Digging Ditches

Some days the shoebox work for Operation Christmas Child can seem almost like digging ditches. There's a lot of manual labor involved and we joke that we do 'shoebox workouts' as we haul loads of items and sort and stack them into our storage facility. Twice in the past week I loaded 63 cartons of crayons (3024 boxes) into my car at Wal-Mart and then unloaded them again. Today I spent four hours in a hot storage container sorting cartons full of shirts into the proper age and gender groups.

But as I read 2 Kings 3: 17-18 I realized that I want to be digging ditches in another sense, too. "This is what the Lord says: Make this valley full of ditches. For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord"

It is an EASY THING for God to fulfill His promises and I won't even be able to figure out how He does it. He promises to meet my every need for every shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. He just wants me to prepare for His blessings in faith--to do the hard work of digging the ditches to contain those blessings.

So when we scour stores for sales and haul and wrap donated shoeboxes and sort and carry and store all the items we're really just digging ditches to prepare to receive the water of God's blessings.

It's an easy thing for Him to fill those boxes with blessings. We just have to dig the ditches to get them ready.

Truly Trusting

I want to learn to truly trust God. Instead of being amazed when God answers prayer, I want to have a grateful nonchalance born of absolute faith that God will keep His word.

But I'm not there yet and so yesterday I was amazed when I was contacted on Facebook by a young woman who knew we were praying for paper for our shoeboxes and called a local printing company to ask for a donation. This company has agreed to supply enough paper for 10,000 boxes! (yes, that exclamation point indicates my lack of absolute faith) God is so good.

I've been praying for 500 stuffed animals each week and last week things were slim. The week before God had provided 1640 in one week but by last Saturday I only had 277 stuffies. I thought it might be the first week that God didn't answer my prayer. But I was surprised (yes, surprised) when I went to church and found a donation of 275 NEW stuffed animals (pictured above). This brought last week's total to 552.

God also answered prayer when I went to Wal-Mart and they allowed me to order a large quantity of crayons. The items are coming in.

I added up shoebox spending a few days ago and found I've already spent almost as much as the total for last year and I still have lots of school supplies to buy, but it didn't worry me. Maybe in some ways God is starting to get His promises more firmly rooted in my too-often-doubting heart.

There's always something to keep trusting God for. Right now I'm trying to figure out what to write for a radio ad for our upcoming packing party. And how to organize volunteers. And how to transport and arrange all the items.

I must have been at the end of the line when God handed out organizational skills so I'm back to trusting. And we know that even our faith comes from God.

So there's nothing to do but trust Him. Truly.

What a Difference a Decade Makes

The other day I was thinking back to the year 2000 and I commented to my husband, "Do you remember how ten years ago I used to lie in the hammock all summer and read books?" He chuckled and nodded, sharing the memory.

Life in the summer was lazy back then. Of course, in the year 2000 I also packed only 300 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. So I guess that's what you get when you spend the summer reading in the backyard.

Now, ten years later, our goal is to pack 12,000 boxes and I spend my days very differently. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss those lazy days but on the other hand there's a lot more meaning to even the mundane sorting and hauling I do now.

I'm amazed at how quickly my emotions can cycle in the midst of these days from high to low, from absolute trust in God's provision to feeling that I'm all alone in all of this.

When I think of the victories of the past, I'm confident that our faithful God will provide all our needs and that I'll come to the worship service on Sunday, September 26th--the day after our giant Operation Christmas Child packing party--with shouts of praise.

But in the meantime I struggle with loneliness in making decisions. Today I've been trying to write up some copy for radio advertising for the packing party and I'm filled with doubts. I don't even know what hours to set for the day of the event. Grace Church is hosting the party but I don't really have a committee to help me there--at least not yet. I know that I'm supposed to be the one who establishes that (insert big sigh here).

But my Operation Christmas Child Northwestern PA Area Team isn't really in charge of the packing party either. I don't feel like I have anyone to come alongside me and help with the organization. I approached two people but neither of them were willing and/or able.

So yesterday my regular Bible reading led me to I Kings 19 where I read the story of God's provision for Elijah when he was depressed following his great victory. An angel tended to Elijah and made sure he was fed and rested. And then God showed Himself to Elijah in a gentle whisper so Elijah would understand that God was with him even when it wasn't so evident.

God was there WITH Elijah in the cave. And then comes my favorite part. In I Kings 19:15-21 God gave Elijah very specific directions of exactly where to go and exactly who to anoint to give him help and protection. God had a plan in place and He made it so, so clear. And then Elisha stepped up to be an amazing apprentice for Elijah. Elisha was so committed he burned all his tools so he couldn't go back to his past occupation. I want that person on my team.

Oh, man, do I want God to give me a plan like that. I'm going to keep listening for His whispers and waiting on His plan and trusting that He'll provide the help I need.

And I'm waiting expectantly to see what 2020 will be like for me if, as we used to say, "the Lord tarries".

The Alexis Challenge

Alexis is seven years old and she loves Operation Christmas Child. She's the grandchild of our pastor, Al Detter, and his wife Marie and last year she worked like a trooper to bag candy for our gift-filled boxes. She was also an enthusiastic volunteer at our huge shoebox packing party and, with her grandmother, she carefully chose the items to fill six boxes of her own.

Touched by the needs of children around the world last year, Alexis wanted to do more to help but "I don't have any money," she said. Then her grandmother suggested that she could save money for the next year. Alexis decided that whatever money she received during the year would go into a special piggy bank to be saved for Operation Christmas Child.

