Crash the Future

This past week Sarah and I met with a person from OCS. (For those of you familiar with my military background... no... I'm not referring to Officer Candidate School.) We wanted to find out about the Office of Children's Services' requirements and process for becoming state approved foster and adoptive parents. It's something that Sarah and I are seriously looking in to. "Why?!" you might ask. It's simple. The gospel. The fact of the matter is that adoption is one of the most powerful images Scripture uses for what happens when we are forgiven of our sins and become children of God. God takes us from a life of not belonging... of brokenness... of uncertainty... of not experiencing true love, and He brings us into His family. All of a sudden, our Father is the One who made us and we share the inheritance of the One who died for us! That is a beautiful thing! And I can think of no better way to tangibly demonstrate the good news of Jesus Christ to a watching world, particularly to a child who does not have a family to selflessly love him/her. So... that's why we'd gladly adopt.

Additionally, let's think about this for just a minute... There are hundreds, thousands of children out there who have no home and no family to love them. These kids are often the ones that people use to argue in favor of abortion. "After all," it's argued, "abortion is better than bringing a child into a life where they are unwanted or unloved by a family." So why is it that we christians often argue against abortion, but relatively few of us are actively taking in the very children we are arguing should not be aborted? Just a thought. What would it look like if we started doing this as a whole community of believers, like the early church did? One of the things the early church was KNOWN for was saving newborns who were unwanted and left out on refuse piles (the Roman version of abortion). They did this even though they were typically poor slaves themselves. Why is it that we, the most prosperous believers in the world, often say we don't have the time or resources to do the same?

Not every believer can adopt, but I suspect a whole lot more of us can than are. Sarah and I are just determined to get in on the spiritual battle raging around us in this particular arena if God will open that door for us. So, for what it's worth... if any of you who read this know of someone (pregnant teenage girl, a family with challenges they can't handle, etc.) who is looking for a home for a child, please let us know. We'd love to find out the details and see if we can help.