Lessons From Shoe Box Land - Episode 2

Last week I walked into the Operation Christmas Child processing center to begin a four hour shift of wading through the hundreds of thousands of shoe boxes filled with gifts destined for poor children around the globe. We would spend the evening inspecting and cartonizing the gift boxes in preparation for their flight overseas. Hundreds of volunteers were present, working feverishly.

When I saw the sign in sheet my eyes scanned the list of volunteers and the expected duration of their shifts. I was amazed to see that most volunteers had worked eight hours and some as many as ten! Satan took this opportunity to whisper words of condemnation into my ear. 'Only four hours? How lazy are you? That shows how serious you are about sacrificial giving!'

Satan used the opportunity to try to discourage me. He used a weapon that had been successful in the past, the flawed idea that God's love for us is conditional and is based on our performance.

The truth of the matter is that God's love for us is NOT conditional. The hound of heaven loved us so much that He sent His Son to die in our place, in spite of our sin. The Bible says that 'God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us'. (Romans 5:8) Jesus stands at our door and knocks. He is always hoping that we will open the door of our lives to Him.

Lessons From Shoe Box Land - Episode 1

There was a husband and wife who, one Christmas, packed up a shoe box filled with toys and donated it to an international charitable organization who brought the shoe box to poor children in war torn countries around the world. Assembling this gift helped fill the void of being childless for so many years.

Weeks later all the orphans were incredibly excited about the arrival of the Christmas gift shoe boxes from the United States, all of the orphans, that is, except one. As one of the shoe boxes was presented to the young boy he angrily pushed it away. 'I know that the one thing I want most is not in there', he said. What he wanted most was a mom and dad.

The wise volunteer worker grabbed the box and sat in front of the child. He opened it up and started thumbing through the toys inside, showing them to the child. He then pulled out a letter and read it out loud. The letter was from a nice American couple. They spoke a little about themselves, including the fact that for some reason God had allowed them to be childless. The letter included a return address.

A correspondence began, between the couple and the child, that in a few years would lead to their adoption of this young boy and his relocation to the United States.

I first heard this true story about a week ago while crating up hundreds of gift shoe boxes on their way to Columbia, South America at the Operation Christmas Child processing center. The hound of heaven loves us so much that he is willing to do, what may seem impossible to us, in order to execute His plan of redemption and salvation.

It is a miracle that the holy Creator of the universe is willing to look past our sins and call us His children, if we are simply willing to pray to Him and say: 'I'm a sinner, please forgive me, I believe that your death on the cross was sufficient to restore my broken relationship with You. I give You my life.'