The Only Gift

(As told from the main character=s point of view)
by Hailey Jo Sanderson

It was Christmas time again in the bustling city of New York. Boys and girls sang carols in the streets and had snowball fights almost every day. There were horse drawn carriages, giant piles of snow and Central Park had never looked so beautiful in the winter time. This was a Christmas that simply no one could afford to miss. At least, that is, on the Manhattan side of the city. Brooklyn was poor man=s land. Christmas just meant more hand- me- downs and maybe, if you were lucky, a brand new pair of shoes.

My name is Elijah. I was five years old and I had never had a Christmas before. To me, it just meant another day in winter that meant survival of the fittest. Mama and I lived in a run- down apartment with very little furniture. We only had a few chairs and a crooked dining room table. It was the only thing mama had never managed to sell. She sold a lot of things, even the food stamps we got from someone mama called Uncle Sam. I knew not to ask mama any questions. Questions meant a smack up side the head and no dinner that day or the next.

One day, mama brought home her boss who I only knew as Mr. Smith, but I knew it wasn=t his real name. Like usual, he would give me a candy bar and send me to my room so him and mama could have a meeting that concerned none of my business. I obeyed. These meetings weren=t very often, but I cherished them all the same, because, for me, they meant candy. However today was not the same. I heard shouting and screaming and soon, I heard the sounds of hitting and fighting coming from the kitchen. It all ended in a loud slam of the front door. I crept out of my room and entered the kitchen. The crooked table was snapped in half and all the chairs were tipped over. Mama was crouched in a corner. She was crying. Her tears, mixed with blood and sweat, ran down her bruised cheeks. A large AX@ was carved into her forehead. Mr. Smith had branded her. She tried so hard to keep up with her payments, but she had already sold everything she could. Now, to pay off her debts, he would own her body and mind to gain back the money he lost on her forever. She was his property now.

A couple weeks had passed since the fight. Mama had lots of guests over so I had to go play outside and many times I had to sleep outside on a bench. Christmas was one week away, but it still didn=t make a difference to me. What was the big deal anyway? It was just another miserable day that came and went every year. However, today was special because a lady invited me to Kid=s Church for the very next day. Mama said it was ok for me to go. Some more guests would be over all day tomorrow anyway. I had never gone to Church before. I always heard mama telling stories about when she was a little girl and how much fun she had at Church.


I waited all morning for the bus to come and pick me up. It arrived at about 11:00 and it was filled with kids. I was nervous at first, but the boy I sat with recognized me from the park and we struck up a conversation. When the bus reached the Church everyone filed out of the bus into a large room with tables that weren=t crooked and we all sat around them. Each of us was given a brown paper bag filled with a PB&J sandwich, a juice box and a bag of chips. After everyone finished lunch, we headed into a huge auditorium. I had never seen a room so big in my life! I found a seat next to the boy I rode with on the bus and sat down. Soon the skinny guy who drove the bus I was on got up and began asking questions and picking kids out of the crowd to answer them. His name was Pastor William James Billings; Pastor Willy, for short. He pointed at me and asked me, ASon, what is Christmas all about?@ I looked at him sheepishly and replied,@ Um... I don=t know. No one has ever told me.@ Pastor Willy reassured me that it was alright because he was going to tell everyone about it today. First, though, we played some games and sang a couple songs. Then, Pastor Willy came back on stage and started sharing about baby Jesus and how Christmas is the celebration of His birthday, even though it wasn=t His real birthday. By the end of Church, I had a lot of questions. On the way back home on the bus Pastor Willy answered all of my questions. He told me how Jesus was sent by God as a gift to the world and me too. I had never gotten a gift before. I asked him when I would get this gift and he told me I could have it right now if I wanted to. All I had to do is confess that I was sinner, believe Jesus is the son of God and put my faith and trust in Him. I began to cry. Pastor Willy asked me what was wrong. I told him that I didn=t have anything to give back to Jesus and that I couldn=t afford a Christmas present for him. He said,@ the only thing you need to give Jesus is your heart. Have a relationship with Him and talk to Him like He is your best friend. You may not be able to see Him, but He=s there.@ I wanted that gift so bad and I wanted to give my life to Jesus so intensely that I asked Pastor Willy to help me give my life to Jesus. He led me in a prayer. Then, I wrapped my arms around him and cried.

I climbed the stairs to my apartment with every ounce of joy and happiness I had. I couldn=t wait to tell mama! When I reached my floor I noticed the door to my apartment was wide open. I searched the place and found that it was empty. I waited up all night and day for her. She didn=t come home. Four days later, Pastor Willy came to visit. It was Christmas Eve and he and a team of volunteers from the Church were delivering Christmas presents to the kids in the neighborhood. I greeted him with the biggest hug I could give. I told him about when I got home from Kid=s Church and mama was gone and hasn=t been back since. Pastor Willy took me to get a burger and then back to the Church for a little while.

