Sunday, November 23, 2008
The Fatherless
This weekend my husband and I were invited to an an fundraising gala, An Orphan's Ticket Home. We were invited by a couple in our church, and went with some other friends of ours who are adopting as well. It was an amazing and powerful night. I can't stop thinking about the night, the things that were said, and mainly, the orphans...the fatherless.
The evening started out with praise and worship by the Billy Foote Band. WOW! That about sums up their talent. His wife is the lead singer and MAN can she sing. She has probably one of the best female voices I have ever heard. Go take a listen to them. You will be blown away! The head of the band told an illustration that one of his friends had told him. His friend grew up during the time of the holocaust. His town was one of the places that the trains stopped in on their way to the concentration camps. This man grew up hearing the screams and pleading of the Jewish people on the trains...begging for food, for water...anything. Apparently, even in church they could hear the screams and moans of the people on their way to the concentration camps...and to drown out the sound, they sang louder. Billy Foote's point in telling the story was that today there are millions and millions of orphans in the world; here and abroad. Are we as a church listening to these orphans and helping? Are we doing something to better the situation or are we just singing louder in our comfortable churches and ignoring their cries?
Next Tom Davis spoke about how we as Christians are called to care for the widows and the fatherless. He showed this video...and I think it speaks for itself. I think I want to adopt them all! At the end of the evening I got into the car and cried...for the orphans, for the fatherless. One important point Tom Davis made, however, continues to stick with me. Many people feel like I do; overwhelmed, that there is little hope, little that something one person or one family can do to truly make a difference. He said, however, that rather than let this feeling of hopelessness lull us into complacency, and rather than it let us do nothing and ignore the cries, we should take one, small step toward helping the fatherless. We don't necessarily have to send gobs of money to an orphanage (while that would be great) or adopt several children (while that would also be great). We can send our prayers to the orphans, we can pray that God would show us how He wants us to be involved, and/or we can donate our time/resources to a variety of organizations that promote helping the orphans.
To finish off the night, the President of America World Adoption spoke on how their agency is trying to raise money to help identify children in orphanages for adoption. He said that many of the children in orphanages are not eligible for adoption, simply because they do not have a birth certificate. Someone needs to do an investigation on that child's history in order to get them a birth certificate to either find relatives, or an adoptive family. This gala (and there were only about 200 people there!) ended up raising over $25,000 to help fund social workers and others in foreign countries who can help investigate these children and hopefully eventually find families.
Let's hear the voices of the orphans around the world and take that first step toward helping the fatherless.
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About Me
- Amber
- I am a sinner who has been chosen by God and redeemed by the death and resurrection of his son Jesus. I am a full-time wife and mom, though I hope to someday return to my job as an SLP. I love photography, coffee, reading, and adoption. I hate to clean, but sometimes do it anyway!
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1 comments:
Great post on something so important. 5 million orphans in Ethiopia alone. That's hard to hear, and that's just one country! Many of us have troubles deciding if we get our kids 3 or just 2 new pairs of shoes when their feet grow. I'm sure some of these orphans have never even put on a pair of shoes. Sometimes we need a little perspective on what is really important and what God calls us to do.