UPS Brough Packages of Hope

I have gotten two deliveries this week: one, my package from Operation Christmas Child with all the materials for our church’s kickoff and two, a package from PRAY publication for my husband’s program on God & Me.

Operation Christmas Child as I mentioned on August 26th is a program run by Samaritans’ Purse that delivers the word of God with shoeboxes filled with toys for children around the world. In an effort to assist those spearheading the program at their church, Operation Christmas Child provides organizations with prayer cards, DVD’s, bulletin inserts, and more. This will help me put the program together properly for a great kickoff and continued reminders during the weeks of the collection. Our final collection day (shh! Don’t tell anyone. It is a collection day only for those that “forget” the week before. Experience has taught me well) and wrapping day, November 16th is also OCC’s Shoebox Dedication Day so I will be giving the Children’s Sermon. As I’ve been mulling over how I may do the sermon this year, I have decided that I may work with the children to create a Mad Libs type prayer - not to be funny, but to include their ideas in the final prayer. Our church is familiar with the program and knows the concept from my previous year’s presentations.

The PRAY publication box held the God & Church and God & Life student workbooks, mentor workbooks, and counselor workbooks. As part of my husband’s wood badge, he made it a goal to plan, promote, and execute a God & ME Protestant program through our church. As Boy Scouts only affects the two oldest segments, those are the segments we are going to make sure are run. If others want to include the younger two segments, we will happily assist them, but it is not absolutely necessary to run this lower section of the program. I worked on this program 4 or 5 years ago when our children were in the younger levels and was very impressed. And for those of you that know my husband’s propensity to assign me extra work, as you expect, I will be running one of the levels. Fortunately, the break will allow DS to take one level and DD to take the other. We will be promoting the Protestant version, but there are religious awards for almost every religion under the son. I’m sure as I work through teaching this program you will hear more about it.

These two boxes will certainly bring us plenty of work but also the joy that the work of the Lord can bring.