God's Call to Care For the Orphan

Tonight, Ray and I were watching a movie: Beyond Borders. We had chosen it because we had heard it was an amazing movie that showed Ethiopia for real – and it did. The first hour of the movie was set in a refugee camp in Ethiopia.

My face had a look of shock for much of the movie. Simply because I could not believe what I was witnessing. This movie was filmed with *real people* - real starving children and adults. It was a tragedy. There was a woman having an open stomach operation – without anesthesia! Why? Because there is *no* morphine!! The doctor said she was beyond pain. The only pain she felt was hunger and she thanked the doctor from rescuing her from the jaws of death.

It was so shocking to see Cambodia, Chechnya, and Ethiopia – the people, the pain, and the will to survive! Amazing – a must see! Disclaimer: be prepared for the language.

No wonder Angelina Jolie went on to adopt from Cambodia and Ethiopia!!!!! She witnessed these children – she cradled them – dying, and all! She to me, is a hero – why? Because she didn’t just ‘do her thing’ and make her movie and her money. She fell in love with these children and went back to ‘change one life’ – As the movie said at one point – One life saved.

Not only that, she went on to become the Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR - United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Ironically, this is a position that she ended up being granted in the movie! Obviously filming this movie changed her!

We, as a people, may not enter adoptions to ‘save a life’. We began for our own selfish ambitions, but it didn't take long until our hearts changed, and we were driven to do more. And yes, at that point, a person *is* ‘saving a life.’

True, we will fall in love with our child – but it does not take away from the fact that there is a reason we chose to continue with that country. We know they need it. There are starving people. Homeless orphans. Sick and dying people.

For every child adopted, there is another space opened up in an orphanage for a street child. In Addis Ababa, there are 50,000 street children!!! Unfortunately, not all children can be adopted. If they do not have the right to adopt them to families, then all orphanages can do is feed and house them. But when a child that is available for adoption moves on, a child that can't be adopted can find a home in the orphanage.

My boys will watch all of those human interest movies, no matter how harsh and real they are: Hotel Rwanda, Beyond the Gates, Blood Diamond and any more that I come across.

By making our older boys aware of what is going on, we are helping to change the world. If each person does *something* the world will become a better place. And yes, there are corrupt governments that we can’t do anything about.

But there are many, many, millions of orphans that we *can* do something about!!! You may ask ‘why take two or three children. Why not just one?' Because it is no longer about us. It has moved miles beyond that.

If we involve our children in what is going on in the world and don't allow them to live like ostriches - as we did - they can't help but be changed. While I was growing up, life was what was going on in our lives, our school, our city. It wasn't until I was an adult that I was aware of country issues. Before that I had more "important" things to worry about: school, boys, clothes, friends.

Our children are so blessed to be exposed *now* while they are young. They will never go through life waiting until something lands in their lap, before they care about the people in other countries. Hopefully, they won't see issues that happen in other countries as 'someone else's problems'.

I am reading a book called Stolen Angels by Kathy Cook. This book is about Uganda and how the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) is abducting thousands of children and making them child soldiers and sex slaves. This book covers the whole issue, but is specifically the story of thirty girls from a girls' school that were abducted, and if you were to read the book you would be shocked and horrified to realize that they could have been returned if *people cared and got their heads out of the sand*!!

It isn't only me that was too concerned with what was going on in my own life to open my eyes to other countries. Many of us are guilty of having done this.

There are no guarantees that our children will adopt just because we do. Mind you, our oldest has already said he wants to. So we shall see. But, by making Africa and the plight of children in the midst of war, famine, or other desperate situations, important to our children - they *will* be changed. And I do believe they will rise up to be part of the difference.

God is showing us, over and over, that He is in charge and that He is behind the orphans and they are *His* orphans.

What would one child adopted from the millions do? Would it really make any difference - one out of 10,000,000?

If there are ten million orphans in the world, then we only need 10,000,000 people to adopt one child – out of a possible 6 BILLION ! And then there would be no more orphans.

Or, if people adopted two children then there would only need to be 5,000,000 people to take care of all the orphans in the world! Wow! Does that sound doable!

Now think, if God knows which of His people have a heart to embrace more children, then He is going to call them. He will woo them and show them that He will lead, guide them, and help them.

I have a friend in this very situation. She and her husband have 5 bio children, 2 adopted from Russia, are in the midst of an adoption from Liberia, and she is pregnant!! Well, God called and they answered!

Just last week, out of the blue, they heard of a precious little 22 month old boy that desperately needed a family. They responded and are now with him and in the process of bringing him home. Read down her blog and you will see how this amazing, exciting, God ordained adventure began!

Her story is an example of faith and obedience to God's command to care for the Orphan!

"Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we care for orphans and widows in their troubles." James 1:27