Life Inside The Box

Stuffed Animal Safari

2012-02-09T15:05:00.000-08:00

I am on a constant safari for stuffed animals for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. This week we started a stuffed animal drive at the public school where I work as a school nurse. I have to say I was a little uneasy about sending home flyers with the "Operation Christmas Child" name on them. It just takes one parent complaint to cause an uproar.

But there haven't been any complaints yet and we've collected almost 500 animals so far.

Soon it will be yard sale season and the real safari hunts will begin. Today I had a deal for a free T-Shirt on Vistaprint so I made this one to wear when I go to yard sales. Now I won't have to be so bold and do all the asking myself and maybe some other shoppers will see my advertisement (something similar is printed on the back of the shirt, too)and offer me some of their animals.

I know God knows where each of these 20,000 precious animals are going to come from and I can't wait to haul them home.

Shoeboxes in Haiti

2012-02-06T15:00:00.000-08:00

In Operation Christmas Child world there are many people longing to go to another country to distribute shoeboxes to the children. To see those smiling faces firsthand is a dream for many who have labored long and hard at packing shoeboxes for years.

Today this picture arrived on my phone, sent from a mission team from our church that's ministering in Haiti right now. They had the unexpected pleasure of distributing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes at a school there this morning.

The amazing thing to me is that when another team went from our church last year at about this time they also had the opportunity to distribute Operation Christmas Child boxes. To have this happen to a team from our church two years in a row seems beyond belief.

I'm so happy that more friends from our church, including our senior pastor and another staff member, had this chance to see for themselves what these boxes mean to the children who receive them.

Hopefully, they will have an even better idea of what it means that they've been willing to let us take over the church for a week at the end of September for the past three years. They'll see those smiles and understand the value of having an ugly 40 foot storage container nestled against the side of their pristine church building all year long.

Last summer one of the church's staff said, "If we spent as much time promoting every ministry as we do promoting Operation Christmas Child we'd never have any time left in the service."

I hope that seeing these children's faces will help them to see how grateful I am for every minute Grace Church has taken out of their worship time to make an announcement, every inconvenience they've suffered and every dollar they've spent to support three huge community-wide packing parties and three church-wide shoebox collections that have resulted in nearly 37,000 Operation Christmas Child boxes being sent.

37,000 boxes sent out over the past 3 years. That's a lot of smiles.

And it's worth it.

Never Once - God's Fatihfulness

2012-02-05T14:05:00.000-08:00

Here we are back at the time of year where all of us in leadership with Operation Christmas Child--volunteers and staff alike--are setting goals and planning for another year.

I think I speak for all of us when I say that starting over is the hardest part of every year. Satan whispers things like, "Do you really want to do THAT again? Remember how much work it was? Remember all those roadblocks you had? "

This morning when we sang this worship song in church I couldn't believe how well it related to the journey of Operation Christmas Child. In all of the work of the past year, NEVER ONCE did God leave us alone.

He was the author and finisher of all of it. If you're an Operation Christmas Child staffer or volunteer (whether you work year-round in OCC or work to pack shoeboxes in a more seasonal way) please watch this and read the truth of the words.

Just as God stood with us while we were kneeling on the battleground of 2011, so He stands with us for 2012.

He will never leave us. NEVER ONCE.

$5 of Shoebox Stuff for Free at Michaels

2012-02-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

Look at these cool garden tools I got for my Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes today for FREE at Michaels. They only had 4 of them left so I threw in a jump rope to make it $5.00 even. Then I used the coupon that you can print here to take $5.00 off and got it all for FREE. I didn't even have to pay PA state tax. The coupon is only good for today so print it out and see what you can get at Michaels for your Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes and comment here to let me know.

Praying By The Numbers

2012-02-01T18:20:00.000-08:00

Today is the quarterly Day of Prayer and Fasting for Operation Christmas Child. What a joy it's been to pray through pages of prayer requests from many countries around the world and to praise God specifically for what He's doing in each of them.

Last weekend I was blessed to go to Maryland for our Operation Christmas Child regional area coordinators' retreat. In 2011 we were praying that God would bless us with 700,000 shoeboxes in our region and He went way beyond our expectations to give us 723,327.

At the retreat our Mid-Atlantic goal for 2012 was revealed--800,000 boxes. As I've said before, I love numbers, so I've been looking at the numbers of shoeboxes collected in our Mid-Atlantic Region in past years.

From 2007 to 2008 we increased by about 38,000 boxes (over 8% increase)
From 2008 to 2009 God gave an increase of 47,750 boxes (over 9% increase)
From 2009 to 2010 the increase was almost 69,000 boxes (over 12% increase)
From 2010 to 2011 God increased us by almost 83,000 boxes (12.88% increase)

The growth is still incremental but it seems to be accelerating. We stand amazed at all God is doing and at the teams He is building.

At the same time, I don't want to fall into the danger of taking this growth for granted and thinking that increased growth in 2012 will happen automatically. Over those past four years there were countless hours of work and prayer invested by thousands of volunteers.

Today as my prayer coordinator, Linda Bennett, and I prayed over the phone we asked God again for His miracles for 2012. We are trusting Him for His provision for every goal but we never want to think that God doesn't want us involved.

I'm reminded of a quote by Martin Luther that reminds me of the tension between prayer and putting our hands to the work,

"Pray like it all depends on God, then when you are done, go work like it all depends on you."

And all those numbers? Each one of them represents a child waiting to know God's love. So I'm going to pray without ceasing and ask God to move me to get busy.

Save The Date (only 8 months from today!)

2012-01-29T15:50:00.000-08:00

It almost makes me 'have a cow' when I realize how fast time is passing. Our 2011 Operation Christmas Child Community-Wide Packing Party was four months ago--ancient history in the age of instant updates. Because of the work done on that day, 16,145 needy children will receive a gift to treasure and a gospel opportunity.

But, guess what? Millions are still waiting, so...

SAVE THE DATE

2012 Community-Wide Operation Christmas Child Packing Party

September 29, 2012

9am-4pm

Grace Church

7300 Grubb Rd.

McKean, PA 16426

Maybe the Chick-fil-A cow will join us again. Based on last year we realize we need to recruit more volunteers, so pass this along to your friends, your church, your youth group, your service organization, your co-workers, your scout troop.

It's hard to imagine constructing and filling and loading 20,000 boxes. We're still trusting God for all of the items to fill them and the volunteers and the logistics.

And while you're spreading the word and waiting....

PLEASE PRAY!

A Couponing First

2012-01-29T11:37:00.000-08:00

I've been using coupons faithfully for over a quarter century, but I think this is a first. While in Maryland for our Operation Christmas Child area coordinators' planning retreat, we stopped at a Chick-fil-A restaurant to eat.

I noticed a nearby Wal-Mart and my companions were nice enough to let me stop to see if I could use any of my coupons (Bic $1.00 off on any item) to get some more pens for my Operation Christmas Child 2012 shoeboxes.

I was excited to be able to pick up 30 ten-packs (300 pens) at .97 per pack. I wondered if they'd give me a problem about using the $1.00 off coupons as some cashiers won't override them.

Well, I needn't have worried. Not only did the nice young man (is it wrong to reveal that I always try to find young male cashiers when I'm using coupons?) use all the $1.00 coupons but he called over the front-end head cashier and asked him, "Should I give her back the 15 cents difference? At the last store I worked at we didn't do that?"

To my shock, the head cashier said, "Yeah, of course, give her back the extra 15 cents. Good for her for using coupons." I probably should have set them straight and not accepted the dime and nickel....

but like I said--I was in shock.

Thinking Of Heaven

2012-01-26T21:56:00.000-08:00

I can't fall asleep tonight. I'm just too excited about my flight to Maryland tomorrow for our annual Operation Christmas Child Area Coordinators' retreat. Guess I'll be running on adrenaline this weekend, but that's okay.

As I lay awake after watching the memorial service for Joe Paterno I couldn't stop thinking about heaven. Watching those video montages of the coach's life with musical accompaniment got me to thinking that maybe that's what it will be like for each of us when we get to the judgment seat in heaven.

The moment-by-moment reel of each of our lives will play out in totality. Every good thing that we allowed God to do in us will be on display and fully revealed so we can revel in the majesty of all He has done. Likewise, each sin (the good we failed to do and the wrongs we did) will be exposed. That part will be so hard--seeing the disappointment of our failures.

But only as all that ugliness is uncovered and brought to light will we know true forgiveness. All the wrongs that are covered in the blood of the Lamb for all eternity will be known and we will be totally free of them. In that light we can fully claim reconciliation and healing.

You know, just thinking about it makes me wish I could go to heaven right now. Sometimes it's just so hard to wait.

On the other hand, the goal of life is not only to get to heaven but to take as many precious souls as possible with me. So tomorrow I'm going to get on a plane and travel to Maryland to meet with other Operation Christmas Child volunteers. We'll encourage one another and share ideas and make plans and dream of how much more God has for us in 2012.

And we'll ask God to show us how we can share His gospel opportunity with thousands (and, yes, millions) more children around the world.

Ahhh, heaven!

The Pen Is Mightier

2012-01-24T17:30:00.000-08:00

Today our trusty UPS man delivered another 9,000 pens for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. If you follow this blog you know that buying items to fill thousands of gift-filled boxes for Operation Christmas Child involves year-round bargain hunting.

One of the staffers at my church, Grace Church, was kind enough to send me a message last week to let me know that officemax.com has the Office Max store brand of pens for only 20 cents for a pack of 12. Unfortunately, I missed the 20% off on everything on the site sale by a couple of days. I spent some time trying to find coupon codes that I could use to get the price down lower to no avail.

Still, this gets the per-pen price down below 2 cents each--not bad. These pens are not the best quality and don't write as well as I wished they did. I generally put two pens in each box, though, so I'm thinking I'll include one of these and one of higher quality.

Right now I've ordered a total of 18,000 of these and I have cartons stashed under every bed in my house. I'm a little afraid of putting them in the storage container because of the freezing temperatures.

If you're interested in buying pens for your shoeboxes at a great discount, then head over to officemax.com and check them out. Do a search for ballpoint pens and then click to sort them by price--lowest to highest--and they'll be the first that come up. They come in black, blue, or a package that has a mix of red, blue and black.

You can get a little bit more of a discount (3%) by going to eBates first, joining there, and then proceeding with your order. If you want to join eBates you can give credit to my account by clicking here.

I know these simple pens may not seem like much to you and me, but they can allow a child in another country to attend school and receive an education. My friend Lejla, who received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox in Bosnia when she was a child, tells of 56 children in her class all sharing one pencil.

A simple pen can be a mightier gift than you can imagine.

SWOT

2012-01-22T19:00:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of celebrating going on in my Operation Christmas Child life since National Collection Week last November. God's gifts in an increased harvest of shoeboxes were more than I imagined on every level.

But now the end zone celebration is over and it's time to get back into the game. This is the time of evaluating last year's season and planning for the new year. We're 'in the huddle', so to speak.

This week as part of that evaluation process I've been using what's called a SWOT analysis. S=Strengths; W=Weaknesses; O=Opportunities; T=Threats

With one of those words in each quadrant of a sheet of paper, I've been trying to jot down assessments of each area of our team. It's enlightening and humbling and exciting and scary all at once.

In many ways our team doesn't fit the typical Operation Christmas Child model. We spend a lot of our energies planning a huge community-wide shoebox packing party that takes so much planning it actually requires a team all its own. It's hard to know how to make that part of the team model.

Some of our strengths are also our weaknesses--strange, but true. For example, our team is quite diverse, which gives us strength but is also a weakness because it makes unity somewhat harder to achieve.

In fact, as I look at these SWOT analysis sheets from both the 2010 and 2011 season I see that team unity is something I really need to work on. This is difficult to achieve when only a portion of our diverse team attends each meeting. This is difficult but not hopeless.

I keep reminding myself that despite my weaknesses as a leader and the weaknesses of our team God did bless us with 34,941 shoeboxes in our area. This year we're praying for 40,000.

Time to huddle up and get in the game.

Playing the Numbers

2012-01-17T19:12:00.000-08:00

As I said before, I love playing with numbers and when each of those numbers represents another child who will receive an Operation Christmas Child gift--well, there's nothing better than that.

I've been waiting for this day to arrive for almost a year. Today is the day when our regional, national, and international totals of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for 2011 were revealed. All those numbers added up to.......

Drum roll.....................

Mid-Atlantic region--723,327 (don't you LOVE that memorable palindrome?) We prayed all year for 700,000 but God gave us an incredible 12.88% increase over last year. Stunning!

United States--6,051,799. We'd been praying for 5,800,000 and never imagined God would give us this increase of almost 10% over last year.

International--8,630,568. After praying for 8,500,000 our gracious God saw fit to bless more than 1/8th million more children beyond that goal.

After hearing these numbers I went on to my first Operation Christmas Child Northwestern PA Area Team meeting for 2012. Because of a freak storm (RAIN, not snow in January) with 60 mph winds there were only four of us at the meeting. We discussed goals and are planning to trust God for 40,000 shoeboxes in our area next year (that would be 14.5% growth over this year's 34,941.)

I sent Leigh Fisher, our Mid-Atlantic regional director a text informing her that if God gives us another 12.88% growth spurt for 2012 our goal should be 816,491 boxes. Uh......WOW!

Who knows what God has planned for 2012? These numbers have a huge 'wow factor' but the most wonder-filled fact is that each of them means that thousands and millions of children will have a gospel opportunity.

These numbers aren't playing around. WOW!

Gratitude and Mystery

2012-01-14T08:38:00.000-08:00

I've been working on writing thank you notes to churches who brought in shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child this year. I got 60 done before Christmas and this week God gave me a burst of motivation and I got another 78 written.

I wanted to do all the ones for the churches in areas that lie outside of our area team but bring their boxes to us. I'm still waiting for my regional office to mail me copies of the drop-off logs from the Bradford relay center and then I can finish those. My Church Relations Team will finish the ones for Crawford and Warren counties soon.

Altogether there will be about 220 churches and groups who donated the shoeboxes that God used to give us that amazing total of 34,941 shoeboxes.

As I wrote these notes--one by one--I thought of and prayed for those churches. Some brought in a few boxes and some brought in a few hundred but most were in the range of 30-50 boxes. I thought of how they'll all likely be meeting tomorrow to worship God--each of those 220 churches in their own building and with their own leaders.

But all of them are parts of our Northwestern PA Operation Christmas Child total of 34,941 shoeboxes. And, more important, all of them are part of the Body of Christ.

My mind wanders and I think of those churches multiplied by the thousands of drop-off centers where shoeboxes were collected in 12 (I hope that's right) countries around the world.

Thousands of churches and groups coming together to collect millions of boxes--each destined to touch ONE CHILD with a gospel opportunity. What a great picture of His Body coming together to do His work.

A mystery, indeed!

Musings On Life and Death

2012-01-10T19:02:00.000-08:00

As I think about Operation Christmas Child details and work on writing more thank you notes to participating churches and groups (up to 74 and counting), I'm also thinking a lot about life and death tonight.

My friend Sarah's baby, Mila, had surgery today to drain fluid from around her heart. Mila has Down Syndrome and was adopted by Sarah and her husband Shawn a few months ago from Eastern Europe. She had open heart surgery right before Christmas and is suffering some complications. She likely would not have survived if God hadn't moved in miraculous ways for her to be adopted by Shawn and Sarah. Mila means 'miracle' in the language of her birth country and she is already living up to her name. You can read Sarah's blog by clicking here at "A Hopeful Heart".

I'm also praying and thinking of my brother-in-law Brian who is fighting lung cancer and dealing with pain and breathing difficulty. He and his wife Brenda (my husband's youngest sister) and their six children are praying for a complete healing for Brian--a miracle of life.

These physical needs are so immediate and so compelling. But it's easy to forget that spiritual death threatens all around us. Our neighbors, coworkers, and, yes, billions of children around the world are all facing spiritual death day by day.

These simple shoeboxes we pack and send through Operation Christmas Child bring life to so many. And so, every little note we write, every call, every effort that brings one more box to one more child can mean life for one more.

Will you join me in praying that we can redouble our efforts to bring life to all those around us? And will you join me in praying for Brian and for Mila?

It's a matter of life and death.

Revisiting the Ark

2012-01-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my husband and I spent a couple of hours in the Operation Christmas Child storage container (the Ark) doing some inventory and reorganizing. It amazes me that God's already provided almost 15,000 clothing items, 14,500 toothbrushes (leftovers from last year) and 4500 filler items. There's enough paper for 4100 boxes, but only 360 bars of soap and 900 bags of crayons. We're still a long way from the goal and even the goal is still unofficial, but we're off and running.

Already the stuffed animals have been arriving. There are 600 in The Ark now. Today I got another donation with 105 more usable animals. So now we have 700 ready to go and about another 100 or so waiting to be washed and readied.

Sometimes I wonder how many stuffed animals there are in our city. Have we come close to tapping out our sources? I think not. I think there are still thousands of lonely stuffed toys waiting on shelves for the chance to be sent to children who will love them--children who may have never owned a toy of their own.

I work in elementary schools and I dream about having stuffed animal drives in my school district so students could all contribute, if they desire. Although, it seems like this might be more successful in middle schools or high schools because elementary-aged children have so much trouble parting with stuffed animals.

So I dream and wait and wonder how God will fill The Ark this year, because I have no doubt He will.

Candy Cane Withdrawal

2012-01-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

At this time last year this is what my dining area looked like as I prayed for and collected candy canes for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. This year, though, I'm in candy cane withdrawal.

Because the boxes we pack for our large Operation Christmas Child packing parties are going to countries where it can be tricky to get the boxes through customs, OCC asked us not to put candy in our boxes.

So this year, instead of loading my shopping carts and my car with cartons of candy canes, I've wandered the aisles of Christmas clearances items at the stores and only picked up a few small things (other than plastic cups, and I found fewer than 1500 of those this year).

It feels very strange to not be shuttling cartons of candy canes and working on taking them out of their packages. In fact, I feel like I'm not doing very much of anything in the shoebox packing realm right now. Well, I did wash a few loads of stuffed animals yesterday, but....

Actually, when I think back to 2008--the last intense year when I packed 7,272 boxes at my old church with just a handful of people to help--I don't know how I kept up that pace. At that point I had to get all my own shoeboxes so I was making several trips a week to TJ Maxx and PayLess to haul home cartons of boxes and then wrap them and haul them back down to our church basement.

Then at least once a week and sometimes more, I'd go to church and pack a hundred boxes or so and haul them to a storage room and stack them. It was a lot of work and I haven't worked as hard on shoeboxes since, even though, by God's grace, I've been able to see a lot more packed.

I was just thumbing through the book where I keep my old-school handwritten lists of items God's provided for each year. It's amazing to see how He provides in different ways with unique items each year.

So I'm not buying candy canes. Instead, I'm waiting to see what God will provide next. Last year it was more than 17,000 paddleballs from Oriental Trading in February and 1000 water bottles from Celebrate Express in March.

Instead of unboxing candy canes, I'l just wait and pray for the next bargain that will come in His time and with His provision.

I'm feeling the withdrawal from eating the broken candy cane pieces but I'm not missing the sticky fingers.

SMART Goals

2012-01-04T18:44:00.000-08:00

I really love numbers, which is another reason why I love my Operation Christmas Child life. Since we don't send food items in our shoeboxes, I'm not a literal bean counter, but I sure do enjoy keeping track of how many pencils and cups and stuffed animals God is providing for us.

I also love to see how God is bringing in our shoebox goals years by year and thrive on calculating the percentage growth that we see Him generate.

This is also the time I start to focus heavily on writing goals for our area team for the coming year. Operation Christmas Child training sessions have taught me that those goals should be SMART--specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-sensitive.

But over the past week or so I've been pondering the spiritual goals I want to see God achieve in my life in 2012 and I'm wondering if it's even possible for them to be measurable, and, if so, how do I measure them?

I want to see the fruit of the Spirit growing in my life. I want to be more humble and I want to know God's love in greater ways. Are those things measurable? Can I know that I am 5% more loving at the end of 2012 (oh, if only) ? Can I say that I know God 12% better than I did in 2011? Will I be able to see if I am 8% less prideful?

For someone who is motivated by achievement--God made me that way and it has its advantages as well as its pitfalls--it can be frustrating to know how to measure spiritual growth.

God gives us clear markers in His Word of characteristics that reveal growth. Sometimes I think I catch glimpses of these in my life but much of the time I don't really know how to evaluate them. I'd say 90% of the time I don't--yeah, that was an attempt at humor, an area at which I fall short 75% of the time.

Help!

Resolved

2012-01-01T09:24:00.000-08:00

Here we go again. I feel like I just got used to writing 2011 and now I need to remember to write 2012. This new year is kind of like an empty Operation Christmas Child truck--ready to be filled up with blessings.

Today is the day to start resolutions but I'm not very good at making them. I have goals in my head but I'm not good at putting them on paper and I'm definitely not good at breaking them down into manageable steps.

I've been listening to an audiobook version of John Piper's book "When I Don't Desire God" and am challenged anew with the need to spend more time reading the Bible and also memorizing Scripture. I've been dreaming about the possibility of memorizing large chunks of God's Word--like the book of Ephesians--because Piper gives a system for how to do that by memorizing a verse a day. Yet I'm hesitant to commit to that because I know how weak my resolve can be and how easily I fail. And I do so hate to fail.

So on this brink of the new year it's easier just to maintain the status quo. Oh, I'm planning to prayerfully ask God for an increase in Operation Christmas Child shoebox numbers--I refuse to stagnate in that area. But to make a larger commitment to hard core Bible reading and memory scares me more than asking God for a few thousand more shoeboxes.

