What Am I Doing Now

[islandboy]

While visiting up north this summer I spent a lot of time sewing laprobes. I had extra scraps of cloth left over so I started making small cloth dolls and dogs, airplanes and cars. I ask at the local police station if they did the program of giving toys to children when they are called out on any disturbance. They said "Yes". So I gave them the toys I had made. I am in the process of making another big batch of soft toys to send them. While I feel bad when parents get arrested, I feel sad for the little children who get caught up in the moment and scared for their mom or dad. The toys give them something to hold on to and sometimes they do not grow up hating the police for something their parents did.

[nChrist]

Wonderful!

My department had volunteers who did this for just about my entire career. These little toys make a big difference when children are scared or hurt. They also made little blankets for children involved in car accidents. I can't tell you how much things like this are appreciated. It's also sad to find out that some children don't have any toys at all. This is typical in homes where mom and dad spend everything they get on dope or alcohol. The same wonderful group of volunteers in my city made enough toys and blankets that each child coming into the children's shelter could have one. I can't stand to think and remember how many ways little ones are abused and neglected. You can see their little faces light up when you tell them that it now belongs to them. It gives me a warm feeling in my heart to think about our children's shelter here. Officers know that the children they take to the shelter will be loved, cared for, given medical attention, fed great food, and given a break from a cruel world for at least a little while. We have enough donations that each child is given 3 complete sets of clothing and proper winter wear when they leave. The sadness is that they might have to go back to a bad situation. All we can do is pray and try to make the child protective services work. We need to remember that Jesus said in Matthew that what we do for these little ones - we do for Him.

Thank you for what you're doing, and God Bless You!

Love In Christ,
Tom

[islandboy]

I thought I would share this wonderful idea as a way to share the meaning of God's love and life, through Sunday School classes or even Vacation Bible Study classes. A friend of mine has made a bunch out to give to our church youth.

THE  JELLY  BEAN  PRAYER

RED...........IS FOR THE BLOOD HE GAVE
GREEN.......IS FOR THE GRASS HE MADE
YELLOW....IS FOR THE SUN SO BRIGHT
ORANGE....IS FOR THE EDGE OF NIGHT
BLACK.......IS FOR THE SINS WE MADE
WHITE......IS FOR THE GRACE HE GAVE
PURPLE.....IS FOR HIS HOUR OF SORROW
PINK.........IS FOR A NEW TOMMORROW

A SMALL BAG OF OF JELLYBEANS, COLORFUL AND SWEET, IS A PROMISE, IS A PRAYER, IS A FRIEND'S SMALL TREAT.

What you do is print the poem on paper, make plenty of copies, cut out poems and put in small zip bags and add one jellybean for each color listed and zip it closed. We used 2" x 3' bags. Not only do the children enjoy the poem and candy, but many have said it was a easy way for them to wittiness to their friends.