I went to the mall twice this week which is not my idea of fun, nor is it the norm for me. I went in part to buy a photo album and to pick up pictures from Costco.
The mall was crazy busy, packed with shoppers everywhere, buying all sorts of things. I love Christmas but there are also things about the Holidays that simply don't sit right with my heart.
The pictures I were picking up were of Kody, and the reason I was getting them was because we are sending them to a family who is going to take them to Kody's birth family in Ghana. An amazing family (the parents) are going to Ghana next week to file their I-600 and to to do two medical missions up North
I can't get over the mental images that kept popping up in my mind all day, and the DISPARITY of the literal images I saw all day. In my head I see children with raggidy half covering their bodies clothes, wearing no shoes, having no access to running water, with no hope of an education, who slept not in beds but on the dirt floor, whose highlight every day was the one bowl of rice they got to eat.
Today I saw children getting new shoes, new clothes, new toys, special snacks, new gadgets ... who looked like they already had more than what they needed.
I hope this does not come off in a judgmental way, that is not my heart at all. It is just that when you have seen what I have seen, it is sometimes hard for my heart to be okay with all the "stuff" that we in our culture deem to be important.
When you have encountered the depth of poverty that I have seen, where you can't even think of the words to adequately describe it ... you never look at your life the same. The stuff that used to be important no longer seems important. And then to have a day like today where it felt like everywhere I looked stuff was bombarding the hearts and minds of sooooooooooooooooo many, I can't help it but have a heavy heart.
Statistic upon statistic show that we (the North American Church) actually DO have the resources to put an end to so many of the injustices in the world today. In terms of orphan care, I heard a statistic this week that if only 10% more of Christians would adopt there would be almost 2 million less orphans in the world. That is crazy to me, it is difficult for my heart to understand why that statistic is still an "IF!"
The picture above is just "one" picture of a little boy who lived in a place where there was no food to feed him, nor no resources of any kind to take care of just his basic needs. It strikes my heart to the core that there are still babies in the world who live what that baby boy did, struggling just to live because of a lack of food ... many who die. The statistic is that "every five seconds a child dies from hunger" ... and that is just hunger!!! Does that break your heart? It breaks mine, and I KNOW it breaks the heart of my Father too.
The baby boy in the picture ... now lives in my house and is my son!
We all can make a difference ... what is the difference that God is calling you to? I'm still figuring mine out, well at least some of it!
Isaiah 1:17
"Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of the orphan ..." I don't think God could be any clearer in His word on where His heart is. Shouldn't our heart be the same, and our actions consequently show it?
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