Why should I think that He is any less capable of taking my feeble efforts to read His Word and maximizing them than He is to produce greater numbers of shoeboxes when I ask Him to? As I ponder this, I think it's really about what I consider valuable enough to spend my days seeking from God.

So this year I resolve to not only ask God to produce more Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes here in Northwestern PA but to ask Him to let me know Him better and know His love and love Him in greater ways.

I resolve to call to Him to "show me great and mighty things" not only in the shoebox realm but in a relational way. I resolve to come to the end of 2012 knowing Him better and loving Him more and being more confident of His love for me.

And I want to memorize at least some of the verses in Ephesians along the way.

I am resolved.

Christmas Clearance Capers

2011-12-30T11:05:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know the bottom picture isn't rotated but after an almost-six-hour Operation Christmas Child shopping trip with very little to show for it--I deserve some grace.

The bottom photo shows a sample of what I got at our Target this morning. They had 70% off on the dollar spot items with yellow circles on the tags. I got about 10 little fleece blankets and 12 bags of building blocks for .75 each. I got a few other items like this ping pong set but, all in all, not more than 30 items. Not stellar by a long shot.

Then I decided to check Wal-Mart and found they had 75% off on Christmas items, except not all Christmas items were ringing up at 75% off--some of them were at 50%--but the associates said they were all supposed to be 75% off and the cashiers were overriding the prices so all Christmas (except for apparel) had the 75% reduction.

I got that fluffy blanket for $1.25, the sock money for .75, Christmas plastic cups for .37 and a few little hairbrushes and sets of nail clippers for .25 each.

I was so excited I decided to make the 11 mile drive to the Edinboro Wal-Mart. The only problem was that I forgot to get off I-90 and onto I-79 so before I knew it I was at the Ohio state line trying to figure out how to get to where I needed to go. I pulled over and tried to figure out how to use the direction capability on my new iPhone but I wasn't even successful at that.

So I ended up backtracking and never did get to the Edinboro Wal-Mart. Instead, I went to the Wal-Mart store at 23rd and Asbury. I found a great amount of plastic Christmas cups, blankets, and stocking stuffer toys. When I checked the prices, though, they were still coming up at only 50% off. So I took my full cart to the cash register, waited in line, and then explained to the cashier that at the Peach St. store they were overriding the prices because all Christmas items were 75% off.

The cashier called the customer service rep who said, "All Christmas is 50% off." I got out of line and waited in another line at the customer service desk to see if I could talk with a manger.

After 15 minutes I got to the customer service desk and I politely told them that there were signs up indicating 75% off and the clerk said she'd check with the manager. After waiting for a call from the manager, she nodded at me and said, "Yes, all the Christmas items except for candy and apparel are 75% off. Just go through the cash register line and tell the cashier that."

As I turned to go I was approached by a woman I recognized as a project leader of Operation Christmas Child at a small church near my home. They did the project for the first time in 2010 but I'd noticed they didn't bring any boxes in to the collection center this year. She apologized and said, "Our church board wouldn't let us do shoeboxes this year because OCC is associated with Sarah Palin." She insisted on giving me a $20 bill to help buy items for shoeboxes and I thanked her.

So I pushed my cart to a line and waited another 15 minutes. I had just finished putting my 200 plastic cups on the belt and had given my tax exempt info to the cashier when the customer service manager rushed over and said, "I got another call from the manager and he says only certain ornaments and decorations are 75% off so the stuff you have there is only 50% off."

I took my cart and dutifully put away most of its contents. I'll be patient and wait to see what's left when they eventually go to 75% off. Meanwhile, I did get about 100 more nail clippers and brushes at that store for .25 each so it wasn't a total waste.

6 hours/ $100/ Lessons in patience--priceless

Starting Over

2011-12-28T06:54:00.000-08:00

A new year of the Operation Christmas Child journey is beginning. I've been praying already about the goals God wants us to pray toward for next year and, of course, I've been purchasing items for our 2012 shoeboxes.

I'm still waiting for the after-Christmas sales to go to at least 75% off, but here's a picture of a few things I found yesterday. Four pairs of nice new toddler boys' sneakers for $1.40 each at a discount store named Gabriel Brothers and a sweet doll and new stuffed bear at the local Goodwill store.

By this time next year they'll be on their way, Lord willing, to the children God has destined to receive them.

As I think of starting over for Operation Christmas Child I think of God's goodness in giving us so many new starts. On one hand, starting over is hard. You're at the bottom of the mountain looking up at that long, ascending trail again.

But on the other hand, new starts are new chances to, by God's grace, do better and go further and higher than you ever have before.

This morning, before I started reading Jeremiah chapter 48, I asked God to speak to me through His Word. The entire chapter was about the impending destruction of Moab, but then I came to the last verse--verse 47, and it reads, "Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in days to come," declares the Lord.

Spending time with my grown children at Christmas made me reflect on all the ways I failed as a parent. Instead of exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit, I was so often judgmental and critical and I see that reflected now. As I cry out to God for forgiveness again, I am comforted to read once more in His Word that He is a restorer.

Thank You, God, for Jeremiah 48:47. Thank You, God, for the promise of restoration.

Thank You, God, for starting over.

I Believe

2011-12-24T09:10:00.000-08:00

Today on this Christmas Eve I've been meditating on the verse that comes in Luke 1:45, right before the start of what we call The Magnificat. In this verse Elizabeth says to Mary, "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished."

Wow! God places so much value on us believing that He will do what He says he will do--believing in His integrity and His power. That belief will be rewarded with His blessing.

As I look back on 2011 in this Operation Christmas Child journey, I see answered prayer at every turn. I am especially in awe as I read this latest word from Jim Harrelson, head of Operation Christmas Child:

Good News of Great Joy! 6,035,032 (and counting!) shoe box gifts and Gospel Opportunities from the USA in 2011 (5,800,000 goal)! WOW! 8,620,009 (and counting) shoe box gifts internationally (8,500,000 goal)! We will not have final numbers until early January, 2012. What an incredible blessing. The Lord has again faithfully provided! The Gospel is being advanced around the world. For such a time as this we are part of a worldwide movement of the Holy Spirit of God to gather children to Jesus so they may hear about and respond to His love and forgiveness, and be sent out to share with others. We are right in the middle of taking the most powerful truth, the Gospel, to the most receptive hearts, the children. Such is our opportunity and privilege!

I don't recall ever seeing such growth in shoebox numbers in just one year. God blew way past the goals I prayed for this year. I think of Mary who BELIEVED that what the Lord said to her would be accomplished. I want that kind of faith. As we look forward to a new year of ministry and prepare to set goals, I'm praying that I will hear God clearly say what He wants to accomplish in 2012 and that I will believe Him.

And as these boxes are still on their way to the children who will receive them this year, I'm praying and believing that God will use each one to let a child, a family, a community have believing faith in Him.

Lord, I believe. Please help my unbelief.

PS--There is still time to go online and pack ONE MORE shoebox through the Build-A-Box program that closes this evening. Give a gift that will keep giving for eternity at www.samaritanspurse.org/occ

Oh, My Soul

2011-12-16T17:34:00.000-08:00

Whenever I hear that phrase, "Oh my soul" I can't help but think of Leigh Fisher. Leigh is our Operation Christmas Child Mid-Atlantic Regional Director and a good friend, and that phrase is a signature one for her.

Speaking of Leigh, I got a great e-mail from her today telling us that the Mid-Atlantic region has definitely surpassed the prayed-for goal of 700,000 shoeboxes! We won't know the final total until the end of January but this is a huge victory representing thousands and maybe millions of answered prayers. We couldn't believe it when God blessed us with 640,778 boxes last year and to have Him give us this increase is astounding.

I've been meditating a lot this week on the passage from the first chapter of Luke that we call "the Magnificat" when Mary responds to the news that she will be the mother of Jesus. Here it is from the ESV.

46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,

47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48 f For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

49 f For he who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

50 And his mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

51 He has shown strength with his arm;

He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

52 He has brought down the mighty from their thrones

and exalted those of humble estate;

53 He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

54 He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

55 as he spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

I can't help but think about ways that I can magnify the Lord because He has definitely done great things for me this year. My spirit rejoices to see Him providing all the items for me to be involved in packing 17,777 shoeboxes.

Then He allowed our Northwestern PA area team to collect 34,941 shoeboxes--way beyond the 32,011 we prayed for.

Last Saturday we discovered that we are past the prayed-for goal of 5.8 million shoeboxes nationally. And now today we know that we are beyond 700,000 regionally.

Now we wait for the grand international total to be released in January--we're praying for 8.5 million. And even as we wait we pray every day for as many boxes as possible to be mailed in to national collection centers or built through the Build-A-Box online--because we know that EVERY box means ONE MORE CHILD who won't have to wait.

He has looked on the humble estate of we, his servants; He has done great things for us; He has shown strength with His arm; He has filled the hungry with good things--

All from the very complex love that comes from the power of a simple gift.

Oh, my soul!

As We Forgive

2011-12-11T15:10:00.001-08:00

I posted two days ago about the concert that the local Shades Of Pink vocal group did at our mall on Friday night in honor of Operation Christmas Child. But tonight I want to tell you about something else that happened that night.

As I watched the girls sing, my eyes wandered around the periphery of the small crowd and I recognized a couple there who are grandparents of two of the singers. I taught them 32 years ago in a childbirth education class but more recently knew them from a painful time in our family that occurred almost 18 years ago back in 1994.

My husband was suspended from his teaching job in the midst of false accusations and we went through a lengthy legal battle. Eventually he was cleared of all charges but it was a tumultuous year of emotional and financial upheaval.

As I looked over at this couple the memories flooded back, because this man and his daughter were two of the primary persons who testified against my husband in that hearing.

I don't believe I've seen him in the past 18 years.

I watched him and his wife as they delighted in their granddaughters' performance. They glowed with pleasure. My mind whirled. I had to speak at the microphone for a few moments that evening and I wondered if they would even remember me. I felt that I needed to speak directly to them but I had no idea what I would say.

When the performance ended I swallowed the lump in my throat and walked over. The husband was engaged in another conversation and I never did actually meet his eyes or speak to him. Did I even really try?

The wife greeted me warmly and asked if I remembered her. I told her I did and complimented her on her granddaughters' singing. I reached to shake her hand but it was limp and withered on her lap in the wheelchair where she sat, so I merely stroked it. I wished her a "Merry Christmas", patted her shoulder, and left.

I struggle with my feelings about this. I don't even know if they wronged me or my family? Maybe I wronged them? Somehow I feel there was unfinished business in my life and that maybe I missed a chance to finish it. Or maybe a crowded mall wasn't the place.

Was walking to them and extending my hand enough?

God, show me what it means to forgive.

It's Official (Unofficially)

2011-12-10T17:57:00.001-08:00

Today was like election night. Well, at least like election night would be if I really cared which candidate won. I kept checking the Operation Christmas Child tote board on the Extranet that listed the unofficial number of shoeboxes that had been processed.

Yesterday the total went to 5.6 million but we'd been praying for 5.8 million for 11 months and I knew there were still boxes to be processed. So today I kept clicking in and out and watching the totals change.

When the total jumped to over 5.7 million I started to breathe faster and click more often. I practiced mental arithmetic, calculating how many more boxes it would take to bring us to the prayed-over 5.8 million mark. We were still about 65,000 away from the goal as some OCC friends and I bantered back and forth on Facebook, waiting.

On the next click--there it was! The message from Operation Christmas Child cautioned that the results are still unofficial but praised God for 5.8 million boxes!

I tried to figure out how to throw confetti and set off fireworks in a virtual format. There were a LOT of capital lettered messages sent out within a few minutes--shouting the news of God's goodness.

What a blessing to see us go beyond the goal already!!!!! (unofficially, of course)

Shades Of Pink and 5.6 million

2011-12-09T19:40:00.001-08:00

Here's a sweet local Erie vocal group of six big-hearted little girls called Shades Of Pink. They've made Operation Christmas Child their service project for the past few months. They did a fundraiser to raise money to fill shoeboxes and pay for the shipping fees for them.

Tonight they did a concert at our local Millcreek Mall right next to Santa's throne in honor of Operation Christmas Child. In addition to beautiful solos and traditional carols they sang an original version of "The 12 Days of Christmas" adapted just for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes by their director, Cathi Mitchell.

I got a chance to talk a little bit about OCC and thank the girls for their participation. It was sure a great evening!

Then I came home to get onto the laptop and continue clicking on the OCC Extranet site to see what the unofficial totals of processed shoeboxes are.

Right now there have been over 5.6 million shoeboxes processed in the US (unoffically). That's more than ever before and we're creeping box by box toward the goal of 5.8 million we've been praying for.

Keep 'em coming--red, green, or Shades Of Pink--bring on the boxes!

Have A Mary Christmas

2011-12-07T17:04:00.001-08:00

At Grace Church the theme for the advent season is "Have A Mary Christmas". It's about preparing our hearts for Christmas and simplifying so we, like Mary, can simply focus on Jesus.

So I'm looking at my not-yet-decorated tree and thinking about how to make this simplification deal work in our household. I think I still need to decorate the tree, but what things and activities can I reduce or delete to make more room in my heart?

I'm thinking about Christmas cards and realizing that many of the people I used to exchange cards with are now in constant touch with me on Facebook. So why spend the postage to send a redundant greeting?

Card cost aside, the price of postage alone would be more than what it would cost to go online and "Build A Box" for a needy child on the Operation Christmas Child website.

It just takes a few minutes and the minimal cost of $35,00 to send a gift-filled shoebox that can change the life of a child and maybe even a whole family. Not sending cards will save me a lot of time and it will save about 75 Christmas letters or cards from going into a landfill. I can concentrate instead on sending a few hand-written notes to people who need encouragement.

You can click here to find out how you can Build A Box for Operation Christmas Child,. Maybe taking that step will help you have a Mary Christmas, too.

Chick-fil-A Guests

2011-12-06T14:43:00.001-08:00

I've been battling some sort of gastrointestinal bug and when I got home from school on Monday I headed for the recliner, covered myself with a blanket and said, "I've been waiting for this all day."

My husband, however, produced coupons for free meals at Chick-fil-A and insisted we should head there for dinner. It was pouring outside. I didn't feel like eating more than toast. Still, we headed into the rain a little before 6:00pm to drive up Peach St.

As we headed into the restaurant I spotted one of our friends, Rodney Snyder and thought, "Wow, they must have gotten some free food coupons, too." Just as I glanced to my right and saw my 98-year-old mother sitting there, a chorus of voices yelled, "SURPRISE!"

I was bewildered and teary as our friend and Chick-fil-A staffer, Bob Boynton, explained that CFA has a program where they choose a monthly "Guest of Honor" and that our Operation Christmas Child team was being honored that night. I looked around to see about 20 folks--my family and many of our OCC team members and some church friends--and couldn't believe how blessed I felt.

The orange roses and the tiara-embellished Santa hat were wonderful but just being able to enjoy this amazing dinner with so many friends was a memory that will last a lifetime.

Patti Seth, our Operation Christmas Child collection center coordinator from Warren, and her husband Tom drove an hour and a half to Erie to be with us. What a blessing that was.

I looked around the room and realized that God used each person there to work the miracle of allowing our Northwestern PA area team to collect 111,743 Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts (aka 'gospel opportunities') since the team was formed in 2007.

So we were guests of honor treated royally by Chick-fil-A last night but the real guests are the thousands of children who are receiving those tokens of God's love because of His grace working through all of us--our team on 'this side of the box' and the National Leadership Teams in each country on 'that side of the box'.

Special thanks go out to our Erie Chick-fil-A owner, Bryan Auton, CFA marketing director Tina Kociolek (who even picked out roses that matched my sweater) and our friend and CFA employee, Bob Boynton,

You all blessed me in an incredible way by making our team your Guests of Honor. And if somehow you're reading this blog and you've never had the wonderful pleasure of packing a shoebox to bless a child in Jesus' name--well, go to www.samaritanspurse.org/occ and find out how you can do just that.

Be our guest.

Leaving Him Behind

2011-12-04T13:40:00.001-08:00

Maybe it's because being part of the Operation Christmas Child ministry means that we 'do Christmas' all year long. Or maybe it's because the energy we expend to get through National Collection Week for OCC leaves us with little left to enjoy the season. Whatever the reason, I find that in recent years I have a hard time getting really excited about Christmas.

Last night, however, I so enjoyed the children's Christmas musical at Grace Church. I had lots of laughs and some times of tears--especially when the young soloist sang "Shine On Us"--one of my favorite songs.

The most convicting time for me, though, was when I watched Jesus get left behind in the living nativity scene. One of my beautiful first-grade school students played the role of Mary. This animated pixie with gorgeous caramel-colored skin sat on the stage and cradled Baby Jesus in her arms.

Soon, though, she got caught up in the singing. She put Baby Jesus on the floor and kind of forgot about him while she got involved with doing the motions of the songs. In fact, he never got picked up for the rest of the program and just lay there on the floor alone.

I think that happens to Him a lot during this season.

I thought about how in the midst of a year-round Operation Christmas Child ministry focused on providing as many gospel opportunities as possible so children can hear about Jesus there is always a danger that I will somehow forget about Him.

Jesus, I don't want to put you aside so I can just go through the motions. Don't let me ever leave You behind.

Straggler Shipping

2011-11-30T14:12:00.001-08:00

I was left with 35 leftover stragglers--Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes that didn't make it onto the truck. That included 29 that were left at Grace Church and 6 at Chick-fil-A. Next year I'm determined to do a better job of letting people know the deadlines and also stressing to them that Chick-fil-A and Grace Church are NOT collection centers and that boxes should be taken to the actual collection center or a relay center.

Having people from different groups dropping boxes off at individual churches instead of relay or collection centers means that we don't get those groups signed in and never are able to affirm them or encourage their further participation. For example, 9 of these boxes that were left at Grace Church came from a local business office but they'll never be officially recognized through Operation Christmas Child channels because they weren't signed in on a collection site drop-off log.

(This is where I climb down from my soapbox and get on to the shoeboxes)

So not knowing anyone from Erie going to the Processing Center this year, I began to make arrangements to mail the boxes. I'd heard from a friend that my OCC regional office might have a special deal with UPS to mail them more cheaply so I contacted them and found that wasn't the case. They were willing to ship them for me via UPS but if I left them in the 4 large boxes I had them packed in, UPS would charge a surcharge for large boxes and the bill would come to $400.00! Even if I put them in smaller boxes it would cost at least $150 to send them UPS.

It was cheaper and easier to leave them in the large cartons and take them to the local post office. It's gratifying to mail large packages and feel like you're getting a deal. My husband helped me haul the 4 boxes (total weight of 126.5 pounds) over to the post office where the clerk got her work-out and I got them all on their way for just $80.00--and that included delivery confirmation of .80 for each carton.

I'm praying for their safe arrival because I think there may have been checks in some of those boxes. Of course, these had to be some of the largest and heaviest boxes of the season but an average of $2.61 for mailing heavy shoeboxes isn't bad. It's a lot less painful than mailing a little package of chocolate sponge candy to Denver and paying $13.00.

The stragglers are shipped and I'm praying the 35 children who receive them will be blessed.

Kathy Schriefer on Blessing Children Through Operation Christmas Child

2011-11-29T19:28:00.000-08:00

Just When I Thought

2011-11-27T09:23:00.001-08:00

It's sure been an exciting Operation Christmas Child week. It's hard to believe that just a week ago we were still working hard to load boxes onto that truck.

Then on Monday we learned that God had blown us away again by giving us 34,941 shoeboxes--way over our prayed-for goal of 32,011.

So why am I here on this post-National Collection Week Sunday feeling so irrationally irritated? I keep thinking of Elijah who reacted to the great victory God gave him with depression and suicidal thoughts.

Not that I'm feeling THAT bad, but I do feel emotionally strung out and somewhat adrift when I should still be deliriously grateful.

I'm irritated that we spent money this week I didn't plan on spending--the new iPhone is nice, but charges and the insurance and all the extras sure added up. And, of course, we face the holiday gift-buying season now and I'm not so well prepared for that.

I had been going back and forth on whether to buy pens for next year's boxes now while the wholesaler is offering 20% off but then decided maybe I'd better not be storing them in the cold container over the winter. So as we handed over the credit card at the Verizon store all I could think of was that I could have bought all the pens I needed for next year's boxes with what we were forking over for phones. So irritating.

Then today I went to church and saw the pile of leftover Operation Christmas Child boxes that didn't make it onto the truck. There's a picture of some of them above. 29 and counting. I hear there are more at Chick-fil-A and another church.

I don't know anyone nearby going to an OCC Processing Center so they'll all have to be sent via US Mail. And, of course, they're all big and heavy.

Maybe if I could really see the kids who will get them I wouldn't resent mailing them so much. And someone at church took pity on me and handed me some money to help with the cost of postage.

I need an attitude adjustment. God has done so many GREAT things this week. I should be nothing but grateful.

Really, I should.

On the Eighth Day

2011-11-21T17:32:00.000-08:00

(singing) On the eighth day of National Collection Week my good team gave to me...Eight empty relay centers; seven perfect totals; six singing spirits; FIVE ANSWERED PRAYERS; four wide rolls of tape; three carton pallets; two trucks of boxes; and an OCC Collection VICTORY!

And what a victory it's been. After a crazy day of doing hearing tests on 300 first, second, and third graders at school punctuated by phone calls and waiting to get correct totals, I finally got that long-awaited number--the one we've been praying toward for nearly a whole year. After praying for all these months for our goal of 32,011 gospel opportunities.....Grand Total of Shoebox

Our grand total of Operation Christmas Child Gospel Opportunities for 2011 is

34,941

I am still just in awe of all God's answers to prayer. This is definitely once again exceedingly abundantly beyond all we could ask or think. This is a 27.3% increase over last year and 7,497 more boxes than last year--the greatest increase ever--bigger even than the year we first added Warren to our totals. Each of you had a part in this.

