My wife Charlene is a servant. Not only has she served our family for over forty years, but also she helps others. She serves as a youth coach at our church, volunteers at a food pantry, and sews for Operation Shoebox.

Operation Shoebox is an organization started in central Florida by a woman who has five sons serving in the military. A few years ago (2003), she got the idea to fill shoe boxes with goodies and a personal letter to send them to military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They no longer send shoe boxes because the postage was prohibitive. Now they send bags. Charlene is one of the volunteers who manufacture the bags.

At Christmastime, instead of bags, they make Christmas stockings. The photo depicts the stack of stockings Charlene made for the 2006 Christmas shipment. As you can see, she didn’t just settle for slapping together a couple of pieces of material. Each one was made with the special care and love that only Charlene can give.

Operation Shoebox recently sent their 200,000^th package to military folks in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congratulations, Operation Shoebox!

© 2007 – 2008, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.

This afternoon we went to see an orthopaedic surgeon for Mrs. Major’s knee. We were pretty much expecting that they would recommend knee replacement. But she was offered cortisone therapy. So she took it. We’re praying it works.

I encourage you to take a trip over to The Daily Detour. He’s a minister at a church in Indianapolis and has a great Christian perspective in timely issues. The above link is to an article titled “The Tragic Necessity of Violence,” and is required reading for anyone in the military, for anyone with a relative or friend in the military, and for Christians. It’s recommended reading for all others. Check out some of his other articles.

© 2007 – 2008, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.