Cinderella & The Stuffie Saga

When it comes to Operation Christmas Child, some things make me pray harder. Last week I found 25 pairs of these adorable little girls' patent leather dressy shoes for $1.00 a pair at Gabriels. There have to be 25 little Cinderellas out there just waiting for a pair of party shoes, so I'm praying that God will get each of them to just the right child.

The clothing count is progressing nicely but I'm starting to pray more diligently for stuffed animals. According to my count I've bought 1,436 this year so that means we need 10,564 more to put one in each of our boxes. Sometimes as I walk or run through my neighborhood I think of all the homes that must have unwanted stuffed animals just waiting to be adopted. I think of all the children I see every day who probably have dozens in neglected corners of their bedrooms. What joy they would bring to children who've never had a gift of their own.

God is answering prayer, though. This weekend's rummage sales and yard sales netted 261 more lovable stuffies. If I could just get 106 people to each commit to providing 100 stuffed animals we'd be all set. That shouldn't be so hard, right?

I'm putting Prince Charming to work on that right away.

The Least of These

Near the end of His ministry Jesus told His followers that when He returns in His glory there will be a great separation of those who know Him and those who don't and somehow which group you're in will be reflected in how you treated others. The point is that how we treat others shows our love for Jesus--especially how we treat "the least of these".

In most of the world you can't get much lower than being a child. So to clothe a child in Jesus' name is like doing it for Jesus Himself. I'm again astounded at the ways God is providing clothing for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes this year.

This weekend took me to several K-Mart stores where they offered their winter clearance clothing items for 99 cents each. God gave me quite a haul.

In 2008 at this time I had 1,528 clothing items and last year at this time I had 3,321 (more than twice as many.) But I added up the total this year and it's already 9,338 and when you add in the items that others have purchased for our packing party the total of clothing items must be well over 9,500. That's close to THREE TIMES as many as we had at this point last year.

Just picture thousands of children, each with a new shirt or shoes or pants or a hat given to let them know that God loves them.

What a blessing these will be to 'the least of these' from a God who loves to give. I am seeing once again God keeping the promise He makes in what have become my life verses in IICorinthians 9:10,11 "Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."

Happy Feet

Today Toms Shoes is celebrating "One Day Without Shoes" and encouraging supporters to go barefoot as a means of raising awareness for the millions around the world who have no shoes to wear. Shoes are a great cause. Even in warm climates shoes protect feet from injury and from worms and other parasites. In some places children are not permitted to attend school unless they have proper footwear, so receiving a pair of shoes can be the means to an education.

I'm glad for this business/ministry that is willing to provide a new pair of shoes to be sent to a needy child somewhere in the world for every pair purchased on its website. The problem is that buying a pair of canvas shoes from their website costs $48.00.

On the other hand, last week I was able to buy 60 pairs of nice quality sandals on sale at Wal-Mart for 50 cents a pair. All together so far this year I've been able to buy 2,431 pairs of shoes and sandals to put into Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes and none of them cost over $1.00 per pair. By owning only a few pairs of shoes myself that I buy at rock-bottom sale prices I can finance the purchase of a lot more shoes to distribute to needy children than I could if I bought shoes regularly from Tom's site.

Think what it would mean to kids around the world if all of us gave up buying one pair of shoes this year and used that money to buy at least one pair to put in an Operation Christmas Child shoebox.

We could make a lot of happy feet.

(to learn more about OCC go to www.samaritanspurse.org You can search the website for 'Lejla Allison' to watch a video about a girl who learned about Jesus when she got a pair of white sneakers in her Operation Christmas Child shoebox in 1993.)

Nighttime Nudgings

Easter ended over an hour ago and I still can't sleep. In the hour before I went to bed I was reading over my journal entries from last summer and thinking of all the wondering I was doing then about how God would provide for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. The goal of 10,000 boxes seemed so far away a year ago, yet by the end of September, 2009 God had allowed us to pack 10,131 boxes and get them loaded on a truck for shipping.

This year I'm praying for 12,000 and knowing how God's provided in the past should make that easy to anticipate, right? But it's not. As always, every year seems different. By this time last year I'd already packed 1,256 boxes. This year I've packed none. Not one. Last year by this time I'd been picking up empty boxes at TJ Maxx and DSW Shoe Warehouse for weeks. This year I've picked up none. Not one. This concerns me because I'm not sure how God will provide 12,000 boxes for us. On the other hand I haven't had anywhere to store boxes.

Hopefully, a storage unit will arrive at Grace Church on Tuesday. So should I start collecting boxes now? I just don't know.

The one thing I do know is that God continues to provide items. I'm up to over 8,600 clothing items whereas last year at this time I had about 3,000. But once again the details that I'm in the dark about seem overwhelming.

As I read through last year's journal I saw the theme being repeated again. Nighttime wonderings and tossing and turning. Is this a lack of faith or a nudging to continued prayer and a ramped-up level of faith?

