Nov. 15, 2007
Show Hope
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear;
but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."
-- Romans 8:15
My DH and I had a date night last night - our first, in... I don't know how long. It was wonderful! After dinner together, we attended a Steven Curtis Chapman concert north of Pittsburgh, PA. The concert was great on it's own, but it was made even better by the thousands of attendees sharing hope with a family in the process of adopting one of God's treasures - an orphan child in Ethiopia. Over $4500 was given to help this family bring their precious child home. I speak from experience when I say that every penny counts. Being able to see this family blessed so generously was priceless. God is so good!
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress..."
-- James 1:27 (NIV)
Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife MaryBeth have adopted three little girls from China, and in the past several years, their heart for the orphan and families wanting to give homes to them has been a prominent part of his concerts. Mr. H and I saw SCC in concert about six years ago, and that night, God's plan for us to adopt was solidified. In God's timing He provided for us, and in October 2006 we traveled to China to adopt our son. Our DS has been home for a year now. We are so blessed!
November is National Adoption Awareness Month, and because it is so dear to my heart, I wanted to share it. Not everyone is called to adopt, but those who are need the prayers and support of family, friends and the church body. Some people have been blessed by God with financial comfort and material blessings. Such people could make a vital difference in the lives of orphans by sponsoring adoptive families. By sharing their abundant resources they can significantly reduce the number of orphans in the world by helping bring children into families. Regardless of your financial status, everyone can pray for the orphans and the families waiting for them. These are some of the ways we can share hope. Everyone can do something to make a difference in an orphans life.
"I am only one, but I am one.
I cannot do everything, but I can do something.
And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do."
-- Edward Everett Hale
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Here are some facts from ShowHope on myspace.com:
What is the need?
- Over 143 million children have lost one or both parents. 1
- At least 16.2 million children worldwide have lost both parents. 2
- Every 14 seconds a child loses a parent due to AIDS. 3
- Conflict has orphaned or separated 1 million children from their families in the 1990s. 4
Where are they?
- 43.4 million orphans live in sub-Saharan Africa, 87.6 million orphans live in Asia, and 12.4 million orphans live in Latin America and the Caribbean. 5
- 1.5 million children live in public care in Central and Eastern Europe alone. 6
- At any given point there are over 500,000 children in the U.S. Foster Care system. 7
- In some countries, children are abandoned at alarming rates, due to poverty, restrictive population control policies, disabilities or perceived disabilities, and cultural traditions that value boys more than girls. 8
What about AIDS?
- More than 14 million children under the age of 15 have lost one or both parents to AIDS, the vast majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa. 9
- By 2010, the number of children orphaned by AIDS globally is expected to exceed 25 million. 10
- AIDS is more likely than other cause of death to result in children losing both parents. 11
- As the infection spreads, the number of children who have lost parents to AIDS is beginning to grow in other regions as well, including Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. 12
What happens to the children?
- Children are profoundly affected as their parents fall sick and die, setting them on a long trail of painful experiences often characterized by: economic hardship, lack of love, attention and affection, withdrawal from school, psychological distress, loss of inheritance, increased physical and sexual abuse and risk of HIV infection, malnutrition and illness, stigma, discrimination, exploitation, trafficking, and isolation. 13
- Orphaned children are much more likely than non-orphans to be working in commercial agriculture, as street vendors, in domestic service and in the sex trade. 14
- Unaccompanied boys are at high risk of forced or 'voluntary' participation in violence and armed conflict. 15
- Orphanages, children's villages, or other group residential facilities generally fail to meet young people's emotional and psychological needs. 16
What about foster care?
- On average, children stay in foster care for 30 months, or 2.5 years. 17
- 118,000 children were waiting to be adopted on September 30, 2004. 18
- On average, those children waiting for adoption have been in foster care for 43.8 months, almost 4 years. 19
- Each year, an estimated 20,000 young people “age out” of the U.S. foster care system. Many are only 18 years old and still need support and services. Of those who aged out of foster care: 20
Outcome 21
Earned a high school diploma: 54%
Obtained a Bachelor's degree or higher: 2%
Were unemployed: 51%
Had no health insurance: 30%
Had been homeless: 25% 22
Were receiving public assistance: 30%
Is there any hope?
- Yes. There is One who infinitely loves each orphan and calls His people to join Him in caring for the fatherless. Each one of us can Show Hope to an orphan.
- If only 7% of the 2 billion Christians in the world would show hope to a single orphan, looking after the child in their distress, there would effectively be no more orphans. We can each do something.
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"Verily I say unto you,
inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
-- Matthew 25:40
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