Yesterday was a great day. I got to meet and talk to 3 pastors and a church administrator about adoption, focusing on my passion for older children with special needs both in the US and around the world. I have some ideas of how to further engage the church in having a realistic view of this issue and in preparing them to do this adopt and raise the children with tools we didn't have 15 years ago.
I also spent some time yesterday finishing the book "Kisses from Katie." I have checked out her blog. I am amazed by Katie, but by how she explains things in her, I'm not sure she would want me to be. Her story makes me feel guilty for internally complaining about the uncomfortable bed and the rediculous excuse for a shower in my Day's Inn (I'm out of town getting ready to train today). And her book, with it's vivid description of the filth, disease and poverty in Uganda, makes me ask myself why.
I heard a sermon about 30 years ago called "God has no Plan B." We are it. He is caring for the world through His people -- through us. We are Christ's body -- His hands and feet on earth -- and there IS no other plan.
You do the math... Katie says the very same thing in her book but I've been saying it outloud to people since I did the math in January for the first time.... 153 million orphans, 2.2 billion Christians. Only 7 percent have to adopt one and there will be no more orphans. Oh yes, I am aware of the complications and that it doesn't always go as planned and that it isn't easy, but my point is this: God has more than provided for the care of the orphans and fatherless that break His heart -- He has His Church. So I have to believe that some people are saying no when He asks them.
I was thinking about the kids who age out of foster care without a committed adult in their lives. Maybe adoption isn't the answer, but what about those who don't even have ONE person committed to them for life. Quite possibly that number is way lower than the 26,286 of kids that aged out as quoted by AFCARS in 2011 -- many of them could have had a person like that because that isn't reported in the statistics, but I want to use a number -- substitute it for whatever number you feel comfortable with. And then ask the question with me.
I do not believe that God cares for kids that way -- that He would intentionally let them walk out into the world at an age where their frontal lobe is still developing without anyone to turn to in crisis. Could it be that He had a plan for each of those 26,286 and asked His people to adopt them, but they all said no?
And what about the millions of children on this planet that are sick, starving, bug-infested, covered with sores, and lacking in even the simplest pleasures of life like pure water? Is God ignoring them? Or is He asking us to do something about it and we are ignoring Him?
It's simplistic to think of things in those terms. It's controversial to indicate that possibly -- in a land where many people feel a daily $5 mocha or latte is a necessity -- WE are responsible. Is God providing enough for everyone the world and yet we are taking so much more than our share and for THIS reason children are dying every day?
I don't like these questions. They run around in my head and they bug me. And yet today, I will most likely run through a drive through for a nice cool drink or snack and think nothing of handing over my card to be swiped. I am equally guilty and I don't like it.
So when I think of those 26,286 kids in 2011 I can't help but ask myself why God didn't do a better job of caring for them. And then I realize that He did a great job ... He called His people. It may not be as simple as 26,286 families saying no to God. But what if it is.
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