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16055 SW Walker Rd., PMB 239 | Beaverton, OR 97006-4592 | 503.207.1320 | inquire@compassionfirst.org | compassionfirst.org

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YES! I would like to help GIVE CHRISTMAS to survivors of sexual trafficking!Your gift is fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

HOPE. HEALING. RESCUE. RESTORATION.

Dear Advocate,

I'm not sure how old I was when I first realized there was such a thing as Christmas. I wasn't much older when the even greater reality set in that Christmas was something that happened EVERY YEAR! Simply unbelievable! A little older yet and I started to process the fact that we were celebrating the birth of Jesus, the promised Messiah, the gift of God, not just for a specific people, but for ALL PEOPLE and for ALL TIME.

I feel like I've wrestled through most of the contradictions that Christmas embodies: opulent consumerism to celebrate birth in poverty; impersonal commercialization washing over God's gift of personal intimacy to our souls; pressures of schedules and, for many, peace-robbing indebtedness in celebration of the one who came to bring peace and joy; and, my favorite, parenting children through a most joyous day knowing the possibility that a full-on melt-down is waiting in the wings from a little one who just can't quite process it all.

I embrace all of this - the love, the laughs, and the lessons.

Christmas still holds all of the wonder for me that it did as a child. Of course, in maturity, I understand the gift of the season; more, the gathering of those that we love. We celebrate what God has given us and that even now, He is with us! And for our family, it is everything that we get to be with each other. In Luke, we read about a group of shepherds. They were on the night shift waiting and anticipating nothing in particu-lar. I love that this simple marginalized group of people made the story because it was in front of them that all heaven broke loose. They were the ones in the place of honor on that sacred night. Christmas is the story of God showing up to people who need Him. He comes to us, not in unapproachable glory, but humble skin and bones. He meets us here, right where we're at, in our place of need. This is the heart of Christmas. This is our heart at Christmas. We gather and recognize that we need Him; we rejoice that He was given. And, we have the privilege of giving this gift away all the same. It is a gift given to those who might not even know they’re waiting for it, whether to a child in Sarah's House, for survivors here in the states, or to the precious women and children that we get to serve in the Yellow Flower Cemetery. We believe Christmas is for them.

We love celebrating Christmas exactly as we do, and we sincerely believe that Jesus is in it. Even more, I believe that we fulfill the Scripture by doing so. These are our modern banquets and feasts that Jesus urges us to prepare for. Even more, we get to enjoy the full blessing as he urges us to "...invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind..." (Luke 14: 12-14).

We pray that you'll join us this year in support of those that have now become family. Enclosed is our 2014 Giving Christmas Brochure containing three special projects for you to consider. Christmas is a marker in all of their lives as they are all reminded that they are not forgotten. Rather, they are treasured and that a seat waits for them at our table.

With thankfulness,

Mike Mercer, Compassion First President