the most wonderful time of the year

No, I am not talking about Christmas, per se.

I am talking about my favorite week of the year. Well, one of my favorite weeks anyway.

This week ~ the week before Thanksgiving ~ is always National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child. I have shared how much I love being involved with this ministry before, but now I want to share how it has impacted my life personally and the life of our church.

For the last five years, our church has been a relay center for OCC. In other words, people can come and drop off their boxes at our church and we will pack them in cartons and send them on to the next location. During these five years we have had the honor of receiving just over 10,000 shoeboxes. This is just a tiny drop in the bucket of the boxes that have been received, but I am so thankful that God has allowed us to be a small part of this process. We have been given the opportunity to add our prayers to the many others for each box. And we know that each box represents at least one (but probably many more) opportunity for the Gospel of Jesus to be shared with a child (and his or her family).

Just knowing that a child may be reached for Jesus is enough to keep us working each year to help as much as we can with this project. What an honor to be allowed to participate in this process.

I don't know exactly how to share with you what happens during collection week. I find that I am blessed by this week more than I can express. Perhaps it is because we know that we are part of something "bigger than ourselves" as our pastor mentioned the other night. I know that is true, but I also know that a large part of the blessing, for me anyway, comes from something that I believe is one of the most important functions of a true New Testament church ~ fellowship.

I know that in the Southern Baptist Church fellowship begins with a capital letter and generally involves casseroles. This kind of fellowship is great and we are pretty good at them in our church.

However, in this case I am talking about the kind of fellowship that goes deeper and truly impacts our lives. During these few hours, one week a year, I get a glimpse into the lives of the ladies who volunteer. I see their heart for hurting children that they will never meet. I hear them pray for those children and for those who have packed boxes and delivered them to us. I hear these ladies (and some men, too!) laugh and joke with each other. I see them willingly take extra time packing a carton so that they can let my children be a part of the process and learn how to serve. I see them welcome new people who come to volunteer from other churches and make them feel at home in ours. I see their love for God expressed in more ways than I can count.

I see all these things, and I am blessed beyond measure.

The ministry of Operation Christmas Child is only one of the many things that I am thankful for during this season of the year. I am often amazed that God has allowed me to be a part of this ministry. I started out hoping to be a blessing to someone else, but the truth is that God has blessed me more than I can ever hope to give.

Isn't God good?

pumped

It happens about this time every year. I get excited. I start planning what I am going to pack and talking to the kids about what they want to do. The kids start getting excited, too.

So, what sparks this excitement in our household?

The power of a simple gift.

I first heard about Operation Christmas Child about 7 or 8 years ago when it was introduced to our church by a lady who had lived in California and participated in the project there. I have to admit to be a little slow to catch the vision for this ministry. I had never heard of Samaritan's Purse or Operation Christmas Child. Of course, I had heard of Franklin Graham, but that didn't impress me too much. Still, packing shoe boxes was easy and fairly inexpensive and LB thought that it was fun (she was the only child old enough at the time to participate with me) so we got on board, slowly.

But, it wasn't until I really began to understand the impact of this ministry that I truly "caught the vision" for my personal involvement and, along with others in our church, began to see an opportunity for the church to get involved as well. As a result, for the last few years our church has served as a relay center for OCC and has been truly blessed in the process.

Over the years, I have come to love this ministry. If the only purpose was to bring joy into the lives of hurting children, I would still love this ministry. But, this ministry goes beyond simply supplying momentary excitement through the receiving of a gift. Every box that is packed and prayed over represents at least one opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a child who might not have ever heard the name of Jesus before.

Last year, that number was 7.4 million children.

And many of those boxes opened the door for the Gospel to be shared with the families of the children ~ parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings. People who are hurting, desperate, and forgotten and who all of the sudden realize that somewhere, someone cares and they want to know why anyone would care about them. And then someone tells them ... the person who packed this box loves you because God loves you. He knows who you are and what you have done and He still loves you.

He knows who I am and what I have done and He still loves me.

If God can use me for His purposes, surely He can use a simple shoebox filled with gifts and dedicated to Him so that He can minister to a hurting child that I have no opportunity to touch in any other way.

I suppose that you have noticed by now that I am passionate about this ministry. I would love to share with you all of the reports that I have heard over the years of how this ministry has impacted both the lives of the children who receive the boxes and those who pack the boxes, but I can't. But, you can visit the Samaritan's Purse website and find all the information you need to see the impact of this ministry and also to get involved.

I hope you will catch the vision quicker than I did.

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you,

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:40