Since our team began in 2007 we have had 5 collection seasons and the total of those seasons is 111,743 shoeboxes. We could fill Penn State's Beaver Stadium with the children who've received those boxes and still have a few thousand on the field. We can't even imagine the impact of what God is doing through these simple boxes. Please keep praying for our Mid-Atlantic regional goal of 700,000, our national goal of 5.8 million and our international goal of 8.5 million boxes. To God be the glory!

On the Seventh Day

2011-11-20T18:07:00.001-08:00

(singing) On the seventh day of National Collection Week my good team gave to me...seven perfect totals; six singing spirits; FIVE ANSWERED PRAYERS; four wide rolls of tape; three carton pallets; two trucks of boxes; and an OCC collection victory.

Yeah, this is an old picture. We're not using those stickers on the Operation Christmas Child cartons this year, but you get the idea. It was another day of watching the truck fill up--what could be sweeter?

Most of our relay centers brought their cartons to our Erie collection center this afternoon and it was so much fun to talk to everyone and watch the totals climb. I've been using my calculator all day and trying to 'crunch' the numbers but I still don't have totals from the Warren collection center so the mystery continues.

This is definitely worse than waiting on Christmas Eve.

Still, there are some great stories of increases. My favorite came in Corry. Last year was Becky Foster's first year as a relay center coordinator and they took in a great total of 462 boxes, but THIS year their total was an astonishing 1,002--a 217% increase!

My favorite story of the day came when I took a plastic container out of a car that I assumed was a shoebox gift. When I looked more closely I realized it was kitty litter! Whew--that was a close one. Can you imagine the stir that would have caused at the processing center?

On this perfect seventh day I'm still waiting (im)patiently.

On the Sixth Day

2011-11-19T18:26:00.001-08:00

(singing) On the sixth day of National Collection Week my good team gave to me...six spirits singing, FIVE ANSWERED PRAYERS, four wide rolls of tape, three carton pallets, two trucks of boxes, and an OCC collection victory.

I left my house at 8:30 am this morning and didn't get home until 5:15 pm. I traveled 150 miles to visit four relay/collection centers for our Operation Christmas Child collection week. What a blessing it was to see so many volunteers united to bring in these simple shoeboxes.

When I got to Waterford, relay center coordinator Kim Kinnear and her team had run out of stuffed animals and fillers for the boxes they were packing. Well, I had several bags of those in the car and left them there. They quickly got back to packing.

I drove on to Corry where Becky Foster is the relay center coordinator. They had a packing party last night but stopped packing with 335 packed because they ran out of soap and toothpaste. Their original goal had only been 250 for their packing party but they had TONS of great stuff still left! I told them it's okay to pack a box without toothpaste and soap as long as you have a good variety of items and can fill the boxes. They were low on boxes but I had some of them in the car, too. So we set to work and packed another 49 boxes. Last year they did 462 boxes and this year they have 894 already! Needless to say, they are out of cartons--isn't that great!

I drove on to Warren, where one truck is 3/4 full and Patti Seth is doing a great job and then to North East relay where coordinator Bryon Switala was working and his wife, Joy, had everything under control It was great to talk with her and pray over the cartons there.

We're trying to juggle cartons from one place to another and don't know where we stand BUT we know our sovereign God has great plans for ALL of us. We are so, so blessed.

There are more than SIX singing spirits in the Northwestern PA OCC world.

PS--I was determined to take real updated pictures today but I forgot my camera (sigh)

On The Fifth Day

2011-11-18T15:16:00.001-08:00

(singing) On the fifth day of National Collection Week my good team gave to me--Five answered prayers; four wide rolls of tape, three carton pallets, two trucks of boxes and an OCC collection victory.

For the past several years this is the night in Operation Christmas Child's National Collection Week when I wish I were more organized. I'm not very good at keeping records and even worse at knowing where I put the records I do keep.

So I start wondering---how many boxes did this relay center bring in last year? And what were our numbers at the collection center on this day in 2010?

The truth is, I don't know. I know what our area team goal is and I know how many boxes God gave us last year and the year before that. But I don't know the markers along the way, and, anyway, when you think about it every year is different. We add new relay centers and it changes the dynamics of collection week.

I do have records of what individual churches and groups brought in last year and most have been up in their shoebox numbers. That's an encouraging sign.

Tomorrow I'm going to drive around and visit a few more relay centers. I'm praying for God's direction to keep me from getting lost. Maybe tomorrow's tour will give me more of an idea of where we stand compared to last year.

I do know that the first truck left from Erie today with 4,474 boxes on it. Do I know how many were on the first truck last year? Sadly, no.

But we're trusting God that we'll have all those numbers figured out by Monday.

On the Fourth Day

2011-11-17T18:10:00.000-08:00

(singing) On the fourth day of National Collection Week my good team gave to me four rolls of wide tape, three carton pallets, two trucks of boxes and an OCC collection victory.

This has been such a short and a long week all at the same time. I was thinking today of all the distractions and unusual events that have made this week challenging in addition to Operation Christmas Child. For example, one of my schools was one of two in the whole county to be randomly selected to have the Health Department audit my immunization records--and of course it was this week. There have been several unusual accidents at school and a heavy load of health screenings to conquer.

In the midst of it, though, God has made every challenge work out so well. I can almost sense the answered prayer all around me.

After work today I rushed up to the storage container to load as many shoeboxes as I could into my minivan to get them to the collection center to fill the truck before it's pulled tomorrow. It was snowing and windy and I was fighting to load my car when our Chick-fil-A owner drove up and asked if he could help. What a difference it made to get those boxes loaded so quickly.

Came home to do a radio interview and had it delayed by half an hour which gave me time to do some laundry and make dinner. Then my husband offered to go to the collection center with me to drop off the 300 or so boxes in my car.

We ended up helping with the cartonizing and loading the truck. AND we RAN OUT OF CARTONS already tonight! It's a great problem but still another challenge as we put out an SOS to relay centers for extras to return and started packing shoeboxes into egg cartons so we could get that truck filled.

Ahh, what a great fourth day!

On The Third Day

2011-11-16T18:13:00.001-08:00

(singing) On the third day of National Collection Week my good team gave to me three carton pallets, two trucks of boxes, and an OCC collection victory.

On this third day of Operation Christmas Child's collection week I was going to visit our collection center in East Springfield but the coordinator, Pat Carter, told me they wouldn't have many boxes to cartonize until tomorrow (why does my spell check not recognize the word 'cartonize'?)

So I went and hung out with three volunteers at the Erie Collection Center for an hour or so and then came home and made some calls.

I heard some tragic news from Dianne Oschman, relay center coordinator at Heckathorn UM Church in Seneca, PA. Their pastor's wife died unexpectedly yesterday which has, of course, thrown things into confusion. They could understandably have asked us to move the relay center held in their church, but instead they will keep the center open--even during the funeral. A neighboring church has offered to allow their social hall to be used for the funeral dinner so the relay center can remain open. Please pray for this faithful church during this difficult time.

The Corry relay center had a packing party with kids from their children's ministry and packed 50 boxes. They're at nearly 400 boxes now.

Rose Dobson, a team member from Edinboro, brought in 87 cartons filled with 1737 shoeboxes--most of which she packed by herself. What an amazing ministry. Pat Carter also packed over 1,000 boxes by herself this year.

At the Erie collection center 348 boxes were brought in by Fellowship Baptist Church--they've been participating in Operation Christmas Child since 1994, and though their church attendance is fewer than 20 people they packed more boxes than ever this year.

On this third day we're seeing so many examples of individuals and small churches being empowered by God to rise up and pack unbelievable numbers of boxes.

Rising up--a fitting theme for this third day.

On The Second Day

2011-11-15T18:11:00.000-08:00

(singing here) On the second day of National Collection Week my good team gave to me...two trucks of boxes and an OCC collection victory.

Well, there aren't 12 days of National Collection Week but we already have two trucks filling up with boxes--one in Erie and one in Warren--and it's definitely already an OCC collection victory.

Every relay and collection center is manifesting God's glory in great ways. Here are some highlights from the first two days.

In Erie-- yesterday two girls from Mercyhurst College brought in 35 filled boxes. Our team has wanted to get the project onto this campus but had no connections. These students said they started a "Christmas Club" to get students involved in Christmas-oriented service projects. They'd heard about OCC in their home churches in Ohio and brought the project to their campus this year. This is a total God thing that we didn't have any hand in trying to orchestrate.

In Corry--they collected 307 boxes on Monday alone. Last year they collected just under 500 for the whole week.

In Bradford--the relay already collected 487 boxes by Tuesday--more than half of what they did all week last year. a friend who's church got involved in OCC for the first time this year wrote to me on facebook, "

One gal said she had all her box items on the counter at Dollar Tree and the cashier said, "Well, do you have enough to finish off your OCC shoebox?" Nancy was stunned. "How did you know?" The cashier said, "There are so many people packing boxes in Bradford that after awhile you just 'know'".

The Bradford Collection Center Church packed 200 of their own, 117 from another church, our church had 50,more expected from churches around the area and it was only Monday! Our gal who transported the boxes said when you walked in the door they greeted you with such joy and enthusiasm that it was pure pleasure to deliver them.

God is blessing our collection sites with His grace and favor.

Definitely (singing) an OCC collection victory!

The First Day

2011-11-14T19:04:00.001-08:00

All over the country on this first day of National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child trucks are beginning to fill up with cartons of shoeboxes.

Yesterday I was able to speak about Operation Christmas Child for the sermon time at two churches and then loaded about 200 boxes from the storage container into my minivan. I also packed my last 60 shoeboxes to bring the grand total for the year to 17,777 (such a perfect number).

Today I did hearing tests at school and fielded a few phone calls. After school I was excited to drop boxes off at the Erie Collection Center--my first official glimpse of Collection Week 2011--then headed off to Meadville and Conneaut Lake to visit relay centers there.

Cindy Woolstrum has served for years as the relay center coordinator in Meadville and it was great to see the cartons already lining the halls there and to lay hands on them and pray for them again. Ideally, every box should be prayed over at least several times before it makes it to its destination country.

Cindy Catlin relay center coordinator at our new relay site in Conneaut Lake and they'd already taken in 400 boxes in their FIRST HOUR of operation. Again, we prayed over those gospel opportunities.

The rain started when I left Conneaut Lake and came in driving sheets that made it nearly impossible to see, even with the wipers on their highest speed. I hunched over the wheel and drove through the darkness but I had a strange peace--the result of the prayers of my prayer team, I'm sure.

The rain kept up for the entire hour drive home but fifteen minutes into it I drove up on a truck and blessedly followed those taillights. And as I drove I thought about the results of passing through a storm. God seemed very near.

The storms of the past year in Operation Christmas Child leadership have given me a greater appreciation of not only God's nearness but of the imminent victories of National Collection Week.

Bring on those boxes!

Leadership In The Box

2011-11-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

All day I've been following the Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Blitz in New York City and praying that God will use this creative media effort to "start spreadin' the word" about Operation Christmas Child and get more people involved in packing the 8.5 million boxes we're praying for.

Pictured above are Randy Riddle, OCC Domestic Director, and Jim Harrelson, OCC VP--two of the greatest and most humble servant leaders I've ever known.

Not every ministry leader would appear on the streets of NYC like this just to try to get ONE MORE BOX to a waiting child. This is one of the reasons why I love Operation Christmas Child so much.

This media effort is so important because in order to get more boxes packed we need to "start spreadin' the news". I calculated the other day that if every one of Operation Christmas Child's Facebook page followers (over 1/4 million strong) would pack a box and get 35 of their Facebook friends to pack a box--we'd have more than 9 MILLION boxes. And it doesn't even sound hard.

Click here to see a video of a great leader. If he can do this, then can't you get 35 friends to pack a box?

Bevy of Blitzin' Boxes

2011-11-09T17:51:00.000-08:00

Here we go--only 5 more days until the start of National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child. When you look at these boxes you need to remember that each of them represents a child somewhere you will have hope and love because of receiving a simple gift.

Tomorrow a crowd of Operation Christmas Child volunteers and staffers will don shoebox costumes and take to the streets of New York City to promote the project. You can tell they're seriously committed or they wouldn't be going to such lengths to get the word out.

Click here to read more about it and follow this bevy of blitzin' boxes. Sure to be worth it.

Specially Stacked

2011-11-07T14:44:00.000-08:00

Look--our Operation Christmas Child boxes are one step closer to getting to those sweet children around the world. Operation Christmas Child staffer Becky Herdklotz took this picture of the stacked cartons of some of our boxes waiting to be processed at the processing center in Charlotte.

I just love thinking of all the children represented by these boxes--all those stuffed animals and toothbrushes and flip-flops and crayons just waiting to bless the waiting children.

Such special stacks indeed.

Go Home

2011-11-06T18:15:00.000-08:00

Today I drove 75 miles to a church in Seneca PA to talk about Operation Christmas Child. It was a beautiful day for a drive, I didn't get lost, and the congregation had a great spirit and listened intently to everything I had to say.

Their goal for this year was 75 shoeboxes, but after I talked I ended up giving out every GO box I had in the car--more than 130 of them. I think God has great things in store for their collection this year.

The pastor was nice enough to invite me out to lunch and we had a great time sharing about ministry. But I'd left my house at 8:00 this morning so by the time 2:30 came and I climbed into the car I was really happy to turn on the GPS and hit the button that says "Go Home".

And as I hit that button I thought that is what Operation Christmas Child is about--showing children and adults around the world the way to "Go Home" to Jesus.

And I thought about family and friends who, as far as I know, are not home with Him. To me, there's nothing worse than being lost and there's nothing better than being home.

So as I looked at my GPS today I thought that my prayer for my children and my family and for the children and families around the world is for each of them to run to Jesus and just go home.

Ark Update

2011-11-02T15:10:00.001-07:00

I thought it was time for an update on "The Ark". Many of you have been faithfully praying for months for stuffed animals for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. Back in April when I figured out we needed to get at least 600 every week it seemed like such a monumental task.

But week by week you prayed and week by week God brought those animals in--not two by two but two hundred by two hundred and even two thousand by two thousand.

We've filled 17,582 boxes so far this year and each of them, as far as I know, contains a stuffed animal. And still they are coming.

Two days ago I sent a huge box of stuffed animals to a friend who is having an Operation Christmas Child packing party. She's been praying for stuffed animals and I thought God would want her to have them so they could go in boxes this year and we could trust Him for more.

Well, guess what happened last night? Look at the picture above and you'll see the pile of 268 brand new stuffed animals that were just donated. Like the widow whose oil never ran out, God keeps filling the ark.

This year just about 11,500 animals were donated and I purchased about 6,000 more at the low average price of 17.8 cents each. So many, many answers to your prayers.

God's got us stuffed with blessings again.

The Power of Six

2011-11-02T04:07:00.000-07:00

Last evening I sat at a table at Chick-fil-A here in Erie to distribute Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. We have a great partnership with Chick-fil-A and for everyone who brings back a filled shoebox next Tuesday they'll provide a coupon for a free chicken sandwich.

Elizabeth Randolph and I were there from 5-7 pm and during that time we only gave out six boxes.

At first I was disappointed about that, but then I started thinking of the power of those six boxes. If they're filled and returned that will mean SIX children who will have the joy of receiving a gift--possibly for the first time in their lives.

And what if even one of those children comes to trust in Jesus because of that box they receive?

And a friend reminded me that it's possible that those SIX boxes could mean SIX new churches will be planed somewhere in the world.

You know, it's not that hard to pack six shoeboxes. Even a child can do it. I'll bet you could do it.

There's a lot of potential in SIX simple gift-filled shoeboxes.

Shirtin' Up

2011-10-26T18:55:00.000-07:00

I love how God provides in such neat ways for our Operation Christmas Child boxes. A Christian friend supports his ministry to the poor and homeless by buying and reselling large lots of items. He got a deal on these Old Navy T-shirts and offered to sell me some. All the same color, all adult small, and great for either gender.

As a special blessing, he offered to drop them off at our container on his way back from picking them up in Dayton. And it was a true answer to prayer that they arrived just after my school day was over.

So at 3:15 pm my husband, OCC area team member Nikki Korrell and I met at the storage container. First we moved 294 filled GO boxes from the back of the container to the front to make room for the cartons of T-shirts.

Then the truck arrived and we worked to move all 5 pallets of T-shirts--238 cartons of them--into the back of the truck. When you volunteer for Operation Christmas Child who needs a gym membership?

So we have a great start on next year's boxes with 13, 566 T-shirts in the container already.

After that I headed over to my old church on the other side of town, carted supplies out of my car, and worked with Heather Rogers and her mom to fill another 75 boxes.

I'm thinking I'll sleep well tonight.

Praying for Funding

2011-10-23T16:19:00.001-07:00

I was going to take a day off from Operation Christmas Child activity--a sabbath of sorts--but it hasn't worked out that way. First, after church we had to do some work in straightening up the storage container after Friday's packing party. I can't believe how many different sizes of storage containers we had to sort out and match with lids.

Then after lunch I started doing some media work and submitting announcements to radio and TV stations' online calendar events listings. In the midst of that I got an unexpected call from an OCC friend and staff member who just wanted to ask for prayer requests and pray for me. That was like hearing God's voice in my ear coaching me, in the words of my so-frequently-watched movie 'Facing The Giants', "Don't give up! Give me twenty more steps!"

Before I ended my phone conversation with that OCC friend, however, we got onto the topic of praying for God to provide the funds to support these thousands of Operation Christmas Child boxes we're packing.

I pray constantly about this. OCC asks for a 'suggested' donation of $7.00 to cover shipping of the boxes and the cost for the literature and ministry expenses to support them.

Back in 2006 they raised the suggested donation from $5.00 to $7.00 per box. I packed 3,100 boxes that year and it was the first year I couldn't make the full shipping donation--even with help from donations from members of my church.

Ever since then I've been struggling, because as the number of boxes I can pack is rising, the amount of donations for shipping has remained about the same. This year I'll only be able to contribute somewhere between 50 and 75 cents per box for shipping--not nearly enough to cover the costs.

I could scale back to packing 3,500 boxes or so that are fully funded. Is that what God's calling me to do? The OCC staff person I spoke with today challenged me to keep packing thousands of boxes but to pray for someone(s) who are gifted at fundraising to come alongside and partner in that area.

So now that's all I can think about. That's all I keep praying about this afternoon and evening. I joked once with Leigh Fisher that the only way I could think of to subsidize the shipping costs was to take out a life insurance policy and make Samaritan's Purse the beneficiary, but I'm not sure I'm even worth that much.

Doing the math--at $7.00 per box for (so far) 17,508 boxes--adds up to $122,556.00. Whoa--that's almost an eighth of a million. In the words of Bill Hybels, that's a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal).

But, tell me, what is impossible with God?

Short Again

2011-10-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

Fresh from another Operation Christmas Child packing party and I have to wonder when I'll ever learn to figure in God's amazing multiplication when I'm ordering supplies.

When our major packing party ended on September 24th and I realized how many items we had left over, my first thought was to do enough additional boxes to fill the remaining 14 cartons we had--maybe another 300 boxes or so.

Later, though, I found that the wonderful folks at Operation Christmas Child headquarters would send me more boxes and more cartons so I decided 1,000 would be a do-able goal with the amount of items we had (not that I stopped to actually count every item of clothing mind you).

When I talked with Amanda from Boone I said at one point, "Maybe I should order 1,200 boxes just to be sure" but then I ended up just ordering 1,000. I also ordered 50 cartons to ship the 1,000 boxes and the bagged candy that we couldn't use.

I sensed that we had a problem on Wednesday night when the candy filled 28 cartons. I was pretty sure we'd run out of cartons at the packing party and I worried we'd run out of boxes also.

So this morning at 7:15 I drove to my old church and got all the plain shoeboxes I could find. Then at school I managed to get 12 large empty cartons from the cafeteria. I hoped we'd be set to pack around 1,075 boxes.

When I arrived at church tonight for the packing party, Debbie Rimmer from our team, her pastor husband, and her son Gideon were already packing boxes. The rest of the volunteers arrived at 5:30 and we watched the Operation Christmas Child video together and then set to work.

Wow--did things ever start moving fast! Within a little over an hour all the 1,000 white boxes were filled but the supplies to pack boxes were still mounding the tables.

So we broke out the plain shoe boxes and kept packing but they were soon filled, too. The only thing to do was to start packing the pre-printed OCC GO boxes. I knew they couldn't go on the truck with the other boxes for special access countries, but with all these items and all these willing volunteers it seemed like we HAD to keep packing.

So we folded GO boxes and filled them and stacked them in the back of our storage container for National Collection Week.

At the end of the night we'd packed 1,069 'special' boxes and 294 GO boxes for a grand total of

1,363 BOXES

When you add that in with the total from our September 24th packing party that makes 17,508 boxes so far.

And we're going to pack more this coming Wednesday at our "2nd Annual Praying Patriotic Pig Packing Party" (with all the things we couldn't put into our special boxes.

My only regret is that I didn't order more boxes and cartons so the truck could be fuller when we send it on Monday. There we are with a half-empty truck and a container full of boxes.

Well, God has a plan for that, too. Maybe He's trying to teach me to have a bigger vision. Hmm, I wonder how many boxes I should order next year??

Ready Again

2011-10-20T18:46:00.001-07:00

So much answered prayer today for our upcoming Operation Christmas Child packing party. I didn't know what to expect but God brought just the right number of volunteers and they worked together like a real team.

My husband Jim and Nikki Korrell were joined in the truck by Pastor Rimmer, Dan, and Terry from Bethel Presbyterian Church in Cranesville, PA to get the candy put into cartons on the truck. I couldn't believe we had enough candy to fill 28 cartons. Now I hope we don't run out of cartons for the boxes tomorrow.

