We’re one week away from our Operation Christmas Child event. As you may have seen, we’ve invited our team members, partners, friends, and families to join with us this year in an effort to collect enough items to fill 1000 shoeboxes to bless children around the world who have essentially nothing.
Prior to writing this, I was reading the morning news on my iPad Air 2 and actually thought to myself how much better it is than my old iPad 2 as, since the iOS 8 update, it became ‘insufferable’. It struck me as a moment of extreme selfishness and a total lack of perspective. How many times have we, as Americans fortunate to live in this country where our definition of poverty is often still significantly better than the standard of living for the average citizen in many other regions throughout the world, used careless hyperbole like “this phone is the worst thing ever”, or “I literally cannot stand to eat at that restaurant”. I don’t say this for the purpose of instilling guilt or shame, but rather as a challenge for us to be more responsible with our speech and to recognize that with privilege comes great responsibility. Our responsibility, especially as we enter the charitable holiday season, is to take action and give back just a little bit of that with which we ourselves have been blessed.
Take some time and reflect on what you have been given, what you have earned, and how you might feel called to better the lives of others. Each of us may be passionate about our own diverse causes, and I would encourage you to get involved in what is meaningful to you – even if it’s not Operation Christmas Child. If you want to find out more about what Operation Christmas Child and its parent organization Samaritan’s Purse are all about, take a look at the following sites:
https://www.samaritanspurse.org
https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/
If seeing their vision and mission inspires you as much as it does me, please reach out to us to ask how you can help. We are collecting toothbrushes, toothpaste, bar soap, hard candy, small and non-violent toys, school supplies, and other items that would fit well packed into a shoebox. Our big event is Saturday, November 15th at the Byteworks office. Come by, bring your family, bring your items, and help us reach the goal of 1000 shoeboxes.
God bless, Happy Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas,
– James Willard