1 John 3:17-18  If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Sunday was our annual “Operation Neighborhood” Christmas Spaghetti Dinner. This is the third year we have had this ministry event which pairs GLCC families with families who have benefited from our food pantry throughout the year. This year 66 families participated with 45 youth and adult kitchen servers for a total of 311 people. Every year an amazing God-story emerges. This year was no different. 

Wanting to give back after having been the recipient of generous giving last year, the Barb Fowler family adopted a family of six for this year’s spaghetti dinner this Christmas season. Several weeks in advance Barb received the family’s name along with the ages, gender and names of the children so appropriate gifts could be purchased. 

While shopping, Barb purchased an assortment of gifts for the children, but felt distinctly led to purchase a Wii game console. For quite some time she stood in the store aisle struggling- going back and forth in her mind. “What an expensive gift!… Will it be misunderstood?… This is so much more than we were instructed to spend. Is this really what God wants?” But in the end she followed her heart and purchased the gift, intending to make it a gift to the whole family. 

At the point she was wrapping the gift another prompting came. Her eye was drawn to the name of the 13 year old boy she had shopped for. “Should she give the game console to the teenager? It really would be more appropriate as a family gift. If she did, what would the younger children think? I hope I’m doing the right thing!” Shaking off her self-doubt, she simply obeyed the prompting, wrapped the gift and put the 13 year old boys name on it. 

At the dinner, she met the family. Everyone was seated around a large table and the meal of salad, garlic bread, spaghetti and later cake was served. It was an enjoyable but somewhat chaotic time. The conversation was sometimes difficult because of a language barrier and the oldest child that sat next to Barb during the meal clearly had some special needs. Throughout the dinner he would smile, rub Barb’s arm and every few minutes he kept saying “we, we.” Barb asked his 9 year old sister to translate and she informed Barb that he wanted a Wii for Christmas. 

Breathless and overwhelmed, Barb waited moist-eyed and anticipating what was about to happen. 

After the meal, dessert and a video presentation, everyone was more than ready for the gift-giving time. Much to Barb’s dismay, the mother instructed the children that they would have to wait until Christmas to open their gifts. Every year several of our “operation neighborhood” families do this… they have no money for Christmas gifts so they choose to keep the presents wrapped so they will have something to open on Christmas morning. One other family, hosted by Tim and Sheila Lueking at the dinner, carefully unwrapped and then re-wrapped the presents they received so they could open them again on Christmas Day. 

At Barb’s table, not opening the gifts was creating an awkward moment. It was so difficult on the children. They didn’t whine or complain but watched wide-eyed as other children at other tables opened their gifts. Richard Rivera, our host for the evening and one of the many bilingual members of our church at the dinner stopped by and asked why the children were not opening their gifts. When Barb told him that the family was waiting until Christmas morning, he convinced the mother to let the children open just one gift. 

When the 13 year old boy opened his gift- the Wii, he was beside himself with joy, rocking, hugging, and stroking the box. A tremendous feeling to joy came over the table. After a brief conversation with the mother, Richard asked Barb, 

“Who told you?” 

The mother also asked, “How did you know my son was praying for a Wii?” 

Barb wrote me earlier this week about the witness she shared: 

“I was able to tell her that I had prayed and asked God what gifts to give and God had told me to buy the Wii. I was greatly encouraged by this whole experience because no other explanation can be given to the family, except the hand of God, and God is good and remembers the poor through his people. In hindsight, I realize that the hand of God was in it from the beginning, even the labeling of the gift- the provision and message of God would not have been so strong if I had given the gift to the whole family, because the young man had been praying for the gift for himself.”

At Christmas time we are surrounded by miracles. It is a good, gracious and loving God who hears the prayers of a child and then directs one of his daughters to answer that prayer. 

Let’s be available and obedient to all the ways God might use us to share his love this Christmas season!