Orphans

5.5 million in Africa, 3.5 million in Asia, 1.5 in Eastern Europe, 400,000 in Latin America and 135,000 in the United States.....

Sadly this is the number of orphans awaiting adoption across the globe. How have I never realized how big this problem is before, now all at once it's hit me like a stack of bricks. In the few days, I have seen my exposure to this population of people exploded. Becky just went on a trip to Guatamala where she did outreach at an orphanage. Her pictures gripped me. A room full of bunkbeds, a room full of young girls, no parents, no shoes to fit their little feet...full of smiles. How does this happen? How are these fatherless children, those who have virtually nothing, delighting in the Lord's goodness while the "privileged" people here in our country can't see God's hand blessing them. I'm inspired and convicted that I'm one of those privileged people. Today when reading James, I came to verse 1:27...

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Why do we so easily overlook this calling on our lives?? We sit in our Christian bubbles, in our cozy houses, having enough to eat, while millions and millions or kids are homeless, fatherless, abandoned around the world. This is a terrible problem and I feel the Lord's calling to get involved. I don't know if this means I'm supposed to adopt kids when I get married (I've thought about it recently, but didn't ever necessarily feel "called" to do it for sure) , or what.

In the Crusade women's newsletter I got this week talked about orphans too! I mean it's seriously everywhere around me people. Apparently FamilyLife (a Crusade ministry) started a ministry called Hope for Orphans in 2003 that encourages Christians to "lead the charge in providing homes for the millions of orphaned children around the world." God is passionate about the fatherless...this has been a great heart changing reminder that I need to be too.