Have you ever met an Orphan?

Have you ever met an orphan? I haven’t. I’ve met foster kids living tough lives. But even then, by the time I’ve met them, they were already in loving foster families who wanted to adopt them and often had biological family still in the picture too. I can’t empathize with or even imagine accurately the life of an orphan. I think I consider this term, orphan, like it’s a concept and use it in everyday writing all too frequently without thinking of the depth of what it means.

Orphan. Child. Alone. Without champion. Survivor. Someone who lacks Family, the very thing that enriches my life. Families torn into pieces by tragedy are heart-wrenching, but in many circumstances, the children have at least one adult still involved in their lives. I fail to realize just how dire the life of an orphan truly is. And yet God loves these children desperately, and He will find a way to care for them.

As we’ve started our new journey with Global Orphan Project, a few things have made me really ponder the life of an orphan.

One night Derek and I were looking at pictures on from the Eben Ezer Leogane orphan village. This was the 2^nd or 3^rd time through this set of pictures, but for some reason this view had captions, including the name of each kid. We both paused in silent realization of the magnitude of what we just saw. “These kids have NAMES”, Derek said aloud and we both almost cried. As much as we had become excited about the work God was asking us to do, we had missed the stark realization of the individuality of each kid until that moment.

Blansley, Age 7

Riana, Age 4

Adriano

Last week, we had the pleasure of meeting Adrien Lewis, our contact from Global Orphan Project, who came to dinner on his way back to Kansas City. As we were talking about the daily life in the orphan villages, Derek said “Man I bet those house mamas go to bed exhausted every night!” Their current ratio is 10 kids to 1 mama. Wow that hit home! I go to bed thinking I’m exhausted caring for my 3, well-adjusted kids with every modern convenience possible, not to mention a roof over my head.  Adrien reminded us that while the Global Orphan Project villages and the involvement of the local church in caring for these orphans is a huge improvement from them, the emotional wear and tear on these kids from all they’ve been through will take much to repair. He gestured to my kids and said something about them being “great kids” but reminded us that it’s the basics that we take for granted: knowing they are loved, that they will not be hungry, and that they will always have a place to live that is helping our kids to thrive.

This fall God began to use scripture and teaching from some passionate Christian leaders (Jen Hatmaker, Brandon Hatmaker, and Jeremy Plymale) to show me how “orphan” was more than just a concept. I used to read scripture like James 1: 27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” and translate it to mean “take care of the poor”. As we strive to embrace this verse and another, Isaiah 1:17 (NLT) “Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows”, we are learning that God is very specific about these 2 groups of people. Orphans and widows are so alone in this world, that I believe He is calling the church to be their champions for lack of any other.

Lord, please help me to pray for these orphans with the tenderness you have for them. Please help me to see them not as a cause, a concept, a group of people, but as individual beautiful children with names and personalities who are in the midst of the worst of circumstances, needing adult champions and most importantly your love. God please shower them with your love and raise up people to love them as you do. Amen.