(K-LOVE Closer Look) – Since 1993, shoeboxes from Operation Christmas Child have reached millions of children worldwide, inspiring 24 million children to follow Jesus.
For 13-year-old Justin Thomas, growing up in a highly sensitive country where less than 3% of the population is Christian, life was marked by religious persecution and extreme poverty. His mother earned just $12 per month, forcing the family to survive by eating muddy rice. As the youngest in his family, he wore only threadbare hand-me-downs. He felt insignificant at school, in his neighborhood and even in his own family.
The most painful reminder of his poverty was having to use pencils already worn down to tiny stubs. "My parents will buy brand new pencils and give it to my older sister. She used that pencil until her hand cannot hold it anymore. And then when it is so tiny, and then I use that tiny pencil with my tiny hand until I cannot hold it anymore.”
When a pastor delivered the first gift Justin Thomas had ever received -- a beautifully packed Operation Christmas Child shoebox -- everything changed. Inside were brand-new items, but one in particular transformed his understanding of God's personal love: a brand-new pencil.
"When my eye caught that pencil, gospel became so tangible for me. I realized the God that I know from church, the God that I heard this beautiful Bible story is about. The God is real,” he explains. "I never prayed to this God for pencils. I know deep in my heart I wanted my own pencil.”
That pencil became the symbol of God's intimate knowledge of this young boy’s deepest desires.
“I'm telling you, when I held that, I realized all this beautiful Bible works like for, 'God so loved the world.' The golden words in Bible, John 3:16, that day it became 'for God so loved Justin Thomas.'”
The experience transformed his faith from obligation to relationship. "I went back to church, not because that's what I used to do or that's what I'm supposed to do as a Christian boy. I went back to church, wanted to learn more about this God."
Today, Operation Christmas Child operates in nearly 170 countries and territories, carefully adapting their approach for persecuted regions where public distributions might endanger local Christians. The ministry doesn't simply distribute gifts and leave, as they invite children into 12-week discipleship programs. Millions of children have been discipled since 1993.
Now living in the United States and serving as a national spokesperson for Operation Christmas Child, Justin Thomas encourages others to pack shoeboxes online at samaritanpurse.org/occ. He regularly prays for his unknown shoebox packer and believes many recipient children worldwide are praying for their packers too.
"Behind each box, there is a heartbeat of a child longing for the touch of the Savior.”
