In addition to several other responsibilities, for the month of December, I have been put in charge as the director of the school because the director got married in that month. In my first week as director and right before our Christmas party, the pastor's wife came to me and said, "Jim, there are NO Christmas gifts for the boys this year. Nothing has come in; not even one peso. You need to tell the guys that this year there are no Christmas gifts.” I must admit I was taken back that I had to give such a difficult message to my boys so shortly into my new position. After talking more with the Pastor’s wife, I shared a message based out of Philippians 3:11 talking about Paul and being content in ALL Circumstances. I asked the guys if they wanted to be like Paul; always giving thanks to God regardless the circumstance. All responded, “YEAH!” and I told them, “Well, I am glad to hear that because we have an opportunity to put that into practice. I have some news for you. This year there are no Christmas gifts for you guys.” Obviously that was hard to hear because for most of them, that is the only Christmas gift they will receive. Their faces literally changed from smiles to frowns, but I gave them all a challenge. Earlier in the day, I asked all of the boys to write their Christmas desires on a piece of paper, fold it up, and keep it in their pockets. I asked all of the boys to take out their Christmas wishes and hold them up in the air. I challenged the boys, but did not force them, to symbolically demonstrate giving over their desires to God so that God’s desires could be OUR desires by burning their list of Christmas wishes. Believe it or not, ALL of the boys decided to do it. After our desires had completely disappeared in the flames, we had a time in prayer of thanksgiving.
Most of the boys seemed ok, but I explained if anyone was upset, had questions, or didn’t understand what happened and would like to talk, come talk with me in the office. I had 5 boys come and talk to me ranging in ages of 6 years old to 13. The 6 year old with tears in his eyes said, “I don’t understand why I burned my Christmas gift.” I explained again. I also mentioned how God looks at the intentions of our hearts when we ask for things and if we look to people to be the provider of all our wants and needs, and not God, that is not good and are bad motivations. I also explained that God knows the things that we are ready for and the things we are not. I tried to put it in perspective for them. I said, “Let's imagine you are all Fathers...” They all began naming their children (I was the son of some of them)… I continued, “It is my birthday and I ask for a real gun. Are you going to give it to me?” They said, “Well, no because it is dangerous and you are not ready for a real gun.” I said, “MMHMM. God is our Dad and perhaps your requests were not ‘dangerous,’ but God knows the intentions and motivations of your heart. If your heart is not in the right place, God knows if you are ready for these things or not, and those things could indeed be dangerous for you if you are not ready for them.” Things seemed to click. In that moment, the thirteen year old said, “WOW Jim, I NEED TO repent!” I said, “Ok well if you want we can do that alone or if you want we can do that here together.” He decided to do it together, and we all prayed together. WOW the Prayers were AMAZING coming from such young children. The 6 year old was asking God to change the sadness in his heart into joy and happiness. The thirteen year old was repenting to God for his heart and for the wrong intentions that he had made in his requests. Everyone with their own mouth prayed and asked God to make His hopes and desires for their lives become their own. I was astonished and humbled by the prayer time. Afterwards, I told each and every one of them how PROUD I am of them. I said, “You know why?! You did something very difficult today; something that most adults have never done, nor will do.” I said, “You guys made a very mature decision and I am so proud of you.” Every one of those boys left the office knowing that they wouldn’t receive any gifts this year but were happy and joyful for the celebration we were going to have. I was so proud of my boys. I got on Facebook and felt like I needed to tell the world HOW Proud of my boys I am. There were no other intentions in sharing, but it seemed that God used the story to touch the heart of a friend in Finland. She decided she would like to bless the boys, and in less than a week she sent about 250 Euros ($520ish dollars) so that each boy could have a gift. On the day of the party, the boys were surprised to find gifts. I explained, “Look, God saw your hearts when you gave over your desires to HIM and now He chose to bless you because He loves to bless His children.” It was AMAZING to see God’s work in the hearts of the boys and then the blessing that followed the difficult decisions of obedience that they made.
