Since I met Jesus I’ve had the opportunity to work with
orphans in several different contexts.
Not the typical orphans that come to mind when I think of orphans. They weren’t in “orphanages”, they weren’t in
Africa or some other impoverished third world country, they weren’t child
slaves, soldiers or prostitutes but they were orphans nonetheless. I’ve been a youth worker in two separate
group homes; one a crisis unit where children were taken out of homes for various
reason: violence, neglect or other criminal behavior putting the teens at risk,
the other, a long term care facility for teens with mental illness who had
become wards of the state for various reasons.
And now as a youth pastor, I have youth from all different kinds of
families, some single parent, some with fathers who work away for months at a
time. While these are all different than
the typical idea of an orphan, they all experience the same lack of love, care
and direction that parents are supposed to provide. Until joining this trip, I never really saw
these young people I worked with as orphans but Jesus has opened my eyes to the
reality that we’re all orphan’s to some extent until God reunites us with
himself by what Jesus did; a hard thing I had to come to grips with in my own
life.
I never met my biological father until I turned 19. I had a good man in my life who raised me,
who I consider my dad, but there was always a disconnect between us. Somehow, although I knew he loved me as his
own son to the best of his ability, we didn’t belong to one another. After meeting Jesus and experiencing what his
unconditional love and adoption into his family was like, the relationship with
my dad changed, I was able to see it with different lenses. I’ve been able to recognize some of his
shortfalls in being dad are a result of his father and his lack of relationship
with his heavenly father.
As I’ve thought about this Journey we’re about to go on
together, I’ve had not only a great excitement to learn how we, as children of
God, care for the most vulnerable in our society, but I’m most excited for how
I’ll view those around me as both literal and spiritual orphans when I
return. I’m certain that this trip will
change my world view. How could it
not? I’m sure it will impact the way I
regard people in my own community. Then
too, I’m excited as one of Christ ambassadors that I’ll get to speak up on
behalf of those who are fatherless (or motherless or both) to the churched and
un-churched
I, like so many in the church, have become numb to the
plight of orphans around the world (and in our back yard). It seems that God is calling people, once again
to take up the cause of the defenseless.
I think the church has gone through “self-help” cycle for long enough,
God is calling us to put down the “7 Steps to a Better Life” books (8, 9, or 10
steps depending on your brand of Christianity) and pick up our neighbors on the
road to Jericho and take care of them. I
hope this trip helps connect this idea, that is so true in my mind, to my heart
so that when I talk about it; so it won’t just be empty idealism or guilt
tripping people, but in genuine hope and love.
The hamster wheel is getting old, time to get off the wheel, escape the
cage and go do the things we’ve read about, taught about and theologized about
for too long... so I'm going on a journey to Ethiopia.
(P.S. I stole this picture from google images. That is not actually me on a bookshelf hamster
wheel.)
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