The Other Side of Grace

Okay, this is a way to say THANK YOU to those of you who have ever participated in the Christmas shoebox stuffing through Operation Christmas Child. It has been so fun for me to see the fruit and the 'other side' of work done in the U.S. to care for those in need throughout the world. Sometimes, I have had doubts about where things actually go – I have wondered; "do these boxes really get to the right places?"

Yes they do! I have seen – in the Dominican Republic, Malawi, and now in southern Romania – how these boxes have blessed and brought joy to children who literally play with sticks and rocks as their daily entertainment. I am more and more in gratitude for the ways that American believers have stepped up to the plate to provide for needs around the world. It really is doing something!

The well projects that churches – like Pleasant Valley's college ministry in southeastern Minnesota, or Bethany Community Church – have participated in, have actually affected me!  Every day in Malawi, we pumped water from a well that literally wouldn't exist if it weren't for American believers who had a heart to bring clean, safe, drinking water to Africa.

And for those of you who have ever purchased TOMS Shoes; they really are being worn around the world. I watched a dozen little African kids running around, playing tag in their little tiny TOMS. Their feet are clean and healthy – they are safe from all of the infection and worms that come from open wounds on bare earth.

The reality of this global partnership is making not only the reality of our connectedness; but also the beauty of grace – more and more apparent to me.  Most people around the world see America as the great superpower. Yet, the great 'superpower' has committed to providing for and taking care of those who are the least of these on distant continents.

How often am I on the receiving end of the great grace of God? His gifts are incredible, immeasurable, and incomparable to my shabby, meager possessions. The greatest 'superpower' has given me the greatest gift, Himself. Every time I look at a child playing with a doll she received in her Christmas shoebox, or a little boy kicking a ball in his TOMS – I see the joy, and the simplicity of a gift well-given and well-received. 

May we never forget the same grace we are need of, every day; whether we are rich, or poor.