A Holy Experience

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The night before the store was to open our first year we were up late setting it up. I was locking
up the church and my son, who had been helping, said, “Mom, let’s go turn on all the lights
in the store!” So we went downstairs and turned on all the lights. As we gazed upon the store
filled to overflowing, my son whispered, “This place is Holy.” Yes, this place is Holy, and we have
found that even in the midst of the controlled chaos of the store when it is opened, it is a Holy
place in the sense that the presence of the Lord is palpable in that place and among the people
in it.

We have seen the number of partner churches grow from 8 to 28 in just 4 years, serving 4 times
as many families as we did that first year. We have a tradition that at the end of each Christmas
Store Planning Meeting we circle up in prayer. Now that circle encompasses the circumference
of a large room, and includes people from different ethnicities, socioeconomic groups,
geographic locations, and different walks of life all united as one in our love for Christ and our
commitment to serve families in need in Greensboro and to demonstrate the Gospel. Each year
we grow in our faith, and consider our planning season to be a journey in faith and trust in the
Lord that helps us all to grow spiritually. I believe that our shopping families sense this when
they come into our presence and I believe that as a result there is a strong presence of the
Holy Spirit in the Christmas Store. It’s about more than gifts. It demonstrates the abundance of
God’s never ending love for each of us. It provides a platform for spiritual connections to take
place that transcend boundaries of race, denomination, or culture. It illustrates so clearly the
results of faith in a God that knows no bounds for His blessings. For everyone who participates,
shoppers and volunteers, is blessed and filled to overflowing with His love.

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