A Few Good Men and a Worthy Cause!

Clay C, Nate W and Hal W hard at work!

I have always found that when the opportunity to do the right thing is presented to you, the reward for doing so is one that cannot really be measured.  Christmas is certainly the time of year where such opportunities are present all around us.  As Christians, we are celebrating the birth of our saviour this month, but we should also take the opportunity to let our neighbors know of God's love for us in every month of the year.  How can you do that you might ask?  Everyone has their own special way to reach out and minister to people, but my friends and I choose to help children at Christmas by letting them know that Jesus loves them and that with him as their saviour, there is always hope!

The Sportsman's Sunday School Class of First Baptist Church, Fitzgerald is a class made up of about 40 men who enjoy hunting, fishing, golfing, football and all other outdoor activities.  We range in age from the low 20's to the high 60's.  We meet each Sunday morning for a fellowship time and a weekly bible study.  It is pretty much like your typical Sunday School class, but we pride ourselves in being a class that is very giving to those who may be in need.  We have given countless hours as well as funds to people in our church family as well as those outside of our church family.  We believe that if people see "outdoor"type men being "real" men for their church, they may just see God's love working in our lives. 

Our biggest project is one that I would like to tell you about here.  Several years ago we decided that we wanted to do something for the needy children in our community.  We all agreed that a child waking up on Christmas morning without a Christmas present from Santa or their parents was a terrible thing.  A child should feel joy at Christmas and learn that Christmas is a special time of year.  We put ours heads together and came up with "Bicycles for Christmas".  For the past 6 years, we have worked with our local school system councilors to target needy kids whom they felt would not receive a gift for Christmas.  This system has worked well and we are even working along side our local "Toys for Tots" campaign to make sure that we are not giving bicycles to children who's parents have applied for help with them.  The Sportsman's Sunday School Class has donated over 700 bicycles at a cost of about $31,500.  I still find it hard to believe that we have been able to do that.  We have some wonderful people in this community that have donated a great deal of time and money for this project.  It is a lot of hard work shopping for bicycle deals and putting them all together, but so worth it to see those kid's faces light up when you present them with a brand new bike with a tag on the handle bars that says "Jesus loves you!  Merry Christmas from The Sportsman's Sunday School Class First Baptist Church".

I'm sitting here thinking about all of the items that my children are getting for Christmas and how spoiled they really are.  I love my children and I am glad that my wife and I have the means to spoil them a little bit, but the work that I do for our Sunday School class reminds me of how hard other people have it and I admit to feeling a little guilty.  I wish I could buy every needy child a Christmas present but I know that this is not possible.  But I can keep giving a little money throughout the year, shop for bicycle deals on Black Friday, turn a few wrenches on a cold Wednesday night, and help deliver some Christmas Joy to a few needy kids who deserve to be happy on my saviour's birthday. 

I'm thinking that's what Jesus would do, so I'm good with that!