Why Orphan Sunday matters to me

I admit that I started a blog post that read more like a tirade against folks that don't see this subject the same way I do. I had to just stop, pray, delete (ouch) and start over.

God is still patiently teaching me that obedience is not about you - it's about me. So, instead of telling everyone else what they should do, I'm going to tell you what I am doing about the orphan crisis in the world today, and why Orphan Sunday matters so much to me. (What's Orphan Sunday? Read more here).

First and most personally, our family adopted a child that didn't have a family who could care for him. We didn't know many folks who had adopted and there was no 153 million orphans statistic known. We didn't do it because we were overwhelmed by the need in the world then - we just knew a little boy who needed a family and God told us to obey.

It has been a hard road. I'm not going to lie. There were years that were easy, and now we are in some rough territory. I do not feel equipped many days to handle who God has clearly placed in our lives as our oldest son, who is very loved, but who also really struggles to remember and accept that. However, we don't regret the day we decided to obey and adopt Isaac. We are committed to loving him and parenting him the best that we can, showing Christ's love and living out the love that changed our lives, so that eventually, we believe, God will reach his heart too. We cling to this verse:  

Faithful is He who calls you, 

and He also will bring it to pass. I Thessalonians 5:24

Loving and caring for the fatherless is a beautiful, powerful way to show the world that we are loving the way Jesus did. Orphans have nothing to give. They are loved and accepted, not because they have something that benefits the adoptive family, but because the adoptive family deems them worthy of love and relationship. Adoption requires great sacrifice--time, sometimes travel, expense, emotion--it is with great cost in many ways that an orphan becomes the member of a family.

So it is with us if we accept Christ as our Father. We had nothing to give. We were without worth to a holy God who needs nothing. But he loved us. He chose us because He deemed us worthy of love and desired a relationship with us. Adoption is costly. We are too. We cost Him so much-EVERYTHING. He gave His life for us. 

That is the Gospel, and adoption is the clearest picture of the Gospel that I can see in my life and family every single day. 

What else could move the world to notice the difference in Christianity, than caring for those who have been unloved, and seen as unworthy? What other religion is campaigning to promote the cause of the fatherless but those who follow Christ? I don't know of any. The Church has an incredible opportunity to impact others through orphan care; the children who are adopted, of course, but so many more. If we truly embrace this cause and get serious about caring for the children in our communities, and sometimes by traveling around the world, to help children God places in our lives as our family through foster care and adoption, we can reach the world with His faithful love too.