Orphan care is a huge issue for all people, and should especially be close the the heart of those who claim to follow Jesus. Activist Faith co-founder Dan King share a great article to pass along on his experiences in this area:

It’s always been easy for me to overlook the orphan care epidemic as
something that ‘other people’ are working on. And because the Bible
talks a lot about taking care of the fatherless and the orphan, I’ve
always considered their work admirable… and potentially worthy of support.

That is until I spent some time with a group of orphans in Haiti.

Haiti has always had an overwhelming number of orphans, but the
earthquake on January 12th, 2010 opened the floodgates of children left
parentless.

Of course I felt bad for the kids, but it was the soft heart of my
seven-year old son that made me realize that I needed to do something
more.

In the weeks after the earthquake, my son would come downstairs in
tears hours after going to bed. We asked what was wrong, and he told his
mother and I that he wanted to pray. And when we asked what he wanted
to pray for, his tear-filled response was…

I want to pray for all of the little boys and girls
who don’t have a mommy and daddy anymore and have to sleep outside
tonight because of the earthquake.

It didn’t take me long to realize that it was time for me to set my excuses aside. It was time for me to take action.

Why now?

Because I started seeing the heart of God manifesting itself through my very own child.

Since that time, our family has been dedicated to making a bigger difference. I went on a mission trip to Haiti
in August, and stayed at a boys orphanage housing about 50 kids. Our
team built some strong connections with those boys. Watching them cry
when we left was one of the most difficult things that I’ve had to do…
ever.

It was a difficult time because they rarely get the kind of love that
we showered on them that week. Their caretakers took good care of them,
at least as much as their means allowed (one meal every other day). But
the few adults that provided for them is no replacement for the love of
a parent.

A simple hug becomes a rare special event for these children.

This is a stark contrast to the life of my child (and so many others
in the U.S.). When I got home, we would get (and give) more than our
fair share of hugs. We’d get to cuddle on the couch while relaxing and
watching TV together. We’d do all kinds of things that those kids back
down in Haiti would probably never get from an adult in their life.

This made me think…

Isn’t that what we are spiritually without God? Aren’t we all orphans
wandering this earth with little to no hope of ever experiencing True
Love?

But as Christians we’re adopted into the greatest family of all… by
the greatest Father we could imagine! And when we’re adopted into that
family, we get to have more than our fair share of hugs from the Creator Who IS Love!

And that’s really why I believe that this whole issue of orphan care is so important for the church to get a hold of.

We’ve been given a new life, and it’s a life full of hope and a with a
great future. We no longer have to suffer alone, but get to experience
the great joy that comes with being in a family like ours.

The best part is that we have the ability to share this hope with
others. Not only spiritually, but also physically and emotionally.

 

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Read the original post or more from Dan here.

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DILLON
BURROUGHS is an author, activist, and co-founder of Activist Faith.
Dillon served in Haiti following the epic 2010 earthquake and has
investigated modern slavery in the US and internationally. His books
include Undefending Christianity, Not in My Town (with Charles J.
Powell), and Thirst No More (October). Discover more at DillonBurroughs.org.