Then they loaded the 32 cartons left over from the last packing party into the truck.

We got everything set up and also folded the other 500 boxes. We are ready! I have no idea how many volunteers will show up tomorrow but I'm trusting that once again they will be just who we need.

I think tomorrow I'll get some extra boxes in case we run out....and if we need more cartons....well, I can deal with that on Saturday or Sunday.

We're praying the boys coming from Harborcreek Youth Services will enjoy their time with us tomorrow and that God will be glorifed...

We're ready for Him to show up....again.

Rockin' the Region

2011-10-20T07:30:00.000-07:00

Our Operation Christmas Child volunteers nationwide are organized into regions. Our Northwestern PA Operation Christmas Child Area Team is part of the Mid-Atlantic region which covers PA, MD, NJ, VA, DE and a part of WV.

I am so blessed to be part of the Mid-Atlantic region where all of us who are involved with Operation Christmas Child are really like a family. Leigh Fisher is our regional director and our two regional managers are Mesfin Abera and Holly Moerer. JoAnn Waters, administrative assistant, keeps everyone together, and seasonal employees Emilia Campoy and Lauren Booher are special blessings for this busiest of OCC times.

Under Leigh's leadership we work together and support one another. The biggest blessing is that we have the chance to see God answer so many prayers we pray for one another and increase the praise we offer.

I just read the most encouraging message from Amy and Will Shaw, area coordinators in the Philadelphia area, about how God is moving in their area. It's nothing short of miraculous.

Jim Urban in the Northern Pittsburgh area saw God work a miracle. Jim tallied up the cost of the items he needed to purchase for their upcoming packing party and calculated it to be $2500. Well, the next day someone came into the church and donated $2500 for Operation Christmas Child. Seeing the provision of our great Jehovah Jireh at every turn is really the definition of living the abundant life.

As we look toward another packing party on Friday I know my OCC Mid-Atlantic family will be praying, and they'll be rejoicing with me when God shows up again.

Our goal for the Mid-Atlantic region this year is 700,000 shoeboxes aka "Gospel Opportunities". Last year our goal was 630,000 and we prayed fervently for it. Well, God in His signature way, went above and beyond and blessed us with 640,778!!!!!!

But so many more children are waiting. Won't you pray with us that the Lord of the Harvest will bless us (and almost a quarter million children) with another over-the-top harvest this year.

God, ROCK OUR REGION again!

Sacrifice is Relative

2011-10-16T10:50:00.001-07:00

God sure has a sense of humor and also has His ways of trying to use His 'rod and staff' to correct my signature sin of pride. I was feeling pretty self-righteous this morning because I was driving to Union City (35 minutes each way) to talk for 15 minutes about Operation Christmas Child in the church service at First Baptist Church.

When I got there, I was setting up my display table when a man and his wife came in. It turns out he was a volunteer from the Gideons and they had driven 4 hours yesterday and stayed overnight so he also could speak for 15 minutes in that morning service. (okay, Lord, I repent). Oh, and the church was planning on having a sermon by the pastor also! It turns out the pastor cut out his sermon and just gave a testimony about the impact the Gideons made on his life instead (good move, pastor).

It's amazing how God always pulls me up short when I start thinking I'm sacrificing for Him. Pictured above is Oxana Moore who flew all the way to Erie from South Carolina after a full work week to speak for 15 minutes at our Operation Christmas Child packing party last month. That's another reminder of true sacrifice.

God's Kingdom work is impossible to evaluate. The Bible says "Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart." God sees not the number of miles we drive nor the number of shoeboxes we generate--He sees the condition of our heart and what we do with the multiple moments during each day when we get to choose whether to focus on Him or to be distracted.

I looked at last year's numbers and realized the church I was speaking to today had done only 15 boxes last year. So I took along 22 boxes to give out and thought that would be plenty. As it turns out those boxes were snapped up within a few minutes and I could have given out many, many more. I need to be more prepared for what God will do.

This coming week is jam-packed full with OCC 'stuff' again. Tomorrow night I drive to Bradford to speak at a missions' conference, Wednesday we have our OCC area team meeting and start folding boxes for the packing party on Friday. Thursday is set-up for the party and Friday evening we're hosting the packing party again and hoping to pack 1000 more boxes.

In the midst of it all, I don't want to lose sight of what's really important. God isn't looking for miles traveled or boxes packed. What He wants is a living sacrifice and a sacrifice of praise.

God, teach me what it means to follow you in sacrifice.

Perspective

2011-10-15T15:10:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in the midst of all the details of my volunteer job with Operation Christmas Child I can lose perspective. As I pray for God to bless us with 32,011 shoebox gifts here in Northwestern PA, with 700,000 in the Mid-Atlantic region, with 5.8 million nationwide, and with 8.5 million worldwide the numbers all blur together in an overwhelming pile of boxes and cartons and trucks and sea containers.

The weeks become a tangle of packing party preparations and speaking engagements and phone calls to return and information to absorb and remember.

But as I sat on the floor today putting stacks of 8 crayons into individual bags I thought once more of this amazing truth: every crayon I touch will go into the hands of a child in another country who will be blessed by it.

This Operation Christmas Child project is vast but it's also vastly personal. Last year we prayed for a goal of 630,000 shoeboxes in the Mid-Atlantic region and God went way beyond our expectations and blessed us with 640,778.

It was neat this week when we heard that in Mexico last year 640,000 boxes were distributed and there were 334,000 recorded decisions made for Christ as a result of them. That's a huge number but each of those children is an individual who God knows and loves intimately. He knows the hopes and dreams and even the number of hairs on the head of each of those children.

I was reminded again today of an Operation Christmas Child motto--

ONE box=ONE child=ONE soul

One box makes a tremendous difference because it's one fewer child who's kept waiting to hear of God's love. So pack a box! If you're not sure how to do that, click here to learn how.

Pack with God's perspective.

The Details

2011-10-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

Once again I feel like I'm sitting on a mountain of details. For months I'd been holding out for the Operation Christmas Child packing party on September 24th. I envisioned that at the end of that day the storage container and my house would both be empty. Well, I guess one out of two isn't bad.

I looked at the storage container this morning and realized it still looks full. We're looking at another possible smaller packing party for October 21st and, once again, I hold out hope that after that date we can get the container cleaned out and the 15,000 bags of candy put into cartons to be trucked to the processing center.

But then I realized that even after that weekend the container will still hold the boxes that people at the church have filled that are waiting for National Collection Week from November 14-21. So....maybe by Thanksgiving the container will be cleared out? Hope springs eternal.

Still, I'm so grateful to God for these leftover items that will allow us to pack more boxes because, as I told the dear folks when I spoke for a few minutes in church this morning "ONE box=ONE child=ONE soul." Each box means one fewer child who will go without.

My home is starting to fill up again. Today I brought home crayons to be bagged and cartons of toothbrushes to sort and cartons of flat boxes to distribute to other churches.

More details. But I'll just get through them one by one because, by God's grace, more details means we're NOT DONE YET!

Abundant Blessings & Leftovers

2011-10-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

I've been blessed so abundantly and here's a picture of another. After God showered us so richly with all the answered prayer for our Operation Christmas Child packing party last Saturday, my friend Judy Craynon blessed me on Sunday with the gift of this gorgeous lap quilt she made for me.

This might sound bizarre, but I have this thing about warmth being a sign of God's love to me. When I feel sunshine on my back or the coziness of the blankets on my bed or something like the warm comfort of this magnificent gift, I feel it as a sense of God's presence. So this special gift will be reminding me of God's love (and of Judy's friendship and giving heart) for years to come.

I went to our storage container on Wednesday and made an attempt to inventory our leftovers from last week's packing party. It was tough to be accurate but I was amazed to find that there's enough stuff there to probably do another 1000 boxes. Only God knows how that happened.

After my little inventory I went to Panera Bread to have a celebration and debriefing with my packing party committee. I had it on my heart to do another packing party and invite some folks from the community who are usually on the receiving end to help us pack the boxes. Considering all the work we'd completed only days before, I was afraid to broach the subject, but when I did the group was all for it. What a great foursome they are and a true gift from God.

It's hard to believe that only a few months ago I felt so alone in the planning for the packing party--adrift really. But God brought this group together and I'm just totally blessed by their competence and dedication.

Details are still up in the air for another mini-packing-party but I know God will bring it together in His time. Meanwhile, between church rummage sales and donations there were another 300 stuffed animals to sort and clean this weekend. I don't believe these animals are destined to sit in the container until next year. God has a plan for them to be on their way in those special shoeboxes--whether from Erie or from some surrounding area that needs them.

Because God's blessings, like His long ago provision of manna, are never leftovers.

Water to Wine & God's Everlasting Love

2011-09-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

The Operation Christmas Child packing party is over and the post-packing-party letdown is a little like the day after Christmas itself. I'm surrounded by the messy aftermath of a jumbled storage container and trying to figure out the logistics of packing the leftover items into more boxes.

I slogged through the day at school and drove home dreading the chaos I'd see when I opened the door at home. Instead, when I walked through that door the first thing I saw was a beautiful bouquet of flowers. My husband knows better than to send me flowers. I'm a practical person who'd much rather have a pizza dinner than flowers.

So I pulled the card from the envelope and saw no name--only this note "May the beauty of the flowers be a reminder of God's everlasting love." Tears welled up because, yes, they are a reminder of God's love. They aren't practical but they are a balm to the soul.

They make me think of Jesus' first miracle--turning water into wine. The people at that party didn't need wine (whether it was alcoholic or not). They had perfectly good water to drink. Yet Jesus chose to bless them with something they didn't need--something unnecessary that would bring them pleasure and show His amazing love for them as well as His divine power to change the ordinary into the extraordinary.

That's really what our Operation Christmas Child boxes do, too. People sometimes ask me why I don't invest all this energy and passion into something like drilling wells or feeding the hungry. And I do contribute to Samaritan's Purse and other relief agencies who do those things.

Yet there's something about a treasured shoebox gift that brings love and hope, and those are just as necessary--maybe even more so--than food and water. When I saw my gift today--those flowers--I was filled with God's love and hope. I think I got a new glimpse of how those children feel when they see a gift packed by an unknown giver and realize, "someone was thinking of me."

I hope the bestower of my gorgeous bouquet is reading this. I hope you know how loved I feel today--by you and by God. I hope you know how much this symbol of God's everlasting love means in my life.

Because hope and love are what life is made of.

GO!

2011-09-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

Blogs are supposed to be short but I may fail at that rule as I post about our Operation Christmas Child packing party yesterday here in Erie, PA. After a few hours of sleep I was ready to leave for the church at 6:30 am when I got a message telling me the man who was going to run sound for us was ill. I was already in prayer mode so I told God I was waiting on His plan.

Got to church at 7:00 to get the chance to fill with helium some of those balloons I've been moving from place to place at my house. A few balloon bunches really dressed up the space and while working to place them in the worship center, we were blessed to have someone who knows how to run the sound board 'just walk in' as an answer to prayer. When he turned on the sound, guess what was playing? "Bless the Lord oh my soul." Not an accident in my book.

Don't you just love looking at these cartons all lined up like cubbies waiting to be filled with boxes. I prayed over them and asked God to let our volunteers fit 23 into each of them so we'd have room on the truck

Then when enough volunteers arrived we head out together and marched the 7th lap around the building of our symbolic Jericho march and claimed God's victory over the day. Before long volunteer training was underway and we enjoyed Chick-fil-A breakfast.

We finished the looping Operation Christmas Child videos in the worship center and then started the day together at 9:10. After explaining OCC and showing a hilarious 'silent movie' version training video we assigned jobs to volunteers and then got the packing line moving shortly before 9:30.

Looking at this hallway of boxes waiting to be filled reminds me of the children who are waiting to receive them. I was a bit concerned about not having enough volunteers in the beginning but they drifted in through the morning and the lines kept moving. Even though we were behind last year's times, I realized that God was gracious in allowing us time for volunteers to learn to get the cartons filled without being pressured with too many boxes at once.

Almost every room of the church was being used--one for bagging crayons, one for stapling paper, two for folding boxes and labeling. And the neat thing is that ministry was happening in each of those areas. People were connecting and loving on each other. It was beautiful to see.

We'd only packed 4800 boxes by 11:30 when we moved everyone to the worship center to hear Oxana Moore speak.

Oxana received a shoebox as a child in Belarus and her story of what that box meant to her helped everyone to see how God uses each of these simple gifts to bring hope and love.

A TV crew and the Chick-fil-A cow came at the lunch break
but people didn't take much time to gobble down pizza and quickly went back to work. We hit the halfway point at around 1:00 and I began to think we wouldn't have enough fillers to finish the day. I thought maybe we'd only make it to 10,000 boxes. So I made my second visit to the prayer room that day and fell on my face on the floor before God--reminding Him that this was His idea and if He wanted us to get to 15,000 boxes, well, it was up to Him.

Things started moving faster as more people stepped up to fold boxes at a feverish pace. I hid out on the stage folding boxes for quite some time and made stops to bag crayons and count paper also--so happy to be out of the flow of questions--while my team handled the action.

While I'd been afraid of running out of items a few hours before, now the piles didn't seem to diminish as carton after carton was filled. Just before 4:00 we hit the 15,000 mark and at 4:06 the 53 ft. trailer (the one that was dropped in the middle of the night) was declared officially filled with 670 cartons.

Still the packing continued. We were supposed to have received 16,000 boxes but somehow we filled 16,145 white GO boxes and we'd hardly touched the 2-4 boys or girls clothing and filler supplies. Enough items remained for hundreds more boxes but we had no boxes left to fill.

God, you did it again! After a prayer over the boxes and a teary singing of the Doxology
most of the volunteers trickled out while the faithful core remained for the massive clean-up.

Having so much left over meant storing it all back in the container along with the 32 extra cartons filled with boxes. I left at 6:00 before the clean-up was over (heard they finished about 6:30) to drive to Saegertown for an OCC kick-off meeting with Oxana Moore speaking.

Another week and another day filled with more miracles than I could ever anticipate. And today I've been getting reports all day already of ways people on THIS side of the box were blessed by yesterday's packing party. God never wastes anything.

I sat in church dreaming of how we could have another packing party--maybe with clients from the City Mission or a local residential center for troubled youth. Someone will be blessed by packing the rest of this stuff into boxes.

Now we just need to get the truck pulled and the miracles are on their way. It's time for them to GO!

Ready, Set

2011-09-23T19:59:00.001-07:00

These little girls and so many million others around the world are waiting to get an Operation Christmas Child shoebox. And now we're waiting to pack some for them.

Tomorrow is our big packing party and, by God's grace, I think we're ready. Well, all except for the truck. We have a 28 ft. truck but they're supposed to switch it out for a 53 ft. truck--hopefully even in the midnight hour tonight. It'll be exciting to see if it's there when I arrive at 7:00 tomorrow morning.

Our local Chick-fil-A is providing breakfast for our lead volunteers while we do training at 8:00 am and we're setting up the helium balloons before that.

I wish I had pictures of how neat things look. My daughter took some and hopefully I'll get them downloaded tomorrow. One of our team members is a graphic designer and she made an amazing tree out of deco boxes placed flat in a shadow display box with a sign in the form of a large star on top inviting people to take a box home and fill it.

Lots of volunteers came tonight to fold boxes and we now have 5,500 folded to start the day. They'll go fast, though, so I hope we can keep up.

Tonight I went out by myself and walked around the perimeter of the church 6 times while I prayed. Tomorrow I want to get our Prayer Coordinator to walk and pray the 7th lap with me.

We're trusting God for great things for all the children who are waiting.

We Need 25 More Feet

2011-09-22T18:56:00.001-07:00

This is a picture of the 53 ft. truck from last year's Operation Christmas Child packing party. We carefully figured out that if we can get 23 boxes in each carton (which we still haven't confirmed yet we can do) then we will be able to have enough space on the truck for our shoeboxes on Saturday.

That's if we have a 53 ft. truck.

We just got a confirmation e-mail from the trucking company confirming they will drop a 28 ft. PUP truck tomorrow between 9-11 am.

But we need a 53 ft. truck.

God knows we need a 53 ft. truck. And God knows I need a good night's sleep.

So I'm going to bed and trusting Him to get us a 53 ft. truck tomorrow.

Carton Quandary

2011-09-21T18:55:00.001-07:00

Another wild night of set-up for our Operation Christmas Child packing party. I never saw so much plastic and cardboard tossed around as we unpacked so many factory-packaged items. A crowd of youth came and assembled 1880 boxes, bringing our total to 2580--half way to where we want to be when the party begins.

Tonight's big quandary is the packing of cartons. I had planned to put 23 boxes into each carton. That seemed to work fine with last year's GO boxes and last year's cartons. But when we tried it tonight (see picture above) it seems like we need another half inch of space in the carton to make it work.

We only have 720 cartons and if we put only 21 boxes in each carton I don't think we'll have enough. Today I read in Isaiah 38 about how Hezekiah prayed to God when he was told he would die and God granted him another 15 years of life. So I'm going to pray that God will add at least 15 mm to each side of these cartons or subtract 15 mm from each side of the boxes so we can fit 23 in the cartons.

Have any of you had experience with this year's cartons and GO boxes yet? Is there something I'm missing?

Counting

2011-09-20T18:25:00.001-07:00

Another great day of preparations for our Operation Christmas Child packing party and we're counting our blessings. We're so grateful that Aaron Crossman and Tom Albert have volunteered to run sound and video for our packing party. Now we're praying for the right choice of videos to show in the morning before the packing begins.

We've been blessed with the generous contribution of commercial time from WCTL, our local radio station. I've received several e-mails already from families that are coming to the packing party because they heard about it on WCTL.

One of the local churches I've been specifically praying would decide to participate in OCC is Erie Christian Fellowship. Today I got an e-mail from their youth director telling me he's bringing his family to the packing party.

I see all these pieces of good news as direct answers to prayer. So many of you around the country have sent messages telling me you're praying and God is answering those prayers.

Tonight 8 people worked for a little over an hour to assemble 400 more boxes--a little under 1 per person per minute. That's my benchmark. I figure if we can get 50 people to fold boxes at the rate of 1 per minute, then we can assemble 1000 boxes in 20 minutes to keep up with the rate they'll be used at the packing party. Heather Rogers, our OCC team's Church Relations Coordinator, says I should have been an actuary.

Why do I love figuring out stuff like this? Let me count the ways.

Set-Up Commences

2011-09-20T03:43:00.000-07:00

I need to get better about taking pictures of what's actually happening but I always seem to be too busy to think about it. Yesterday was our first day of set-up for our Operation Christmas Child packing party.

My husband met the truck in the morning and got the 6 pallets containing 160 cartons of flat shoeboxes and 720 cartons placed in the church Commons area. On a sad note, I found out last night that he didn't get the labels and tape that were supposed to be delivered at the same time. I really, really need those labels so I'm praying he finds them when he calls the trucking company today.

Last night Jeff Pinto and I moved all 160 cartons of boxes (weighing maybe 30 pounds each) from the Commons area to the youth rooms behind the gym. I used muscles I forgot I had and got a good workout. Not sore this morning, though, by God's grace.

Meanwhile, we had about 5 other volunteers opening cartons of coloring books, pens, pencils, etc. and we amassed a large amount of cardboard already.

Then 3 of us worked on assembling boxes. The GO boxes look so different in plain white. We said they looked like doughnut boxes and it felt like we were working in a bakery. We got 300 boxes assembled. A long way from the 5000 I'm hoping to have ready by Saturday before the party begins--but it's a start. Finding space to put them is a challenge, too.

This morning I read in Isaiah 37:36 "Then the Lord went out and put to dath a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning--there were all the dead bodies." God can have the victory without us--even while we're asleep.

Part of me wanted to wake up this morning and hear that God had packed all of those boxes while I was asleep. But part of me is glad that He's waiting until Saturday to move through US to get the victory.

What a joy to watch it happen again!

Empty Ark

2011-09-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

The ark is empty! Yep, this is pretty much what our storage container looks like now. God provided a 'just right' number of volunteers who worked tirelessly for more than an hour to unload a 40 ft. long space crammed with boxes of supplies and bags of animals for our Operation Christmas Child packing party. And a donation of Beanie Babies today put us over the 16,000 mark for stuffed animals.

Someone on Facebook wanted to know what 16,000 stuffed animals look like. Well, right now they look like a mountain of garbage bags and we'll just unload them one at a time so we'll never really see all 16,000 at one time.

There were some glitches today. I found out we still need a volunteer to run sound for our speaker at the packing party, the event isn't listed on the church's website calendar, and we weren't scheduled to use the worship center. Ah, well--just more communications problems--but it will all work out, I know.

On the positive side, we had good coverage with a nice-sized article about the event in Saturday's paper and another blurb in the editorial section. We're praying that God will bring the volunteers He wants to have there.

So now the countdown begins. Every evening this week we'll be working to set up for the packing party on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the animals are glad to be out of the ark and waiting patiently for the next leg of their journey.

Paper Plus

2011-09-17T12:14:00.001-07:00

It seems our lives are often littered with paper, but for a child in a third or fourth world country paper is often a treasure. I remember Lejla Allison describing how she used a notebook for several years as a child in Bosnia by erasing the pages with a rubber band wrapped around a stick, so I always try to put some type of paper in each box we pack for Operation Christmas Child.

This year I've been challenging people to buy reams or cases of filler paper and we're getting volunteers to count out and staple packets of paper. Notebooks are preferable, but in the volume we do it's been hard to find enough of them at a good price.

