A Thousand Christmas Gifts

Tony & Shelly NarainGifts for God’s Children

Tony & Shelly Narain are getting lots of questions from their kids: Mary, Betty, Kate, and Amy, this time of year about “God’s children.” Who are they? They are the children at the 5-6 churches they visit and take gifts to every Christmas. This Christmas is special because it’s all on Sunday. 

A family tradition
Shelly says that she grew up the daughter of a pastor who always wanted to make sure the children in the church got gifts on Christmas Day. He didn’t want anyone to be left out and I guess it didn’t matter that pastors don’t have big incomes, he still wanted to give. Once you start family traditions you never know how they’ll blossom and grow and it certainly has in this case.

Special Motivation from giving to others
This tradition energizes the Narain’s, their family, and friend. They are dressing up like Santa Claus and have lots of other surprises to make this an extra special event for the children. I guess it’s no accident that their business is also booming and you’ve got to wonder if some of that is related to the extra special energy and excitement they’ve got about doing something huge and special for others.

We can only thank God for the Narains and their example in inspiring us with a spectacular example of what the true spirit of Christmas is—sacrificial giving for others!

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Let me know if you have any similar stories that you know of, so I can pass them on.