A Wing and a Prayer

By Franklin Graham

Jesse had just put the finishing touches on his shoebox. With a smile, he walked to the front of his class and stacked his box among the others.
The teacher began to pray:
Dear Jesus please find special kids to receive all these Christmas presents. Help this to be the best Christmas they have ever had. Help them to know that You love them like You love us.

As the children put away their wrapping paper and tape, crayons and tickers, Jesse’s teacher explained how each shoebox would complete an amazing journey. Each box would travel around the world until it found its way to a child needing to hear of God;s love. That night, as Jesse crawled into bed, he wondered about the little boy who would open his shoebox.

Raimundo, an eight-year-old boy, had no idea that Christmas was about to come to Alto Riesgo. In his poor, tiny village that lay deep in the jungle, March was a hot and sticky time of year. Raimundo had never been anywhere else in the whole world, and rarely had anyone come to visit the isolated village.

But Raimundo clearly remembered the day that Dr. Annie came from America. She brought medicine for the sick and even helped the villagers learn to speak English. The children taught her how to make round balls from the river mud, and she taught them how to play soccer with a ball she had given to them.

For Rainmundo, however, there was no fun in this village. He usually just watched the other children jump rope and play soccer. Hen missed his parents and feared that the men with the guns would return-the men who took his parents away.