What Does Christmas on the World Race Look Like?

I’m sure we could all answer that question in a lot of different ways, but I can almost guarantee that none of us would ever answer that question with…

CABBAGE.

For the last two weeks, my fellow World Racers and I have been handing out about 2,000 cabbages and small bags of candy to children in Swaziland as their Christmas presents – possibly even their only Christmas presents.

For this month’s ministry, we’ve been working with the Adventures in Missions base in Manzini. Adventures has various care points, or feeding sites for children and youth, set up in both the urban and rural parts of the city. Each care point serves as a place where impoverished children from the surrounding community can safely have their need for food met. Normally, about 250 children per day are fed at each care point. Several of the care points also teach basic lessons and Bible stories to the children.

Christmas is my favorite time of year, so when I was told we’d be planning Christmas parties as part of our ministry in Swaziland I imagined myself Christmas caroling with hundreds of African children in the middle of the bush.

We’ve been to about 10 care points in the past two weeks, but I have yet to sing a Christmas carol, eat a candy cane, or play any reindeer games with the kids.

Instead, we’ve been singing songs about bananas, eating beef stew, rice, cabbage, and beets for Christmas dinner, and playing games that have nothing to do with Christmas.

Needless to say, Christmas does not look the same here as it does in America, although I have seen a few Christmas trees popping up around the city.

The traditions are different. The songs are different. And obviously, the presents are very different.

But ultimately all of those things are not what makes Christmas what it is. Christmas is about God’s kingdom coming to this world through Jesus Christ, and ultimately that is our goal here in Swaziland. We are bringing God’s kingdom to these kids in the name of Jesus, and God can use whatever he sees fit to accomplish that.

He used his Son, he uses us, and he can even use cabbages.