that space as wisely as possible so today five of us worked to get the things we know we won't need until later to the back end of the container and the things we may need sooner to the front. After two hours it looks so much better, we have a schematic in hand to remind us of what is where, and I feel relief. 

Back in the days when we did one large packing party and unloaded the container all at the same time it didn't make so much difference. Now, though, we're pretty sure we're doing a week of packing in August and another week in September so we don't want to have to unload it all and repack it. The fact that our storage is miles away from our anticipated packing venue makes it even trickier. 

Speaking of venue, we finally got our shipping window dates so we can begin to make plans. It doesn't help that we got those right before Easter when it's tough to make any connections with church staff, but we had a team meeting yesterday and made some decisions so today I'm going to craft emails and try to get some meetings set up. 

The main reason we had to get that storage unit ready for service is that God gave us favor and allowed us to make that large order of tens of thousands of shoebox items (probably 36 pallets of them) at great prices. We're not home yet. We still need to pray in another 10,000 stuffed animals and some other fillers but we have many of the basic items. It's possible we could fill four trucks IF we get a venue and can recruit enough volunteers to pack. 

Meanwhile, I'm still praying God will help me make space to store what I need to store and clean out what I need to clean out--both physically and spiritually. Neverending effort for sure. 

Working It Out

There are still so many questions that need to be worked out about this year's shoebox packing and so many decisions that can't even be made. We're waiting to hear from Operation Christmas Child about the directives for this year and the shipping windows. We're waiting to hear from a major supplier about whether items we want to order are available at a price we can afford. We're doing a lot of waiting.

But while we're waiting God is blessing us in increments we can handle. Last week it was the paper donation. Then yesterday I picked up a donation of new tote bags to include in our boxes. Yesterday I spent some time working on rolling them and securing them with rubber bands.

Working. I think of all the ways over the years God has worked to get the prep work done for our shoebox packing. Back in the early years we did it ALL in one Saturday event. We didn't fold boxes ahead of time. We didn't make up paper packets ahead of time. We didn't bag crayons ahead of time. Looking back, it seems crazy. But somehow it worked! We had hundreds of volunteers and we used most of the church building. In one room young Girl Scouts joined with older volunteers to count out and staple paper. In another room volunteers bagged crayons. And all over the church--even on the stage in the worship center--people were folding boxes. All this while lines of volunteers walked around filling those boxes. 

Somehow, though, we found the wisdom of preparing in advance. I started taking boxes of crayons or paper to different individuals so they could work on them. I spent a lot of time trying to keep track of who had what and driving around town to deliver crayons or paper to people who needed more. Then one year we got a donation of jump rope handles and started making jump ropes. Now I was driving around town delivering jump rope handles and pieces of rope to volunteers who assembled them. I counted out the handles by the hundreds and paired them with equal numbers of rope lengths but there were still always calls that said, "I'm short two jump rope handles." Sigh.

When all that organization and driving around became too much we came up with the idea of having work days throughout the spring and summer. Volunteers would come to the church where we had supplies right there and all would work together to accomplish the paper stapling, crayon bagging, and jump rope making along with other assorted tasks. This worked well for the most part...until...

COVID

We still had a few smaller work days but with masking and social distancing and limited group sizes it became harder to pull these off. Most work days in the last two years involved just our small team working together so much work was still done in homes. 

This brings us to 2022. We no longer have a donor for jump rope handles so we're not assembling ropes. We've found a few highly competent volunteers to fold paper and bag crayons. This assures higher quality and though we're still delivering supplies it's only to a few trusted people. 

Now that pandemic restrictions are lifted some are wondering if we'll go back to having community work days. Our team hasn't made a final decision but the short answer is--probably, no. We no longer have storage at the church where we've packed the boxes all these years and we also don't have access to the area of the church where we held work days and packed boxes before. We could potentially use another area of the church or find another church to host work days, but our storage is now miles away. In order to do a simple task like sorting cups we need to transport the cups to the area where we're having the work day, sort the cups (a task that would probably only take a half hour with 15 people) and then transport all those cartons back to the storage container. Logistically it doesn't make sense. 

