Toys for Tots

I suppose I need to give a little background. Several years ago, there was a Marine in our church who connected us with the Toys for Tots program. The Marines collected the toys, and we were a distribution point. But we didn't just hand them out: we did a show with a skit & dancing for the families, then a party for the kids while the parents shopped. We told the story of Jesus and gave people an opportunity to be baptized. Not every Toys for Tots distribution is like ours, but the Marines initially involved with us were very gracious to let us host the event with our own flair. One summer, while I was doing a Backyard Bible Club at an apartment complex with some people from my church, a man told me that he and his wife had been baptized at our Toys for Tots event.

My family has been involved in this from the beginning. It is my favorite event of the Christmas season. This year, we registered 5,400 kids and our church provided the majority of the funding for the toys and the party. Our staff and some volunteers shopped for tens of thousands of dollars worth of toys the week before (believe me, it is actually challenging to spend that much money on $10 toys, two per child) and stayed up until wee hours decorating the church. I wish I knew how many volunteers were involved in putting on the production, but I do know that everyone in my family helped.

This is the first year that we have all been able to play a part. We divide the people registered into four shows, and I am team leader for child pick up, coordinating the task of reconnected thousands of children with their waiting parents who have just shopped for their Christmas. My husband worked security, and my two teens helped serve cookies & do a craft in the children's party. My youngest daughter is a dancer at church, and she was part of the team that danced in all four shows, for every person that came to the event. We arrived at church that morning for worship and our regular time of service, and then stayed until 10:20 that night, when my team saw the last child picked up.

It was glorious. I am going to skip all the stories I could tell from my own service and simply say this: by the evening time, I could hardly walk. Our church was formerly an outlet mall, and the floors are concrete. I walked constantly for eleven hours, and my feet were so painful I could hardly move. This is mostly my own fault--I like to be active and kept volunteering to communicate with part of our team in a separate part of the building, or fetch hot coffee for our volunteers standing in the ice storm. I rarely sat. When I took off my shoes at 11:00 that night, my small toe had cracked and bled all over the nail. How often do you get to spend yourself to exhaustion to serve others?

My youngest daughter, who is 8, was equally exhausted. She began crying on the way home, because she hadn't had dinner. They served macaroni and cheese, but she didn't like it. Johnny and I knew that she was mostly crying because she was so tired. Next year I will remember to send snacks with her, but last night Johnny told her that when we serve God when it is hard, He takes notice. There are many times He will ask us to serve Him when it is not easy.

With my swollen feet and exhausted body, I cried a few tears myself, but just from being tired. I was curled up in front of the fireplace in my own home, in my pj's with a warm blanket, and I thought of all Christ suffered for me. He was mocked and beaten and brutalized. He was tortured to death. I hope that when He finally got home, God had a warm bath ready for Him.

And think of the Heavenly Father. I let my own daughter serve when she had a cold, which I knew might knock her down further. She was hungry and worn out and completely away from her family all day. Every time she passed me, she would give me a hug and a greeting, but on the way home she cried. Mothers, you know how your child crying tugs your heart. God let his own son suffer so much more on my behalf.

Isaiah prophesied about Jesus: "When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins" (53:11). In a very small way, I got to imitate God yesterday at Toys for Tots. No wonder this event is my favorite Christmas moment.