Persistent Perseverance

If there's one thing it takes to make it in this Operation Christmas Child journey it is perseverance.  And if that is granted genetically, I'm going to be blessed.

Yesterday I watched my mother, who will turn 100 years old in just 146 more days, work on a jigsaw puzzle.  We started at 1:00 pm and, except for two bathroom and meal breaks, she worked continuously until after 10:00 pm.  I, of course, took some moments to check my phone or walk around the house.

But not Mom.  No breaks for her.

If puzzle working is indicative of persistence in general, then I have persistence to a point.  But I also like success.  When I get stuck on a certain section and can't get ahead I'll move on to another area where I can hopefully get some pieces in and achieve some progress.

But not Mom.  She is tenacious.

She worked on the hardest section--the part of the puzzle that was all green.  And she stared and she picked up pieces and she tried and she tried--I swear she tried every single green piece to fit in that one spot.  And then she tried them all again.

"Don't you want to try something else?"  I suggested.  "Here, maybe you could work on putting together the bridge."

"No," Mom answered,  "I'm going to find this one.  I know it's here somewhere."

And, eventually, she found it.

I have been praying for several years for ministry coordinators for my Operation Christmas Child team--especially a Network Coordinator to manage the relay and collection centers and a Community Relations Coordinator to lead a team to develop the ministry with community groups.

These are key roles and having the right people in these positions could revolutionize our team's impact.

I can't honestly say that I've been that persistent in finding those missing pieces for my team.  I'd rather get sidetracked with something that gives more immediate success--like a giant shoebox packing party.

By God's grace, though, I want to have Mom's persistent perseverance.  I want to think about what qualities those candidates need and pray specifically for God to bring the right Spirit-filled people to our team.

Instead of rushing around to do the work that these prospective candidates would be doing, I want to pray with 'importunity'--a good old King James Bible word for persistence--that God will fill these positions.

I'm going to take my inspiration from my tenacious, long-living mother.  I'm going to keep asking and seeking and knocking....

Until God brings me those missing pieces.

The Worst 20 Minutes

Today I experienced the worst 20 minutes I've had in a very long time.

This morning I was at one of my private schools and my colleague from my main public school called and told me the principal wanted me to "come over here right away."  I asked if she knew what he wanted and she answered with a short, "No."  I scurried to get my coat and leave.

And on the 20 minute drive to my main school, all I could do was speculate on why my principal would summon me.  I knew it couldn't be for a student's medical need because my staff nurse was there.  All I could imagine was that there was some awful parent complaint or that I made some grave error in judgment.

Lest you think I am insanely paranoid, I should tell you what happened in our family 19 years ago.  My husband was suspended from his teaching job (in the district where I also work) because of false accusations from students who were failing his class.  He was eventually cleared of all charges after a one-year legal battle.

I lost my innocence through that experience and I learned that a normal day can turn very bad, even when you've done nothing wrong.

So as I drove this morning I imagined parent accusations.  I imagined that maybe someone had complained about our Operation Christmas Child stuffed animal collection.  I imagined that I was being reprimanded for sharing with another colleague something very stupid that a parent said in a meeting.

I put in my Matt Redman CD and listened to "Never once did we ever walk alone..." over and over as I prayed.

By the time I got to school I was a wreck.  I rushed into the building and the school secretary said, "They need you in the library."  The library?

I rounded the corner into the library where a faculty meeting was in progress.  I still waited for the other shoe to drop.  When would I learn of the crisis?

I sat down and the principal announced that they were honoring me with a cake because of an award I am receiving.

Really?  I'm too old for this.

I started to cry because I'd just endured the worst 20 minutes I've had in a very long time.

Cents-ible Provision

God comes up with the most fun ways of providing for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  Here's one of the latest in my world.

Our largest household expense is gasoline for our vehicles.  I drive a minivan that gets poor gas mileage but I use it constantly to haul things for shoeboxes so I feel it's worth the extra cost.

It's interesting, though, to see how God has been providing most of our gasoline over the past two years through purchasing items at our local grocery store with coupons.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may remember that God blessed us last September with a great deal on flexible cover notebooks from Target.

Many of them had a page of coupons in the front, and my husband thought I was crazy for taking the time to pull that coupon sheet out of each notebook.  I ended up with a pile of several hundred of them.  One of the coupons on that sheet was good for 75 cents off on any box of Puffs tissues.

