Together for Adoption

I know that statistics are impersonal, and that sometimes they lead us to miss the trees for the forest.  But I went to this conference last weekend that again opened my eyes and broke my heart. 


*There are 163 million orphans around the world.

*Today, 33 million people are HIV positive.

*In Russia, when a child ages out of the orphanage system, he has a 10% chance of suicide, a 20% chance of criminal activity, a 40% chance of homelessness and a 33% chance of unemployment.

*There are 2.7 billion unreached people globally.

*In the United States, there are 500,000 children in the foster care system.

*130,000 are eligible for adoption.

*19,000 of those children age out each year without being adopted.

*1/4 of those children who age out become incarcerated within the first 2 years, and 1/5 become homeless after age 18.  1/3 will receive public assistance at some point in their life.

*40,000 prostitutes were shipped in for the World Cup games this year.  Many or most are sex slaves.

*1.8 million children are trafficked worldwide.  The orphaned and the impoverished are the most vulnerable. 

Now, here is my dilemma.  I can hear these statistics with a calloused heart, or I can hear things like this with tears in my eyes, because I choose to see real faces with real stories.

My prayer is that orphan care movements would rise up around the world, and that our actions would be Gospel-centered and love-driven.    

 
One thing that I came away with is that none of us can truly make a difference.  But even though the best effrots of one person are a drop in the bucket, the collective small efforts of the body of Christ is effective.  So instead of being discouraged by the smallness of my life, I am encouraged that when added up, the small things make a big difference.
Let's pray for the fatherless.  Let's talk about it.  Let's be intentional about exposure a different world that is unfamiliar and uncomfortable to us.  Let's sponsor children and families.  Let's serve others in their journey by giving financially, by committing to pray for them, or by watching their kids during their trips to the notary.

I have been so blessed by hearing of people who have decided to bank on God's promises - that He is better than anything this world has to offer. 





USEFUL RESOURCES:

http://www.joshuaproject.net/ (Unreached Peoples)
http://www.empoweredtoconnect.com/ (Free resources and downloads from Dr. Karyn Purvis on parenting "children from hard places")
http://www.sheispriceless.com/ (Sexual Slavery)
http://www.sctnow.org/ (Child Trafficking)
http://www.cthomas.com/ (Tom Davis' blog on trafficking)

White Man's Burden
When Helping Hurts
The Connected Child
Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Parents Knew
Radical
The Hole In Our Gospel