The Least of These

Sometimes I feel like a broken record.  I feel like everyone around me is sick too death of hearing me go on and on about the orphan.  Every day with a new "cause" and a new focus.  Believe me when I tell you that many, probably most days, I get tired of hearing myself.  The problem is, I can't get away from me. With one click of your mouse, you can make me go away.  My husband and kids are not so fortunate, but you, reader, you are.  You don't have to listen and you can go back to your world of Starbucks and soccer games - or Chikfila drive thrus and gas at $3.50 a gallon.

Ten years ago, in a hotel in Chicago, I asked God to break my heart for the things that break His.  I asked Him to help me see people like He does and to help me love - for real. I'm not sure I have ever had a prayer answered so quickly.

The good news is - He did.

The bad news is - He did.

I walked out of my hotel room that day and the second I opened the lobby door and hit the streets, I knew I was forever changed.  Every person I saw had pain shining in their eyes.  I could read it.  I did not see a crowd surging down the sidewalks of one of America's oldest and largest cities, I saw individual people.  Thousands, surging by me and I was paralyzed.  I stopped and sat on a bench and watched them walk by.  I met their eyes.  I bought coffee for several homeless people and as I prayed for them, I daydreamed about how I could help.  I saw them in my mind's eye, clean and sober - laughing and sitting across from me at Starbucks, drinking a latte and talking about their new jobs.  I could not stop crying.

Soon enough, God drew my heart to the plight of the orphan.  Then, He put some widows in my life.  It doesn't matter who or what the circumstances, I walk around with my heart outside of my body most of the time.  I want desperately to make a difference in some one's life.  I want desperately for the world to know my Jesus.  I want to erase the pain I see in the eyes of the people I pass on the street.

And I am just going to be honest here - some days I want to go back to the time before I prayed that prayer.  I was ignorant then.  Caught up in my own American dream.  Living life, with a corporate executive husband, three kids and a dog.  I didn't notice what other people were going through.  We took our kids to church - and Sunday School.  I took our old clothes to the local charity outreach, we sponsored a Compassion child, and gave money to our church.  I did my part, thankyouverymuch.  And you know what, it didn't hurt nearly as much.

Now, I am a hot mess.  I can't make it through an entire day without crying, many times weeping.  It doesn't take much to set me off - a Gotcha Day video does it every.single.time and pictures like this one.........my heart shatters in a million pieces!



I am just going to be brutally honest with you - I made this picture smaller than normal for this post because I can't stand to look at it!!  Many of you may think it is completely inappropriate that I have put it on here at all and ten years ago, I would have agreed with you.  It disturbs my sensibilities.  My huge box of Valentine's Day chocolates just doesn't taste as good anymore.  It makes me feel physically ill to see these boys, too old to be stripped naked in a common room, and emaciated beyond what my mind can comprehend.  These boys are just a tiny, tiny fraction of the total number of children who have been transferred to institutions in Eastern European countries.  "Laying rooms" these are called.  One of my favorite bloggers, Adeye at No Greater Joy Mom is doing a series on these institutions.  She feels, and I agree, that unless you stalk scour adoption blogs and agency websites, like we do - you probably don't conjure up images like this when you think of institutions.  In America, we think of "institutions" as government run organizations - schools, orphanages, hospitals.  That is not what is going on in these countries.  I will let you read her blog to get the details because she has adopted a child from one of these places, and she is calling on other parents who have to write their experiences.  Adeye and her husband have a precious little girl who was left alone in a crib for five years!!  FIVE!  She was labeled hopeless and basically left to die.  You can read all about Hailee on Adeye's blog and this little one is a precious gem to her family.  She is full of light and laughter, and HOPE!



Friends, He is whispering and He is calling and I believe that there is still hope within the American church.  Things are changing and people are becoming more aware. I sense the rumbling of the Spirit as He moves - asking, "Who will go?"  Where much is given, much is expected.  As Americans, the world is watching us.  The orphans of the world are begging us.  We have NO excuses except our own selfishness.  We have to take responsibility for this crisis.  Again, I will say, it is OUR problem.  We have the message of the gospel, the good news that the world most needs to hear.  Will we refuse to share it with those most vulnerable?  Please, church, please examine your heart.  Look long and hard at that picture - no matter how it turns your stomach.  Put the faces of your precious children on those emaciated bodies.  They are little souls.  They need us.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
   and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
   and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
   and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
   and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
   you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

   “If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
   with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
   and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
   and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
   he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
   and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
   like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
   and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
   Restorer of Streets with Dwellings."

Isaiah 58