Gifts for the Children

I was driving home from work today and I was listening to the radio as I do every day.  I listen to the afternoon talk radio show hosted on the local Christian radio network.  The hosts of the this show, a man and a women, both have children of varyingi ages that will be returning to school in  the next couple of days.  Today the talk of their show revolved around preparing for their children to return to school and children in general who will be returning to school.  Along with this theme of children returning to school they were promoting a ministry of the Feed the Children network where they give homeless children a backpack that is filled with school supplies, food items, and personal hygiene items.

At one point the representative from the Feed the Children network was sharing some of the experiences that he has had when giving the children their backpacks.  He said, “At first the children are untrusting that someone would want to give them something and not expect anything in return.  After some convincing, the children realize that the backpack is theirs and in some cases they won’t take the backpack off, even wearing to recess.”  He continued the story, “I’ve watched how the demeanor of these children changes from disbelief to becoming overwhelmed with happiness when they believe that the backpack belongs to them.  For some it’s like opening a Christmas stocking as the child removes each item from the backpack one piece at a time in delight inspecting each one ever so carefully.”  

I’m a very visual thinking person so, needless to say as the man was describing these children and their experiences with life issues and living circumstances I could, in my mind’s eye, see these children delighted with the simple gift of this backpack.  It made me nearly cry when I began to think of how blessed I am, as well as, pretty much everyone I know.  I knew in that moment that I had to donate to this cause the moment I arrived home.  That I did.  But that didn’t seem to be enough for me; I immediately posted the website information on my Facebook page, on my LinkedIn page, and on Twitter.  And then I was inspired to write this blog post.  

I don’t know how many people will see the posts and tweets and be moved to donate to give backpacks to homeless children.  I’m going to leave it up to God to use these messages to move the hearts of those who see them.  I’m leaving it up to God’s spirit to move them to act through charity and to repost on their walls and tweets.  So here’s my prayer:  if you’re reading this post, I pray, that you along with those who see this information posted on Facebook, twitter, and LinkedIn, will be moved to contribute what you can to this worthy cause and that you will pass along this information to your family and friends.  You can find out how to donate by clicking the image below or by visiting www.feedthechildren.org.