Gifts of the Magi: small boxes, big hearts

Question: What can you fit in a shoebox? Answer: A whole lot of love. Each fall, thousands of young church members across the nation pack shoeboxes with Christmas toys, candy, hygiene supplies and clothing.

The Magi Project -—whose sponsors include Fort Worth, Texas-based Rapha International andNashville, Tenn.-based Healing Hands International -— sends holiday gifts tochildren in south Texas, Mexico, Honduras, Zambia, Ukraine and elsewhere. Thisyear, some shoeboxes will go to tiny victims of Hurricane Katrina.

“The biggest winnersare probably not the actual recipients of the gifts as most of us might think,”Rapha’s Ray Hughes said.

“Wefeel that those who receive the largest blessings are the young people gettingtheir first glimpse of what it means to ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”