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Operation Christmas Child visit gives my spirits a lift

Opinion - Columns

Written by Jane Hines

Wednesday, 17 December 2008 08:00

I made my fourth trip in five years to Denver recently to help process shoe box gifts with Operation Christmas Child. Considering I have gotten sick on three of those four trips, you would think I would consider staying home, but the testimonies I hear and the lift it gives my spirits just keep drawing me back.

Box of socks

I spent part of each of our four days in Denver inspecting shoeboxes for inappropriate items and adding filler items. Once in a while I would wonder what the person was thinking who packed the box, the contents seem so strange.

But I have learned that God can have a plan that isn’t obvious to me.

At a distribution in South America, a boy was observed holding his box and crying. One of the women distributing the gifts went to investigate and discovered the boy’s shoebox was filled with socks. That was all. Just pair after pair of white socks. Was the child disappointed? They tried to exchange his box for another, but he wouldn’t give it up. You see, his feet had been badly burned and socks were all he could wear. It was the perfect box for him.

Who knows? Maybe there is a purpose for that box of disposable diapers I inspected, too.

Heart’s desire

This year’s promotional video featured a girl who had been praying for a doll and then crying when she received one in her shoe box. Sometimes it’s just that simple. While receiving a doll doesn’t seem like much of a miracle to us, it does to the child. I can’t imagine living in some of the circumstances these children live in.

Samaritan’s Purse delivers shoe boxes to children in orphanages, refugee camps, war-torn countries and living in desperate situations around the world. Since 1993, more than 61 million shoe boxes have brought joy and hope to the children of the world.

I love being a part of something that keeps hope alive. The boxes I help pack probably aren’t of the miracle box-of-socks variety, but I know they will be responsible for tons of smiles.

Bottom of the box

Sometimes what a child prays for seems beyond the realm of possibility and a shoe box gift seems like the last thing they need or want.

When Franklin Graham, the president of Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child, spoke to the volunteers, he told us the story of a little boy at a distribution who didn’t want a shoe box. He needed parents, he said. He didn’t want a present. The mission workers encouraged him to open his box anyway, but he couldn’t manage a smile at any of the items inside.

But, in the bottom of the box was a picture of the couple who had packed the gift, and on the back was their address. The missionaries helped the child write the couple a note of thanks. In a few months, he received a reply. He wrote them back. They wrote him. In six months time, the childless couple, who had been praying for a son, adopted the little boy who had been praying for parents.

As Graham said, “Now, that’s a God thing, a divine orchestration. There’s no way we could have arranged that.

“If we had 8 million people praying for 8 million children, do you think God just might do something really special with these boxes? So many of these kids are not loved and they feel abandoned and alone. Pray for children around the world, that God will use this program to touch them in a special way and that they will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Why be afraid?

On our first day in Denver, we heard a 19-year-old girl named Oksana Nelson tell her story. She was an orphan living in Russia before being adopted by a Texas couple and coming to this country when she was 9.

Her orphanage was so drafty the winters were nearly intolerable. She received one change of clothing a week. She got a bath once every two weeks. The children all used the same awful-tasting toothpaste. Her diet consisted of potatoes and other bland foods. She doesn’t remember ever being offered meat. And candy – well, candy was for rich kids.

She tried to make the most of the opportunities she had, but she still longed for parents who didn’t go home at the end of their shift.

When she was eight, Oksana received a shoebox gift from missionaries who visited her school. She particularly remembers receiving her very own toothbrush and minty toothpaste. She had candy to share, and her box contained a letter and picture from the children who packed the gift. She treasured that letter and picture as proof that someone loved her and cared enough to pack that shoe box.

The missionaries encouraged her to believe in Christ, the living hope. In childlike faith, Oksana continued to pray for parents.

After Oksana had been in the United States for a while, her new mother asked her if she was afraid to come with them when she was adopted. She replied, “I had been praying for parents. I just figured God sent you. Why should I be afraid?”

Oksana now speaks to churches, community groups and schools about her experiences with Operation Christmas Child.

“One box equals one child equals one soul,” she said. “Every time I speak, I believe it affects more kids.”

The God of hope, that’s what I want the children of the world to hear about. I want them to know about a God who loves them. Each shoe box is an opportunity to spread the good news of Christmas.

So when the after-holiday sales hit, I will be out looking for stuffed animals and other bargains. The chance to bring joy and hope to a child is more than worth the cost.
And save me your shoe boxes for next year. If you can’t fill them with toys, I will. Maybe I’ll include socks, too.

Editor’s note: Jane Hines is a paginator in Miami County Newspaper’s production department, based in Paola.

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