There are 25 days until Christmas.
How does that make you feel?
Rushed? Excited? Overwhelmed? Busy?
Rushed? Excited? Overwhelmed? Busy?
I get such a range of emotions when I think about this special holiday. I love Christmas and look forward to it every year. I love the cold weather, twinkling lights, nativity scenes, hot cocoa, and carols. I love baking gifts in the kitchen, making homemade ornaments with my girls, and reading the Christmas story as a family.
BUT at the same time I get a knot in my stomach when I think about the American version of Christmas. A time of materialism, overspending, busyness, traffic jams, to do lists, expectations, selfishness and stress. The statistics themselves are mind boggling.
Every year Americans spend atleast $450 billion dollars on Christmas.
Let that just sink in for a minute...
$450,000,000,000.00
WOW that is a lot of zeros spent on a day we celebrate the birth of Jesus.
If that doesn't register how about the fact that to provide clean, available drinking water to every person on the planet it would only cost about $10 billion.
The first time I read that it really put into perspective how crazy ridiculous our culture is about ourselves and STUFF.
2 Years ago I first saw this video and it has totally changed my outlook on Christmas, not at all saying I am perfect or don't get distracted so easily to the twinkling allure of stuff... thinking presents and activities will make me and my kids happy. That if I am generous to just give stuff to my family and friends then thats the meaning of Christmas, right?
Join with me in having purpose in your gift giving this year. Take some (or even most) of your holiday funds and GIVE. Instead of buying more gifts and things we really don't need, give something to someone that will change their life forever. Then take all that free time you have not rushing around shopping and spend it together as a family. For us SixtyFeet is what God has put on our hearts and we are partnering with them on something awesome so read below and see what God's doing.
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Since SixtyFeet first began, we’ve dreamed of purchasing land and building a home so we can remove the most vulnerable children who live in the M facilities. We can all agree, these children shouldn’t be in these conditions.
Late last year, we had a matching donation to raise funds so we could acquire land. The land was to be used as the site for a home where the youngest and most vulnerable children at M1 could live in a loving, nurturing family-like environment. Some of you may be wondering what happened to that.
Well, we were blown away by your generosity, as usual, and you sailed past the $10,000 match raising a total of $30,000. That money, unfortunately is still sitting in the bank – set aside and earmarked for the home we so very much want to build.
Various obstacles prevented us from moving forward with our original plans (we’re learning that sometimes we just need to be still and wait on the Lord). So that’s what we’ve been doing. But we never gave up hope. Ever since then, we have been praying that we would be able to raise the remaining funds to start this home.
Recently, several incredible donors have stepped forward to offer a whopping $60,000 as a matching gift in order to make this dream a reality. Yes, that was not a typo and you read it correctly. Every dollar we are able to raise between today and December 31, 2011 – up to $60,000 – will be matched, dollar for dollar.
So what does this mean for SixtyFeet and the children? With the $30,000 that was raised last year, we are hoping and praying that by January we will have $150,000 in order to purchase land, build a home and have a place where we can nurture these precious children. But we’re not just thinking land and a home. We’re thinking bigger… way bigger – as in community. We want to build something sustainable.
Given the size of this gift, we also pray we can use a portion of the funds to expedite our plans to remove and house many of the older children at the M facilities. We hope to establish multiple homes for boys and girls 10 and older where they can live with up to 20 other children and be mentored by young adults, who themselves have been in similar situations but who now have a heart to give back and serve.
So as we enter this holiday season, please dare to dream with us. Dare to dream of the eternal impact this will have in the Kingdom and in the lives of the children of M. Dream of the children who may arise from these homes. The leaders, the doctors, the pastors, the educators. All of whom may ultimately come from M and go on to serve and do amazing things in the name of Christ. Just imagine it.
To donate to this amazing cause, to have your donation matched dollar for dollar, and to make a big difference this Christmas, click HERE.
The first time I read that it really put into perspective how crazy ridiculous our culture is about ourselves and STUFF.
2 Years ago I first saw this video and it has totally changed my outlook on Christmas, not at all saying I am perfect or don't get distracted so easily to the twinkling allure of stuff... thinking presents and activities will make me and my kids happy. That if I am generous to just give stuff to my family and friends then thats the meaning of Christmas, right?
Join with me in having purpose in your gift giving this year. Take some (or even most) of your holiday funds and GIVE. Instead of buying more gifts and things we really don't need, give something to someone that will change their life forever. Then take all that free time you have not rushing around shopping and spend it together as a family. For us SixtyFeet is what God has put on our hearts and we are partnering with them on something awesome so read below and see what God's doing.
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Dare to Dream
What if the youngest, most vulnerable, most desperate children at M1 and the other facilities didn’t have to be there? What if they could live in a place filled with hope, where they could grow to know and love God, where they would be deeply cared for, where they could receive an education and have a future? What if…Since SixtyFeet first began, we’ve dreamed of purchasing land and building a home so we can remove the most vulnerable children who live in the M facilities. We can all agree, these children shouldn’t be in these conditions.
Late last year, we had a matching donation to raise funds so we could acquire land. The land was to be used as the site for a home where the youngest and most vulnerable children at M1 could live in a loving, nurturing family-like environment. Some of you may be wondering what happened to that.
Well, we were blown away by your generosity, as usual, and you sailed past the $10,000 match raising a total of $30,000. That money, unfortunately is still sitting in the bank – set aside and earmarked for the home we so very much want to build.
Various obstacles prevented us from moving forward with our original plans (we’re learning that sometimes we just need to be still and wait on the Lord). So that’s what we’ve been doing. But we never gave up hope. Ever since then, we have been praying that we would be able to raise the remaining funds to start this home.
Recently, several incredible donors have stepped forward to offer a whopping $60,000 as a matching gift in order to make this dream a reality. Yes, that was not a typo and you read it correctly. Every dollar we are able to raise between today and December 31, 2011 – up to $60,000 – will be matched, dollar for dollar.
So what does this mean for SixtyFeet and the children? With the $30,000 that was raised last year, we are hoping and praying that by January we will have $150,000 in order to purchase land, build a home and have a place where we can nurture these precious children. But we’re not just thinking land and a home. We’re thinking bigger… way bigger – as in community. We want to build something sustainable.
Given the size of this gift, we also pray we can use a portion of the funds to expedite our plans to remove and house many of the older children at the M facilities. We hope to establish multiple homes for boys and girls 10 and older where they can live with up to 20 other children and be mentored by young adults, who themselves have been in similar situations but who now have a heart to give back and serve.
So as we enter this holiday season, please dare to dream with us. Dare to dream of the eternal impact this will have in the Kingdom and in the lives of the children of M. Dream of the children who may arise from these homes. The leaders, the doctors, the pastors, the educators. All of whom may ultimately come from M and go on to serve and do amazing things in the name of Christ. Just imagine it.
To donate to this amazing cause, to have your donation matched dollar for dollar, and to make a big difference this Christmas, click HERE.
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