Ted E. Bear

In the midst of National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child we are all busy tallying numbers and comparing them to the big goals we've been praying for during the entire year.

We measure our progress by cartons packed and trucks sent.

But it's good to step back and remember the meaning of ONE BOX.

Pictured above is one of the 100 boxes I packed at home this week, and its anchor toy is a cute stuffed bear that has special significance.

Back in June our local newspaper published an article about our hunt for new stuffed animals for shoe boxes.  It resulted in a flurry of calls that sent us running all over town collecting donations.  It was exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time.

Many of the calls came from older folks who had just a few precious animals they'd collected.  It was tough to make long drives to pick up one or two at a time, but these folks were excited to donate.

The bear in the box above came to us as the result of one of those phone calls.  The donor called and asked us to pick up her donation at the golf course where her husband works.  One of our team members made the trip there, persisted in finding the employee, and drove the long drive to a maintenance office where this lone bear sat in a bag with a tag on it that read, "Ted E. Bear -- to be picked up"

So he was picked up.

And he sat on the microwave stand in my kitchen for 5 months.  He missed the big packing party in September and somehow was still sitting there this week, patiently waiting his turn.

And this week was it.

He was packed into a box with a radio and some fun fillers, school supplies, and hygiene items.  And tonight that box was packed into a carton at the collection center--ready for the next leg of its journey to a 10-14 year old somewhere in the world.

I'm praying Ted E. Bear will be a special emissary of God's love.  Because for that one child it was worth the drive to pick him up.  It was worth the time to finally pack him in a box.  It was worth it to make a $7.00 shipping donation online and it was worth the trouble to drive the box to a collection center.

It's all worth it for ONE MORE CHILD.

Passing It On

It's interesting how God works when we can't see it.  Last March I was so excited to get a deal on 2800 of these radios to use as fillers in our Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes.  They worked fine.  They were only .14 each and I thought they'd make the perfect gift.

The strange thing is that somehow in the chaos of our large packing party we ended up not using very many of them at all.  I was saving them to use when the stuffed animals ran out, but then they never did.

We only used about 500 of the radios and didn't want to let them sit in our cold storage container over the winter.

So today I was able to pass them on to my friend Jim Urban who needs them for packing thousands of boxes this week in the North Pittsburgh area.

As we were filling his minivan to the roof with 2300 of these, I laughingly wondered why I ever bought these when we didn't end up using them.  I quickly corrected myself, though, and said that God must have known Jim would need them.

Jim asked how he could pay me for them, and I told him I'm only trying to "pay it forward" in gratitude for the 22,400 mini frisbees that my friend Jeff donated to me for our packing party.

That's the mystery of how God works.  What He gives to me might really be meant for you.  And what He gives to you might really be meant for me.  When you think about it, it's a whole lot more fun that way.  We each get the blessing of both receiving from God and giving.  It makes sense that our omniscient God would have that figured out, eh?

And speaking of filling minivans,  as soon as I passed the radios to Jim I was able to fill up my own minivan with boxes from the storage container to take to the Operation Christmas Child collection center tomorrow.

This baby has more than 350 shoe boxes in it right now.  Too bad I'll have to drive it to work like this tomorrow since the collection center isn't open yet.

And here's the view from the inside.

Visibility is overrated--both for driving and for seeing God's plan for our lives.

"For we walk (and drive) by faith, not by sight."

Not My Plan

This 2013 Operation Christmas Child season has not gone according to plan.  Things seemed to be cruising along pretty well until August and then it started to unravel.

When I returned to school in August I quickly realized this would be the hardest year of my career as a school nurse so far.  Getting through each day has been extremely challenging, leaving me no time during my day to spend a moment even thinking about shoeboxes.

Add to that my daughter's wedding on October 13th, just two weeks after our major packing party, and you can see things have been hectic.

Then came this week--my plans for the Chick-fil-A collection on Tuesday night and a great packing party with a newly-participating church on Wednesday night were interrupted.

My niece (one I was not terribly close to) died suddenly and the viewing and funeral were set for Tuesday afternoon and evening.

Then last Friday my husband was scheduled for an unexpected heart catheterization on Wednesday.

Even though these surprises interrupted MY plans, they were no surprise to God.

For the past few weeks I've been reciting Psalm 23 over throughout my day and reminding myself of God's goodness, and I saw His goodness again this week.

My Operation Christmas Child team stepped up to take care of the Chick-fil-A collection and we collected 179 boxes--immeasurably more.

Meanwhile, the funeral turned out to be a true blessing.  At the viewing I spoke to my nephew's wife who told me she helped my niece pray to receive Christ last May.  What joy!

I'd been praying that the funeral would bring glory to God.  The pastor who conducted the service verified that he was sure my niece is in heaven and that she told him how sorry she was for alienating family members.  He went on to speak about God's forgiveness and the need for reconciliation in families.  Truly a God-glorifying evening.

My husband's heart catheterization on Wednesday had good results but kept us at the hospital until after 5:30 PM.  There was no way I could be at the packing party.

But the folks at Erie Christian Fellowship went to the storage container to pick up the items and set everything up for their packing party.

As you can see, they did a great job.  I especially love the game table full of stuffed animals.

And because of their work, more than 150 more gospel opportunities were packed without me being there.

Not my plan for the week.  Or for the season.  But that's okay.

The Lord is my shepherd.  I shall lack nothing.  

