Emotions are a funny thing. You hear people say things such as, "that was hilarious, I needed a good laugh." Then the same person might say at a later time, "I need a good cry." I'm not going to get into any kind of biological, physiological, hormonal explanations about emotions. Basically because I wouldn't have a clue of what I was talking about. I do, however, know that I want to be moved. I find myself watching YouTube and being drawn to the "tug at your heartstrings" videos. Sometimes we even find ourselves watching video of terrible disasters just because the story is so "moving". Why do you think the news leads off so often with a tear-jerking story? It's moving and they know that is what will keep the watching public on their channel. So as we've been in this adoption journey, I've been thinking a lot about being moved. But in a slightly different way. Yes, there is certainly emotion in it, but I'm being drawn to move closer to God. I find myself asking God where He wants me. I want to be moved, but moved to act in accordance to what He wants of me. When you get down to it, I think that is the whole reason that I finally jumped on board with this adoption. And quite frankly, I believe it BETTER be the reason I'm on board. Because if it was just emotional.....well, we've got problems.
Think about this for a moment. Have you ever bought a sports car because the commercial made it look so captivating that you just had to have it? How about a vacation? Ever go to Florida because your friends went to Florida and they made the beaches sound so awesome that you just had to experience it for yourself? Were you still happy with the sports car after you had it awhile? What about after filling the tank with gas far too often because of the low mileage? And the vacation. Oftentimes we have a great time, but sometimes we find ourselves thinking, "this isn't as good as our friends made it sound and it was awfully expensive. Maybe this was a mistake." You see, emotions sometimes lead us to poor decisions. Ever eat a gallon of ice cream to emotionally handle a heartbreak? You see my point.
So in our adoption, when I say I want to be moved it is to be moved by the One that created me to have these feelings to begin with. That is a movement that I want to trust, not my own hormonal reactions. Now, here's where it gets tricky. I believe we can be moved to do wonderful things, but I find myself being very confused by the fact that we have to be SO moved to act. Let me ask you a few questions: If your brother or sister and their spouse were terribly taken from this world in an accident and left behind a young child, would you take them in? What if it was a close neighbor that perished with no other family around, would you take that child? How about someone in the community that was in a tragic car wreck, the whole town talked about it, and the child had no place to go at all? Would you offer them a room and a loving family? How about an earthquake in a totally different country that destroys villages, homes, orphanages? If the children from those orphanages are displaced with nowhere to turn, would you step up and say, "that's terrible. Yes, we can help. We'll come to their aid"? I'm guessing most, if not all of you answered yes to at least one of these questions. I know that many people joined in when the word was going around about children needing homes after the terrible earthquakes in Haiti. So many people were willing to come to their aid. They had seen the devastation on TV and on the internet. It was terrible. It was so......emotional. So why does it take the media blitz of a tragedy, or something that is more "personal" and hits home to make us act? What, you think it's not tragic enough that 165 million children in the world don't have a family? Children world wide are longing for someone, anyone, to hold them at night and tell them that they love them. I know that my children sometimes have bad dreams. It completely tears my heart out to think about a child waking up with a bad dream, only to discover that the bad dream is based on the reality of their own life, and not having anyone to come sit with them on their bed and tell them it's going to be alright. Is that in the news papers? Nope. Do we see it on the evening news? Nah, it's not "moving" enough. It's an everyday occurence in all corners of the world. Nothing special about that story. Wake Up People!!! If being without a family or homeless or abandoned or neglected as children is not tragic enough for you then we are in a sad, sad state.
Now please here me, I am not judging. I struggle all the time with doing the right thing, doing enough, following God's call. It's not easy. But how can we know about these tragedies and turn our heads and do nothing? 165 million seems awfully overwhelming. Surely I can't make a difference. That would be like trying to put out a forest fire with a squirt gun. But if not me, then who? If not you....who? Who will step up and say, "you know, I really meant it when I said I'd take in a child after the earthquake. So if that didn't play out, maybe we can take in another child that just as desperately needs a home." Dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of people responded to the urgency of the situation after the earthquake. What if we go ahead and act, not waiting on another tragedy? If we follow God's command to care for orphans and then ask God how to spread that truth to others, how long before the orphan crisis is gone? 165 million....that's a large number. But I'm a math guy, so let's break it down. If I adopt and it get's two others to adopt. And they get two each to adopt and so on and so on, then after a series of 15 relational connections, over 16,000 children would be adopted. That's the power of God's word spreading through his family of believers. Can we make a difference? You bet we can. We just have to start. Every mile ever run began with a single step. Every building ever built starts with a single shovel to break ground. So how do we start? That all depends. The real question is....what's moving you?
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