When it comes to providing things for these precious boxes, I love how God amazes and amuses me all at the same time. Two weeks ago I got a hot tip on buying composition notebooks online at WalMart. The deal was for 40 cents for a 5-pack of notebooks--only 8 cents each. I was able to place an online order for 103 5-packs at one WalMart and 125 at another. But when I went to pick them up I got nothing but frustration and hassle. They wouldn't honor my order and I left without any notebooks, chalking it up to the "if it sounds too good to be true..." axiom.

Fast forward to this week when Target discounted their school supplies to 75% off. On Wednesday I got a tip from a Facebook friend and cruised up to Target to get 384 spiral-bound notebooks for only 5 cents each. While I was loading my cart I noticed they had shelves full of composition books priced at 10 cents each. Too pricey for me, but if they ever came down to 90% off they'd be 4 cents each and I'd be able to scarf up a great deal.

On Thursday I stopped at Target again to get items that were 70-75% off on the Dollar Spot area and I checked again on the composition books--still 10 cents.

This morning I went in and found the shelves of school supplies empty. Horrified, I scurried to find a manager. First contact called by the service desk was Heather, the front end manager. She said they were probably salvaged out and given to charity. With uncharacteristic boldness I asked her how I could get our charity on that list.

That brought a call to Jim, the manager. He said school supplies wouldn't be salvaged but kept until they were sold. He said they must have been moved somewhere else in the store and if I could find them he'd give me a great deal on them. The hunt was on!

I checked the stationery end caps, but no luck. Then I returned to the seasonal area and found a helpful worker who pointed me to the very back aisle of the store and there they were in all their beautiful lined glory.

Back to the front of the store where I found Jim and inquired about the price. "Well," he started, "they're 10 cents now so how about 5 cents?" I had that 90% off figure in my mind, so I countered "How about 4 cents?" He shrugged and agreed.

The ensuing hassle of dragging two flats of them to the front of the store was compounded when they decided they had to separate them by upc number. In the end I offered to come back when they had it all figured out.

Four hours later they called and I and my dutiful husband went to retrieve the bounty. Two vehicles filled with 2,902 composition books with covers flexible enough to bend and fit into a shoebox for a grand total of $116.08.

The best part is that the faculty at Belle Valley school is designating their Jeans Day money for Operation Christmas Child this week and that should almost cover the cost.

Just think--2,902 kids will have a notebook for school. And I'm so glad God foiled the previous deal at WalMart. That's just a plus.

Ark Advances

2011-09-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that two weeks from now our packing party will be history. Last night I couldn't go to sleep again--both excited and thinking of details. All the animals for the ark are still resting in the bedrooms--all 47 bags of them--so at 2:30 am I decided to sort them out to see how many animals we had for boys and how many for girls.

I hauled all the bags off the beds and put the ones for boys--all 29 of them-- in the living room and then counted the 12 for girls and the 6 for 2-4 year olds.

I got them all added to the previous total and we have.....14,400 including the ones already in the ark. There are 1,000 stored in the home of another team member, bringing our grand total to 15,400. I still have about another 100 in the process of being washed and/or drying so that means I just need another 500 to get to 16,000 and be sure to have enough.

Today brought another chore. I bought 2,000 pencils that don't have erasers because they were the cheapest I could find at a wholesale company. I had hundreds of pencil top erasers so today I counted the erasers out by hundreds and put them on the pencils.

Here's what I can't figure out--my shipping order of pencils included 14 boxes that were marked to hold one gross each. The total should have been 2,016. But I counted out 1,900 pencils and put erasers on them and I still have 3 and 1/2 boxes of a gross each left. I've counted several times and I can't figure out why I have so many left over.

I guess God is starting the multiplication process early.

What Joy!

2011-09-09T04:14:00.001-07:00

Yesterday evening I was exhausted at 6:00 and couldn't wait for an acceptable time to fall into bed. Then a few hours later I was lying in bed at midnight wide awake thinking about our upcoming Operation Christmas Child packing party.

Instead of my usual nighttime thoughts of dread and fear and obsessing over details, though, I was filled with such amazing excitement. And I woke up in that same excitement this morning. I'm not sure if this is the result of someone's prayers or just God's abundant grace (not that HIs grace could ever be 'just' anything). I feel like I've been given a gift to see His goodness in a new way and I want to hang onto this sense of wonder.

I think back to 2005 when the small OCC team at my former church tried to have a packing party. We sent notices to surrounding churches and we planned and prepared for weeks.. When the day came only about 15 people showed up. We packed around 600 boxes that day, mostly through the work of the few people on the team. If you'd told any of us that one day we'd be planning to pack 15,000 boxes in one day I don't think one of us would have believed it.

Just 4 years ago in 2007 a small team of us worked all year--packing around 100 or 200 boxes at a time--to pack 4,665 boxes. Again, if you'd told us that in just 4 years we'd be planning to pack 15,000 in one day we'd have been incredulous.

As we approach this packing party I am struck by what a miracle this is. This is happening not because of the strength or wisdom of man but because God can do anything and He's graciously chosen to allow us to be a part of what He's doing.

I know that soon I'll be thinking about the details again and wondering how it's all going to work out. But I want to delay that as long as I can. I want to just bask in the wonder of all He's done and all He has planned to bless thousands of children and adults around the world.

It's simple: this is God's work and He will accomplish it.

I want to ponder these things in my heart.

Storage Saga

2011-09-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

Wow! Look at this nice empty storage area. Uhhh, that is NOT what our storage container looks like right now. Ours is nearing maximum capacity and when the 30 cases of soap (15,000 bars) get delivered tomorrow morning it may just max out.

Over my years of packing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, storage has always been an issue. I think I have a soft spot in my heart for that much-maligned guy in the Bible who kept tearing down his barns to build bigger ones. I can see his problem.

Although my hoarding is seasonal, it's still a problem. Back in the middle of the last decade when we had a weekend of packing boxes at my old church it would take 5 team members coming to my house with their cars to unload the stuff from my attic. But that was when we packed about 700 boxes.

The stuff for 15,000 (give or take a few hundred--HOPEFULLY give) makes for a lot of storage space.

I just counted, and I now have 42 garbage bags full of stuffed animals on the spare beds in my home. And I'm still praying for another 12 or 15 bags full over the next week and a half.

So if you live in Erie and have stuffed animals to donate, bring them in ASAP so we can sort and clean them.....but if you have other items to donate, if you can possibly keep them in your home until Sunday, September 18th, I would be so grateful. If you can't, bring them in and we'll find a spot for them somewhere. There's always my bathtub!

And speaking of September 18th, if you go to Grace McKean we could sure use your help to unload the storage container right after the 9:15 worship service is over. With enough help we can get it done quickly.

And then we'll have plenty of room to start filling it up again.

Testing, Stressing, and Resting

2011-09-04T18:50:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I haven't done a blog post for almost two weeks and I don't even know where all that time went. Well, actually I know where a lot of it went--school and getting ready for school.

Operation Christmas Child packing party preparations have been taking a back seat to the launch of a new school year. As a school nurse for three elementary schools (one of them new to me this year) I've been facing most days of the past two weeks asking myself, "Where do I begin today?" The new year brings chaos and stress.

By the time I finished my first week on Friday I had a headache that lasted until this morning. And I almost never get headaches.

Which brings me to my wondering about the tests in life and how to move from stressing to resting in the Lord. I've been feeling like my mind is on overdrive with a constant revving. My mind jumps from detail to detail. I can read my facebook statuses from a year ago and find they read the same.

I need to keep reminding myself that God is in control. He always shows up and makes these major packing parties work for His glory. On Wednesday this week I got a neat gift in the mail from my regional Operation Christmas Child office. It's a cool little box filled with slips of paper--each one containing a Bible verse--one for every day between now and the end of Operation Christmas Child's National Collection Week on November 21st. What a perfect gift to get this week! I confess I've been cheating a bit and reading more than the allotted verse per day.

And in the middle of this busy school week there were still packing party preparations. God brought in another 765 stuffed animals this week to be sorted and bagged. I think we're only about 1200 away from the goal now. The idea of God bringing in 15,000 stuffed animals this year is astounding.

I ordered 15,000 bars of soap this week, too.

Thursday evening brought the final meeting of our packing party team and the first where we were all together. It feels like there are a lot of details still up in the air but I know I need to trust God with them.

Three weeks from today it will all be over and the truck should be ready to ship out.

I know there will be a lot of tests in these next weeks and I'm praying God will move me from the stressing to the resting.

What's In Our Container?

2011-08-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

I spent 3 hours today in an inservice to learn how to use PowerPoint in an updated application I don't have access to--either at home or at school. But I also learned about a fun website (www.wordle.net) where you can make fun montages out of words. You can view the result of today's education by clicking here.

These are the items in our Operation Christmas Child storage container right now waiting to be packed into shoeboxes at our September 24th packing party. Well, that's not precisely correct because not ALL of these items are in the container yet.

For example, even though we hauled 14 garbage bags (each full of 100 stuffed animals) to the storage container last night, there are still 27 more bags full occupying beds and floors in our bedrooms. And I'm praying God will provide another 24 or 25 bags full in the next month.

Yesterday I was blessed to take a road trip to the beautiful Kinzua Dam area here in Western Pennsylvania. I went to meet and have lunch with Patti Seth, our collection center coordinator from Warren, PA.

And my dear friend Ellen Bunnell made the two-hour round trip from Bradford to bring the Bradford Zoo--a collection of nearly 300 stuffed animals collected by the children at the Hill Memorial UM Church's VBS this year. With such great donations it's no wonder God has filled The Ark nearly to capacity.

Well, I guess the animals won't mind sleeping on our beds for the next few weeks.

GO Boxes

2011-08-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

Look at this stack of beautiful boxes ready to be filled with gifts for needy children around the world through Operation Christmas Child. These boxes have recently been renamed GO boxes and that stands for Gospel Opportunity--that's what each of these simple boxes really is for the child who receives it.

Last night my sweet OCC Area Team member Terri Mouyard and I met at Grace Church to assemble these boxes. We hadn't really done this for 9 months and it took a few minutes to get our groove but then we started folding like the crazed OCC fanatics we are. Within 2 hours we'd assembled 200 boxes--ready to be taken by church members to be filled.

Then this morning Dianne Oschmann, our Relay Center Coordinator from Seneca, PA, drove up to Erie to pick up 7 cartons of these GO Boxes for her area. She insists that everyone who takes boxes makes sure each one is filled or returned to her and she's seeing phenomenal growth in Operation Christmas Child in her area through these boxes.

Each Area Coordinator receives a limited number of these and as they start to become more popular at churches here in Northwestern PA I'm afraid we won't be able to meet the demand.

The good news, though, is that these boxes are now available for purchase on the Samaritan's Purse website. You can order a carton of 100 boxes for $24.00 plus shipping which varies by zip code. To get them here in Erie the cost for shipping is $13.37 which I think is a great deal. You can order a minimum of 100 boxes or a maximum of 1,000 on the website. For orders over 1,000 you'll need to call to make arrangements.

Click here for more info on ordering these and make plans to pack and pray for a simple way to change lives around the world.

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Erwin McManus

2011-08-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for the last session "Chasing Daylight" and praying I'll be able to implement some of this awareness into our Operation Christmas Child team.

Erwin McManus--Chasing Daylight

There are moments in our lives when we're inspired to act and start looking for incremental changes when we need a total change of mindset. We need to have a different relationship with the future. Ecclesiastes 1--everything is meaningless.

One day in his living room Erwin said he was convinced Solomon was wrong in Eccles. 1. "There's nothing new under the sun." Erwin believes there is something new under the sun. Jesus said, "Behold I am doing a new thing."

Jesus says "you can't put new wine in old wineskins." God was an artisan as He created the world. Every human being is created in the life and image of God. When we live our lives alive in the creator of the universe we become God's instruments for creating the future.

Evil men do not wait for permission from God to create the future they have in mind while good people sit idly by waiting for God to create a better world. We can say God saved the world through Noah but we have a harder time saying Noah saved the human race.

After the post-modern world is whatever we choose. Why do we keep waiting for someone else to create a better future?

Where to focus to create the future God has in mind--

1) we need to become the cultivators of human talent so each person is developed to the furthest level When Moses was born he was no ordinary child and no ordinary child has been born on this planet. But most of us die painfully ordinary. The church should be the nurturer of the human spirit. What would happen if the world knew the Church as the epicenter of Christian creativity? "The moment I met Jesus Christ something came alive in me and I knew there were things still waiting to come but I was afraid to let them be expressed." There are a lot of people who are going to die with their dreams trapped inside of their souls. There is no conflict between human talent and the glory of God.

We need to become narrators of the human story. We used to be the best poets of the world. "When I came to faith I didn't know why I believed the Bible. I began doing an empirical study of the Bible to see if what it said about humans was true." We need to reclaim the truth-telling power of the gospel. (Example of Nathan telling a story to David to convict him of his sin.) We need a revival of great storytelling. Whoever tells the best story shapes the culture. Truth can be lost in a bad story and falsehood is spread in a good story.

It's not that hard to bring a person to Jesus when you tell them a story that they find themself in.

There's a future in the creative and if we nurture the wonder in every person people will be drawn to our communities. If we acknowledge that we are a mosaic that God's light shines through, we will find ourself in this new creative order because Jesus has come and He makes all things new.

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Patrick Lencioni

2011-08-12T13:00:00.001-07:00

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--another speaker to help us learn how to lead Operation Christmas Child teams.

Patrick Lencioni--his book is called "Getting Naked" about the power of vulnerability

I like to begin by making a few confessions--my personality doesn't lend itself to these types of big speeches; everything I'm going to cover you already know ("people need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed")

Humility is rare and powerful. First job out of college--he was not never to admit he didn't have the right answer; never let the client seem smarter than you--

Then got a job at another company where you also had to pretend you knew everything.

Third job he was allowed to be genuine and it was liberating. Later began his own consulting group and decided to be 'naked' and honest with clients. The trust and loyalty response was amazing.

Definition of vulnerable--capable of being physically or emotionally wounded; open to attach or damage; liable to increase penalties but entitled to increase bonuses in a game of bridge

Vulnerability runs counter to the desire in our culture to avoid discomfort at all costs.

Three fears that keep us from being vulnerable--

1) Fear of losing the business or being rejected--

how to avoid this--

enter the danger--best improv comes from walking right into the wacky conversation

speak the kind truth--sometimes there's terminal niceness in churches; people are desperate for the truth;

2) Fear of being embarrassed--when we're serving others we have to ask questions and make suggestions that may not be wise; when people know you're more interested in making them better, they invite you in; we have to celebrate our mistakes; when we acknowledge our humanity it is attractive

3) Fear of feeling inferior--The last thing we want to do is put ourselves in a lower position; we need to do the dirty work; show people you're willing to do whatever you're asking them to do; the example of Jesus washing the disciples' feet

--honor your clients' work; be more interested in what they do

vulnerability is attractive and powerful and yet it's not easy. It involves suffering and pain. Why do we do this 'vulnerability thing' even if we aren't rewarded for it? Because Jesus did it and calls us to it. In the moments when we don't get rewarded we need to say a prayer of thanksgiving and do it anyway.

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--John Dickson

2011-08-12T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit waiting to hear more wisdom that will help me serve better with Operation Christmas Child.

John Dickson--Humilitas, A Lost Key to Life, Love and Leadership

The character trait of humility has been a challenge for leaders for century. John Dickson had a defining moment at a young age when his father died in a plane crash. John is a thinker with a degree in theology and a Ph.D. in ancient history.

The fear of being the guy who talks about humility. There's a dilemma for anyone who would talk about humility in public. "I fell into the topic of humility by accident." I have developed a love/hate relationship with humility.

Humility is not humiliation or low self-esteem. Humility is the noble choice to forego your status and use your influence for the good of others before yourself. It's the humility to hold power for the good of others.

Humility makes the great greater and here are 5 reasons--

1) Humility is common sense--none of us is an expert at everything. Expertise in one area counts for very little in another. Competency extrapolation--think because you're bright in one area you'll be bright in another.

2) Humility is beautiful--we are more attracted to the great who are humble. In ancient Rome 'humility' meant servitude. Jesus created a humility revolution sparked by his crucifixion. Western culture has been profoundly transformed by the cross of Christ. Greatness and humility are now one.

3) Humility is generative--it generates new knowledge and new abilities because the humble person is open to knowledge. The scientific revolution is the result of the humility revolution. The humble place is the place of growth. Sometimes you learn something in the humble place you can't learn any other way. It's the place of flourishing. It's the criticism you know is true.

4) Humility is persuasive--Aristotle in his book "On Rhetoric" said there must be logos, pathos, and ethos. and ethos is the character of the persuader. "We believe good-hearted people to a greater extent and more quickly than we do others on all subjects in general." The most believable person in the world is the person you know has your best interests at heart.

5) Humility is inspiring--"When our ego won't let us build others up...we have stopped inspiring others to great heights." We admire those leaders who are not approachable but we don't emulate them. But those who humble themselves inspire us to be like them. We think they're like us and so feel we can be like them.

Leaders have 4 tools

ability

authority

character

persuasion

Some of the most inspiring leaders in history had no authority but had much ability, character, and persuasion and people followed them. Sometimes you don't need the power or empires to make change--you need character and persuasion. You don't need the keys to the kingdom to impact the kingdom. You don't need to reclaim a Christian nation in order to win a nation back to Christ.

Humility is not just another leadership technique. At the center of everything is a cross and if that is true, the humble life is a life in touch with reality. "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus."

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Dr. Henry Cloud

2011-08-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to hear what Henry Cloud will say that can help me in leadership for Operation Christmas Child.

Dr. Henry Cloud--The Evil, The Foolish, The Wise

"That Guy" -- the problem person

Wherever you are, God has called you to be a steward over a vision for the specific reason of changing something in a community or a nation. Are you going to let "this guy" stop your vision?

What does a person do when the truth comes to them? That is the diagnostic question.

You make an assumption as a leader that you need to adjust whenever you receive feedback. But you cannot deal with every person you lead the same. You need to diagnose who you're talking to and deal with them appropriately so you won't lose your vision or your joy.

Three categories-- actually we all have all of these in our lives but some people make a career of one or the other

1) Wise--when the light comes to them the person adjusts themselves to match the light "Correct a wise person and he will be wiser still."

When you confront them, they thank you. David said, "A righteous man will strike me and it will be a blessing."

So talk to the wise--coach them--resource them

The challenge is to make sure they are a match for what you need.

Give them good feedback and coaching

Keep them appropriately challenged

2) Fools--when the light comes they adjust the light. They try to change the truth or shoot the messenger. They deny, minimize.

They are not happy to hear the feedback; may get angry.

Leads to hopelessness in the leader because the person being led won't own the problem.

"Do not correct a fool less you incur insults upon yourself."

Stop talking.

Talk about the pattern only "I don't know how to give you feedback in a way that changes anything. I've got to protect our vision. I've got to protect the culture of this team."

Set limits--limit your exposure "Tell me how I can talk to you and make a difference."

What will we do if I correct you and you don't change? Get specific about consequences

Fools change only when the pain of not changing becomes greater than the pain of changing.

Limit Exposure

Give clear consequences

Give them a choice

Follow through

3) Evil--destruction in their hearts; want to inflict pain "Reject a divisive person after a second warning"

Lawyers

Law Enforcement

God has called you to lead people and it's about getting the people to work the plan. Take the leadership challenge to not let someone's character problem stop the vision that God has called you to.

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Michelle Rhee

2011-08-12T09:14:00.001-07:00

Waiting to hear what the leader of education in Washington, DC has to say that will help with leading a team for Operation Christmas Child.

At the age of 37 with no superintendent experience Michelle Rhee was appointed chancellor of education in Washington, DC.

Experts have begun to believe failing neighborhoods might be the result of failing schools. Worst scores for reading--only 12% proficient. Michelle Rhee says "this district did not become this way by accident." She fired more than 30 school principals, closed 23 schools and cut 100 staff.

Michelle Rhee says the children in DC were being such a disservice and people were avoiding making decisions that needed to be made.

She says her father was always socially motivated and taught them their advantaged life was the 'luck' of their birth. In her senior year of college she had no idea what she would do and decided to work for Teach for America where she was assigned to inner-city Baltimore. Found out the hardest job is the world is being a classroom teacher. When they observed her classroom teaching they suggested she might want to make a career change. Two years later 90% of her students were proficient in reading and math!

That success was build on building a strong work ethic in the students and having longer school days and also engaging their parents. Second graders had 2 hours of homework every night. The hard work of the students paid off.

She then graduated from Harvard Business School and was asked to help schools learn to recruit and train new teachers. She founded the New Teacher Project to recruit teachers for rural and inner-city schools and retain them.

The biggest myth is that there weren't enough people willing to teach in inner-city schools but they found that was not true. The problem lay in how the schools operated and all the bureaucracy.

Fast forward to the problems in the DC school district where the school board was replaced and the mayor put in charge. Michelle said 'no' several times to the mayor's desire for her to become chancellor. Ultimately she took the job because the mayor was willing for her to do what needed to be done, no matter how hard, to turn the schools around. The mayor said he was willing to risk his entire political career.

When she started only 8^ of the 8th graders were on grade level for reading. Teachers were not paid on time. Textbooks were sitting in warehouses. They bought 6,000 computers and many of the classrooms did not even have 3 prong outlets to plug them into.

The first core problem she chose to address were organizational ones and then they invested in human capital by making sure each teacher and principal were the best possible. They closed 23 schools (15%) at the same time. Central administration office cut in half. Two-thirds of principals and 1000 educators removed.

She tried to create a different culture where each student was treated like their own. She sent her own children to DC public schools and didn't allow any policies that would be harmful to any child.

The term "snap" means you can see as soon as you go into the classroom if the teacher is being effective. They also wanted value-added teachers, meaning they would evaluate teachers on the basis of how much children were growing and improving. You measure the group at the beginning of the year and again at the end of the year to discern level of growth.

