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Why LACC Christmas
Means Hope
Sherry Boyd
LACC
Christmas starts in July. That’s when we begin buying presents for the LACC
children. The Day of the Child is always the third Sunday of July in Panama.
The major department stores all have sales on children’s toys. It usually
takes through October to purchase the hundreds of gifts that are distributed
to children at the Good Shepherd Schools. We print a census that includes
the number of boys and girls by grade and begin watching for that perfect
gift!
I
don’t take this for granted. Over the years, I’ve come to know many of these
children personally, not to mention the sponsors that send in their
Christmas offering to purchase a gift for their child. I believe the Lord
always helps me to stretch these offerings to purchase the best possible
gift for these kids. After 20 years of buying Christmas gifts for LACC
children, we are more convinced than ever that this generous practice of
sponsors giving a Christmas gift to their LACC child symbolizes hope for the
child.
Hope
for today. A sponsor who gives a Christmas gift to a child is
saying I love and care about you. Receiving a gift from a caring person that
you’ve never met reminds the sponsored child that God loves him or her and
that He is in control and that He has many people in many places. The more
unique and special the gift, the more unique and special the child will
feel. When a child unwraps the Christmas gift from his or her sponsor he
knows someone loves me right now!
Hope
for tomorrow. Psalms 9:18 (NLT) says, “But the needy will not
be ignored forever; the hopes of the poor will not always be crushed.”
We often refer to the chains of poverty. Poverty is debilitating with no way
out. We see this so much among Panama’s indigenous peoples. We’re thankful
that with God’s help these children can escape. Children and their families
can experience true transformation! A good education that is energized by
the work of the Holy Spirit produces life change.
Hope
for eternity. A sponsor’s Christmas gift is never given by itself.
We remind each child of why his or her sponsor cares enough to give a gift
to a child he or she may never meet. It is because of God’s love… “We
love each other because He loved us first!” (1 Jn. 4:19, NLT). With
children, this change is only seen over time. But we’ve seen enough children
who have grown into fine Christian men and women to know that they do
understand that small Christmas gift from his or her sponsor represents
Jesus, the Greatest Gift of All, who came to this earth to give his life so
that all might have eternal life.
We
say thank you to all our LACC sponsors who give a Christmas gift to your
children here in Panama. We hope you know that your loving gift means hope
to your child… hope for today, hope for tomorrow and hope for eternity!
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