My Pastor's Wife

I'm sure it comes with the territory, but it must be tough to live the faith your husband preaches...virtually all the time. Not for Ruth - it seems effortless for her. She teaches PE at my kids' school, coaches JV Basketball, bakes cookies for local businesses, but this next one takes the cake.

The latest proof of her faith in action is in a tradition she started called the Evangel Tree. Ruth went to a few local schools that she had a hunch may have a few kids who may not have very joyful Christmases. She created a form that the guidance counselors and teachers could discretely share with the kids and ask kids, who would normally get nothing for Christmas, what they would like for Christmas. Some of the requests would break your heart (like, I want a school uniform t-shirt, so I can look like the other kids). So Ruth collects up all the forms and transfers the requests into construction paper cutout ornaments that read: Boy, age 9, Spiderman...or Girl, age 12, anything. Then she hangs these ornaments on a tree in the foyer of our church. Over 100 ornaments were hung Sunday morning. By Sunday night, they were all gone.

The neat part is that all this is done anonymously. The kids only know that a local church did this for them. I'm positive that God is able to orchestrate the connection between His love for them and this outward show of love by His people. Hats off to Ruth for puting this together. Thanks Ruth.