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I Gave My Christmas Away
By Michael | December 26, 2012
Two years ago, I got to go on a service trip to Portsmouth, Ohio and help hundreds of families in need during the holiday season. This year, I got to go again.
Except this time, there were even more families that couldn’t support themselves this Christmas. 900 families came to us for help. I spent the weekend working for these 900. I went with my church back home, and doing this made me realize how much of Christmas is commercialized for gifts. What matters is who you’re with. Not what you’re getting.
Friday, we all arrived in Portsmouth at around 7 p.m. We started to unload the trucks of food immediately. There was so much food, and so much work to be done.
After we unloaded all the food, we got to eat dinner ourselves. Mind you, we ate at 9:30. It took us only 2 and a half hours to unload all that food. I love how well we all worked together.
Saturday, we spent the entire day sorting and bagging all the food. We made 900 sets. Each set contained 2 bags. Thats 1800 bags of groceries!
Sunday, we got to hand out all the food to everyone who needed it. You don’t truly comprehend the true meaning of Christmas until you see people who are less fortunate than you become happier than you have ever been; their hearts being filled with joy just by you giving them something to eat.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46
Happy Holidays
Topics: Activism, Advice, Home, Michael, Personal Events, Travel | 1 Comment »
December 27th, 2012 at 2:27 am
Hey many thanks!