Michelle's mother said when she was young she never cared what people thought of her and now that trait is serving her well. Michelle says, though, that she'd rather deal with anger than apathy.

Asks Michelle to give advice on whether incremental change or revolution is best. Michelle says, "I'm not an incremental girl" and said they needed fast change because of the desperate need.

When the mayor was not re-elected Michelle's job came to an end. She notes that education has been driven by special interest groups and has no organized national interest group on behalf of students. So she started an organization called Students' First--a movement to reform education around the country.

Proverbs 31:8 -- speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Describes herself as an 'aspiring Christian' and says she is held back by watching other people and also because she is rational and linear and has a hard time relinquishing control and surrendering her life.

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Bill Hybels #2

2011-08-12T07:20:00.001-07:00

Bill Hybels is speaking on Tough Callings--

If we're not careful, we can believe that if we get better as leaders, then everything we lead will be successful. But what if God were to assign people to lead ministries that were important but unlikely to see any type of success. Would you be willing to lead something like that?

Think of how subtly addicted we as leaders are to growth and success. We're willing to step into leadership for success. Let's look at 3 stories of leaders who struggled.

Wess Stafford tells that Stephen Sundar was not able to get a visa to come to the US for the Summit so he will tell the story. This world is not our home--the Kingdom is upside down. The weak are strong. The servant is the leader. There will be great surprises in heaven when we discover the real heroes who were among us.

During Ethiopia people were starving and Christians were persecuted. The Church was forced underground. They had a deep hunger for the Word and were willing to talk for hours about it. They were bruised and scarred and Wess would feel like a boy among men.

Wess tells of a pastor who would not give up his faith under great persecution. His specialty was preaching at funerals, which was illegal. He was put in prison where he preached to the prisoners. They decided to electrocute him in the public square. They rigged up a crude device for this and when they threw the switch all the fuses blew and he survived. That night he preached in the prison again. The next morning they tried it again and threw the switch and again it failed. So they finally just released him. Wess met him a few hours later and the pastor was on his way to preach at a funeral. He told Wess that they pray for the suffering of those of us in the West who are so comfortable that we don't pray all day long or worship regularly. He told Wess that they tore up the only Bible they had and gave each person pages to memorize so they wouldn't be caught with it. During this oppression their church grew five-fold. Now Ethiopia is the channel for the growth of the Church in the middle east. When they are glorified in heaven, God grant that we would be somehow worthy to stand beside them.

Egypt--hot, surrounded by volatile nations, politically volatile. A group of people eke out their living by collecting garbage and recycling. Christians are shunned or persecuted by the Islamic majority. Maggie Gobran taught at the American University in Cairo and was when her aunt who served the poor passed away she was drawn to take her place.

She set up Stephen's Children to help the poorest of the poor with a holistic approach. Stephen's Children has 1400 staff members for 80 community centers. Children are fed, given health care, and a Christian education. Mama Maggie has been called the Mother Teresa of Egypt.

Maggie Gobran--

My soul magnifies the Lord for He has done great things for me. Story of a girl who she took to get shoes and the child instead chose shoes for her mother. "We don't choose where to be born but we DO choose whether to be sinners or saints--to be nobody or to be a hero. To be a hero, do what God wants you to do."

Egypt has had the highest number of martyrs in all history. Twenty-five years ago Maggie heard His call and took her step by step. First, as she read the Word she fell in love with the world. Jesus said, "My Words are spirit and life."

The second step was to sell everything. As the child of a doctor she had lived an affluent life. Later she learned to be elegant comes from inside--from love. And true love is to give and forgive--to give until it hurts.

She was teaching the brightest students in the country and God called her to the poorest of the poor. With God's grace she left everything and found Him waiting for her with a crown of love. "It's the moment when you die to yourself that you discover the beauty, the power."

The poor children are hungry for bread and for love. They are naked from lack of clothing but also lack of dignity. "When I touch the poor child, I am touching Jesus. When I listen to a poor child, I am listening to God's heart beating for all humanity." (Such a reminder of the work God calls us to in Operation Christmas Child) "We went to help them to have a better life, today they help us to be better people."

The third step is to have a pure heart and so she practiced the discipline of silence on a regular basis. In silence we discover eternity.

Secrets of silence--silence your body to listen to your words. silence your tongue to listen to your thoughts. silence your souls to listen to your heart beating. silence your heart to listen to your spirit. silence your spirit to listen to His Spirit. In silence you leave many to be with The One.

If God has chosen someone like me, believe me when I say I am the least of you here, He will do greater things in you.

Jeremiah (told by Bill Hybels)

God told Jeremiah to take His word to the godless people who had become corrupt and greedy. Jeremiah agreed and he thinks since he's doing it for God it will probably turn out well. But nothing goes well--no one will repent. One day he is beaten and tied up so people can spit at him and slap him. Jeremiah chapter 20 he gives God a piece of his mind "you deceived me. Cursed be the day I was born."

Jeremiah is torn between his calling and his ache for success. It's tearing him apart. Finally he decides to continue speaking God's words again. Now people throw him into a cistern and leave him to die. Some time later people had pity on him and get him out.

Jeremiah feels he has to give up his need for success so he goes out again to speak God's words and the people never change. One day the enemy comes to take everyone, including Jeremiah, into captivity and he then writes Lamentations. Writes out his disappointment and disillusionment but in Lamentations 3 he asserts "God's mercies were new every morning." He felt the sweetness of God's relationship underneath it all. In the end he says, "Great is Thy faithfulness."

Bill Hybels says "I had an easy calling, really. Got to lead a suburban church and people there already know how to lead. When we need a building built millions of dollars come in. My office looks like an office in any company and I drive a car like any CEO. I have had very little hardship."

If you watch on episode of news you know our world is broken. The fixes for these will take decades or lifetimes and God is looking for some strong-shouldered leaders who will be available. God is looking for someone who will take a tough calling.

Bill was on the board of World Vision and was on the selection committee to find a new president for the organization. Talked about the selection of Richard Stearns who left his job as CEO of Lenox to take this new challenge.

Bill asked him recently what the hardest thing is about leading World Vision and Rich said it's having your heart broken again and again and again.

Linda Lindhout, a reporter, who went to Somalia to report on what was happening there and while there she was kidnapped and held for 15 months. When released, God called her to go back to give humanitarian aid to the children of Somalia. She returned to serve there in Somalia.

"I stand in awe of leaders who get tough assignments." Bill gives a challenge to businesspersons and leaders to reach out and provide leadership for a tough calling of some sort in the community.

Jeremiah was asked by God to go buy a jar and then told him to gather a crowd. God told him to tell the crowd if they don't stop mistreating the poor I will smash their country and then smash the pot as an illustration of how they will be smashed. Jeremiah knew he would then probably be smashed. But Jeremiah takes a deep breath and smashes the jar and he's grabbed and beaten.

Take the piece of pottery you were given and write something on the clay to signify you're available for a tough calling.

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Steven Furtick

2011-08-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

Waiting to hear Steven Furtick talk about Audacious Leadership. Sure could use some of that for Operation Christmas Child.

God told Jeremiah he was not too young and Paul told Timothy to set an example even in his youth. The advantage to being young is you haven't lived long enough to know there are some things that can't be done. Other faculty will give you wisdom and I will give you the dumbness to believe God for anything.

Believing God for the impossible--as a high school junior he read pg. 23 in "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" a quote about not letting life slip by without seeing God do what He can do on our behalf. Started Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC in 2006.

II Kings 3:9-20

Kings of Israel are pursuing their enemy. They shouldn't have any trouble getting victory but they ran out of water. (only God can make it rain). They hadn't inquired of God for a long time until the troubles came. Elisha asked for a harpist. (demonstrated by giving inspirational messages without music and then with stirring musical background. It's awesome when you're at a conference and the music is flowing.)

Praise God for inspiration but the real question is -- how to we get from inspiration to implementation. Elisha goes on to say, "This is what the Lord says: Make this valley full of ditches. For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain but you and your animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord."

(If your vision is not intimidating to you it probably isn't from God.)

Elisha's first ministry instruction is about digging some ditches. If you want to see the land filled with water, DIG SOME DITCHES.

Faith believes it before it sees it.

Life can beat the audacity right out of you. But some of you need the vision to know that God is not done with you yet.

Early days of their church they watched a video of mass baptisms being done at Willow Creek and used that as a "ditch digging" experience. When their church started their first baptism had 5 people.

The ambiguity "I know God can and I think He will."

They kept digging ditches and going to the next level--50 people and then 100 people. We're comparing our 'behind the scenes' to everyone else's 'highlights video'. You don't always see what God is doing while we're digging the ditches.

If you will dig the ditches, God will send the rain. And don't just dig one ditch--make the valley full of ditches.

When the vision around you doesn't look like what God has spoken to you, sometimes you just have to hold onto His Word.

Trust God and dig ditches.

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Seth Godin

2011-08-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

Waiting to hear Seth Godin (most popular blogger) and hoping to get some ideas to help advance Operation Christmas Child.

"Someone watching this today is going to change everything and do something that matters. Not because their boss told them to but because it's important."

Betty Crocker went on the radio and sold average products for average women. We grew up with the notion that we can promote an idea from a position of power. The idea of 'More'. TV industrial complex. Revlon were first TV ads for cosmetics and got more distribution and bought more ads, etc. in a circle--average products for average people.

One by one we see pillars of industry (recordings, newspapers, books) going away. Look at the variety of TV channels

Revolutions destroy the perfect and allow the impossible. We're seeing the death of the industrial age which is being replaced by an age of tribes (a group of people who share a culture).

Before the pin making machine a skilled craftsman could make 3-4 pins a day and after the machine someone off the streets could make thousands. Now anyone who has a while collar job has their hands on the world.

Art is the risky act of doing something you haven't done before for someone else. If you own the means of production there's no reason to hold back because you don't have a boss to be accountable to.

Assembly line=keep the line moving. Leadership isn't like that. Mass production leads to interchangeable people. We send people to school and teach them to fit in so we can ignore them.

Competence used to be important but is no longer a scarce commodity. It's no longer enough to be competent. The thing with the race to the bottom is you might win. If you can write it down, I can find it cheaper.

You must be distinctive. You need to learn to solve interesting problems Don't wait to be picked--pick yourself.

If failure is not an option than neither is success. You will do art and you will fail, because that's art.

The little voice in the back of your head (lizard brain) gives resistance and tells you to 'fit in'. Every revolution destroys what came before before it launches the new.

Art is giving gifts, not favors. "Knit a sweater out of that last strand of hope." Too many people are walking around holding onto something that's going to rot. We are constantly looking for a reason not to do our art--not to take the risk.

How many people want your platform, your seat, your chance to make something happen? Make art, give gifts, do work that matters, shift things, make a difference.

A 6 word invitation--we need you to lead us.

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Rev.Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil

2011-08-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

Courageous Leadership for Catalytic Times -- getting ready to hear from the next speaker at the Global Leadership Summit and hoping for some more inspiration for our Operation Christmas Child team.

time out for announcement--

Howard Schultz from Starbucks was scheduled to speak but a petition was started to boycott Starbucks if he spoke because the feeling was that Willow Creek is anti-gay. Howard decided to cancel his speaking engagement. Bill Hybels asserts that Willow is not anti-gay and is not anti-anybody. He explains that all people matter to God and anyone is welcome at Willow Creek. They let Howard out of his contract with no penalty. Write to starbucks.com and with genuine Christian love communicate to them that our churches are open to anyone and we'd love to have him back at the summit someday. Bill also recommends we read Howard's book, "Onward." Also pray for a possible meeting with the people who started the boycott petition to see if reconciliation is possible.

Courageous Leadership for Catalytic Times--

God has called us together to prophetically speak to us.

Brenda and her husband were invited by the Anglican Church to speak in Birmingham, England about the black church in America. A Jamaican woman there screamed at them and said, "Where have you been? Why didn't you come sooner?" God used that experience to humble her and to expand her world view. She started to become a global Christian.

(video of a catalytic event--Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier)

The difference between Chuck Yeager and others before him who'd only attempted it was that Chuck resisted the temptation to pull back when the shaking of the plane started and he pressed on to completion.

Young people are global by default because of Internet connections. How have you responded to that as a leader?

Acts 1:8--the initial catalytic verse that birthed the church. This clearly sets out our mission. The mandate is to take the gospel to the whole earth. Jesus seems to suggest that there's a movement outward.

First we begin in Jerusalem (our home turf--our comfort zone). This is where we have to face our bigotry. It's where we challenge the jokes being told or take the risk to start talking about the policies that are restrictive.

Judea--people look alike but have political or denominational differences. The divide that comes between the young and the old or the able-bodied and the differently-abled.

Samaria--people who are hostile to us, foreign to us, totally other. The neighborhood where you drive through and lock your doors. This is the place of sex trafficking, child labor, corporate greed, environmental injustice. This means moving outward and experiencing the outer borders. It takes a catalytic, spirit-filled leader to go to Samaria. You need the Holy Spirit to move you beyond your natural affinities.

A Catholic priest on the south side of Chicago was disturbed by products being advertised on billboards near the schools. This priest painted over the billboards.

It takes a catalytic event to move us. Without a catalyst we stay in our own homogenous communities. Acts 2 brings the catalyst. Their souls 'caught on fire' and they began speaking with such credibility in other languages and sounded so authentically inclusive. A multinational, multilingual CHURCH was being born. From the beginning the church was intended to be a global movement.

When fear comes in the church should stand up and say maybe God is using the economic crisis to bring us together. Maybe God is moving.

Are you ready to break through your 'sound barrier'. If so--

--Pray for a divine mandate--pray "God, break our hearts for what breaks Your heart"

--Name your catalytic events--stop and ask God how His spirit is moving in our community or our country

--Mobilize people to go!--so much cultural cross-pollenization available near us. Not looking for people who will go and 'help' but people who will go and learn.

Where's your Samaria? That's where Jesus is calling you. God is trying to move us out to the ends of the earth so how about we get started now.

I believe God wants to interrupt our previously scheduled programs. There's a catalytic event breaking forth right now. Holy Spirit send us forth ready to be a global community.

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Mayor Cory Booker

2011-08-11T09:50:00.001-07:00

We're getting ready to hear from Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, NJ and looking for help in leadership for our Operation Christmas Child team.

He tells his father's story of being in school where the teacher asked anyone who thinks they're stupid to stand up. Finally, Booker's father stood up and said, "shucks, ma'am I don't think I'm stupid but I didn't want you to be the only one standing." The point is--you will face adversaries and bad things will happen but you must be willing to stand.

Before you can stand you need to understand that you are born as the result of a grand conspiracy of love. People stormed the beaches of Normandy for you. People scrubbed toilets and prayed for you. You eat lavishly from banquet tables prepared by your ancestors. Will you take your blessings and use them to move forward?

His parents introduced him to all the people who worked behind the scenes to give equality to all people and bring new freedoms.

Abraham Lincoln "each person is born an original but sadly most die copies." Don't let the world tell you who you are. Booker admits he still struggles with this.

We are the result of people who did not see the world the way others saw it. In the midst of slavery they saw freedom. In the midst of sweat shops they saw workers' rights. They had the courage to stand up and do something.

Cory walked up to the 5th floor of one of the projects in Newark as a law school student, knocked on the door, and told the woman he was there to help her. She took him into the middle of street and asked Cory, "tell me what you see around you," and he kept describing the problems of the neighborhood. The woman kept shaking her head and said, "You can't help me. You need to understand that the world outside will always be a reflection of what's inside you. If you can see hope and the face of God, then you can be someone who will help me."

Quote from Gandhi, "Be the change you want to see in the world." We have to live out what we want to see happen. The only way to make change in this world is to start with oneself. "If it is to be, it's up to me." Stand up with faith in God, in our nation's ideals.

Before you preach or teach show me in how you live and give who you are. So many things distract us from the 'right here' and the 'right now' such as materialism and 'televisionism'. Example of a man in a blighted neighborhood who used his stimulus check to buy a lawnmower and weed whacker and used them to mow and manicure an empty overgrown lawn where drug deals had been taking place. The drug dealers left and he became a hero in his community.

We are stars. If we don't live life brilliantly and dim our being we won't live luminously. We as people can bring light to the darkness and turn barriers to blessings and obstacles to opportunities.

Booker went to the funeral of a youth who was murdered who he had met and had a chance to impact. He wept afterwards and said "where were we, not for his death but for his life?" Are we evidencing our truth?

Having problems in his political life with not being able to make changes happen and he read the verses that said, "If you have the faith of a mustard seed you can move mountains" and read the verses beneath that said you need to fast and pray. So he set up a tent as a place to fast and pray and he called a press conference to let people know what he was doing. Others came around and soon there were crowds. On the 10th day his political adversary, the mayor at that time, came out and Cory felt love for him and the mayor promised change. Because people stood together in humility and respect for those who preceded them, change happened.

There was strength as they stood together. The African saying "sticks in a bundle cannot be broken". "Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered together I am in the midst."

"Let us now stand up and tell our truth to a world that is yearning for it." In this world we don't always get what we pay for but we pay for what we get.

"Liberty and justice for all" must be a passion every day. If we stand like this, then we'll find a way to 'get to the roof'.

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Len Schlesinger

2011-08-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for the second session at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. Hoping to learn something that will help our team mobilize more persons to pack shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.

Len Schlesinger president of Babson College where they use the case study of Willow Creek Church in their studies of business.

Len's formula for business success

Find out who your customers are

Find out what they want

Give it to them

(We know children around the world want to know God loves them and so we're doing all we can to give them shoeboxes so they'll know that)

Getting from 'Here' to 'There'--

The problem of leading people somewhere else when they're comfortable where they are.

Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech is used as an example but no one talks about the 3-4 years it took for him to get people energized to receive the message of that speech.

You need to get people to understand the unacceptability of 'here' before they will move to 'there'.

A 'here' where people live in povery is unacceptable

A 'here' with an inadequate education system is unacceptable

A 'here' where we have too much food and can't get it to those in need is unacceptable

A 'here' where the young people can't look forward to a better future than their parents is unacceptable

(and a few more I couldn't get recorded)

What are we going to do about it?

Entrepreneurship can go a long way to providing for the future we aspire to achieve.

Successful entrepreneurs get 'writers' to write a book for them and tell their story in a more dramatic and disenfranchising way. So we get a skewed view of what entrepreneurs really are like. Most of those views are complete nonsense

Research about successful entrepreneurs shows

--low appetite for risk

--start without a sharply defined goal or vision

--distrust research that purports to predict the future

--don't usually come up with totally creative businesses

--not unusually self-confident

--are decisive but so are others

--sometimes and sometimes not egotistical

Family enterprises--the first generation creates, the second enjoys, and the third destroys

Large organizations who are unwilling to embrace entrepreneurship tend to disintegrate.

You cannot ride one business model through your life and career. You have to reinvent yourself 3-5 times in your career

We need to develop mechanisms who we can deal with challenges simultaneously instead of sequentially.

Peter Drucker says entrepreneurship is not magic; it can be learned.

Successful entrepreneurship requires you to forget everything you learned in school. History doesn't always predict the future.

1921 (someone) talked about the juxtaposition of risk and certainty. When you can't predict the future, you create it and that's what entrepreneurs do.

Think about being Indiana Jones--you fall in a hole, it's dark and you can't see. How do you get out? What do you do? What do you think about? First, look for what resources you have, take one careful step and assess, etc. Those are the rules for entrepreneurial action. In the face of unknowability what would rational action dictate?

--take small steps with what you have at hand

--limit the risk for each step

--build on what you find from taking that step

--build a team to help you

(the above steps are what it takes to pack a lot of shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child!)

affordable loss--pay only what you can afford to and want to--how badly do you want to do something? You can 'enroll' people then to come alongside you.

What keeps people from doing this? Don't worry about what you're going to do--just think about what you want to do NEXT. Focus on where you are before you take the next step.

We're afraid of taking action because of fear of failure. Only over the last 100 years have we intermingled organizational failure with personal failure. Failure rate of venture capital endeavors is 61%. Failure doesn't mean 'game over' it means try again with experience.

Instead of failure, call it an exercise in learning what no one else knows.

To be an entrepreneur--

--Know what you want

--Start with the means you have

--Be alert to what you are getting

--Take steps based on your means and what you want to pay

--It's not what you're going to do but what you're going to do next.

--Bring other people with you and remain flexible in what you do and how you do it.

This will take us from 'Here' to 'There'

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Bill Hybels

2011-08-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

Blogging my notes today from the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. I'm attending via satellite at Grace Church in Erie, PA and I'm here to try to learn how to better lead the Operation Christmas Child Northwestern Pa Area Team. The first talk was given by Bill Hybels--

Bill Hybels—5 important leadership questions for today

1) What is your current challenge level at work? appropriate (enough to do but not too much); underchallenged (not enough to keep busy); dangerously overchallenged (can’t keep up with all you have to do)

Where do you think you do your best work as a leader” (according to above scale) --research shows you do your best when a little above appropriately challenged. This is similar to the physical challenge of building muscles.
Application: For senior leaders—try to demand more of yourself if underchallenged and reduce demands if overchallenged. It’s important to replenish your leadership bucket regularly. Stress causes your performance to increase at first but then performance will fall dramatically and you can crash. At the same time you don’t perform well if underchallenged.
For colleagues—Have people identify where they are on this scale so you are informed. Underchallenged people leave their jobs. Overchallenged people can break down.
It is possible for our entire organization to fall into one of these dangerous categories of being overchallenged or underchallenged.

