A Christmas Gift that really makes a difference!

Christmas has always been about the children. We try to refocus our emphasis with the “Jesus is the reason…” stuff, but while placing an emphasis on Christ, we focus our time and energy on the children.  You’ve heard people say, “Well, it just won’t feel like Christmas since I’m away from my grandchildren.”

We pour out our affection and adoration for the children in our homes and in our community. We light up in the presence of children, especially as they are taken in by all of the trappings surrounding Christmas.

We will go out of our way to do anything, if within our power, to meet the expectations of a child. We will or have hunted down that “special” toy because one of our precious ones asked Santa for it. We love children! Jesus said, in Luke 18:16 - "Allow the children to come to me. Don't forbid them, because God's kingdom belongs to people like these children.” (CEB)

Well, here is a simple way that we can start loving the children of the world. I do not know if the following little article appeared in the morning newspaper that you read, but it did mine last week and it caught my attention:

FIGHT AGAINST MALARIA IS SLOWING

Global efforts to curb malaria are stalling after a drop in funds to buy bed nets, according to the latest report Wednesday from the World Health Organization. For the second year in a row, WHO noted a dramatic decline in the number of bed nets given out to protect people from the mosquitoes that spread malaria. In 2010, 145 million bed nets were distributed; that fell to 92 million in 2011 and 70 million last year.

Bishop Tom Bickerton came our way last year and in his message he shared his work with NOTHING BUT NETS, Send a net. Save a life – the global effort to provide bed nets to fight malaria. For just $10 a bed net can be purchased and given to a person to protect them from this deadly disease … just $10! Wow, that is something nearly every one of us can respond to and make a difference in the life of someone else. Most of us spend more than that eating out.

We can stop malaria in 2014 and save millions of lives – most of them children!

It’s Christmas. Under our tree will be many wrapped gifts that is just more “stuff” than we really need. Actually, a lot of those gifts we really don’t need, but a loved one felt they needed to purchase “something” for us. Well, here is a novel idea… why don’t we give a gift that really is important. We can give a net in honor (or memory) of our loved one(s). It is rather easy. Just go to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) web page http://NothingButNets.net and make a donation using your credit card – we already have put a lot on those cards anyway why not another $10… or $20… or more?

In making a donation you are saving a life… it could be a life of a child… a child who is the joy of some parent’s eye… who might grow up and accept Jesus Christ as their savior.

We can stop malaria in 2014 if each one of us gets behind WHO’s effort and SEND A NET. SAVE A LIFE.