Shoebox World

Shoebox World is not a new theme park opened by Samaritans Purse but it is their brand new web site that allows you to take part in their shoebox appeal even if you are unable to get to the shops to buy the gifts to fill a shoebox yourself.

Once on the site, which can be found by clicking here, you first choose the wrapping paper for your box, and whether it is for a boy or girl and which age range. Then you select between 14 and 16 gifts from four categories: toys, hygiene, educational and some additional items and then ... I've not explored the site any further but presumably you pay and add a message. Then volunteers in a warehouse somewhere will make up your box and send it off to a child somewhere in the world in time for Christmas. If you've not yet done a 'real' shoebox why not try the site out now.

[For those of you who have not yet dropped your box off at our church it is still not too late - due to unavoidable circumstances today's collection has been postponed until Monday morning - so bring your box along on Sunday].

What will you swap?

On Sunday, as we continued our series looking at the period of OT history from 930-586BC, we looked at Amos 5. This is one of those chapters in the Bible where it is very hard to miss the obvious message that God is passionate about issues of poverty and justice in this world.

There are over 2000 verses in the Bible where these issues are addressed, and they are all highlighted in the Poverty and Justice Bible. The issue in Amos' day was that the people were religious but they did not care for the poor and the oppressed. In fact they were the ones responsible for many of the injustices these people experienced. They went to 'church' and sung the hymns on one day, and then cheated the poor and bribed their way out of trouble the next. And God's judgement was coming.

How much do we identify with those on the margins? What difference do we make? What difference could we make? Are we a part of the problem, or part of the answer?

Whether it's running, Bible reading or social action it is always better to start small and build up. Why not commit to changing just one item in your weekly shop to a Fair Trade option? In the UK there are now over 3000 products that carry the Fair Trade logo. These include tea, coffee, chocolate, honey, sugar, bananas and beans to mention just a few. What will you swap?

Two days to go

There are still two days to go until we reach the deadline for this year's Operation Christmas Child shoebox appeal.

On Monday 96 boxes were collected from the church, so that those at the depot can start processing boxes in order that they be in the hands of children before Christmas. This year boxes collected locally will be making their way to Mozambique. As with many of the countries where shoeboxes end up Mozambique's statistics on things like child mortality, life expectancy, average annual earnings, access to safe drinking water, literacy levels etc speak for themselves.

Today 64 more boxes arrived, with more due in over the next two days. 13 of those boxes came from the children at a local primary school, and these boxes were filled with pens, pencils, rulers, note books, crayons, maths sets...the sorts of things that you would need if you wanted to go to school. In Mozambique children are required to provide their own school materials if they want to attend school, something that many simply cannot afford to do. When these 13 boxes arrive at the depot they will be put to one side, and then whenever a box is checked which does not already contain these essential school items volunteers will add these things from the items provided by these local school children.

We live in a world where there is so much need, and at times it can seem overwhelming. But the truth is that we can each make a difference. And sometimes it is the little things that make a big difference.

Shoeboxes

It's still not too late to get involved with this year's Operation Christmas Child shoebox appeal. The deadline for handing in completed boxes is still over a week away - Thursday 18 November.