Village Bible Church || Aurora | Indian Creek | Sugar Grove | IL

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. - James 1:27

Wow. Where do I begin?

God has been leading me down a path that I had no idea would grow as it has or become as involved as it has. It's also a path that you've expressed interest in walking down along with a dozen or so other families - that makes it even more exciting - and changes the "me" to "we".

This path, of course, is the path of seeking God's direction as to how He would want us to carry out the mandate He has laid before us in James 1:27 (above) to be caring for our orphans and widows.

The more I explore the more excited I get - and the more daunting it all seems too.

Where do we begin?

I have probably had more than 50 conversations with different people, missions organizations, adoption agencies, etc. exploring ways that our families could get involved and help with the orphan crisis in Haiti - and even beyond. I've found a lot of great ministries doing some really cool things in the name of Christ. Many would be great partners for us as we explore where God is leading us individually and as a group in this journey.

Is God calling you to adopt from Haiti?

God works in mysterious and unpredictable ways; He can take awful situations and use them to produce blessings. Many of us are now interested in adoption after learning about the tragedy in Haiti. I wonder if God is using this tragedy in Haiti to open our eyes and hearts to the orphan crisis worldwide - orphans in need of families.

Instead of an earthquake, tens of thousands of children have been left as orphans in Ethiopia because of HIV/AIDS, poverty and famine. In Rwanda, the aftermath of the genocide, HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty have left scores of children as orphans.

In the world, there are over 13 million orphans under the age of 18 who have lost both parents. There are over 120,000 children in US foster care waiting to be adopted. Only 18% of those waiting in foster care will be adopted this year. 

Where will God lead all of this? What's next?

I have quickly learned that it would be easy to overwhelm all of us with the needs and the options. Because of that I'm going to share what God seems to be percolating in the course of several emails - probably spaced a few days apart so that you can think and pray about each step of the process. Some of you have asked for recommended next steps - for home study and adoption agency referrals, etc.

I want to encourage you to increase your time in prayer while slowing down on figuring out (or taking) the specific next step. At this time:

• pray and seek the Lord’s will for your family.
• continue praying for those in need in Haiti – a crisis of this magnitude will require years and years of help – and we pray that by the mercy and grace of God this will not be a time when orphans are left by the wayside, but that permanent families will be sought for all the children in need of parents to care for them, in Haiti and throughout the world.
• Pray for our outreach project next Saturday, 2/20, when we'll pack 50,000 meals that will be shipped to one of two orphanages in Haiti (see www.villagebible.org/haiti for more details). Pray for the funding to cover the costs of this outreach, for the workers to do the labor, for safe transportation of the food and for the impact that is made through it.
• Plan to attend the Journey ABF on 2/28 when Amy Whipp will share about her time serving at Danita's Children Orphanage in Haiti as well as how God has impacted her own thoughts about adoption after being there. Amy is also planning to share more briefly next Sunday, 2/21.

In my next blog post,

I'll share with you 10 ways you can care for orphan and waiting children.