A week or so ago Alexis broke into her piggy bank and they counted her money. Amazed by all her wealth she exclaimed, "I have twenty-eight dollars!" This was a huge sum for Alexis but she was determined to give it all away. With her grandmother she was off to Wal-Mart where she strategically purchased Crayola crayons and spiral bound notebooks on sale to put into shoeboxes.

These may seem like simple gifts, but they will be treasures for the children who receive them. In Uganda, for example, a box of crayons costs the equivalent of $5.00 American--about the same as a weekly wage. Families have to provide their own school supplies for their children to attend school and must often make the hard choice between feeding their families and buying those supplies so they can get an education. Receiving crayons in an Operation Christmas Child shoebox frees up money to buy food.

Lejla Allison who received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox in 1993 in Bosnia tells of using the same notebook over and over again for several years and erasing the writing with a rubber band wrapped around a stick. When she received a notebook in her shoebox she was overjoyed.

These gifts from Alexis are an investment in the Kingdom. She gave everything--just like that little boy gave Jesus his lunch of loaves and fishes--and I believe Jesus is going to multiply her gift and bless thousands in His name.

When's the last time you gave like Alexis? Have you saved strategically to make a sacrifice? Have you dared to open your hand and give it all away?

Take The Alexis Challenge...

They're Praying

A week or so ago I received a letter from a family of 5 children in the country of Jordan who received some of our Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. They wrote, "We'd like to thank you so much for your prayers and gifts. We pray for you, too, may God pay you back all the happiness and peace."

One of the most humbling things about Operation Christmas Child has been receiving letters such as this in which fellow-believers around the world say they are praying for me (us) and for the project here. I think of that often as I wend my way along in Shoebox World.

Today, for example, I was excited to be able to buy 976 pairs of high-quality children's socks in various sizes for only 20 cents per pair. I was also elated about getting two vehicles full of boxes moved from a warehouse to our storage area. God has been blessing us in amazing ways with stuffed animals and our storage container (which should be renamed the ARK) now holds 7,000 of them.

Then, I thought about the thousands of school supplies I still need for our boxes and the doubts swarmed like mayflies in June. Also, I finally got an empty Operation Christmas Child carton and found that no matter how hard I try I can only get 18 of these Crest Spinbrush boxes we're using at the packing party to fit into a carton (as opposed to 22 of the deco boxes that we can't use). My husband and I worked on the puzzle for some time with no better luck.

In the ebb and flow of Shoebox World I need to keep reminding myself of the prayers of the saints around the world being offered on our behalf. I need to keep reminding myself that Jesus Himself is interceding for me, too.

No matter how many roadblocks seem to come up, no matter how big the pile of crayons and notebooks we need to amass, God has a plan and His power is released because....

they're praying!

Ironing Socks

I'm often just plain overwhelmed by my job as a volunteer area coordinator for Operation Christmas Child. I lead a team of volunteers whose mission is to promote the Operation Christmas Child project in the three counties of northwestern PA. The thing about this job is that no matter how much you do there's always more to do. No amount of work, no amount of contacts is ever enough when so many children are waiting to hear that Jesus loves them.

So as I walked and prayed this morning I was reciting to God the list of all the calls that I need to make and all the tasks still undone. And that's when I started thinking about ironing socks.

When I was four years old I got this cute little ironing board and a toy iron. It was 1956 and the safety regulations weren't so stringent so you could plug the toy iron into the wall outlet and it even heated up just a tiny bit. I would set that ironing board up next to my mother's as she ironed so that I could help her. She gave me a very special job--she let me iron the socks. It took me maybe a year before I realized that she never ironed the socks when I wasn't helping; it was a job reserved for me.

As I remembered that this morning I thought about the character of our awesome God. Our omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and eternal God does not need me to complete His work. He's not biting His nails and waiting for me to make these phone calls. He already has it all accomplished, but because He loves me, He invites me to partner with Him. This job that seems so heavy to me at times is really just like ironing socks.

God, you know each of these billions of children who wait to know Your love. You know the number of hairs on each of their heads. You know each one of their thoughts. And You love each of them fully and completely.

You love me, too, God, and You promise to never leave me or forsake me. You promise, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

But because I see in my mind the faces of all those waiting children, today I'm going to get busy and iron the socks.

The Gospel Opportunities According to TY

If you've been following this blog you know I'm on safari for stuffed animals to put into gift-filled shoeboxes to send to needy children through Operation Christmas Child. Last week God answered prayer in amazing ways and provided 1,058 animals. 367 of them were donated and the rest were purchased on my hunting trips through yard sales, rummage sales and thrift stores.

In my travels I find and purchase hundreds of TY Beanie Babies in mint condition with the tags still on them. My price limit is 25 cents for each of them and I can often find them even lower than that. You can tell that lots of them were part of collections. They have custom-made clear plastic devices attached to protect their heart tags so they can retain their value.

They were carefully selected and purchased mostly by persons seeking to make a profit. One acquaintance of mine has a father who, as a businessman, has made a fortune by clever dealings. He encouraged her to collect something that would appreciate in value and she chose to collect Beanies. Well, a decade later, her collection is worth a fraction of what she invested in it. In fact, I'd pay her 25 cents for each of those $5.00 animals she's packed away in containers.

The exciting thing, though, is that while those collectibles didn't live up to their investment potential monetarily, they can still make an investment for eternity. As fillers in Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes they bring hope and the good news of Jesus to children who need to know that they have eternal value.

The Bible warns against "laying up treasure on earth where moth and rust corrupt" and encourages us to "lay up treasure in heaven". I'm still looking for 7,000 more stuffed animals.

If you have a collection of Beanies, are you willing to invest them for an eternal reward?