Undeliverable Gifts

Christ's Church holds an annual benevolence program called Christmas for Kids. This year we filled the gift lists--and Christmas wishes--of over 1,200 individuals.

Today was delivery day.

My family and I selected a child--a little girl. Last week we shopped carefully, finding almost every item on her Christmas list including a doll and a pink princess bicycle. We couldn't wait to see her face when she saw the bike.

With directions in hand we wound our way through the back roads of western Jacksonville filled with hope and love for a girl we'd never met only to be disappointed to find that the girl and her family had moved a few weeks ago.

We called both phone numbers we'd been given, but they had both been disconnected. Her neighbors didn't know where the girl and her family had gone. No one knew where they were.

We don't know the circumstances that caused her family to move on such short notice, or if she'll ever enjoy riding that pink princess bike.

My family and I were heart-broken with the thought that this child is going to miss the blessing of opening our gifts on Christmas morning, but even more heart-broken that she was going to miss the blessing of opening her heart to the reality that she is loved by God and a family from Mandarin.

When I realized that our gifts were going to go undelivered and unopened I immediately thought about God and how heart broken he must be that so many of his children are never going to enjoy the gift of eternal life, simply because they've moved away from Him.