Last November that made for a great deal on gasoline points.  By doubling the coupons I was able to buy 6 boxes of Puffs for $4.77 while receiving $15.00 worth of gas for my car.  That was like getting my gas for 70% off.  I bought over 120 boxes of tissues and got enough gas points for 120 gallons of free gas!

That lasted us until mid-January...but that's not all.

Just when the first batch of gas points ran out, the store repeated the exact same deal.  I had plenty of coupons left, so I bought another 120 boxes of tissues.  Now I have enough free gasoline to last until the end of March.

The boxes of tissues were too big for shoeboxes so they went to the local food bank but the money saved at the gas pump over those four months WILL go into shoeboxes for sure.

I still have coupons left and they don't expire until 6/30/13.

God really does come up with the most fun ways of providing for us.

Retro--All Pumped Up--2003

(Here's a piece I wrote about how God provided for our shoeboxes in 2003)

Pumped Up – 2003

            I am home from work at last on Friday afternoon.  I close the car door and take a few steps up the driveway.  Then I see it.  Sitting by the back door of my house is a brown cardboard box about two feet high, one foot wide, and one foot deep.  I hurry to it and check the return address.  Yes.  Just in time.  Another answer to prayer.  I’m pretty pumped up.

            Back in August my husband, Jim, and I traveled to Wexford, PA, to attend a volunteer training session so we could learn more about Operation Christmas Child.  For about seven years our church has been involved with sending shoeboxes full of gifts to children in other countries around the world through the Operation Christmas Child project.  At the training session Kelleigh Johnson, the Mid-Atlantic representative for the project, told us, “We always run short of shoeboxes for boys in the 10-14-year-old age group.  Not as many people want to pack boxes for the older kids.”

            “So what kinds of things would be good to put in a box for boys that age?” asks Cindy, another volunteer from Erie.

            “You know,” Kelleigh replied, “they’d be ecstatic to get a deflated soccer ball with a pump.  Or you could fill a sports water bottle with hard candy or give them some simple tools.”

            I remember how my mind started drifting when she talked about soccer balls.  I kept thinking about how neat it would be to get a big bunch of them to put in our shoeboxes this year. 

            When we got home after the training session I booted up the computer and logged onto eBay.  I didn’t find any deals on balls that day, but within a week I found a seller who was offering ninety World Cup soccer balls for $150.  We exchanged e-mails, and he agreed to ship them from Denver for only $25.

            When the huge box of balls arrived, my husband inspected and counted them.  “These are really nice,” Jim said.  “The kids’ll love ‘em.  But how are they going to pump them up?”

            “Well, I’ve been looking on eBay for ball pumps,” I said, “and I’ve been praying every day that I’ll find them, but I haven’t found any cheap enough yet.”  Over the next few weeks my quest expanded.  Since each shoebox goes to a different child and possibly to an entirely different location, every ball would need to have its own pump packed with it.  I did Internet searches for wholesale distributors, but the only ones I could find were located in Taiwan.  I couldn’t even understand their pricing, and who knew if the pumps could be shipped in time?  I made the rounds of sporting good stores, discount stores, and local dollar stores.  I found lots of pumps, but none of them cost less than $4, and I wasn’t willing to spend $360 just for pumps.  So I kept praying.

            A few weeks later, when my searches had still turned up nothing, I asked Jim, “If a kid had an inflating needle to put into the ball and was real persistent, do you think he could blow it up by mouth?”

            Jim laughed and shook his head, “No, I don’t think that’d work.  You’re getting kind of desperate, aren’t you?”  In two weeks we’d start packing the shoeboxes.  I was just a pumped-up breath away from desperate, but I wasn’t there yet.  I kept praying.

            Three days later I did another search on eBay and found a listing for a group of 20 ball pumps for $14.95—only 75 cents each.  Just right.  Now if I could find 70 more.  I breathed another prayer and jotted off an e-mail to the seller.

Subj:	Soccer Ball Pumps
Date:	10/7/2003 2:43:38 PM Eastern Standard Time
From:	JSchriefer@aol.com
To:	ELindgren@velocity.net

Hi!

I just saw your listing for ball pumps on eBay—a lot of 20 for $14.95—and I purchased them with the “buy it now” option.  Our church is packing shoeboxes to send to kids in other countries.  We were able to get 90 soccer balls, and we’re trying to find pumps to go with them.  Do you have more of these?  If so, it would be a real blessing if you’d sell us 70 more.  Let me know if you have them available and what the cost would be.

