Orphan Sunday

Today is Orphan Sunday. I don't think we would have known that had it not been for orphan advocates I follow on Twitter or the non-profits whose blogs we follow. A day of awareness for the cause of caring for the approximate 140 million orphans in the world. Crazy to think that there are that many fatherless kids in the world and that this is the first year we even knew that?

We've heard and studied James 1:27 before. You know, the one about caring for orphans and widows. That task was something Brian had been assigned in his role as a deacon. He was assigned certain widows to call and check on and arrange any care that was needed. That's what James 1:27 was to us. Until 2010.

It has become our mission as a family to carry out James 1:27. God even uses the care of orphans and widows as the definition of pure religion. Wow. How could we have missed this until now? We are ALL called to care for orphans and widows. Not everyone is called to adopt or to foster, but everyone is called to care. There are lots of ways to do that. We are humbled that He has asked us to adopt. We know without any doubts that we are the ones blessed by this process.

Not sure why it took us so long to really get James 1:27. Not just the adoption aspect of our journey, but the entire mission of what God is calling all of us to do. Also not sure of what all of this will mean for our family after our boy(s) are home. We will still be called to care. James 1:27 won't simply be checked off of our to-do list once we get home.

As far as this year being the one God showed to highlight James 1:27 to us (highlight as in putting it in flashing neon colors for us,) I can only guess that it's because this is the year our little one is born. The little one God has created to be a part of our family might not have been here had our eyes been opened some other time.

And that is what Orphan Sunday 2010 is to our family. A little boy is born in Ethiopia. At some point in time, there is a tremendous loss. He becomes an orphan. That part of this process could have happened today. We may not ever know exact dates. My prayer is that he is an orphan for only a very short period of time. He won't know life as a fatherless child for very long. He won't be included as one of the millions prayed for on Orphan Sunday 2011.

Orphan Sunday 2011 will be about someone else.