Packin' Plenty

I was fighting the blues last weekend by packing some personal shoe boxes with  items I'd been saving for my own Operation Christmas Child boxes.  What a blast!

First there were the five plastic tool boxes I've been slowly buying tools to fill.  Made a few trips to the nearby Harbor Freight to fill them up.

And then there were the 10 soccer balls.  I'd been waiting for two years to find cheap pumps to go with them and finally bought some at Walmart.com for about $2.00 each.

Then there were 10 boxes with full-size basketballs (and pumps) along with all the basic items and stuffed animals and fillers.

Two boxes held hand-knit blankets and another dozen had special dolls or new back packs.

I got the chance to arrange and rearrange items and pray over each box.

Don't get me wrong--it's a real rush to be at a large packing party and watch a 52 foot truck fill up with cartons.  But this one-by-one box packing is so very satisfying--with time to pray and imagine each child who will receive each special box.

I completed 58 boxes and just need to put the follow-your-box labels on them.

Meanwhile...there's still lots of praying and box packing to do.  I'm hoping to be at another packing party tomorrow night with the youth group at a church that's never participated in Operation Christmas Child before.

Stay tuned....

Checkin' the Chikin

Last night my Operation Christmas Child media coordinator, Pam Niedhammer, and I were at Chick-fil-A distributing GO boxes (preassembled printed shoe boxes) for folks to fill and return next week.  The donor of each box will receive a coupon for a free chicken sandwich.

We're so grateful for this partnership with Chick-fil-A.  We handed out about 100 boxes yesterday and are praying to get 150 returned by next Tuesday.  I had the most fun explaining the project to first-time shoe box packers who have never heard of Operation Christmas Child.  How wonderful!

Our Chick-fil-A store with owner Casey Hartley and marketing director Tina Kociolek always go way beyond our expectations.  Actually, they spoil us with their amazing hospitality and their excitement about the project.  What joy!

And this partnership was being repeated last night all around our five state MId-Atlantic region as 200 volunteers distributed about 29,000 boxes at Chick-fil-A stores yesterday.

Will you pray with us that each of these boxes (and even more--since you don't have to have one of the official boxes to participate) will be returned filled by next Tuesday?

Just think of 29,000+ children who will have the joy of opening a special treasure and hearing of God's love--all because of our friends at Chick-fil-A.

On our way to 9.8 million boxes....

Let's Party!

What a joyous Operation Christmas Child weekend I've had.  I got to go to two great parties.  These are the kind of parties I like best--not Cinderella's ball where you have to dress up in an uncomfortable dress--but shoe box packing parties where you get to fill precious boxes with simple items that are unimaginable treasures for children around the world.

Friday evening I got to spend time with the lovely ladies pictured above at Leigh Fisher's packing party near her hometown.  Her goal was to pack 800 boxes and we finished the evening with 895!  I spent the evening folding GO boxes with Teresa and Ali Morrison (on the right in the picture) and we had such blessed conversations about the Lord's goodness and how He works in OCC.

Because I'm so directionally challenged I got lost on the trip home (with no cell phone, GPS, or map) but that forced me to depend on prayer.  It was a blessing to get home safely and another reminder of God's protection and goodness.

Several friends were having packing parties in various areas of the country on Saturday and though I couldn't attend them I spent time praying for them on Saturday while my husband and I drove to our daughter's home two hours away.

Last night and today the reports of those have been coming in.  What an awesome God we serve!  I love hearing of how He continually does immeasurably more.

In Indiana, my friend Sarah Latello and her church went past their goal of 500 boxes to pack 726.

In Maryland, Jeff Mauler and his team packed over 7,000 boxes on their way to a goal of 25,000 within the next two weeks.

And closer to home the folks at Cambridge Springs Alliance Church, under the leadership of Cheryl French, packed 340 boxes that line their church.

And friends at Albion Church of the Nazarene held their first-ever packing party with a total of 165 boxes.

Today I was on the road again to Bethel Presbyterian Church in Cranesville--the church that actually started OCC in our area in 1994.  Last year they packed 289 boxes and wanted to pack 300 this year.  I absolutely loved packing boxes with them today.

It's amazing at these parties to see the array of items that have been gathered one by one (or 100 by 100) all year long--each one a provision from God's hand with a purpose to show His love.  

And after just a few hours today God had done immeasurably more again with a total of 445 boxes.  The neat thing is that this church is firmly committed to making sure each of the boxes have their $7.00 shipping covered.  They have enough for 400 boxes and are trusting God for the rest.

Every one of these boxes is ONE MORE on the way to the goal of 7.2 million boxes in the US and 9.8 million boxes worldwide.

For this weekend, the party's over...but stay tuned for more reports to come.

Legacy of Giant Slaying

This morning I was reading in 1 Chronicles 20:4-8 where God's people ended up slaying a slew of giants.  Who were these people doing the giant slaying?

They were David's followers and family--the people who had watched him or heard of him slaying giants since boyhood.

What a legacy.

This makes me think of the legacy that each of us is leaving to the people in his or her own sphere of influence.

Someone is watching me (and you).  Someone is listening to family stories about me (and you).  Someone is and will be carrying out my legacy (and yours).

It's a scary thought for this day-after-Halloween.

By God's grace, though, the story of my life (and yours) is not over yet.  God has given me a new chance to let Him make today's story one worth repeating.

Okay, so bring on those giants.