As part of the Children’s Message the Pastor gave each of the kids a chocolate kiss, but not for themselves. They were to give it to someone else and I was one of the lucky ones. Next, they were given a fun-size candy bar and again asked to give it away. No problem. Then a full-size candy bar, again not for themselves, but to give to someone else. Hmmmm, what would you do?
It was a practice in giving, a good message, and with each step, a little bit harder to give away what they were holding in their hands. It was easy to do when it was small, but a full-size candy bar?
You and I are sometimes like that, too, aren’t we? Here at Christmas we have no problem sharing trinkets and tips, gifts and goodwill, but when the giving starts to cut into what we think we should have for ourselves (our own toys, our own time, our own comfort), well,
too often we settle for fun-size giving, instead of following the example of the one we worship at Christmas. And Jesus — He gave us His all.
I hope you enjoy the stories in our EVERY newsletter this month. Your giving is helping reach young people in Rwanda, young people like “Rao” in Pakistan, and so many more all over the world.
I love what one of our partners, Tim Oitzman, said after visiting the Youth for Christ ministry in Rwanda and seeing it first-hand:
“We went away understanding how important the money we spend on little things here can really change lives over there. We left going — we want to do more!”