Since it started, O.C.C. has shipped millions of boxes around the world, making true the thought that love isn’t love until you give it away.

Franklin Graham, the eldest son of Ruth and Billy Graham, who heads up Samaritans Purse, O.C.C.’s parent organization, shared: “The best way I know to share my feelings about Operation Christmas Child is to wrap it in this thought: When one hundred million prayers are lifted to heaven for one hundred million boxes that will be given to one hundred million souls, might Jesus lean up on the edge of His throne and say, I have used these gifts given in My name to open the children’s hearts, and My offer remains to all who come seeking, for I will answer. This was a celebration for what God had done through Operation Christmas Child. But He’s not done yet. The greatest journey has many more miles to travel and many more souls to reach—and we’ll continue telling a story of simple gifts.”

The following excerpt from the book Operation Christmas Child, shares the story of one life changed.

 “Ross and Carol, volunteers with Operation Christmas Child, had visited a children’s cancer ward at a hospital in Zagreb. When they stepped into the last ward, a nurse pointed them to an 11-year-old boy. He had been blinded by shrapnel and had been unresponsive for weeks. ‘Is there anything you can do?’ they were asked.

Ross and Carol looked at each other and then stepped out into the hallway. ‘What can we give a blind child?’ they asked? ‘He won’t be able to see anything,’ Carol said. ‘Ross, can we pray?’ Immediately, they laid their hands on the remaining boxes and prayed, ‘Lord, You know this boy’s needs. Would You give him spiritual sight so that he knows You care for him? Help us to select just the right box where surely there will be something that will open his heart. Amen.’

Picking up one of the larger boxes, Ross walked to the boy’s bed. Through an interpreter, Ross explained why they had come – that people in America and Canada had packed gifts as an expression of God’s great love. The boy seemed unresponsive. Ross tried to guide him to open the box. Still no reaction. Ross finally lifted the lid, his heart racing, ‘Lord, please let there be something that will break through.’

Always a master wordsmith, Ross couldn’t speak when he saw the Walkman cassette player with a headset. He lifted it out of the box, installed the batteries, inserted a Christian tape also from the box, and tenderly positioned the headphones over the boy’s ears, then clicked the player on.

There was instantaneous reaction. The boy smiled, then his eyes began to move. He responded with great joy. Those standing around were rejoicing because God had answered so specifically.”

That’s what true love does – it soars. It’s the epitome of the divine definition: “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” True love never dies.