Christmas Today!

“Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (II cor. 9:6-7).

Hey Gang:  There is so much I want to share in this epistle.  I believe to do an adequate job, or covering each point clearly, would take many pages- so let me just throw out the high points of my yesterday, and you can use your imagination to fill in the blanks. 

As I stood on the taxi-way of the Big Rapids Airport yesterday, my mind and heart was filled with many wonderful flashbacks of days gone by.   I always get a wee bit, perhaps more than wee it, excited when I drive down the entry way to an airport.   You see, even as a little squirt I had a love for airports; my brother, Col. D. C Hainley, who earned a bronze star for his exploits as a fighter pilot in the United State Air Force, was my hero. 

I dreamed that I would follow in his footsteps one day, but that was not God’s design.  But He did allow me to play a very important role in the world of airplanes by allowing me to become an Air Traffic Controller.  I have been asked may times what was more stressful, handling peak traffic over the Pittsburgh Omni or trying to control fifty of the most unpredictable beings on earth, teen agers who have made bad decisions?   My answer not hard:  Air Traffic Control is peak stress but control of kids who lacked basic foundation controls is on-going stress, never ceasing!

So, how does seven years of Air Traffic Control set the table of fifty years of working with kids with behavior maladies?  The stress of ATC built scar tissue for what was to come. 

But that is not the main topic I want to share with you this morning.   As I stood there on the taxi way I was in the midst of a miracle! A miracle of love, sacrifice and giving.  It was the day of a the annual Fly-In.  More than thirty airplanes arrived at the Big Rapids Airport- each packed tightly with gifts.  Gifts for whom? For kids who would have no gifts, if they did not come from airports in the Southern Michigan. 

How does this happen?  There is an organization, consisting and hundreds of people who are committed to assuring every kid in the foster care system will not only receive a gift but a special gift as per their request!  Everything from bicycles, to mini cars to mega huge packages with names- very special names on each.  Four trailers sat on the taxi-way and hundreds of volunteers (including students from Ferri), from the three counties where the gifts will be distributed, came and made long lines from the aircraft to the trailers. 

The name of the organization is Operation Good Cheer.  Now, think about this miracle.  Nearly 20,000 gifts must be purchased and paid for, by the donor.  The gifts are taken to a process center in southern Michigan where, after the child is matched to gifts, they which are wrapped and gift-name and code- identifying the trailer it will go into on arrival at the various airports. These gifts are then transported to the airports around Detroit for processing and assigned to an aircraft.  They fly all over the State and some pilots make more than one run!

Let me emphasize once gain THIS IS A ONE HUNDRED PERCENT VOLUNTEER EFFORT-on the part of a thousand or more people and I might add a very expensive exercise of deep love on the part of all who participate for these kids. 

Four generations at Operation Good Cheer -December 2015  Gramps, Michael, granddaughter and three Great grands.

Why, as I stood there did the tears flow? First, my son who was the coordinator of the big Rapids program for over 20 years.  In 2015,  two weeks before his final day of his life on earth, drove himself to the Big Rapids Airport  just to be part of it one last time.  Second, I had a daughter, three grand kids (one drove from Auburn, Indiana with her family to participate) and spouses, several great grands also involved.  Third, because I played a tiny part years ago to getting this program off and running. 

Daughter and grandson of other daughter          Great grand Emmerick helping uncle Corey - this trailer was overflowing!

Now one might think a program of this magnitude and purpose, to bring joy to children who do not have a great deal of joy in their lives would be worthy of having the national press there to see this miracle in action but there were none. The local press put it on the front page!

The thought came into my mind - all of those over paid athletes who took a knee when Our National Anthem is sung, should have been loaded up and made to stand and watch this giving sacrificially- to make a lot of kids feel better about themselves because a whole barn full of people cared for them.

Father, I thank you for every single person who was involved in this gift of love.  I pray that same spirit of giving will penetrate every home this Christmas Season.  I pray all will look beyond the glitter of the season to Jesus -the true “reason for the season”.

Blessings,

Gramps