Blessings,

Kathy Schriefer

            When I got home from school that afternoon, I fired up the computer to check for a response to my e-mail.  Nothing.  Then I tried making a phone call to the number given in the eBay listing, but I got no response.  I sent another e-mail.  I needed the pumps by Saturday, October 18^th, and it was already October 7^th.  Even if this seller had what I needed, would it be possible for them to receive my payment and get the pumps mailed back in time?

            Finally, on the next day, Wednesday, October 8^th,  the seller responded with good news:  he had 126 pumps and would sell me whatever I wanted to buy.  Unfortunately, he didn’t quote me a price.  I tried to call him again.  Still no answer.  The post office would close soon, and I’d miss my chance to send out a money order that day.  I sent another e-mail telling him I’d take all 126 pumps and begging him to send me a total price right away.

            On Thursday afternoon I raced home, found the e-mail with the price total that I needed, drove up to the automated teller machine, and made it to the post office ten minutes before closing time.  “What, no packages today?” said Bill, my favorite postal clerk. 

            “Not today.  I just need a money order for $117.45.  I’m buying ball pumps.”

            Bill smiled as he handed me the money order and my change.  “I won’t even ask what you’re going to do with ball pumps.  It’s always something with you.” 

            I put the money order in the stamped envelope I had brought with me and handed it back to Bill.  I thought about sending it by express mail, but I’d already missed the 3:00 deadline.  I’d just have to pray it got there by Monday so I could get the pumps back in time.  On the way out of the post office I saw a sign posted on the door—

CLOSED MONDAY

OCTOBER 13^TH

            Oh, shoot.  I forgot about the holiday.  I really needed those pumps by the 18^th.  On Tuesday the 14^th I got an e-mail telling me my payment had been received and the pumps had been mailed out that afternoon via Airborne Express.  Well, that sounded fast enough, but when Thursday night came they still hadn’t arrived.  I felt like grumbling until I remembered what a miracle it was to even find those pumps.  I just needed to wait.

            I am home from work at last on Friday afternoon.  I close the car door and take a few steps up the driveway.  Then I see it.  Sitting by the back door of my house is a brown cardboard box about two feet high, one foot wide, and one foot deep.  I hurry to it and check the return address.  Yes.  Just in time.  Another answer to prayer.  I’m pretty pumped up.

           

God Meant It For Good

I love the story of Joseph's forgiveness of his brothers.   Joseph learned a lot in the crucible of tough times that took him from being an arrogant young dreamer to a mature man who could see life from God's perspective.  In Genesis 50:20 he tells his brothers, "you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good..."

Joseph's family had a legacy of deceit but there was also a legacy of forgiveness that was displayed by his Uncle Esau.  Joseph's father, Jacob, had deceived his brother Esau and when they met again after years of separation Jacob was afraid Esau would seek revenge.  But in Genesis 33:4 the Bible records, "Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept."  That surely made an impression on young Joseph.

This week I had a rare opportunity to tell someone "God meant it for good."

Let me set the stage a bit.

Back in 1994 my husband was suspended from his teaching job in the face of false accusations of improper conduct brought by several students who were failing his class.  These students were not credible and thus were never brought to testify in the arbitration hearing.  One good student, though, (who I will call Sarah) did testify against my husband, and we were always confused about that because he had a good teacher-student relationship with Sarah.

Many other students testified on my husband's behalf and after a year-long legal battle we won the case on all points.

It's hard to understand why this happened, but over the years we've been able to see some of the good that came from that struggle.

Fast forward to this week when I had to go for a video interview at a small local production company.  I knew in advance that this interview would be conducted by Sarah and I had some weeks to think and pray about this.  I had no idea if Sarah would remember me or if God would give me a chance to talk to her about our past history.

We began the interview and I talked briefly about how God has grown the Operation Christmas Child project locally despite my weaknesses.  Then the camera stopped and the videographer said, "My memory card is full.  I have to change it."  And he left the room.

Sarah and I were left alone.  I thought about my Operation Christmas Child prayer team who were covering this time in prayer and knew I had a God-given opportunity, so I said quickly, "You know, there's something that happened in my past that has a part in allowing me to invest more in this Operation Christmas Child project, and you're a part of it."

She looked at me questioningly and said, "I'm a part of it?"

"Yes.  Back in 1994 my husband was suspended from his teaching job."  I watched Sarah's face pale a little but I kept speaking.  "That was the first year I'd gone back to working full-time and we were looking at more expensive homes.  But the suspension and the legal bills we had caused us to stay in our present home.  Because of that I now have more money available to pack these shoeboxes."