So...how will we accomplish these tasks like sorting? I'm not sure yet. Maybe that prep work will be part of the packing week, like it was in the 'old days'. Or maybe a few people from the team will take things home and work on them ahead of time. 

There's a lot we're still just working out. 

Jireh You Are Enough

 So...this blog has been dormant now for over eight months. That's just crazy. For the past few years I've mostly used this blog to help me remember details of past packing parties. That won't help much for 2021 since I didn't even post about those. By God's grace we packed a total of 25,719 boxes between a week in August, 2021 and another week in September, 2021.

In the six months since then we/I have been waffling back and forth about what our packing for 2022 will hold. Compared to the past few years we have very few items in hand to pack for this fall. In 2020 and in 2021 God provided in advance a lot of our major anchor items for the boxes, and that gave us confidence to push ahead despite the challenges of the pandemic. So far, though, we haven't seen that provision in 2022.

Truthfully, 2021 was a struggle with a lot of spiritual battles that put me on the losing side. I unsuccessfully fought wars with envy, fear, irrational anger, and a host of other personal sins that dragged me down and caused dissension and turmoil that has lasted for more than half a year. 

This year we only have about 3/4 of the storage space we had last year. Our storage container next to the church where we hold our packing events had to be moved because of construction and that construction makes it impossible for us to use the space we'd previously used for work days and packing. 

With this trifecta of team issues, lack of storage, and lack of items we've been waffling about how many boxes to even try to pack this year. For me it's been a yo-yo effect. At first I thought we should only try to do one week of packing with two trucks--possibly 10,000 boxes. Our prayer team continued to pray, however, and when I attended our Area Coordinators' Planning Meeting in February we were singing the song "Oceans" and I sensed God telling me we should pack 19,000 boxes in 2022.

The next day we had a team meeting via Zoom and when I told the team about my impressions for packing 19,000 boxes at our packing event I didn't sense much enthusiasm. But we kept praying.

Then a week later I found a possible lead on a large quantity of anchor items that would allow us to come closer to packing that 19,000 number. Unfortunately, weeks have gone by and I have yet to confirm the availability of those items and whether I can purchase them at a reasonable price.

Maybe I didn't hear God clearly?

Then world events started to unravel with war in Ukraine and I began to fear rising delivery prices and increased costs for items to purchase. Still, we have no confirmation about items or whether we can find additional storage if we need it. 

Last week's sermon was about being obedient to God so we can see Him work. I immediately thought of that goal of 19,000 boxes. Do I/we just need to be obedient? We have almost 20,000 of the basic items but still need those anchor items and fillers. 

Lately I keep listening (and trying to sing along) to the song "Jireh, You are enough...Forever enough. Always enough. More than enough." I believe the truth and the more I sing it the more I am reminded of its truth. Jehovah Jireh, God our provider, is able to provide what we need for 10,000 boxes or 19,000 boxes--enough items, enough volunteers, enough wisdom--for whatever He wants us to pack.

More than enough. 

Opening The Door

 

Four months without a blog post? What has my life come to? Mostly, it's come to a lot of the same old stuff including truck deliveries and moving stuff from one spot to another and watching God answer prayer for our Operation Christmas Child team. Moving stuff around gets old and doesn't seem very blog-worthy but watching God answer prayer is something else and I really should write those answers down more often, if only for my own benefit.

But today I want to talk about something else. I want to reminisce about answered prayer from decades ago that spills over into the 'now'. It may not be a coincidence that this morning's sermon talked about discipling the next generation. 

This sermon came just days after a little reunion that took place at a local restaurant on Wednesday night. We were blessed to have dinner with three couples and one spouse in each of those couples was part of the senior high youth group Jim and I 'led' (I use that term loosely here) during the first years of our marriage. 

