Eternal Opportunities

The English Bible Exploration that I have helped lead at Lingnan University took part in Operation Christmas Child this year. Operation Christmas Child is the international, non-profit, Christian organization that collects shoeboxes filled with toys and delivers them to children in need around the world! You fill the shoeboxes with toys for a boy or a girl; pick the appropriate age group and then Operation Christmas Child ships the shoeboxes to countries where kids are presented with the Gospel and a shoebox filled with toys and gifts!

2009 was the first year for Operation Christmas Child in Hong Kong! The English Bible Exploration put together a total of 8 shoeboxes and last week I delivered them to the Processing Center in Hong Kong!

The Processing Center is the final destination for the shoeboxes before they are shipped to their designated foreign country! The shoeboxes from Hong Kong will go to Sichuan, China and Manila, Philippines!

The Processing Center was in on the edge of an old industrial building area in Hong Kong. There were hundreds of old warehouses and industrial buildings! And on the edge of this industrial park, by the water, just beside a city of millions of people – there was a HUGE banner for Operation Christmas Child…

Inside the building there were around 15,000 individual shoeboxes, and hundreds of large cardboard shipping boxes filled with gifts, ready to be delivered to China! Seeing the Processing Center, all shoeboxes, cardboard boxes, the volunteers, and the extra toys – it was one of the most awesome experiences I have had in Hong Kong.

I was reminded that night of all I have and all I have to be thankful for, I was also reminded to do “eternal” things and help others. It was a reminder to strive to everyday do something of eternal significance, whether it is a smile, an encouragement, inviting someone to church or Bible Study, packing a shoebox filled with gifts, or giving money to someone in need…

If every day and every deed, every moment was filled with eternity – that would truly be a life well lived, and that would truly be “making the most of every opportunity!”