Peformances showed true gift of holiday season

To the editor:

I had the great pleasure of portraying Rick Evans in the production of "The Christmas Box" on Nov. 23 and 24 with the Starcatchers Community Theatre group in Jackson. Each night for those two hours there was no Sept. 11, no Osama bin Laden, no Saddam Hussein, no anthrax. There was laughter, suspense, tears of sadness and joy and peace. Before each production, the cast and crew, all Christians, bowed our heads and praised God for giving us the ability to put this performance together and prayed for the message of the play to touch people's lives. As Rick Evans found out, the first gift of Christmas is God's gift to the world in the form of his Son Jesus Christ.

I hope that the approximately 150 people who enjoyed our production took this message home and shared it with their loved ones. I hope we all can do the same this holiday season. God bless you all.

JIM JOHNSON

Jackson, Mo.