Christmas: Part III- Giving

The best thing that Los did this Christmas was host a bunch of high school seniors this weekend, and they ‘adopted’ a local family. This single mom and her two boys are barely making it; and are living in a shabby, dimly-lit two room apartment above a Mexican restaurant. Not that Christmas is about gifts, by any means, but when they aren’t even an option, that can devastate a little kid. The spirit of generosity was high among the teenage boys (a rarity in some, perhaps, but these teens are great) as they dreamed about what the young boys might want. They went out for a couple of hours to buy some things for their home, a few toys, and gift cards for practical things like groceries.





After the chaos of lunch and wrapping here, they brought all their gifts to the mom and her boys. Both parties were blessed in the experience and I’m sure that is a day that will be remembered by everyone involved. I pray their Christmas was warm, full, merry and bright.

Thanks (for) Giving

One of the things I love about our church is how generous everyone is. I was pretty devastated last month, when the numerous wildfires destroyed portions of southern California. A church we’re connected to, (Los’ fraternity brother is the college pastor) Malibu Presbyterian Church, was burned to the ground, and a Young Life camp east of San Diego was also harmed. Many people had to evacuate their homes, and some lost all of their possessions. Hearing their accounts and seeing photos in the LA Times was so sad.

So I was really touched when, on the Sunday following the start of the fires, our Seattle church took up an offering for victims of the fire. Essentially, every one of the 4,500 members gave $10, as $45,000 was raised that day. I know that’s not much in the grand scheme of things, but I know it will be added to other gifts and hopefully it will go a long way to bless some people who are hurting temporarily. I was so proud and grateful to everyone for their generosity, especially when later that week I heard that a local tv station had raised money for CA as well, and of the 3 million+ audience, they only raised $40,000. It was pretty eye-opening to realize what a small portion of people can accomplish when they have a like-minded vision. Hoo-Rah for generosity, thanks for giving.