2) What is your plan for dealing with challenging people in your organization?
The line exercise—if we had a 50% revenue drop and we had to eliminate employees, who would you eliminate first.? List by order of those you’d eliminate from first to last. Those you’d eliminate first—investigate the reasons for that. This brings clarity to leadership questions.
Leading difficult people—
Fantastic Fred—spreading a bad attitude. How much time are you going to give him to get an attitude adjustment? (varying answers. One pastor in Ireland said “your first bad day would be your last day.” A pastor in France said, “If I didn’t tolerate people with bad attitudes I wouldn’t have anyone working for me.”_
--should investigate bad attitudes immediately to find reasons; how can we help?; needs to be resolved in 30 days (Bill Hybels’ view—find your own view)
Underperformers—“laborer not worthy of his hire”—how long do you let this go on? Talk with them as soon as identified and resolve within 3 months. Put on a performance improvement pain.
Leader no longer qualified because the organization demands more talent elasticity—can’t fulfill new duties so allow 6-12 months to resolve this.

a) If you don’t deal with the above, you demoralize all the others in your organization.
b) Challenging people are not really happy people and will often be happier when they move on.

3) Are you naming, facing, and resolving the problems that exist in your organization?—by not naming the problems you never address them or resolve them. Acts 2-4 the problem of food inequities arose. In Acts 6 the leaders addressed the problem, formed a team to solve the problem and thus built trust and experienced more church growth.

New programs accelerate and then can peak and begin decelerating. These areas need to be addressed and new ideas, programs or initiatives developed to invigorate them.

4) When is the last time you reexamined the core of what your organization is all about?— What business are we in? Can we describe our mission on a T-shirt? (The church is in the life transformation business. Only the power of the Gospel can do this. An exercise—draw a circle and in it write 5 words (no God words) that explain the central message of Chrisitanity. Willow Creek still in the process of trying to define this but Bill Hybels uses these words: love, evil, rescue, choice, restoration and he used them to present the message of the gospel.

5) Have you had your leadership bell rung recently:--Has any book or crisis rocked your leadership world? Story of a leader in Thailand who stood up in front of a group of Christian leaders and challenged them with a plan to win one million to Christ in their country in the next 5 years. We need to renew our boldness in leadership. “If you are sick enough of being stuck you would do whatever it would take to get unstuck.” Don’t make excuses instead of doing the bold work of solutions. Your job as a leader is to move an organization from ‘here’ to ‘there’ and if you don’t believe that anymore, step aside. Bill told a story of the founders of the Global Leadership Summit who got together and made a pact that their next 5 years of leadership would be their best. We can decide if we want to give God our absolute best for the next 60 months. How you finish is how you will be remembered so finish well.

A call to decision and prayer.

A Faithful Church

2011-08-04T21:50:00.000-07:00

Back in 1993 when Operation Christmas Child was just getting its start in the United States, Fellowship Baptist Church was built here in Erie County, PA. The church previously met for more than a dozen years in the local YMCA and they were thrilled when God blessed them with this beautiful building on 14 acres of wooded property.

In 1994 Fellowship Baptist was one of only two churches in Erie County to participate in OCC and they’ve continued over these years to faithfully pack gift-filled shoeboxes to minister to children around the world as one of our two longest-standing church partners.

Over the years they experienced, as many churches do, some divisions that reduced their membership greatly. Still, because of their faithfulness and sacrificial giving this small core were able to pay off the mortgage and make repairs to their building. They kept the church cleaned and maintained on their own.

And they continued their faithful service to OCC and other mission endeavors. They ran a large youth group with 40 or more students—a number often greater than their total Sunday morning attendance. In 2010 these faithful few packed 228 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child—a total larger than most churches ten times their size.

On Easter Sunday of 2011 a church of their denomination on the other side of the county called Grace McKean formed a satellite church named Grace Harborcreek and began holding services in the high school just a few miles away from Fellowship Baptist.

Because they were worshiping in a school, Grace Harborcreek struggled to find a space to begin youth ministry. So a faithful group of youth from Grace McKean began fervently praying for God to provide a space for their counterparts in Harborcreek.

During this time the folks from Fellowship Baptist were also praying for the new church in their community and the Lord began to lead members of Fellowship to donate their building and land to Grace Harborcreek.

Could this be God’s calling? That the beautiful land God gave to them and the church they sacrificed to build and maintain should now be given away?

After continued prayer for confirmation, Fellowship Baptist affirmed what they’d held to all these years—their faithfulness was to God alone. The building and land they’d stewarded so well belonged to Him and since they believed He called them to pass it on to a new church, they would be obedient. Their investment in His Kingdom would continue.

The agreement to give and receive this property with a value of $900,000 has been accepted by both churches but the transaction has not been finalized yet. The small group of Fellowship Baptist members still meets for worship on Sundays and they continue to gather items for their Operation Christmas Child packing party this fall. They’re planning to pack more than 200 boxes again this year.

In a society that values ‘bigger and better’ it’s important to remember that there’s not a special place in heaven for pastors or members of mega churches. There are, however, rewards for the faithful.

No matter the size of our church or the number of shoeboxes we pack, obedience and faithfulness are what bring joy to the Father.

Though the faithful at Fellowship Baptist have regifted the land God provided for them in 1993, He’s preparing new land for them. “I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me;” Psalm 101:6a (ESV)

Meeting Faithful Amaya

2011-08-03T11:42:00.001-07:00

God blessed me in a special way today because I got to meet my sweet OCC friend Amaya and her family. Last fall my friend Sarah told me about a blog she'd read about six-year-old Amaya's desire to pack lots of shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. Amaya's mom (also named Sarah) could have easily squashed Amaya's vision by telling her that the family would pack boxes together or that they didn't have time for an extra project or that she should wait until she was older or....(you get the idea).

But Sarah and Chris Latello want to raise their children to pursue big dreams and help them to know that we have a big God. So they encouraged Amaya to make some homemade Christmas ornaments and launched a blog and Facebook campaign for Amaya to sell them to finance her shoeboxes.

In the end, Amaya packed 37 boxes and totally financed the $7.00 per box suggested shipping for them. Her story was told in a blog on the Samaritan's Purse website (click here to see that) and was also mentioned in the Operation Christmas Child special report that is sent to donors at the end of the season.

Today the Latellos are on their way to their vacation in Massachusetts and blessed me by stopping to meet me at the Erie Chick-fil-A where I got to hug Amaya (now age 7) and meet her parents and her sister Paige (age 6) and her brother Jaxson (age 5). I got to hear stories of God's faithfulness in their lives and how He's blessed their one-year-old auto repair business which I KNOW is really a ministry. Sarah and Chris are dedicated to helping provide financial help to families who are adopting children and are determined to use every avenue God gives them to support the ministries He brings into their lives. They have modeled faith in God by pursuing His dreams in their lives and it's reaping big rewards in the lives of their children. You can click here to read Sarah's blog "Are We There Yet?"

I've been inspired by Amaya to remember that God is bigger than we can imagine and that all He wants is our faithfulness. Our faithfulness may mean packing one shoebox to bless a child in Jesus' name or it may mean stepping out in faith to see God multiply our efforts and pack hundreds of boxes or thousands of boxes.

When we are faithful to the call of our faithful God the possibilities are endless.

Who's Counting?

2011-08-01T08:57:00.001-07:00

My work packing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes involves a lot of counting. Today is an exciting day because I met my crayon count. Since Toys R Us had an ad this week with Crayola crayons on sale at 4/$1.00 I was able to get WalMart to price match their ad. By God's grace WalMart had lots of crayons on the shelves so I only had to go to 2 stores to get the 1400 I wanted this week. This is a great answer to prayers prayed by my team and now we should have enough to put a bag of 8 crayons in each box we pack at our packing party on September 24th. Any extras we have donated will be used in case we pack more boxes than we anticipate and, guess what--this ALWAYS happens.

Last week I ordered 24,000 pens and they arrived at Grace Church on Thursday--the one day I was out of town. The staff at the church was great about unloading them from the truck and I'm excited because the quality of the pens is great. Now I only need about 5,000 more pens (yes, I AM counting).

The 1,000 pencils I got at Staples last week for a total of only $1.25 by using my teacher's card gets us half-way to the goal. I think we just need 15,000 more.

And God is filling up the Ark week by week. Last week's total was 550 and Hill Memorial United Methodist Church in Bradford, PA has a bunch that they collected at their VBS last week also. I'd say we only need about 3000 or 3500 more.

In the middle of all this counting, a friend whose daughter had brain surgery this week reminded me that God counts our tears. How amazing! My tears usually run like rivers, don't yours? Only the God of the universe could see and count each one. Every tear I cry alone is known to Him.

Every tear cried by a child in the world who is hungry or abandoned or lacking even what we consider basic necessities of life is seen and counted by our loving God. And because He loves us so much He gives us the opportunity to join Him in bringing hope and joy and turning many of the tears of those children into smiles. That's something that really makes life count.

Who's counthing? God is!

All For $1.31

2011-07-29T08:35:00.001-07:00

I had a fun little sale shopping trip to Office Max this morning to get some school supplies for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. I'm convinced that God put us in this little pre-fab ranch style 'starter home' 37 years ago and kept us here so we'd be in the perfect location for bargain hunting for shoeboxes. I'm 2 miles or less from most of the major stores to get great bargains.

Thanks to a tip from Clip With Purpose, (a great blog you should really subscribe to in order to get the best deals for your shoeboxes) I printed some great online coupons for Office Max and you can print them, too by
clicking here.

Office Max Coupons

This morning I went to Office Max and using these coupons I got 6 packs of filler paper, 50 Office Max brand pens, 2 pencil sharpeners and 2 packs of pencil top erasers all for $1.31. I'm not sure if all stores have the penny erasers and sharpeners (limit of 2 per person). At our store in Erie they were on a display in the middle of the aisle by the display of filler paper (which was near the back of the store). These coupons are only good until tomorrow, July 30th, so you need to hurry.

There's something so exciting about getting things cheap--especially when you know how valuable they are to children in other countries who sometimes can't attend school for lack of simple supplies.

Hey, in most places you can't even get a cup of coffee for $1.31 anymore--just sayin'.

Paper Deals Get Better!

2011-07-24T17:26:00.001-07:00

Yes, I admit it. I'm obsessed by collecting paper. But I'm not a hoarder (really). It's for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. I'm determined to be able to put at least 10 sheets of paper in each of the 15,000 shoeboxes we're praying God will allow us to pack at our community-wide packing party on September 24th at Grace Church.

So I'm very excited that the paper deals at Staples are even better this week. Staples ads vary by region, so if you're outside the Erie, PA area you may have different deals this week. You can go to Staples.com and put in your zip code to see your regional ad. But here's how things went for me today.

Before heading out to Staples, I made sure I had my Staples Rewards card. You can sign up for this online or in the store. If you're a teacher make sure you let them know because you can get 25 each of the special one-cent deals that are a limit of 2 for everyone else.

I also made sure I had 2 very special coupons. Here's a link to one that allows you to get 20% off on one single item at Staples this week.

Click here for coupon link

Then see if your store ad has a coupon that you can get for $5.00 off a $25.00 purchase. You can also get this online

click here for $5.00 coupon

Also, before going check to see what special deals your store has for one-cent each this week (if any). Here in Erie, PA we have the items pictured above. Packs of 100 index cards, packs of 2 Sharpie highlighters, and packs of 8 pencils. You have to have a minimum $5.00 purchase and there is a limit of 2 each unless you're a teacher and then you get 25 each.

Now here's how it worked for me today. I bought 25 of each of those above items for one cent each and I also bought a case of Staples copy paper (10 reams) for $35.99 plus tax.

THEN I used both the 20% off coupon on the box of paper AND the $5.00 off $25 purchase. This brought my grand total to $26.02.

BUT I'll then get $26.00 back in Staples Rewards for a future purchase. So, essentially, I got 25 packs of index cards, 25 packs of highlighters, 200 pencils, and 10 reams of paper for all of .02. Think of all those kids who will have school supplies to allow them to go to school for the price of a little planning and two pennies. (I'm planning to do this again since there's a limit of 2 of this deal this week)

But what if you don't have the money to invest in a case of paper or don't want to mess around with the Staples Rewards? You can still help for FREE. With no card needed, you can buy a ream of Staples multipurpose copy paper for $5.99 and also get 2 packs of index cards, 2 packs of pencils, and 2 highlighters all for 6 cents. Now you can also use that above coupon for 20% off on the paper. You will spend about $5.15 with the tax included.

NOW, when you get home you take a quick minute to go online and file to get a rebate of $5.49 which will be sent as a check in the mail. They're going to pay you to get these school supplies for Operation Christmas Child. And you can do a limit of 2 rebates so you'll get paid even more if you do it twice.

How about putting in your two cents' worth?

Paper Revisited

2011-07-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

I know...I can't seem to get off the subject of paper. A week ago I was hoping for a miracle--to get 300 reams of paper in our storage container by today. I haven't actually looked in the storage container but I don't think there are 300 reams in there yet.

But we can still do this. I think 8 cases were purchased this week (that's 80 reams) plus a few more reams on top of that.

Staples is having even better deals this week on paper. If you buy a ream for $5.99 you can then complete the rebate form online (very easy) and get a check for $5.49 back making it only 50 cents (plus the tax). There is a limit of 2 per household on this deal. Also, with a $5.00 purchase from Sun. - Weds. you can get a pack of 8 pencils for 1 cent (limit 2) and a pack of index cards for 1 cent (limit 2). So you can make 2 separate trips to get your $5.99 ream of paper and get the 1 cent deals with each one.

The deal I talked about on cases last week is still in effect this week BUT this week there is also a coupon in the ad for $5.00 off a $25.00 purchase. So I'm planning to use that coupon to get the case of paper for $30.99 and then get the $26 in Staples Rewards (you do have to use a Staples Rewards card for this deal). Again, there's a limit of 2 cases with the rewards back on each.

So we only need about 110 people to each buy 2 reams of paper OR 22 people to each buy a case of paper OR 11 people to each buy two cases.

You get the idea...

15 People Is All It Will Take

2011-07-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

I have a new challenge for this week. I just saw the Staples Ad for Erie that starts tomorrow, July 17,2011 and it has a great rebate deal on cases of copy paper. Click here to see the link for it. (this link takes you to the weekly ad and make sure you get the one for July 17th-23rd and then go to page 8-9)

I've been praying about how to get some inexpensive paper to put into our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for the community-wide packing party we're hosting at Grace Church in Erie on September 24th. We had McCarty Printing promise us 200 memo pads but that leaves 14,800 boxes without paper. The 70-sheet spiral notebooks we used to put into every box up until last year are now 20 cents each at WalMart and it would cost $3000 to put one of those in every box, even if we could get WalMart to order them, which is not a sure thing.

Then I saw this deal for copy paper in the Staples ad and I did some quick calculations. If I could get just 15 people to each take advantage of the deal and buy 2 cases of paper (20 reams) each, then we'd have 300 reams--enough to put at least 10 sheets of paper in each box we pack.

Each person who agrees to do this will have to get a Staples Reward Card (only takes a few minutes to sign up in the store) and be able and willing to invest $72.00 plus tax to buy the two cases. After filing for the rebate online (quick and easy to do) they will later have $52.00 returned in Staples Reward Points that they can use later to buy printer cartridges or anything else they need at Staples.

This means each person's final investment is $20.00 for 20 reams of paper they can donate for our Operation Christmas Child packing party.

This sounds easy enough to me until I realize I don't have 15 friends in Erie I can talk into doing this for me and children around the world. I go to this big church but don't know 15 people I'd be able to ask to do this.

It's time for me to pray and see if this can happen. Wouldn't it be just amazing if God had 300 reams of copy paper in our storage container by July 24th.

15 people and a miracle--that's all it will take.

Blessed By A Bountiful Bevy of Beanies

2011-07-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

Last week a woman called to say she wanted to donate "9 tubs" of "brand new Beanie Babies & Beanie Buddies (larger versions)" for our Operation Christmas Child packing party. Today I finally made arrangements to pick them up and went to her home to get them.

Sweet Mary had wrapped each of them in tissue paper and kept them lovingly stored in plastic tubs. I know she expected them to make her millions one day but I tried to tell her that her investment will reap rich rewards as they bring joy to children who may have never received a gift in their life.

We unwrapped each of them and counted them into bags--all except for the two she bought in Las Vegas and just had to keep. The grand total for those of you who've been making guesses on Facebook is ...... (drum roll)......

416

That's 416 more boxes we can pack at our Operation Christmas Child packing party on September 24th. That's 416 more children who will have a toy to hug and a chance to hear the message that God loves them. That's 416 answers to prayers.

Not a bad investment.

Crayon Update

2011-07-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

By buying 160 tubes of toothpaste for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes with coupons last week I got enough gas points for us to fill our vehicles 4 times and the points have to be used by July 23rd. Now I know why.

This week I'm going to be doing a lot of driving to WalMart stores, I think. I'm trying to amass as many 24-packs of Crayola crayons as possible by having WalMart match the Toys R Us sale price of 4/$1.00. Today I drove from my house to Elm St. WalMart then to Harborcreek and then out to Edinboro and back to Peach St. I'm not sure how many miles that was, but it made good use of that gas since I was saving 38% on the crayons. I ended up today's run with 1090 boxes for a total of 1833 so far. I'm praying for at least 3000 this week out of the total 5000 boxes I need.

Unfortunately, these aren't in easily stackable cartons so I'm not sure how I'm going to store them in the container. I wish I had an unlimited supply of copy paper boxes for that. I need to figure out something tomorrow.

We had a conference call today for those who are having packing parties to put together large numbers of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. I felt like I didn't have much to contribute because every year seems to bring new challenges and we need to do things in a different way. The past year's experience has some impact, of course, but still so much is new.

One of the big challenges is trying to figure out how to get more money for donating toward shipping these boxes. A suggestion was made of having each volunteer who comes to help pack boxes donate at least $7.00. It sounds great, but I wonder if it would keep the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts from coming.

Something else to pray about.

God's Favor in a 24-Pack

2011-07-11T08:37:00.001-07:00

It's time for the back-to-school sales--my favorite time of year for Operation Christmas Child. I was disheartened to see that WalMart's regular back-to-school price for a 24-pack of Crayola crayons this year is 40 cents--up from 25 cents last year. I've heard stories of how important these school supplies are to children in other countries who need them to be able to attend school. I've heard that buying a box of crayons in Uganda, for example, can cost a week's wages for a family.

Because we're planning to pack so many boxes, I'm trying to find better prices on crayons but I still prefer Crayola. They're just so far superior to the cheaper waxy varieties.

I was very excited when I saw that Toys R Us has Crayola 24-packs on sale this week for 4/$1.00. I've never dealt with Toys R Us for quantity buying, so I decided to go to WalMart and ask them if they'd order me a few thousand and match the Toys R Us price. I put out a prayer alert to my team and on Facebook and I set out.

At the WalMart on West 23rd Street I explained my request at the service desk and was directed to Monica, the dept. manager for stationery. She then had to inquire of Tony, the manager, to see if ordering was a possibility. Tony had to check by e-mail to see if a large order could be made.

Meanwhile, I sat on a bench and prayed fervently, believing that God can 'open doors no one can shut'. Finally Tony came out with the verdict--they couldn't order the large quantity I wanted. But he said he was willing to sell me what they had in stock at the store.

So I sat and waited again while Monica rounded up all she could find and I ended up with 431 boxes. Monica told me to call back on Thursday when she has another shipment coming in and she'll try to get more for me. Both Tony and Monica were very helpful and I sensed God's favor.

Next I'm going to try some other WalMart stores in our area and see if God will provide more from that avenue. There's always the chance that another store will offer a good sale price that WalMart will match for me in future weeks, as well. I love seeing how God provides it all--in His way and in His time.

The needs and prayers of children around the world are being answered by God's favor--one 24-pack at a time.

Aha Moment

2011-07-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

I'm shameless when it comes to looking for media opportunities for Operation Christmas Child. On last night's 11 o'clock news I heard that the Mutual of Omaha "Aha Moments" van was in town to videotape Erieites' meaningful moments.

I thought of our Operation Christmas Child packing party last year and about how I saw in true clarity the boundless power of community and prayer combined. So I went to the Mutual of Omaha website and fired off a request for a time to go to the van today and record my moment. I requested a 5:15 pm appointment. I'd committed to drive a friend and her daughter to their appointments at the Cleveland Clinic today but thought I'd be home by early afternoon.

As the day moved along with delay after delay I got a small taste of what it must be like to live with a chronic illness that requires a myriad of medical tests and appointments. We didn't leave Cleveland until nearly 3:30 but my gps still put us on track to get home to Erie by about 4:45--plenty of time to make my 'aha' recording time.

When we were about 20 minutes outside Erie the traffic on I-90 came to a halt and we sat or crawled along. I felt like I was taking a course called Patience 101 as I watched the minutes slip by. By the time I made it to an exit I realized I was going to miss my 'aha' appointment. But I just kept praying and thanking God for His sovereignty.

When I pulled into my driveway at 5:45 pm I wondered if I should just forget the whole 'aha' deal but I decided to throw on my Operation Christmas Child volunteer shirt, grab a sample shoebox, and head for the van. No harm in trying. Maybe they could fit me in.

As I drove I reminded myself that we have a God who can 'open doors no one can shut'. If He wanted me to say a word for Operation Christmas Child then it would happen.

When I got to the Mutual of Omaha van parked at the Erie Public Dock I was greeted warmly by a young man named Ben. I apologized for missing my appointment but he assured me they'd fit me in. The two twenty-somethingish women who completed the production team were both well acquainted with Operation Christmas Child and love the project. Jessica, who actually did the interview with me, has even volunteered at the OCC Processing Center in Atlanta.

I had a great time going on camera and telling them about last September's Operation Christmas Child packing party and how it helped me clearly see how God used the community to answer prayer and provide gift-filled shoeboxes for 12,670 children who needed to know His love. I got to show my sample shoebox and tell what these items can mean to a child, and I even got to take my clipboard home as a keepsake.

