Christmas Gum

Greetings to you during this Christmas season.

A blessing I get to share often is to provide treats for people. For kids, I frequently give a piece of candy. A sight I repeatedly see in Haiti that always touches my heart occurs when I give gum away. The best type of gum in the Caribbean is the candy coated “Chicklets” because it does not melt as regular stick chewing gum does. When I work in Haiti I will often give those dime sized chicklets to the kids. Inevitably the kids will share the gum by biting off half of the chicklet and giving half of it to another kid who does not have.

Regularly visiting adults will ask, "but what about disease, germs, the gum’s flavor can’t last, why can’t each kid get their own piece?" Those kids are not thinking about such things.

In six years of doing this not once have I ever seen a single kids say, “no, you enjoy the gum yourself.” or “no, I don’t need any” or “no, I just had some” or “no, I don’t deserve this because I did not share any with you” or “no, I don’t want to give you any of mine when I get some.” The kids always accept the chicklet from the giving kid and pop it right into their mouth and chomp away as much as they can on half a chicklet. They know there are no strings attached.

These kids have learned to give even from the little they have and that sharing is a good thing. These kids have also learned that in accepting that half piece of chicklet they too are sharing. They are sharing the blessing back to the person who is giving. This is love.

At Christmas God gave us His baby son Jesus. Often we don’t accept Jesus in our lives because we may think, I don’t deserve God’s Son, I have sin in my life and can’t pay back his love, I can’t love Him the way He loves me, I don’t like the flavor of Jesus’ love. Please allow me to say simply plainly and clearly, God loves you. God gave you His Son to show you His love no strings attached. I hope you accept Him and chomp away at life with Him. Enjoy that chicklet for a life time of flavor. .
FELIZ NAVIDAD

Quick Updates/ Prayer Requests
1) Haiti and the Dominican were in the path of Tropical Storm Olga, the second in one month’s time. More than 40 lives were lost in Santiago alone. Deaths in Haiti are in the hundreds. To tell you that crops have been ruined is an understatement Let me give you three numbers that will tell the tale: 100% of the tomato crop destroyed, 95 % of the plantain crop has been damaged and food costs have already risen 25% in the Dominican. I am still working on numbers for Haiti but rest assured they are devastated also. Please pray for them as they “recover.”
2) There are three mom’s of staff members who are very sick: Tim Krauss, Dianne Miller and Kelly Creak. Please pray for these staff member’s moms and families
3) For the peace of Christ to reign in our hearts during this Christmas season
4) For the continued growth, direction and wisdom of G.O. Ministries
PLEASE let me know how I can be praying for you!
A healthy, happy and prosperous 2008 to you and your family