Let me just say that first year of marriage was one of the hardest, if not THE hardest, years of my life. Married just nine days after my college graduation at age 21, I struggled to get my bearings as a wife. As a couple. And I struggled in my new job as a floor nurse on an orthopedic/neurosurgery floor at a local hospital. I felt ill equipped, constantly failing, and perpetually exhausted.

And into my mess came a gaggle of teenagers. They were only 4-6 years younger than I. I had no wisdom for them. I was spiritually drier than I've ever been for most of that year. But God opened a door. 

Jim and I rented a little home (which, by the way, we still live in 47 years later.) Did I mention it was little? But those kids didn't care. They just wanted a place to get together and enjoy each other's company. Many days or nights there were spontaneous knocks on the door. I didn't have the gift of hospitality and I still don't. But those kids didn't care. They didn't care that all I served them were bags of potato chips and commercially made french onion dip. More often than not that dip got ground into our beautiful '70s orange carpet.

They just kept knocking. 

I was spiritually dry. And empty. And woefully lacking in maturity and wisdom. And as non-Martha-Stewart as the day is long. 

But I kept opening the door. And they kept building community.

Fast forward to this Wednesday night in the restaurant. Those kids are now all retirement age but they shared how much those few short years meant in their lives. Their memories of the retreats we attended together and the pranks they pulled and the joy of community are vivid and remembered with fondness. They talked about churches they attend and ministries they are part of and the lives they've lived in the grace of God. Not perfectly, but still filled with grace. And, really, that's what discipling involves--sharing together in His grace. 

A few decades later I did a stint of thirteen years of teaching Sunday school to middle schoolers. I hope there was some discipling going on there also. And how do you ever really measure the effect of teaching the word of God to kids who are so embroiled in adolescent angst that they can barely even listen? 

You don't. But you just keep showing up and opening the door to God's word. You listen. You pray. And you hope that someday maybe one of those verses you paid them to memorize (yes, I PAID them) will make a difference when they need it. 

One of those former students became a successful youth leader in a large church. And two of them became drag queens. I'm not sure about each of them but God knows. 

And He keeps opening the door. 

God meets our needs in strange ways, too. God meets our needs--for me, for you.

I regularly pray God will meet every financial need of Samaritan's Purse and that no ministry will be left undone for lack of funds. This fervent prayer comes partly from my angst about not seeing the $9 shipping donation for every box we pack at our large Operations Christmas Child packing parties. Last year, for example, we packed 22,697 boxes. The full shipping donation for those would be $204,273. But we didn't see that full contribution. Instead, as far as I know, we had about $11,500 donated for shipping. 

Not. Nearly. Enough.

I also regularly pray for God to tell us clearly if He wants us to scale back and pack fewer boxes (say maybe 3000) so we can send the entire shipping donation. Somehow, though, He keeps providing all these items and we just keep packing. 

Still, I pray both these prayers over and over and over.

I try to think of every way possible to get more funds for shipping these boxes. I've sold things at consignment stores. My husband and I give all we can on a monthly basis. I've done an online fundraiser through Samaritan's Purse each year that has raised as much as $1000 but, truthfully, most of my social media contacts are people who already pack shoeboxes themselves.

Back in the late 1990s when eBay was pretty new I sold items there that I found at yard sales--mostly books and vintage toys. And I did pretty well with all proceeds going to various mission projects. But then eBay became flooded with so many items and fees were charged for listing items each week. If the items didn't sell you could actually lose money.

Over the past few years of yard sale trips I collected some things I thought might earn some money, and when I cleaned out my spare room after the holidays I decided it was time to try again on eBay. To my excitement I found proceeds of my sales on eBay could go directly to Samaritan's Purse and, if they did, I wouldn't have to pay eBay fees. I also discovered eBay now only charges the fee when the item sells (probably had to do that to compete with Facebook marketplace and other platforms.) It was also easier to list the items than it used to be.