I spent Christmas with Pastor Willy and his family. The next day he went to the police station to find out any information about my mama that he could. It turned out mama had been arrested for drug dealing and hosting a brothel in our apartment. She was sentenced to twenty years in the state penitentiary without parole. A lovely couple in the Church offered to adopt me and raise me in a Christian setting. When I turned eighteen and graduated the top of my class, I agreed to attend a Bible college nearby.

If it wasn=t for the gift of Christ and that one lady who invited me to Kid=s Church, I would have never made it in this world. I would probably be homeless or maybe even dead. Yet, someone took the time to tell me the meaning of Christmas. Now I am telling the story of the only gift that ever changed my life to millions of Children around the World.

My Letter to the Senator

Dear Representative,

First, I would like to thank you for representing the people of the state of Montana. You are in my prayers. Your service has made a great impact on the lives of Montanans. I pray you remain in your statesmanship and integrity while in office.

I am very pleased to hear that you do not support the Health Care Reform Bill. I believe that it is not governments decision to make. So, thank you for voting against it! I believe the bill is socialistic and would bring down important work ethics. It also encourages the government to be involved with affairs that belong personally to an individual or family. It would take away certain rights of each citizen. So, once again, thank you for voting against it.

Also, I would like to address unemployment. Recently, my mother was laid off from her job. We still manage well with just my fathers salary, but it is difficult to pay off our debts and deal with medical expenses. Thankfully, my mother has qualified for unemployment. However, it took five weeks for unemployment to approve her. This task should have only taken one week. It seems as though the local government has done more harm to employment than helped it. I appreciate your fight for unemployed people. Again, thank you!

You truly are a statesman in the truest sense. Your politics must be a true reflection of your heart. Please continue your fight in all integrity and to the best of your abilities. You are in my thoughts and prayers. Thank you so very much for your time and consideration. God Bless You!

In Christ,
Hailey Jo Sanderson

Child-Like Heart

Children are the most interesting conversationalists. They also have the purest mind of all human kind. I have a two nephews, a five year old and a two month old, and three nieces, a 5 month old, three year old and a four year old in the Montana/Washington area. Three of them I see most frequently. This summer, I was blessed to be offered a job babysitting my sister's son, five, and daughter, 3. This particular week of babysitting was long because of VBS and my brother's daughter, four, was staying at my house the entire week as well. Family gets on your nerves after a while especially when they know how to push your buttons and when you haven't had any alone time to chill in peace. Another factor that plays into a long week especially when children are in the learning stage is sharing and taking turns. One day, as the children were playing outside, I heard a bone chilling scream that turned into a cry. It was my three year old niece. Apparently my four year old took a toy from my three year old niece. We went through the whole "lets wait our turn and ask first" thing. As usual, the guilty one goes and has a pity party. I explained to her that we need to share and wait our turn and also that telling our friends they are mean because they did the right thing makes them not want to play with us anymore. She took that kinda hard. As I went to tend to my sister's children, the tree year old went straight up to the four year old and told her that it was mean for her to take what wasn't hers and to say mean things was wrong. She also pointed out that she wanted to play with her, but she didn't want to if she was gonna pout and be mean. The two girls worked it out and played together. Witnessing a three year old have the guts to stand up and let her friend know that she still loved her, but wanted her to do the right thing isn't an everyday sight. I took that as a very interesting moral in my Christian walk. As Christians, we need to let the world know God loves them, but that He doesn't always like what they do. The scary part is facing someone that you think will pummel you in the face for telling them they are doing things all wrong. I was shocked to see a little girl as young as three years old go straight to the problem and tell the person for herself! Sure little hand-outs work, but face to face confrontations is even stronger and more effective. God really showed me something that day and He used a three year old to do it. Talk about being taught a lesson!!

