Insurmountable Odds Points to God's Glory

Sometimes God sets up impossibilities just so that the glory goes purely to Him when, after an unfathomable success, the world still has to step back and ask “How did that happen?” I believe that is the case with the current global orphan crisis, as it was with Gideon.

In Gideon’s time, the Midianites had taken over Israel. Their harsh and cruel treatment of the Israelites left them to cry out to their Abba Father. God heard their cries and chose Gideon, not the likeliest of fellows, to lead an infantry against the Midianites. The men in Gideon’s troop were small in comparison to the Midianite armies, but God wanted it so that no one questioned who would claim victory after the battle. He pared down Gideon’s army from 32,000 to only 300 men. He told Gideon to arm them with jars and trumpets, and then He proceeded to deliver the Midianites over to Israel. It was abundantly clear that Someone was behind the victory besides Gideon and his small, defenseless army.

Sometimes I feel like Gideon when thinking on how we can possibly care for the tens (if not hundreds) of millions of orphans in the world. And I’m reminded of the old starfish on the beach story, where a child is throwing one dying starfish at a time back into the ocean amidst thousands washed ashore by a storm. I feel like that child, determined to help this one, and this one, and this one. I cannot begin to help the millions, but maybe I can rescue one at a time. And then I remember Gideon and what God can do. God is not daunted by large numbers like I am. God is not limited in resources and time to serve in a small way. God can create huge tidal waves that crash over the shore, rescuing all the starfish from their hopeless plight.

And are we not seeing this tidal wave forming? Look just at the interest in orphan care now compared to five years ago, hasn’t the desire and love for the least of these increased vastly? We can see it in our church’s ministry at Grace Covenant Church. One year ago, I went with a team of Gideons to Zeway, Ethiopia to see if we could rescue a few of those orphans. Within 5 minutes of arriving, we walked into a community meeting, spoke briefly about our call to serve orphans, and then dozens of community leaders (Muslim, Christian, and secular) stood and declared their commitment to serve orphans. The tidal wave grew larger when several churches in Zeway began to adopt orphans that they once never noticed. And now a year later, we are seeing the orphans gather together to support each other and create a family among themselves.

From a few people who thought they could serve a few orphans to a wave of God’s love covering now 110 orphans, and we are only seeing the beginning.

The God we serve is glorified by insurmountable odds. He can bless others and care for them where they are in ways we could never imagine. He launches a tidal wave of His goodness to show how deep His love is. And when He continues to do this for His orphans, I want to be standing on the beach watching and waiting to be swept away.

Free Webinar

This webinar is entitled "We're home! Now what? How to settle and thrive as a new adoptive family." It will be hosted by Adoption Learning Partners this Wednesday, August 4th from 12-1 p.m. (central time). To register, please go to this link.

Karyn Purvis Coming This Fall

The author of The Connected Child, Karyn Purvis, will be coming to Austin for a day long seminar. She is coming in conjunction with the Together For Adoption Conference.

Click here to learn more and register.


This book is one the Bridges of Grace highly recommends. To order, click here.

Caring for Orphans in Zeway, Ethiopia

Be sure to link over to the Hope in Ethiopia blogsite to catch up on the latest work of Grace Covenant Church in Zeway, Ethiopia.

www.zewayupdate.blogspot.com

God is moving!

Community Events for Adoptive Families, Birth Families, and Adoptees

Adoption Knowledge Affiliates is a local non-profit who represents the adoption triad in their educational events and resources. Below you'll find a few events they have going on this summer.

June 21, 2010: Amy Pogrund is a 16-year-old adopted individual who has recently reunited with her birthfamily. Amy’s adoptive parents and brother will join her as she shares her experience growing up with a sibling whose adoption story was very different from her own, as well as the recent experience of meeting Amy’s birthfamily.

July 19, 2010: Attaching after Adoption: Practical Tips for Infants to Teens presented by Robyn Gobbel, LCSW. Robyn will offer concrete ideas for activities that will encourage attachment with your adopted child, from zero to teen.

August 16, 2010: Jane Hall, attorney at law, will provide an overview of the Texas Legal System with regard to how it pertains to adoptions and termination of parental rights. As an adult adoptee, Ms. Hall is able to provide personal and professional insight into the laws that impact adoption.

All these meetings are free and open to the public. Certificates of attendance are available.
click here for more location and more information: www.adoptionknowledge.org

Caring for the Widow and Orphan

Pure and undefiled religion is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

Bridges of Grace has used the command in James 1:27 as a foundation for their ministry. There are orphans ministries and non-profits all over the country that have sprung up in the past 5 years toting 1:27 on their banners.

And yet, there is a piece of it that seems like we've missed. We are to visit and care for orphans AND widows. We've moved forward to care for the orphan, but what about the widow? How can we use James 1:27 so diligently as the backbone of our ministry when we have chosen one vulnerable people group, but not the other?

Now we have justified this because the needs are so great, how can one ministry tackle the global orphan crisis AND widows in their distress? It is overwhelming enough to take in the numbers of one group of "the least of these" let alone to add widows as well. We do believe, however, that focusing on this one group, orphans, is not just justified, but right thinking. We all have God-given passions and talents, and we are finite beings in our time and ability to care, so singling out one group of people to care for is how we manage in this flesh.

But God is not going to allow our inability to care for both widows and orphans to limit His work. He is not allowing our susceptibleness to be overwhelmed by the suffering to single out just orphans in the Zeway Partnership.

We are rejoicing that God is allowing us to expand our care circle to include widows. Single parents who are dying of HIV/AIDS and who will not be there to parent their children within the year will now be a part of the Partnership outreach. God is allowing us to support the social workers and the Zeway Church body so that they can care for these dying mothers and fathers.

Here are some of the reasons why this is a desirable opportunity:

• These dying men and women need care and love. They need to hear about the peace and comfort of our Savior through the social workers and Zeway church members.
  

• In an environment where children of parents with HIV/AIDS are outcasts, these widows desire to know that someone will watch over their children.

• The orphaned children will not go one day without knowing there is an adult who cares for them and is advocating for them after their parent dies.

• There will be a transfer of trust as the child watches the social worker and parent forming a relationship.

• The orphaned children will be admitted into the Food for the Hungry programs with little to no gap between losing their parent. They will not spend months or even years fending for themselves.

We are rejoicing that we will be able to care for orphans and widows as well. It makes sense that these two groups of people would go together in a circle of care, and we are blessed that God showed us His ways again through this Partnership!

Adoption Community Group - May 15, 2010

Following on the heals of hearing from Janie Cravens at last month's Adoption Community Group, we are quickly coming up on our May 15 meeting. Please mark your calendars and quickly RSVP for childcare if needed. The deadline to RSVP for free childcare is May 5 (include name and age for each child to hrbauer22@yahoo.com). Details:

Adoption Community Group
May 15, 9:30AM - 11:30AM
Grace Covenant Church Worship Center Lobby

Topic: Based on feedback from the last ACG, we will break up into small groups, discuss a few prepared questions, and get to know one another. We hope to foster a more intimate community for adoptive families and potentially help grow some small groups that meet on an ongoing basis outside of the ACG. This is a way for us to make meaningful connections and support each other between large group meetings.

Please RSVP by May 5 for free childcare. Include the name and age of each child.