In the past two months I sold about 20 items and Samaritan's Purse will receive a donation of  $1200. It doesn't seem like much compared to $204,273, and it goes into Samaritan's Purse's general fund. But I am pretending it's a way to help with shipping. 

The thing is--I pretty much depleted my stock of anything salable. Only a few items remain that I keep trying to sell.

Fast forward to this week when I heard about several Dr. Seuss books being removed from publication. That led me to pull down the attic staircase and trudge up into that cold storage to check the two boxes of children's books that are left there. These are the ones my daughters didn't want for our grandchildren--the really old and beat up ones. I have a terrible time parting with old books or these would be gone too.

One copy paper box held old Dr. Seuss books. These are ones I bought at yard sales--probably for no more than .25 each--decades ago when my kids were small. And, voila!--I found two of those now out-of-print books--"If I Ran The Zoo" and "To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street."

So I listed them on eBay. One of the auctions was shut down pretty quickly for "objectionable material" so I relisted it. Later that afternoon I heard about the title of another book "McElligot's Pool". Another search in the attic and I found that one and listed it, too. Trouble is, I made a misspelling in the title and added an extra 't'--spelling it "McElligott's Pool" and eBay would not let me change the title in the listing. This makes it more difficult for people to find it in a search. I was so upset with myself! 

By that night (well, actually, 3:00 am the next morning since I couldn't sleep and kept checking it) the auction on "If I Ran The Zoo" was up to $510! And "...Mulberry Street" was up to $85...while the misspelled "McElligot's Pool" actually had some bids and was up to $81! 

I grabbed a few hours of sleep and when I woke at 8:00 am I had emails telling me the first two auctions had been taken down for "objectionable material". Now I had a dilemma. Should I try relisting them? I decided to relist them at a lower fixed price instead of an auction, hoping they would sell before the listings could be removed. And, success--"If I Ran The Zoo" sold for $150 and "...Mulberry Street" for $69.99 immediately. I've been kicking myself since then thinking I should have asked a higher price but I just wanted them to be sold quickly without auctions being removed. 

The auction for the last book kept going. I think maybe that misspelling was providential. It was more difficult for buyers to find the book but also more difficult for eBay 'checkers' to find. 

I just finished watching the bidding play out to the final second...AND the winning bid was $190.50. Thank you, Lord, for that misspelling error, my failure to purge the attic of all those old books, and a well-timed Dr. Seuss craze. Now, if only I'd tried to put the other two books at a higher price...

Still, that's $410.49 for shipping I didn't have last week. 

God meets our needs in strange ways, too. God meets our needs--for me, for you!

What I Learned from the Peppa Pig Play House

 

Originally Written: November, 2020 

This might be long but God has taught me a lot in the past few days through this crazy toy. It started on Wednesday when I got an email giving me the age and gift desires for a 2-year-old foster child to 'adopt' for Christmas (NOT the child, just the gifts!) 

I was SO excited to read she wanted the Peppa Pig Fancy Family Home because I just happened to know it was 50% off (only 29.99) at Target AND I had a $40 coupon to use there. I reasoned I could get nice gifts for this child and spend virtually nothing. (Not a very giving attitude, as God was to convict me later) The thing was--the toy was OUT OF STOCK at Target. No matter how often I checked, it was out of stock. 

So...I did more shopping (I shop like hunters hunt) and got a less spectacular more babyish Peppa Pig model at Kohl's and spent my $40 coupon getting this child other gifts at Target. But God wouldn't let me stop thinking about that Peppa Pig house. I found a similar one at Walmart for $55.50 (almost twice as much) and God kept telling me to be generous and get this child what she wanted. So I ordered it on Thursday.

BUT I couldn't stop looking and on Friday I found a more spectacular one with 5 Peppa figures instead of 3 for a one-day sale on Amazon. It was regularly 79.99 but reduced for ONE DAY to $55.99. It seemed nicer than the Walmart one and that's what returns are for. So I ordered that one, too. This morning I was thanking God for revealing my miserly tendencies and helping me invest more than I wanted to invest in that toy. BUT I couldn't stop looking. This morning I just had to check the Target site once more and it showed they had 'limited quantities' of the $29.99 toy at Target in Erie. Well, I buzzed up there and there were TWO on the shelf. I nearly bought them both, but I restrained myself and bought one. 

