The most blessed part of the parade was when we started handing out gifts to the children that had come with their parents. The smiles on their faces were radiant, and this was one of the most important purposes of ours during this Christmas project, to bring joy to the children of Nazareth with the message that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season!” As we were moving along, the kids were clapping their hands and dancing alongside our decorated truck — so full of joy! It was overwhelming to see the effect that the Christmas message and the love of Jesus had on people’s hearts.
As we were progressing along the parade, we also noticed several orthodox Jewish families who were in Nazareth for the parade. Even they called out to us and their children came running to receive their gifts. Now, remember that these gifts don’t just contain toys and treats, but also a fridge magnet with the words “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” These gifts served a very important purpose in letting all people at the parade know that Jesus is the reason for the season, as expressed by the contents of the gifts.
This year the number of people who attended this parade was more than 60,000 Israelis, with most among them being Jews and Muslims. We could feel in our hearts that the time of the harvest has begun, and that God is mobilizing the church in Israel to gather in the lost sheep of Israel like never before. After the parade had concluded, we received a lot of wonderful feedback on our social media platforms, by email, and by phone, with people telling us that we were the highlight of the parade from among all of the 28 organizations that took part. We were the only ones to bless the people with gifts, and that made a huge impression on the people. All glory to God!