Monday, December 15, 2008

Shoe box joy



It's the start of a very busy and wonderful week for us.


It's our Christmas week and every day we are meeting with some group of kids to share with them about the true meaning of Christmas and also give them a Christmas gift.


It is an interesting comparasson that here in Moldova Christmas is hardly celebrated because Moldova is Europe's poorest country and being a former soviet republic the tradition of Christmas has never been developed.

Thus few gifts are given. Indeed we are the only Christmas event going on in our 3 villages really.


Thus when we have given these shoe box gifts (courtesy of Mustard Seed from the UK) to these kids it has been a surprise for them and so they have been ready and willing to listen to why they are getting a gift. i.e that God gave the world a special gift 2000 yrs ago - his Son Jesus to die on a cross for our sins so that we could be saved.


Whereas in the West the abundance of gifts being given and the expectation, in fact the sense of entitlement that almost all have that they should get a gift ( or many gifts ) takes away the whole ground on which one might share the message of the undeserved gift of God given in Christ.

A further interesting comparasson was the total difference in the appreciation shown by these kids as they opened up their gifts.
The box included perhaps. hat and gloves, toothpaste, a soft toy, a game.
Sadly the sort of things most kids in the West would discard from the box while hunting under them looking for the "serious" gift they expected to be there.
I remember years ago seeing a "You've been framed " clip where a 10 yr old boy is video-ed by his parents as he opens his Christmas gift to find a 100 pound computer game.
His reaction?
To fly into a rage and smash it with his fist because it was not what he was wanting. (If I'd been his parents I'd have been too ashamed to send something like to a show where the public could view the incredible ingratitude of my child.)
So what was the reaction of these kids getting their soft toys and toothpaste.
An absolute explosion of joy and excited yelps throughout our church building.
One child when she opened hers began to squeal out
" Whoop! whoop! woop! woop! - she couldn't stop she was so overcome with emotion ( and we were not a little overcome ourselves.)
It was one of those special moments in life that you get the priviledge not only to witness but be part of.
My first thought, was one of a kind of sadness that those in the UK that gave the money or filled and wrapped the boxes where not here to see the precious fruit of their giving.
I send my heartfelt thanks on behalf of all the kids of Gotesti, Chircani and Constantinovca to you that have given these boxes and indeed to all of you in all the world that do such things but aren't able to see the recipient receive it as we did.
Perhaps you'll get to see the "You've been framed" video of these kids receiving your gifts ....... one day ........
in heaven.

Pastor Mark

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