Are you part of the seven percent?

I very rarely post on this page anymore, but that doesn't mean I'm not writing. I just often find that the topics I have to write about are more suited to our KidMin blog. You can check that out at kidworkz.blogspot.com

However, today my heart is heavy with a topic that is very dear to me. Those of you who know me, know that I am passionate about foster care and adoption. I credit a lot of this to many of my youth leaders growing up. They were passionate about these things and that passion just overflowed from them. Mike & Annie have adopted a child domestically. He is a great kid who is thriving in their home. Shawn & Colleen adopted one of their sons internationally. Tony is an amazing soccer player, great brother, and happy to be loved. Mike & Sarah have four children of their own, but that has not changed their passion for adoption. If they could fit a few more bunk beds in their home, I'm sure they would be thrilled to add to their family.
From a young age, this passion for adoption was stirred in my heart. This love and passion has only grown over the years. However, more recently I have found myself believing that the church is falling short in this area. This Friday, thousands will gather in Washington, DC on the anniversary date of Roe v Wade calling for laws regarding abortion in the United States to be overturned. Yet, in the United States alone there are over 100,000 children already waiting for homes. If laws regarding abortion are repealed this number will only increase. James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress."
Jesus himself saw that the government was often not the answer to many of this world's greatest problems. We have the ability to change the system. Imagine living in a country where there were no orphans. Imagine a place where rather than thousands of children waiting for homes, there were thousands of homes and families waiting for children. What love that would show. What an example of Christ this would be.
"If only 7% of the 2 billion Christians in the world would care for a single orphan in distress, there would effectively be no more orphans." I read this statistic for the first time this past Sunday. I can't seem to get it off my mind. 7% seems like such a small number. It seems so easily achievable. Yet, I know as some of you are reading this, you're going, "That's not me." I'd like to challenge you to ask yourself, "Why not?" Or maybe you're saying, I care about adoption, but I can't bring a child into my home right now. There may be many reasons for that to be true. So I would ask you to consider supporting those who can. Educate yourself (and others) on adoption. Promote its value to those in your family, church, community, circle of friends. Offer support to those who are pursuing adoption. They will need a community around them to help support emotionally, physically, and most of all prayerfully. Consider supporting adoption financially, whether by supporting a family who is adopting or an organization promoting and facilitating adoption. Stand beside those families who have brought a child into their home. They need you too.
Or maybe God is stirring your heart. Maybe He is calling you to be part of the 7%. Let me celebrate with you. I know He is calling me to that. I don't know what that looks like. I don't know how it will play out in my life. However, I am excited. I am so thankful that He is choosing to use me as an instrument of His love in the life of a child.

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." -The Lorax

Community

We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race. ~Cicero

I feel like I am in a season of my life where God is teaching me a lot about community. This has not necessarily been a quick or an easy lesson to learn just as building of a community is not quick nor easy. God has blessed me with some amazing communities as I have continued this journey He is leading me on here in Knoxville.
One community has truly been a few different groups of people that have become interconnected in various ways coming together. It is not uncommon to find us out together on any day or night of the week. This could be at one of the many restaurants and business in Knoxville, at the dog park, in one of our living rooms, or (a favorite) one of our front porches.
It is with these people that I am reminded that we were never created to be alone. They are the ones who celebrate with me when things are going right. Sometimes they are the ones who cry with me when things fall apart. When I need to share my ideas or I simply need someone to listen, these are the people whom I know I can count on. These are the ones with whom I can dream big dreams and pray big prayers.
While in some ways I know I have always had people like this in my life, it is different now. We are intentional about spending time with one another. We ask tough and deep questions...ones that we may not know or understand the answers to. These are the people who purposefully get involved in my life and allow me into theirs. Now that I have such community, I don't know what I did without it.
I also feel as though having such community gives me a better understanding of God and the community He desires to have with us. He wants to purposefully be involved in my life and wants me to allow Him to be a part of it.
Just as Cicero said, we were born for community with the human race, to unite with fellow men. I am so thankful that in this season of change in my life, God has not only provided me with an amazing community of people to encourage, support, and challenge me, but He has also invited me to commune with Him.