Wonderfully Made

I received an e-mail today from Shepherd’s Field, a Christian orphanage in China. It is a truly special place that cares for special needs orphans. We know a couple here in Memphis who have adopted a child from this orphanage. The e-mail had this picture of their children

They also had a this artwork from one of the children, with the question: What if the next Picasso lives in an orphanage?

We have experienced this question firsthand, as we have watched our daughter Mae (5, adopted from China) grow up. We have have often wondered what we and the world would have missed out on if she had grown up without a family. I don’t think they meant to make any sort of theological statement with the question, and I am 100% sure that they not only agree with I’m about to say, but they have literally given there lives for it. The question is a dangerous one, because these children do not have value only because they might grow up to be a great artist, or cure cancer, or whatever other wonderful thing they may do.  They have value because they are made in the image of God. Shepherds Field is built on this truth: Psalm 139:14- “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

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The Story of Love

I am posting below a link to a sermon by David Platt called The Story of Love, about the book of Ruth. He gave this sermon on Easter Sunday. The beginning is a dramatic presentation of Ruth’s story, with a speaker telling the story, interspersed with several songs. I would encourage you to watch this portion, as Brook Hills has a video option. I think stuff like this is really hard to pull off well, as people’s musical tastes are so different. I’m not sure who the performers are, but it seems like it is folks from within the church. I thought it was pretty moving.

http://www.brookhills.org/media/series/story-of-love/

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Awaiting Kate

I mentioned in my last post that I have had several things lately that were quiet reminders that God is at work all around us. One of these has been watching our good friends Sean and Sally Powell adopt their second child, Kate, from China (see their blog here). Their oldest daughter, Caroline, and our daughter, Mae, are both adopted from China and are best friends. It has been a treat to hope and anticipate with them over the last couple of years. A couple of weeks ago, they brought Kate home. Kate was considered a “waiting child” due to a cleft lip. In China they traveled with other families who were adopting “waiting children”- a 13 yr old whose chance at a family would end if not adopted before her 14th birthday, one child who is blind, one in a wheelchair. Stories we would never have known without hearing them as parts of the Powells’ story. And then to see Kate light up when Sean walked through the door coming home from work. A month before she was in an orphanage, and now she was running to her father in her new home.  

The picture (taken in China) below says it all

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Abba and Adoption

Last week Jason Hood e-mailed me an article called “Abba Changes Everything” that is in the current Christianity Today. The article is one of the best I’ve ever read on adoption. It is by Russell Moore, who has authored a book on adoption, called “Adopted For Life“.

The gospel of adoption challenges us, first of all, to recognize ourselves as spiritual orphans.

The article begins with his recollection of how quiet the orphanage (in Russia) was, in contrast to how noisy your typical nursery room is. He said they realized that the babies had learned to quit crying because it made no difference, nobody was coming. He goes on to talk about his experience adopting two boys, and to lay out the theology of adoption.

The universe around us is creepily silent-like an orphanage in which the children no longer believe they will be heard. But if we listen with Galilean ears, we can hear the quiet desperation of thumbs being sucked, of cribs being rocked. As we welcome orphans into our homes, we can show the orphaned universe what it means to belong to a God who welcomes the fatherless.

Be careful who you read this around, I cried like a baby reading it. Thankfully I was at home!

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