Operation Christmas Child Shoe Boxes – You STILL have time!

Hi ~ and a hearty congratulations to… Emily McDaniel!  She won the Amazon Gift Card for leaving a review on the book, Keeping Christ AS Christmas.  I so appreciate each review, and thank those of you who took the time to do this.  Wish I could treat you all!  Emily, e-mail me at Jennifer.SmellingCoffee@gmail.com and I’ll send you the gift card. :0)

Did you think about making a shoe box for Operation Christmas Child this year, but then ran out of time?  If so, don’t fret!  There are still a few days this week to put together a blessing that will be carried around the world.   Aren’t familiar with Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes?  Then you’ll definitely want to visit this link:  OperationChristmasChild.org    This is a Christmas ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, which is a multi-facated ministry of Franklin Graham, son of Billy and Ruth Graham.

There are so many worthwhile ministries to partner with, especially over the holiday season, but this one – Operation Christmas Child – it’s something special.  The mission statement of Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child is:

Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ.

The organization serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

and

Since 1993, more than 100 million boys and girls in over 130 countries have experienced God’s love through the power of simple shoebox gifts from Operation Christmas Child. Samaritan’s Purse works with local churches and ministry partners to deliver the gifts and share the life-changing Good News of Jesus Christ.

The Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box ministry is something our family has been a part of for years.  In fact, my husband serves as a coordinator for our area.  It’s a tangible way that even the smallest of children can participate in ministering to and blessing a child in need.  Whether we feel “rich” or “poor,” most of us live like kings compared to the people who will be served by these shoe boxes and the ministries that go with them.  Even if we have “just a little,” or “just enough,” God always gives us enough to share with others.

If you’ve not yet made a shoe box and want to, this is the week!  My friend, Elizabeth Stallworth (of the blog: TouchingHem.com), was a guest on Smelling Coffee TV last week and told us all about the Operation Christmas Child ministry, the follow up, and showed us how to pack a shoe box.  You can watch that episode here.

If you can’t see this via email, go to this link. 🙂

These are some quick links to information you will need to pack your box.

How to pack a shoe box.

How to keep track of and discover the destination of your box.

Don’t have time to do it this week, but want to participate?  You can even build a shoe box online!

Want to be a part of this shoe box ministry beyond the delivery of your box?  Sign up to pray for this ministry here. 

Some good things to know:

Each box costs about $7.00 to mail, so a check or money needs to be enclosed in the box.  You can also pay this online, print a receipt, and include that in your box instead.  (That’s also the way that you can keep track of your box.)  The information can be found at this link.

Each city has certain “drop off” locations, and the last day to do this is next Monday, Nov, 25.  To find your nearest drop off location, click here. If you live around Cleveland, MS, First Baptist Church is a drop off point, so you can bring your box(es) here. 😉

There are age ranges to choose from when packing your box.  This info will be found on the link “How to Pack a Shoe Box”.  It’s much easier to pack a box for a younger child.  There are so many things available that all youngsters like.  It’s much harder to do a box for a teen boy or girl, so I’m sure they could always use more teen boxes.  So if you don’t have a preference, maybe God will call you to pack a teen box.  If you do have children, consider doing a box (or boxes) that correspond with the ages of each child.  Because we have teens, we will be packing boxes for teens this year.  We will definitely be including some grooming/hygiene supplies and fashion accessories teens would enjoy. Also, we’ll include some socks, gum, hard candy, markers & art supplies.  Not sure what else.  We’ll be doing this on Thursday (last minute, of course!).  Each of our children will use some of their own money to purchase things for the box.  It’s always a fun shopping trip that we begin saving our money for in advance.

As you are packing your box, please pray for the child and family that will receive the box.  And keep praying for them all year long.

A special touch is to add a written card or letter to the child in the box.  There are so many stories and testimonies of how God specifically used an exact box or a letter that was sent.  When we pack these boxes, we don’t know where they will go.  We don’t know what the child will need.  But God does.  He is the One who will orchestrate the delivery, and He will use whatever it is that we give and do in His Name, and it will be good!

DO NOT INCLUDE: Used or damaged items; war-related items such as toy guns, knives or military figures; chocolate or food; out-of-date candy; liquids or lotions; medications or vitamins; breakable items such as snow globes or glass containers; aerosol cans.

To read answers to frequently asked questions, go to this link.  Very helpful!

OR, just go to OperationChristmasChild.org and look around.  Read about the ministry, the stories, the testimonies, the volunteers, the miracles… Then get busy and put together a shoe box or two (or three or four… )

For those “Late Lucys” like me, we still have time… if we will get on it this week!

Happy Shoe Box filling, my friends!