A Shoebox

There are so many organizations who do some very meaningful things throughout the year, especially at Christmas. Operation Christmas Child is a project spearheaded by Samaritan's Purse. When I first saw the advertisements for this program, I kind of shrugged it off as yet another project - there are just so many. A dear friend of mine, Bobby Culpepper, convinced me to ride to Atlanta for the day with him and members of Westwood Baptist Church. Atlanta is a regional distribution center for Operation Christmas Child.

Once there, I must say that I was moved in a way that is difficult to put into words. 700,000 shoe boxes (with gifts inside) will be processed in Atlanta - a small percentage of the 8 million that will be processed throughout the world. 8 million. I want you to know that this project is one that I believe in. We will continue to be involved and look forward to stepping it up a level in 2009.

My job was to inspect the box to make certain that there weren't items in the box that was related to war, any play snakes, liquid, etc. While inspecting the boxes, may times there was a note in the top of the box that was left by the person who put the gifts together. Those notes were very special. But, by far the most moving thing to happen was a corporate prayer. Occasionally, a worker would stop the hundreds of volunteers and say an encouraging word. Part of this time would involve a prayer for each child who would receive a box. She made a great point - she would ask us to hold the box close to us and imagine the child who would receive it. She said that while we didn't know the child's name, God does. He knows the name of each of the 8 million children who will receive a shoe box.

What a big God we serve.

Buckets of Blessings

Mark 6:38. “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five – and two fish.”

Wednesday of last week I got a phone call telling me that our tournament that we thought was scheduled for the next day was actually a week later. Instead of the 23rd, it was the 30th. Dang-it. We had all these teams coming, sponsors coming, people had taken vacation to come help… You get the picture. It was quite a mess. In the days that followed, most of our teams dropped-out. I mean, I really don’t blame them . Things looked bleak.

Typically, you wouldn’t want to host a golf tournament with less than a dozen teams. But this wasn’t typical. Two days ago, God asked me, “How many loaves do you have?” We had four teams. Four. Not FOURteen or FORty. Just.. four.

Can you guess what happened today? God took the giving hearts of our sponsors and staff of the course, mixed it in with the big hearts of the 16 loyal golfers we had… and He fed us in a way that we did not deserve. We made contacts today that we would have never made if we had cancelled the tournament. It made no sense to host a tournament with four teams. But what seems improbable in human terms is really an opportunity for God to show up. We collectively did all we could do to make this tournament a success. But God blessed all of us and chose to make the unlikely become a reality.

Six total sponsors. A handful of volunteers. Sixteen golfers. And one very compassionate, loving, real God. Tomorrow we will deposit $3,700 into the M25M account! He will have us invest in the Kingdom through feeding 300 people at Thanksgiving, by purchasing and distributing bibles in Swaziland, by assisting a discipleship team share the true and living Word of God. He will have us invest in the ministry of Kriek and Jumbo and in The Luke Commission (medical supplies and treatment). He will have us invest scholarships to help individuals offset mission campaign costs. He will help us build a block house for four little orphaned girls who currently live in a stick and mud hut. Praise God! Praise Him!

So, in a nutshell, we want to thank our golfers. We want to thank our sponsors. We want to thank those who donated to the silent auction. We want to thank Timberline golf course. We want to thank the volunteers. We want to thank those who prepared desserts. More importantly, we are thankful for prayer. I got three emails during the tournament today that told me they were praying for the tournament at that very moment. Powerful.

Today I witnessed a man pay $100 for a $25 gift card to O’Charleys. I saw a left-handed golfer give $100 for a right-handed golf club. My eyes watched as a woman emptied her wallet of gift-cards that she wanted us to sell at the silent auction. We watched as the first and second place teams gave their prize money right back to us. God takes what we give, if we give with a clean-heart, and He gives back.. over and over and over.

Luke 9:13. “You give them something to eat.”

Thank you, Lord. Thank you for feeding us today. Thank you for feeding others through us.

Please help me in giving praise to God Almighty!!

Introduction to Love

I originally posted this in mid-June of this year. A friend of mie asked me post it again....

I have experienced Jesus in the flesh. No, this isn't the first time. And I pray it won't be the last. We were on a mission campaign in Swaziland, Africa. The morning had started off with the awesome responsibility of being called to compassionate action. We were at Thulwane carepoint. Thulwane is the place we had viewed video's of Tom Davis' blog. This is the place we have read about on the blog of Kriek and Jumbo . I already had this particular morning planned out in my mind. I would spend some time with the children as they ate breakfast. Then I would help other team members administer some meds at our 'clinic,' while at the same time I would be able to enjoy the sights and sounds of my oldest daughter, Alexis, as she continued the path of being a Godly young woman. But something happened that will forever change the way I view missions. The experience I was soon to live would literally shape the way I viewed life and love.

In order to fully feel the scope of this experience, please take a moment to watch this video: http://tomdavis.typepad.com/tom_daviss_blog/2007/03/the_girl_in_the.html


Crystal Baltimore came to me and said, "Hey, remember the girl in the wheelchair in Tom's blog? Well, she is over here and we are about to feed her." Wow! We met Pastor Walter just the day before - now, I get to actually see the little girl on the wheelchair. My family and I had watched that video at least 50 times. There she was. Little Nedia sat there on a mat in all her Royalty. She was dressed like the Queen of Thulwane. A red velvet dress adorned her bruised and battered body. She quietly ate her generous helping of food from her royal plastic bowl and with her spotless right hand. There was the Queen in all her splendor. I was speechless, as was the rest of our team. At that moment, a rush of emotions came over me. I was angry that she could have been violated in such sick, evil ways. Then confusion creeped in. How could someone physically abuse such a precious angel? It was obvious from early on that Nedia not only had been assaulted both physically and mentally - but she had also been neglected since Tom had posted the video of her from late in '07.

Then it happened. The defining moment of where the rubber meets the road. This was it - where the 'Red Letters' of the bible come to life. There was Jesus dressed in the distressing disguise of the Queen of Thulwane. My heart was wrecked. My sense of justice was awakened. As team members began to prepare for the clinic, I was able to spend some time with Nedia. Just me, her and the Lord. At first, I wasn't sure of what to say. Or what to do, for that matter. I had never met a queen before. I had heard of them and seen them on TV. But this was for real. So there we were. Just the three of us. What was the first thing out of my mouth to her? "Love." My big moment in the history of important moments - and all I could say was, "Love." How did she respond? "Love!"

I have experienced love in so many ways in my life. Love for my parents and sisters. Love for Ashley and our four children. Love for my friends. Love for my work and those I serve. Love for God and for my church. Love for missions. But this was the manisfestation of what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 25 when he talked about the poor. This was exactly what he meant. To be continued...