Little Miracles

My cat, Kidiot, just gave birth to some healthy, beautiful kittens a few days ago. Wednesday morning my mother woke me up me up and told me she thought we had kittens. Sure enough there they were under the deck. Our Australian Shepherd-Border Collie Cross was laying next to the mother and eyeing the kittens. When my mother and I left that morning we noticed the kittens were gone and naturally we thought Kidiot just moved them. We got home and there was no sign of them anywhere and Kidiot was just hanging out around the door. We figured the dog had taken the kittens somewhere and tried to nurse them herself. My mother went searching under our deck as far as she could. She came out with only one nearly dead kitten. It was frozen and malnurished. We took it inside and inspected it. It's mouth was filled with dirt.We gave it a little milk and waited. While my mother went back to work, I tended to the kitten feeding it and trying to get it warm. A few hours later, when my mother got home, we took it to the vet and they gave us some nutrience milk and a bottle until it was able to feed straight from the mother. As soon as we got home we tried to fix the bottle. It wasn't working right due to operator error lol. We decided we might as well try to get the kitten to latch. To our amazement, even after the miracle of the kitten surviving, it latched on and started feeding immediately. We were stunned! This was truly a miracle from God! The next night we were gone, eating at Godfathers with my family. We got home and I decided to check on the kitten. For a moment I thought my contacts were off a bit, but I looked harder and sure enough I saw TWO kittens!!! It turns out that Kidiot was so traumatized from Aussie taking the other kittens that she delayed birth for OVER THIRTY HOURS!!! She had given birth to another kitten while we were gone. God is a miracle worker in even these little kittens. God is Good!

Old Kids, New School!

So my school is making a transition to a new building and some of the high-schoolers are taking it kinda hard. I was one of those kids, until today. I had a conversation with my mom and brother-in-law the other day about a petition one of the students wrote that I agreed to sign. Since my mom is the secretary at the school, she was embarrassed to be informed by her boss that I had signed it. Her boss being the superintendent of the entire K-12 grade school. I realized that I had done something very wrong.
My brother-in-law explained that it was important to the school to make the transition not only for the money, but the safety of the lower campus (k-6 grade) as well.
>He stated very blatantly that it was the High-Schooler's obligation to be an example to those young kids and that we should put aside our selfish wants and desires.
>If some people leave for that reason then they are making a decision that will hurt mostly themselves. Plus, the amount of younger kids we will get will make up for the lost students.
>The school will run a bus system for the students taking classes at one of the public schools or colleges. That problem is solved as well.
>Students are also concerned because the Church we are using seems more like a "Sunday School" environment than a high-school. So what? It's shelter and it's a place to get a good, godly education. We shouldn't care what it looks like. Just like the Church isn't a building, it's the people that are the Church. It is the same situation with our school!
>Why should we care so much about the younger children and the high-schoolers being in one building? If anything we should be shining lights for them, examples of who they should be: JESUS!!! Our growth and learning to become adults shouldn't be hindered by the little kids. In fact, we should be even more mature and adult-like because of the lessons we could learn from the kids! Kids are actually great teachers. The aren't going to be stumbling blocks, but building blocks!!!
What about the kids???? Did we forget that they could get hit by a crazy driver while on their way to recess? That road is dangerous! Plus, the lower campus has to cram 7 classes into that tiny building and then pack all the classes up for the summer because the Church they are in wants to use those rooms. Not to mention the fact that the Church they use is pro-homosexual!!! My mom told me that because of the location of the lower campus, 10 families turned down the school.
What about the gym for our sports teams? We will live!!! We will find a decent gym and we will probably have a bus system for that too.
>If it is Gods will then it will happen, regardless of how selfish we are feeling or how hard we pray that it won't happen.
Just because the world says a Church isn't a high-school environment, doesn't necessarily make it true. Aren't we told not to be like the world? I think that applies to our cultural environments too. I don't know about the rest of you, but I won't let this ruin my life or the remainder of my high school career. Hey, maybe it'll be fun!!!

To David Charles

This is a poem I originally wrote freshman year as an ode to my past. But today I think it is fitting for a special person that was dear to so many hearts. His name is David Charles. (R.I.P. we will miss you David.) Please continue to pray for his family and friends as this is a hard time in life for them all. May God bless them continuously throughout life. I dedicate this poem to David and God, the one he served.

My God, My King - By Hailey Sanderson

There are many things in the past I've seen,
many things I have done.
As a result on God's arms I shall lean,
a victory I have now won,
because I trust in my God, my King.

I have been forgiven for my selfishness
and the times that I have strayed.
So many things you could only guess
and through it all He stayed,
because I trust in my God, my King.

I shall not dwell on the evil things
that Satan tempts me with in harm.
God removes my shameful feelings
just as a sudden alarm,
because I trust in my God, my King.

"Know You Are There" by Hailey Jo Sanderson

We know you are there
and we know that you care for us,
but we are so unworthy of all you do.
Sometimes we feel so brought down.
Where do we go from here?
We can't get up from this fall.
Lord, help us up to our feet.

You are mightier
than our biggest fears.
You are more powerful
than the powers of this earth.
Because you love us so.
You love me so.