Tuesday, May 17, 2011

For the cause of an orphan

It started about 6 years ago, when Caden was just a little tyke. "I'm going to this adoption seminar that the seminary is hosting".  "Ok" was my response.  I didn't have much interest.  Working full time, taking classes and heavily involved in a church, I didn't have time to think about orphans. I mean - we weren't really going to do that, were we?  Adopt a child?  Why would we need to do that - we had a healthy boy and Summer was pregnant with our second. I had two more semesters left and then it was time to find a ministry position. No, there was no time to think about an adoption - that was great for people like Steven Curtis Chapman and others, but it wasn't for me.

The topic kept coming up, and I kept saying, no, not really. Then, in the spring of 2009, the idea began to enter my mind all on my own and I actually started thinking... well, maybe. Just as I began considering it on my own, we received the news of our fourth pregnancy, and so the idea got shelved again. And, as you know, God had other plans for this fourth pregnancy.

After Michael's death, we committed ourselves for a year, based upon some sound advice, not to make a decision or even have a lot of discussion, toward having another child in our lives.  When January came - the year anniversary of Michael's birth and death - it was as if God opened the door of our hearts and the door toward adoption all at once. And not only adoption, but the even deeper calling toward the cause of orphans and specifically a calling we have toward the orphans in Honduras.

So, after weeks of contemplating our next step, and Summer doing a TON of research, we decided to take a risk and apply through America World - an International Christian adoption agency.  As of last week, they have accepted us into their Honduras program - God keeps opening up doors and we keep walking through them by faith.

This risk makes no sense  - we don't have near the amount of money it takes to fund an adoption. However, in our perception of things, God often doesn't make sense. It probably didn't make much sense to Peter that he was able to stand on the water either - and his faith failed, yet he experienced God's hand pulling him up in that time of unbelief. I expect there will be times like that in this journey.

The call, however, is too great to be led by fear. We are called to make disciples and what an opportunity we have with our own children where we are called to "train a child up in the way he should go".  To have the opportunity to do this with a child who is not our "own" biologically will be a great privilege and will display to others and our own children what it means for God to "adopt" us and call us His children (Rom 8, Gal. 5, Eph 1). God could still say no to us with this adoption - and we will need to be ok with that.  But as long as He says yes, we will follow and trust Him.

We value your prayers and encouragement along the way.  We'll post more info about the journey as we go along  - specifically we're praying for God's blessing on a garage sale we are having this coming weekend. Looking forward to seeing His hand in this!

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Honduras July 2010