December 21st, 2009
Each year about this time TREK takes a Sunday to celebrate Christmas as a group. It is always a fun morning and part of the tradition the last couple of years has been that we make gallons of Kim McCart’s homemade hot chocolate. I buy plenty of marshmallows and whipped cream to top off the drinks and for just the right touch, we sprinkle on the top some crushed Candy Cane to make the perfect Christmas drink. I look forward to it every year. This year the unthinkable happened. On Saturday evening, I dragged out the boxes of Candy Canes and my wife’s rolling pin to create the Candy Cane sprinkles (a messy process and slightly time consuming). I filled a Tupperware bowl full of crush Candy Cane and in order to make sure that I would not leave it sitting on the counter when I left for TREK the next morning, I loaded the bowl full of delicious Candy Cane sprinkles and the surplus Candy Cane’s into my car.
Imagine my surprise when I awoke in the morning, drove to church and realized that sometime during the night someone had broken into my car and taken all of my extra Candy Canes and the Tupperware Bowl full of magical Candy Cane dust. Who does that? Who steals Candy Canes and sprinkles? Everything else in my car seemed to be in order, but the case of the Candy Cane thief remains unsolved.
In contrast to the Grinch who stole my Candy Canes, on Sunday evening I saw a group of high school students do something incredible that completely reflected a spirit of generosity. TREK took on the task of raising money for a homeless shelter and church in the inner city neighborhood of Roseland. We have been partnering with them for years during summer mission trips and in this difficult economic time we wanted to help them complete a project that would consolidate some of their ministries, draw stronger bonds between the homeless shelter and the church and allow them to rent or sell one their other buildings as an additional source of income. The Ministry Team (a group of student leaders in TREK) took on this challenge and planned a dodgeball event/ Christmas party as a means to raise awareness and money for this ministry.
Last night I saw students giving above and beyond to be a part of something larger than themselves. The entire evening was run by students leaders, they invited their friends and together they have raised over $2,250 all for Roseland Christian Ministries. I can hardly overstate how proud I am of these students. All we have heard about teenagers is that they are selfish or that their world revolves only around themselves. I saw something different, something greater. I saw boldness, generosity and compassion. I saw them lead and inspire. It really was impressive, you should be proud of them as well.
If you would like to be a part of this effort to raise funds for Roseland Christian Ministries, we have established an online option for people to donate. Simply click on the DONATE NOW link and you will be connected to our online giving site (all donations that are processed though FBCG for this initiative are tax deductible).







