Trust and Care

A Texas Angel
-- By Laura Estes

Date: Week before Christmas, 2004
Place: Central Texas

All I really wanted for Christmas was to do something to support our troops. I prayed on this goal daily until I thought I had received an answer, about how to help the troops. I started searching and found a great list of troops requesting things and current addresses from the website: www.anysoldier.com

My Christmas Wish started as a yearly donation drive in which my school gathers and donates items to the military. The drive took two months to complete and the community was very willing to help us in our efforts.

This year, we gathered enough for many troops and started wondering how much it would cost to send all of it overseas. Very expensive, as it turned out.

As I lugged all the heavy packages to the Postal Annex with my three year old son in tow, I ran out of hands. There was an older gentleman who held the door for me. He was a tall, slender man with wavy silver grey hair, warm, brown eyes, and a deep, richly toned, melodic voice. (If the description seems silly, allow me to explain. I am a singer, music teacher and voice teacher, so I pay particular attention to how someone sounds when they speak, their diction, any accent, and even any inflection I detect in their voice.)

He asked many questions about where the packages were going, did I have family in the military, why I had decided to do this project in the first place. I laid out the complete story to him and explained the compelling feeling that The Lord was calling me to task. Although I did not currently have family in the military, many in my family on both sides had served proudly over the years. I related the information about the website: www.anysoldier.com.

He then asked what could he do to help. I explained that it would be expensive and a couple of dollars to help pay for postage would be very much appreciated. I was caught off guard when he said he would.

We talked about life,...