Our church has been heavily involved in the work of Operation Christmas child for many years. I wish to thank Miriam for writing this beautiful devotional.
Throughout the year we have been raising funds for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes. Collecting items to go into the boxes, thinking of the children who would receive our boxes and now, after shopping trips, Packing Parties, having shoeboxes dropped off, collecting them from Schools and Churches in the area and cartoning them up ready for collection, our shoeboxes have started on their journey.
Psalm 139 verses 1-18 reads: “You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was
woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.
This is such a well-known psalm. It shows us how much God knows us, from even before we were born. That before we knew him, he knew us and loved us. He cared for us. He had seen us! How amazing is that!
And then, even more amazing, is that He sent his son to die for us. Romans chapter 5 verse 8 says “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” So when we still didn’t know God, He came and died for us. It is mind boggling. He knew us. We are known by Him.
We can ask, as the Psalmist asks when he looks at the wonders of the world. The sun and the moon, the stars, and the heavens. “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him. You made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honour. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8 verses 4-9.)
We can change the what is man to what am I? What am I that you are mindful of me? What am I that you care for me? How can we not praise Him? We who have been so blessed by his Grace. His Grace is a gift freely given. Something that we cannot earn.
Years ago, I was working part time as a care assistant and Tim, my husband was made redundant. I increased my hours to try and bring more money into the house as things were getting quite difficult. But I realised – pretty quickly – that no matter how many hours I worked, I could not bring home anywhere near the amount he had been earning. God’s gift is a bit like that. He gives it freely. No matter how hard we try, we cannot earn it. It would cost too much! It is priceless!!!
We are so blessed by Him. In so many ways, He blesses us. Where we live, what we have, the lives we lead. Where, although there may be difficulties, life is relatively easy. In the main, we have enough to eat. We have warm houses. We have money. It is true that some
have more than others but most of us are “comfortable”. The way we can give back to God is by our works. We can’t earn his Grace, but we can show our faith by our works. And this is why we are here today. To share our faith and to give a little back to God.
The children who are going to receive these boxes are just like us. They have been seen by God before they were born, before one of their days came into being. They also are known by God. He knows their needs. We spend time gathering up items to put into boxes to go to a particular child that God knows. He already has that child in His heart. He knows Which box will go to Which child. Is it a surprise then that when that box gets to that child – it has just what he or she needs? He knows their hearts desire.
For some children of course, they do not yet know God. But He knows them. He loves them. Some children only find God through our gifts. We are showing them His love for them by sending what for us are maybe only bits and pieces but for them are just what they need, just what they have never had.
These are a sample of real-life stories from the Operation Christmas Child site that shows how God reaches out to give that special touch to an individual child. Some names have been changed in order to protect people’s identities.
In Liberia, a child in Montserrado was excluded from school one day because his parents couldn’t afford a scientific calculator. They were very poor and unemployed. When shoeboxes were distributed in their town, he received a gift with a brand-new scientific calculator. He had been praying for this formonths. When he saw it, he was so glad and thanked his friends for inviting him to the outreach event. He was so happy. He kept saying to his friends: “truly God answers prayers”.
In Macedonia, one church partner recently held an event reaching out to children in local marginalised communities. Among the children was Elena*, a little girl who was 6 years old and blind. She was fortunate to be able to attend a school, but many of the other children who attended the event did not have the same opportunity. Elena sat patiently and waited for the event to begin. An air of excitement grew as one by one the children were each given a shoebox gift. When Elena received hers, her fingers started to explore the contents eagerly. To her great joy, she found a Barbie doll inside and her and face lit up as she beamed with delight. But Elena also had another reason to smile, as local partners shared with her the joy of the Christmas story, how much God loves her and how Jesus wants to be her friend. A member of the Operation Christmas Child National Leader Team for Macedonia was so touched by meeting this little girl that he plans to take his own daughters to visit her at the school.
In Estonia, When local church partners met Orlo he was lying on a hospital bed, visibly weak and disengaged. As they shared God’s love with Orlo he began to explore the shoebox gift which had been so lovingly packed by a donor in the UK. Orlo was delighted with the toys, the hat – which he put on immediately – and the colourful pens, pencils, and paper. By the end of the visit he was smiling and waving. A moment of joy to help him on the road to recovery and the lasting good news of the greatest gift of all – Jesus.
A mother in Belarus writes, “From all of my heart, I thank you for such good presents. I bring up six children alone; my husband left me a couple of years ago. One of my children is an invalid. I do not have enough money to buy everything that they want. My son has wanted a car for a long time, and he found one in the shoebox. Thank you for your help. I am praising God. Thank you for your kindness.”
Last year, we sent 345 boxes to Gloucester. Gloucester sent 3500 boxes off and the whole of the UK sent off 257, 800 boxes. These boxes went to places like Serbia, Belarus, Albania, Moldova, and Georgia. This year, although we do not know for sure, we have been told that our boxes will be going to Liberia. Now Liberia holds a special place in the hearts of Kip and Doreen from our church who spent many years there as missionaries. It also holds a special place for me. In my previous church in Reading, the minister there had been a missionary in Liberia as well and we had regular updates from his church there and visits from there. We sent regular containers full of aid there. Phil Cheale and his family lived in Monrovia. He and Kip and Doreen, although they weren’t from the same missionary group, did know each other. It is a small world!
Here is some information about Liberia:
Location: Western Africa, between Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone
Population: 5,073,296, with 43% under the age of 15. 54.1% of the population live below the poverty line.
There is no road to Bolo in Liberia, only a footpath. When ministry partners sought to deliver Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts there, one local volunteer, a student named Francis, offered to make the hour-and-a-half walk from the main road to this isolated village. The local chief was pleased by his visit and Francis registered 80 children from the ages of 2 to 14 to receive Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. Fifty students (from the local university ABCU) volunteered to carry the shoebox gifts through the jungle to the children of Bolo. In partnership with another organisation, they also brought food, medicine, and a digital player with an audio recording of the New Testament in the Mano language. Under a tarpaulin shelter put up especially for the occasion, the students led the children in a time of singing. Next, a student began to share the Good News of new life and hope in Jesus with them using the Ministry Partner Guide, and Francis translated into the local dialect. The children were delighted to receive shoebox gifts and to hear that God knows every person in Bolo by name. The village chief told the delegation that Bolo had never received gifts like this before and he thanked God for Samaritan’s Purse coming. When he explained that they had no church, one of the village elders offered land for the construction of a building for worship. As a result, the chief requested that ABCU send students to lead the new congregation each Sunday. Just two days later one of ABCU’s students volunteered to start the new church in Bolo.
Shoeboxes Create New Opportunities
In Montserrado county, Operation Christmas Child ministry partners shared shoebox gifts with children of former members of the Liberian armed forces, at the 72nd military barracks community. As a result of this outreach, a day-care/primary school has been started! The need for the school was established when the team realised that the The Greatest Journey classes were the only form of children’s activity or education in the area. They discovered that the former armed forces families could not afford to send their children to any public or private schools. The Operation Christmas Child regional team consulted parents and community leaders, who welcomed the idea, and found a place for the school to start. Now the ‘Kingdom Kids’ day-care and primary school has 164 children attending!
As you go about your day. Take time to thank God for his care for both yourself and others. For the children in far off countries who maybe don’t know it yet but are due to receive a gift far greater than any we can give them. Give thanks to the Lord that He has not only seen them and knows them, but that he Loves them with an everlasting Love. Praise God!