"So you think that suspension was a good thing?" she said.

"No, it wasn't good.  But God made good things come out of it."

"Because," she said, "it was one of the worse things in my life.  There were some bad girls that got it started and they got me to go along with them.  I felt awful about it.  When I saw your name on the list, I wondered if you were related to Mr. Schriefer and I thought it might be really awkward...."

"No, it's all good," I said with a smile.  "God had good plans for us."

"So is your husband okay?  Is he doing well?"

"Great," I answered, just as the videographer came back into the room.

And that was the end of the conversation.  There was no hugging or weeping but, at least in my mind, there was forgiveness...

And God meant it for good.

The Write Stuff

Guess what's in the back of my car?  Okay, I'll tell you.  22,032 pencils for our 2013 Operation Christmas Child packing party.

I always have a 'won't-go-above' price in mind for each item we put in our shoeboxes and prayerfully ask God to provide items within that price range.  Until last year that price for a pencil used to be 2 cents, but because of cost increases, I raised that to 4 cents.

I like to put 2 pencils in each box, so we really need 44,000 this year.  This week Office Max has a pack of 72 pencils (pictured above) on sale for $3.00.  This is just 4.1 cents per pencil--a pretty good deal.

The great thing is that they also have these on officemax.com where you can get larger quantities.  If you spend at least $50, shipping is free and there is a code on the website that's good until Saturday that will give you $30 off on a $175 purchase.

If you sign up for Maxperks Rewards you get points toward future purchases.  And if you work in a school and can get a "teacher rewards card" you get $10 on every $75 purchase.

Oh, and you can also go through eBates.com and get another 3% off on your order.  If you haven't signed up for eBates, you can click on this link to sign up and I'll get a little credit for referring you.  When you're going to shop online, you go to eBates.com first and search for the store you want to shop at and they'll tell you how much you'll save.  At Office Max I saved an extra 3% which may not sound like much until you buy 22,032 pencils.  Then it adds up.  You can shop at any of the eBates stores and you'll get a check from them about once a quarter.  I've earned over $100 over the past year on things I was buying anyway.

So, with all of the discounts and finagling, I think I've got the cost of the pencils down to under 3 cents each.

Now that I've bought half of the total pencils I need, I'm trying to figure out how many more to buy.  I pray about this stuff all the time.  There may be some better deals at back-to-school time or from other sources.

On the other hand, I don't want to miss out on buying all I need if this is the best sale of the year.

Still praying and waiting for the 'write' direction.

Lay My Mantle Down

This past weekend I had the privilege of being at a 24-hour retreat with the Operation Christmas Child area coordinators from the Mid-Atlantic region.  If you followed my journey on Facebook you know that I had several major travel snafus.

My outgoing flight from Erie was delayed which made me miss my connection in Cleveland which made me spend four more hours in the airport.  It took me 8 hours to get to Baltimore and it's about a 6.5 hour drives in a car.

The flight home was worse, because I got bumped from my flight in Philadelphia and had to spend the night there.  This meant I missed the first 3 hours of work on Monday morning and ended up taking an extra 1/2 personal day.  I only get 3 per year so this was a major disappointment.

But I think it was worth it.

The theme of the retreat started with superheroes and as we discussed superheroes the thinking turned to capes.  We read how Elijah passed his mantle (cloak or cape) to Elisha and we talked about succession planning and how we need to prepare to pass our roles on to others.

We each had the task of decorating our own felt cape with a choice of craft supplies.  Some of them were amazing.  I, however, am woefully uncrafty, so my cape was not photo-worthy.

At the end of the retreat we each took some time to write our thoughts on the following writing prompt, "I am not a superhero but I serve the Almighty God of the Universe..."

Writing with a pen was better than fabric paint for me, and I wrote, "I have been addicted to the approval of others and I have borne the heavy burden of my own expectations and demands.  I have been afraid--my pride has led me to think that I need to be a superhero and sometimes I am just so tired.  I can't keep this team up on my own.  God, I am desperate for You.  I need You to do what only You can do.  I lay my mantle down and I don't want to take it up again."

We then each took our mantle and laid it on the cross at the front of the room.

Every year more of my area coordinator friends lay their mantles down or pass them to another.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about doing that many times during the course of the year.

But I'm not ready yet.

Still, I don't want to wear a cape.  I just want to leave it hanging on the cross.