I don't know if any of this will be on the Mutual of Omaha website or make it into a commercial. Even if that doesn't happen, today's lessons in patience and perseverance were worth it.

And that's another 'aha moment'.

Operation Christmas Child Connecting--"I Do"

2011-07-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

I spent the day today at one of the most enjoyable weddings I've been to in quite some time. Becky Marsh, our Operation Christmas Child Relay Center Coordinator in Corry, PA, married Jon Foster in a sweet and sacred ceremony in the guest-packed Faith Evangelical Church (our OCC relay center).

The thing is, a year ago I had never met Becky or Jon. At this time last year our team was praying for 3 new relay centers for our Operation Christmas Child area in Northwestern PA and we wanted one of them to be in Corry, PA. One night in August I was working on sending out a back-to-school press release to the Corry Journal and was trying to figure out who I could find in Corry to quote in the release. I stopped to pray and asked God to help me find someone in Corry who participated in the project.

Just then my computer beeped to signal an incoming e-mail and I checked to find that Heather Rogers, my OCC Church Relations Coordinator, had forwarded a message from Becky Marsh who was inquiring about having me come to speak about Operation Christmas Child at their mission conference at Faith Evangelical Church in Corry. I called Becky, and not only was she willing to be quoted for the press release, but when I asked if she thought her church might be willing to become an OCC relay center she said, "I do."

Within a month Becky had not only said, "I do" and signed on as the Relay Center Coordinator for Faith Evangelical Church but she'd also organized a group from her church to volunteer at our community-wide packing party on September 25th. She'd also arranged for me to speak at their mission conference on the evening after the packing party.

I met Becky for the first time at the packing party and had such a fabulous time sharing at her church that night and meeting her boyfriend, Jon. Standing around a fire behind the church that evening while still riding the high of all God did that day is something I won't soon forget.

Becky and I talked on the phone a few times over the next months and on the Friday of OCC's National Collection Week I went to visit Becky and Jon at their relay center. Sadly, by that time Jon's dad had been diagnosed with advanced cancer and was traveling to Erie for treatments. I and the whole rest of our OCC team continued to pray for him. Becky kept me updated on his condition with e-mails, but all too quickly Jon's Dad died. By God's grace he had given his life to the Lord before his death.

I was excited to see Becky and Jon's engagement announced on Facebook a few months later and sent them a card of congratulations from me and our OCC team. I was honored to be invited to their wedding and enjoyed having lunch with Becky a few weeks before the wedding date. I love her heart for missions and for the Lord and her desire to please Him in all she does.

So today, by God's grace, I watched Becky and Jon each say "I do" and pledge themselves to one another before God. I loved everything about their day and was especially enamored with the pint-sized ring bearer who held the pillow over his face as he walked down the aisle in his black Crocs with his black-belted pants hanging precariously low on his hips. Oh, and the food at the reception? If we're feasting in heaven, I bet it'll be just like that--homemade yeast rolls, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade broccoli salad and cookies and...well, homemade EVERYTHING.

And because Becky had said "I do" to God's call to serve with Operation Christmas Child I was blessed to be connected to her and share this amazing day.

What adventures can come in our lives from saying that short and meaningful promise, "I do."

The Science of Animal Cleaning

2011-06-29T14:14:00.001-07:00

In a previous post I discussed the science of (stuffed) animal sorting for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. Once the sorting task has been completed it's time to move on to the task of dealing with the pile of animals that need to be cleaned and refurbished. Up until last year I only spot-cleaned my dolls and animals. That meant that any that had more than a small spot of dirt were discarded and that was a shame.

Then last year I went to a yard sale that had a blanket out on the lawn that was covered with nice Beanie Babies but they were all quite dirty and had a musty smell to them. The seller said I could have whatever I wanted for free and at first I was going to decline but then I got adventurous and decided to try to breathe new life into them. So I took them home, ripped off their hang tags, and threw them all into the washer. When they came out I set each of them carefully on top of the washer and dryer to air dry and I was amazed at the results. Those bedraggled beanies looked and smelled pristine again. No longer would I pass up soiled animals. A recycler was born.

I'm pretty low-key about my cleaning methods. Some of my team members use lingerie bags to contain their animals before they put them into the washer. Some are careful to use the delicate cycle. Me? I just toss them into the washer on the regular cycle and hope for the best. A few times I've had an animal or doll spill its guts into the washer, leaving it full of plastic pellets, but they aren't that hard to clean up. I do look the animals over before I toss them into the washer and use a small, stiff brush to rub detergent into stubborn spots.

Ever since my children were small I've kept a bottle of hairspray in my laundry room. If a doll or animal has marker or pen marks on it, I know I can spray it with some hairspray before rubbing detergent into it and the ink will then generally disappear during the wash cycle. If a doll's face has paint or another stubborn mark I will often try using a bit of nail polish remover on the spot.

Another trick for stubborn spots--either on the body of the doll or on the face is to use a solution of bleach and water (about half and half) to soak on the spot. This doll had a brown stain on her head but after standing her on her head in a bowl of bleach solution she looked new again.

This sweet rag doll had brown stains on her feet that I thought was going to make her unusable. Even washing wouldn't remove them. But, I tried the bleach and voila--she looks great and will be the perfect huggable companion.

Same thing for Dora here whose white shoes didn't pass muster until they were subjected to the bleach treatment--

Just a few little remedies can make many dolls or animals look new. If they have fuzz or pet hair on them that washing won't remove, sometimes the stickiness of using a ring of packing tape on my hand will lift it off. Also, the small tags on animals may look worn and are better carefully cut off. Sometimes parts of the clothing that may be frayed can be trimmed off or even removed. Occasionally the black plastic eyes on a toy like Cookie Monster will be scratched and can be revitalized with a bit of permanent black marker.

Hair is another thing. I've spent many an hour combing out a doll's rooted hair. If the ends look frizzy after combing you can trim them. Another Operation Christmas Child volunteer also gave me the idea of using a spritz of a solution of half rubbing alcohol and half water. When sprayed on the hair it will give it a like-new sheen. Another volunteer also gave me the hint of using Clearasil (or a cheap substitute) on stains on plastic doll or animals faces that you can't remove. She said to put a dab of the product on the stain and leave it in a sunny window for a few days before washing it off. I haven't actually tried this but one of these days I'll have to do that. Here's the result of a few TV shows' worth of hair combing.

With just a little extra time I can 'rescue' beautiful dolls and animals so they look brand new. Many of the animals I get would be worth $15.00 or more if purchased in a store. Instead they are often donated to me or purchased for 25 cents or less each. Knowing how they will be loved by children who receive them in their Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes--children who may have never owned anything of their own and may have been praying for just such a gift--well, that makes it worth that little bit of extra effort.

It's another fun challenge and I'm getting it down to a science.

Few Leadership Thoughts

2011-06-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

In the past few days I've been doing a lot of thinking about leadership. One of the main things I've been thinking is how hard it is to lead--even to lead poorly is desperately hard. No matter where you lead--in your family, your work, your church or organization--everything that goes well is credited to those you lead and everything that goes wrong is your fault.

When I expressed this to my husband he said, "Well, the failures may not be your fault but they're always your responsibility." It seems to me, though, that all the leadership training I've done makes it sound like if you could just somehow perfect your leadership abilities everything would run great--the team would be productive and cohesive and the results would be quality.

I started to wonder if this was really accurate....and then I thought of Jesus. He poured his life into twelve guys for three years. He lived with them and taught them both by word and by perfect example. Since Jesus was divine and perfect there could have been no failure in his leadership.

Yet, in the end, when He needed them most, they all betrayed or denied or deserted Him. They took off and hid. It looked like all those years of focused leadership meant nothing.

Of course, that wasn't the end of their story. But, still...that's enough to prove to me that even perfect leadership doesn't guarantee perfect results. In fact as long as leadership involves people--as both leaders and followers--we're pretty much guaranteed not to have perfect results.

So maybe I should lower my standards for myself and for those on my team. Maybe I can apologize for my failures and move on. Maybe I can learn to give grace for my shortcomings and those of others and just, by God's grace, try again.

And be ready for failure when it comes.

Struggles

2011-06-23T19:49:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I'm such a wimp. Everything's been going so well in my Operation Christmas Child world lately. The team is growing together and working together and God is blessing at every turn.

But when I least expect it that's when the struggles come sometimes. A series of events led me to some conversations with leaders at the church I attend that brought some clarification to the church's philosophy of ministry. The bottom line is that they don't have the staff to support a myriad of ministries so the philosophy is that the church staff will help a volunteer to get a ministry started but then it's up to the volunteer to build a team to sustain that ministry. I haven't done that.

I haven't been able to figure out how to build the Northwestern PA Operation Christmas Child team to promote the project in three counties and also build a team at the church I attend to carry the project there. Another staff member is going to meet with me on Monday to give me some direction on how to build a team but I'm not sure what good that will do. I've had quite a lot of training through Operation Christmas Child about how to recruit, select, equip, and lead a team. Despite all that training I struggle so much with leading the area team. I can't figure out how I can possibly manage to lead another.

So I'm struggling.

And when I'm struggling Satan takes the opportunity to whisper his lies into my life, "No one cares. You're all alone."

So I'm shouting truth back. I'm holding on to Hebrews 13:5 that reminds me of God's promise that He will never forsake me. I sat this evening on the living room floor and played Michael Card's song based on Hebrews 13:5 over and over again, "Never will I leave you. That's something I'll never do."

I'm reminded of the devotion that my OCC regional director, Leigh Fisher, shared with us a month or so ago. It talked about the shield of faith and how the Roman soldier's shield was a huge door-sized shield that protected the soldier's entire body. I am picturing that shield tonight and I'm holding onto the promises of God.

Three months from tomorrow is the scheduled date for our Operation Christmas Child packing party at Grace Church. I look at this picture of cartons of boxes from last year's packing party and I know that three months from tomorrow there will be cartons stacked up in a truck again.

God has a plan for this. He knows leadership is not my forte and His strength is made perfect in my weakness. I admit to some feelings of dread as I read Randy Alcorn's view of heaven as a place where those who have been "faithful in little" on earth will be given more responsibility to serve in heaven. That doesn't sound like reward to me. But heaven, like earth, will not be about me but about Him. He has a plan for that, too.

Despite this week's struggles, three months from now I know He will have a plan for those cartons. Maybe it will be at a different church or a different town entirely--who knows? Maybe He will bring forth some people at the church I attend now who will own the leadership of the project and keep it going.

I don't know any of that.

So I return to what I do know--I am not alone. He will never leave me.

The Science of Animal Sorting

2011-06-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I guess the sorting of stuffed animals for our Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing party isn't exactly rocket science but there is a sort of science to it. You know we've been praying for stuffed animals and God has been answering those prayers--1508 animals came into our home last week alone! And every one had to be checked and sorted and stored.

when my husband came home on Saturday afternoon after God blessed me with 376 animals at the morning yard sales and saw the living room filled with animals (again)...the normally longsuffering guy said, "This place is a mess!" I was immediately convicted of the need to clear out some living space for us, so I stepped up the sorting procedure and got the animals stashed into the spare bedrooms as quickly as possible. This is what our spare beds look like right now.

But there's a process to getting those animals into the garbage bags for storage. I pull each animal from the bag, inspect it and sniff it. If it looks and smells new, then it gets thrown into the appropriate pile--really girlie ones in the "Girls" pile and those suitable for either a boy or girl in the "Boy/either" pile.

Any animals that don't pass the 'sniff and search' test go into a pile to be washed. Later I'll scrub their spots with detergent and throw them into the washer. If they don't come out looking new they get passed on to a local mission thrift shop. Lots of people buy them for their dogs to play with so they won't be filling up a land fill.

Those aren't the only piles, though. Some look like they should be given to younger children, so they go into the "2-4 Girls" or "2-4 Boys" piles. And then there's a pile for the ones that aren't suitable for our packing party's specialized boxes and they're put in a pile to be saved for the Patriotic Pig Packing Party in October. Animals that are a little bit oversized go into another pile also.

Once the initial sorting is completed they are put into garbage bags--100 per bag. I like to use Force Flex garbage bags because they don't tear as easily. I saved most of the bags I used last year to use again this year. The 'boys/either' ones are marked with a blue Post-It note and the 'girls' ones with a pink Post-It. If a bag is in process and doesn't have 100 animals in it yet I keep a Post-It note on top of the animals with the number the bag contains. Each time I add more I update the number until I have 100 in it and can close it up.

I use orange Post-Its to mark the ones for 2-4 year olds and usually only put 50 of those in each bag because those animals are usually on the larger side. I also put one or two new fabric softener sheets in the middle of each bag as I put the animals in and that helps them to stay fresh smelling.

Now the bags are stored in my house until I can get them to our storage container. I fill the container with boxes of other items up to about three-fourths of the height of the container and then put the bags of animals on top of the base of boxes. I don't want to pile too many on top of each other so they don't get crushed.

Now the only thing left is to deal with the piles of animals that need to be washed. Stay tuned for the next post when we'll explore the science of animal cleaning.

My Life's So Bright I Have To Wear A Visor

2011-06-14T10:02:00.001-07:00

Those of you who've followed my blog may remember how I went back and forth trying to decide whether to buy more of these visors for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. With your help, I made the decision to get two more pallets and Tom, the seller and warehouse owner, was nice enough to hold them for me for several months until I could make payment and free up storage space.

I've been praying that God would work out the logistics of getting them and I made the final payment last week and told the seller I'd be home this Monday and could receive the shipment any time after that. I didn't hear anything about shipping arrangements, though.

On Monday my husband, who almost never comes home in the middle of the day, walked in the door at around 1:00 pm just as the phone rang. The call was from the truck driver who was minutes away from delivering the visors to Grace Church. My hero (husband) was able to go with me to get them unloaded and I even took the time to load my car with 21 garbage bags full of stuffed animals to store on top of the cartons of visors.

We got all 40 cases (1360 lbs) unloaded and managed to make room for them. The visors are good quality, nice and sturdy and in various colors. The seller had also included three large boxes containing 1000 pieces of nice costume jewelry as a donation for our shoeboxes. This was a marvelous answer to prayer and reminded me again that God cares about every detail of this project.

We now have over 15,500 clothing items for our packing party boxes and because God provided such great deals this year their average cost was just .38 each. Last year the clothing item average was .57 each so that represents a savings of almost $3000 over last year. When you're buying large quantities a little saved on each item can really add up.

Did I mention that God is really pouring in the stuffed animals this month? I processed almost 500 yesterday and got another 5 garbage bags full today. We're going to outgrow the ark if we don't get the candy out of there pretty soon.

Things are looking pretty bright in my OCC world right now, but that's okay 'cause I have plenty of visors.

Normal?

2011-05-28T15:33:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, last Friday night I went to a local church that was having a rummage sale to ask them if I could 'shop' their sale early for stuffed animals since I couldn't be there first thing Saturday morning. When I explained Operation Christmas Child to them, they were happy to help and allowed me to choose a large bag of stuffed animals. I had taken my own mega large and thick garbage bag but it somehow had developed a 3" diameter hole on one side. When I went to pick up my bag and pay for my animals the next morning I noticed that someone had covered the hole with a bumper sticker (see above)

I had to laugh as I wondered if that was a random choice or if they picked it just for me. And as I thought about it I realized that maybe normal people really do worry me. I mean, life with Jesus is anything BUT normal according to the world's standards. And life on this Operation Christmas Child shoebox journey is even more 'out of the box' by being so far 'in the box'.

I know this stuffed animal theme might be getting old but it's the story of my life right now. And, no, it's not normal. This week we were praying for 629 animals by May 31st to answer the prayer goal of 2,000 animals in May.

On Wednesday I got 165 at a thrift store in North East, 29 at the Salvation Army, and 44 donated from last week's yard sales via Kathy Herrmann. So I embarked on my safari this morning needing 391 animals to make the goal.

I stopped at so many sales where, after telling them about Operation Christmas Child, I was given donations of beautiful animals. And the best blessing was that I saw three of my area team members on the yard sale trail also. I really feel like we are in this as a team now.

At the last subdivision sales I met one of my prayer team members, Priscila Mirone, and she'd collected four large bags of animals--many of them donated, too. I'd been keeping a tally sheet all morning and knew that at that point we still lacked 128 animals.

Priscila brought her bags to my car and we began to count them and when the final ones were counted there were 134--God allowed us to meet the goal with SIX to spare! Priscila told me how she'd enjoyed the three early Saturday morning hours as she walked with God to all those sales and prayed for all the people she met or even saw. Excitedly we hugged each other in the street while we prayed and thanked God for His goodness. Not normal, probably, but who cares?

And when I got home there was a Facebook message from Kristin Hesch telling me her neighbor gave her 50 animals so we already have a start on next month's goal. I love this Operation Christmas Child journey.

I never, ever want to be normal again.

Spring Training

2011-05-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

This morning our pastor talked about the importance of spiritual training. My favorite point was that in addition to equipping ourselves through studying the Bible and imitating the disciplines of Jesus, we grow when God puts us in "need to know and need to grow" situations.

I immediately thought of Operation Christmas Child and how this ministry of packing gift-filled shoeboxes for children around the world has become an amazing spiritual training ground for me and so many others. Through Operation Christmas Child we've taken risks and asked God for things that are impossible without Him showing up, and in the midst of that all of us have learned His love and faithfulness in new ways.

It happened again this week. I calculated that we have 19 weeks until our community-wide Operation Christmas Child packing party and that we need an average of 605 stuffed animals each week to reach our gaol by September 24th. So this week I and my team and others were praying for 600 stuffed animals. This was a huge challenge, especially when I realized I had to teach a class for our local hospital on Saturday morning and would miss prime-time yard sales.

But today, by God's grace, the official weekly total stands at 554 and since I know two other area team members got 'about 30' each I'd say we're beyond the goal. And how did God do it this week?

Well, on Wednesday at our Area Team meeting Elizabeth brought in 56 that had been donated and on Friday one of the teachers at my school brought in 63 from her children. On Friday evening I went to the local church that was hosting a huge rummage sale and asked for permission to shop early because I couldn't be there on Saturday morning. They allowed me to choose a bag of 89 animals and set them aside to pay for on Saturday.

I hit all the yard sales I could on Saturday afternoon and found that when I talked to people about Operation Christmas Child in many cases one of my team members had already been to their home and picked up animals. They must be well trained.

And now the animals are crossing state lines to get here. On Saturday night my friend Judy brought me animals she'd bought at a yard sale in Cincinnati that morning. On Sunday I got a special package that was delivered to my church. It was sent from Cheryl Lawrence in Indiana who reads this blog and was moved to shop for animals and mail them to me.

Getting that package from someone I've never met was like a special hug from God. My OCC Regional Director, Leigh Fisher, had prayed with me on the phone on Monday that God would send me new animals and that's just what Cheryl sent. Cheryl, you encouraged me in unknown ways.

I went through the Operation Christmas Child Area Team training with three new team members in the past few weeks--each of them an answer to prayer. God is training us through these blessings.

And God is training us in the mundane pressures of the day. My husband and daughter are hopefully in Haiti right now working to build two houses this week. They were scheduled to arrive there on Saturday but fog kept their plane circling JFK until they missed their connecting flight. This delay made them arrive in Haiti a full day late. And this trip was already delayed for months when their supply containers could not pass through customs at the port in Haiti. More training.

Today I tried to visit a team member who is with her sick father at the hospital but after struggling to find a parking area I couldn't figure out how to get into the facility. Disgusted, I came home to find my neighbor sweeping up glass from my front step. He did a good deed and mowed our front lawn only to have the glass in the front storm door explode just as he finished. More training.

And so, we praise God for the blessings and we keep praying for 600 more animals to come into the ark this coming week from any state in the union.

But they'd better be trained.

NPR and Mother's Day

2011-05-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

Here are my three daughters, Amy (33), Jen (31) and Julie (29) with my Mom on her 97th birthday last July. I think of the years that span their lives and at myself strung in the middle and marvel at how God made us a family. This week Amy, who works at National Public Radio, did a phone interview with me about my favorite song. She said they were thinking of doing something on-air with this and I was concerned about coming up with an answer that was NPRish enough. I didn't think "I Stuck My Head In A Little Skunk's Hole" (one of our family camp song favorites) would make the cut.

Honestly, my favorite song changes from week to week. I did tell Amy that one of my current favorites is "Our God" my Chris Tomlin, but I also told her that the "Hallelujah Chorus" has been a lifetime favorite, too. It was the recessional for our wedding and I'm especially fond of the YouTube flash mob versions. Breaking into a few bars of it has always been my reaction to jubilation over anything from finding a lost item to arriving at the last day of school.

A text copy of some of our banter ended up on the NPR website and you can see it (the second piece down) by clicking HERE

I was comforted as I read through the posts on the website of the other moms' favorite songs. Many of them were not far off from my favorites. When Amy was a baby we used to sing "Once In Love With Amy" to her, much like Robin's mother sang "When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin Along" to her as a baby. I remember rocking Amy at night and singing Helen Reddy's "You And Me Against The World", too.

There were so many musical stages we passed through as a family--Sesame Street songs to Kids Praise with Psalty the Singing Songbook to Amy Grant and Sandi Patty (sorry, Sandi if I misspelled your name--I never could remember which had the 'i' and which had the 'y'). Then there was the broadway musical stage, the Simon and Garfunkel stage, and then my kids kind of passed me by and left me in the dust on the way to the alternative rock and classic rock stage.

The songs that are part of our lives--rollicking renditions of Bill Gaither's "I Am A Promise" or even "Jesus Loves Me" are not all timeless classics but they frame moments of beauty and being. Some of those tuneless things we hum just to survive the day are totally our own creations never to be repeated.

Music and motherhood go together and I'm thanking God for both of them today.