I think my faith muscles are being stretched and causing nighttime soul cramps that keep me from sleep. In eight months when I'm on the victory side it'll all seem so easy again.

Toothbrushes and T-Shirts

This little girl in the Dominican Republic is delighted with her new toothbrush. I put a toothbrush in every box and the ones I've been using are fair but not great and cost 12 cents each with shipping. I've always wished I could put a higher quality toothbrush in each box, but so far the cost was prohibitive. On Saturday God provided as only He can. A Christian guy who runs a resale business and buys large lots of items offered to sell me beautiful Oral-B toothbrushes. I was able to get 12,000 of them for this year's boxes for 12.5 cents each--just a bit over what I usually pay for cheap ones. God cares about the teeth of all those little ones who may have never even owned a toothbrush.

Speaking of toothbrushes, giving a child his or her own toothbrush may help to save his or her life. In some developing countries (where the HIV rate of infection in the population may be more than 50%) whole families share one toothbrush. Not having to share can save a child from contracting a deadly illness.

God just keeps bringing in a harvest of items to pack boxes. Our clothing item total is now up to 7,416! I found that Dollar General has a lot of short-sleeve T-shirts that are 90% off that some stores still have in with their regular summer clothing. If you're near a Dollar General, check in the boys' clothing and if you find any T-shirts that have a $5.00 price tag (no blue dot on them) they will probably ring up at 50 cents. The new ones in stock are $6.00 so they must be clearing out the $5.00 ones. If an employee tells you they're not on sale, politely ask them to check the price on the cash register to make sure. You may net yourself some nice shirts. Since last week I went back to stores I'd already been to and got several hundred more items.

The winter gloves and hats at Dollar General are 70% off right now so that's a pretty good deal, but I'm holding out to see if they go to 90% off soon.

I praise You, God, for the blessings of this week--for T-shirts and toothbrushes--and for your promise of total provision. You are always more than enough.

Abundance

This has been a super shopping week. Last Saturday I traveled to three Wal-Mart stores and netted 410 pairs of gloves at 25 cents each. Then I stopped at our local Gabriel Brothers store. I'd been there two days before and none of the shoes were marked down, yet on Saturday I was able to buy 48 pairs of good quality shoes for $1.00 each. Sometimes I get the impression that God saves these bargains for me and has children in mind He's planning to bless with them. Add to that more than 50 shirts and sweaters and it was a good weekend haul.

I finally got all of that stashed and managed to vacuum the carpet in the house on Monday--just in time for Tuesday's shopping run. On Tuesday I had a hunch that Dollar General would mark their winter clothing and shoes down to 90% off, so just before their opening time of 8:00 am I pulled up to the door of the nearest store. When the manager saw me, she unlocked the door and motioned me in. "It's 90%!" she exclaimed as I grabbed a shopping cart and headed for the right aisle. I'd been there the day before to scout things out so I picked up my choices within a few minutes and headed to the cash register. I was able to sneak in a trip to one more Dollar General before I arrived at work 15 minutes late (good thing I didn't take a lunch break on Monday).

Instead of going to lunch that day I headed for still another Dollar General and snagged 130 more items. After school I hopped on I-90 and made the 20 mile drive to North East and worked my way back all the way out to the airport. I put 50 miles on the car but hit five more stores and the final tally of good clothing items was 377. That sorting and bagging is still in progress.

Yesterday I added up the number of clothing items God's provided so far this year. At this time in 2009 I had fewer than 3,000. And this year? 7,023 already.

It's abundantly clear. God is up to something big.

Enough?

Lately I'm struggling with questions about whether I'm doing enough for Operation Christmas Child. At this time last year I was spending nearly every free minute packing boxes or getting ready to pack boxes. When I watched television, I would be wrapping boxes or bagging candy. I usually spent one weekend day and one weekday evening packing boxes.

But this year I'm not doing any of that. I don't know whether to collect boxes from shoe stores because I don't know where to store them. I don't know whether to start packing boxes because I can't figure out where to put them either. So am I doing enough?

Of course there's always the time spent bargain shopping. I can't resist following the leads I hear about on the OCC Extranet or on Facebook. I don't want to miss one chance to get a great deal. For example, on Tuesday I left for work a half hour early so I could go to the eastside Wal-Mart to see if they had Valentine's items on sale (nothing there) then stopped at a Dollar General to see if the winter clothing items were 90% off (not yet) then went to Rite-Aid to check for Valentine's items I heard were 90% off (missed them--all gone). When school was out I traveled across the interstate to Target where I finally scored a victory and picked up 116 pairs of kids' winter gloves for $16.00.

Is it enough?

My ministry description says I ought to be spending 15 hours a week on OCC. I could be making a lot of phone calls in 15 hours. I look at the red rubber braclet on my wrist that reminds me in bold letters to "Pray for O.C.C." I've been praying but not for 15 hours a week. I've been asking God to do what only He can do, but is there more that He's calling me to do?

How do I know when it's enough?