Good Morning!  This little fella is MASON!  He is tickled to be part of our “hands on” project with Operation Christmas Child!

Look at that face!!!!!!!!  He makes me grin and laugh out loud!

Yesterday, Sunday, during children’s church we each traced and cut out our hands to place on the Operation Christmas Child tree that was bare.    My goal is to show how each and every hand is made in the image of God and how each of us are different in the colors, sizes, and shapes.  God has made each of us in His image, yet we are all unique within His total creation.    We can all be individuals AND be united under God.  We all have different gifts that are to be used in different ways for God.  Some of those gifts will come together to do certain projects such as the Shoeboxes.  Others will come together to do other projects like serving at Open Table, UMW,  Methodist Men, Senior Ministry, Choir, Tweenz, OOTB Youth,  Children’s Ministry, SS, SNL, SouledOut, Website, Church History, Bethel, Motorcycle Ministry, Evangelism, Camp Dickensen, Missions, Finance, Worship, Women’s bible studies, the downtown worship site and the list goes on.  ( I know I am forgetting someone and if you would email and let me know I will add it to the list! )

As each hand is placed on this tree, the tree will begin to fill out and it will “bloom” as God has intended for it to do.  Behind each “bloom” is the light of Christ-lighting our way.  It is when we unite together under GOD that we can do amazing things for Him!  Our hands should be open in love, not clenched tight in fear.  We need to release God’s love to the world and it is when we join hands and work toward HIS goal we can do that.  The Shoebox ministry is one way that we do that.

Franklin Graham had a vision and he TRUSTED IN GOD and  followed the vision.  We must do the same.  Today there have been over 68 million shoeboxes delivered in third world countries around the globe.  It didn’t happen overnight and one man didn’t do it alone.  It took a man who was bold enough to follow the vision that God gave him- prayer and many hands across the world joining together to do this job.  One job of many in God’s Kingdom.  All jobs are important from the prayer warrior, to the giver, the warehouse worker, the box checker, the taper, the prayer warrior, to the delivery person.  The delivery may be done by plane, boat, camel, motorcycle, bicycle, elephant, on foot and running!  It takes many hands.  This little tree shows a few of those hands.  All important.

The world is so needy, so desperate and so dark that it seems like there aren’t  enough hands to do the work of God.  But there ARE.  We do them one at a time, together, in love.  We begin with ourselves.  We pray and ask God what He would have us do, individually,  and then we listen and obey.  Not all are called to do the same job.  This is a great thing because there are so many jobs to do.  But we are all called to pray, and as the family of God we can PRAY for one another.   So, as I post this today, will you please pray for all the ministries in your church?

OUR hands are filled with LOVE…let us RELEASE the love and be like a butterfly!  Flitting to and fro-spreading it wherever we go!

Blessings for the journey…

d.