So...now I have one Peppa Pig Fancy Family Home and TWO MORE (plus another model) on the way to me. Wouldn't it be funny if I ended up keeping the most expensive one after all? Meanwhile, God has taught me that I might need to open up my fists once in a while and buy something at regular price for a good cause. He's revealed some pockets of greed and dissatisfaction I didn't want to see. And He helped me buy a lot more gifts for this little peanut than I'd originally planned. Not a bad return for 4 days of shopping. And, hey, if I keep the $29.99 one I will have saved enough to pack another Operation Christmas Child shoebox online. You can pack one, too, at https://build-a-shoebox.samaritanspurse.org

2020 Peculiar Pandemic Packing...All This Abundance...

 

"All this abundance that we have provided for building...comes from your hand and is all your own." 1 Chronicles 29:16

I'm not sure 2020 will be known in most circles as a year of abundance but it certainly has been that for our Operation Christmas Child team here in Northwestern PA.

By God's grace He provided almost all the items we needed to pack 22,000 boxes before the pandemic hit. Had it not been for that it might have been easy to say we'd skip our large shoebox packing party for 2020--our 12th year. But with God's provision so evident we KNEW (and kept reminding one another) that He wanted these boxes to be packed.

It was that assurance that kept us going despite roadblocks along the way. We lost our storage space and had to move most of our items with just a few weeks' notice. On the day we met with the church pastor to confirm plans for our September packing party the governor of PA limited indoor gatherings to no more than 25 people. We knew then we'd have to shift gears to make this packing party happen.

But God went before us to open new doors and happen it did! Granted, we could only have fewer than 25 people practicing social distancing to pack. Only 5-10 people packed at a time at individual stations while others folded boxes, stocked items, or dealt with the mountains of cardboard. 

We packed one truck in August with a total of 5499 boxes in 3 days and today we finished filling 3 more trucks with another 17,198 boxes and it only took us 5 days this time!

As I look back over my journal at prayer requests through these past months I see how God answered us so clearly step by step. We prayed about items to purchase last October and November and God gave us direction. We prayed about a source for balls and whether to even purchase them and God answered (we bought all the wholesaler had so don't even ask me where we got them--lol.)

We prayed over deliveries and trucks and volunteers and God provided in every way at just the right times. 

We hated not being able to involve the whole community this year but we still prayed to make an impact in the lives of people on "this side of the box." And wouldn't you know it--on one night of packing a sweet woman wandered in looking for Celebrate Recovery. It's no longer held at the church but God provided another volunteer there who was packing (the only few hours she was there this week) who was able to offer support to this woman as they packed boxes and promised to take her to a meeting. I'm telling you--pandemic or not--God is ALWAYS up to something! 

Packing was easier and quicker than we imagined possible with so few people. And today, before noon, Donna folded the LAST box. 

After all these months, we filled the last box that was sent. I even found one extra at home from 2 years ago and we filled that one, too.

Since we cleaned each day as we went it was a breeze to get everything stored back in our container. We even had the time and energy for the core packing party team to debrief a bit and celebrate. Something that usually has to wait for a few weeks until we recover.

With this our 12th year of packing parties we just crossed the quarter million mark. This makes a total of 256,126 gospel opportunities packed in a dozen years. 

Our theme verse for this 2020 Peculiar Pandemic Packing Party was from Nehemiah 2:18 "Rise up and build!" It's no coincidence I'm sure that my morning Bible reading was in 1 Chronicles 29--David's prayer as he prepared for his son to build a temple to the Lord. Verse 16 reads "O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own." 

I was able to read that with my team today as we thanked God for His provision for every step and for every box. Great is His faithfulness!