Adoption

Adoption - I was just spending some time on Rainbowkids.com. While looking through the photos and files of waiting kids, I was struck by the large number of waiting kids (~800+ waiting kids at www.rainbowkids.com.) I clicked on one African child and was surprised to see this adoption fully funded by grants.

With adoption, it boils down to God telling you to adopt. No one can make you adopt. Offering it for free isn't even enticing enough.

With me, I've followed God direction down the adoption path a couple of times. Each time, God has clearly communicated His will and given me guidance to find each of my children. At the end of each rainbow, I found my child waiting to be brought home. Like a lost lamb longing for the fold, not just any fold. A specific fold. Home.

Should you adopt? I don't know. Should you seek God's advice and will about what to do? Of course you should.

Drive Thru History

Dave Stotts, a history-travel guide of sorts, does a smash-up job infusing vibrant appreciation into history. Drive Thru History has three basic sets of DVDs.

• Ancient History: Incredible on-the-scene exploration of history from a Biblical perspective.
• Foundations in Character: These are my favorite - biographical video sketches of American patriots.
• American History Series: Brand-spankin'-new travel-logs through American exploration and colonial history.

Consider picking up one of these three sets. If you shop around, you can find them discounted to a pretty reasonable price.

Who is Your Barometer?

If you're like me, you put life on a self-absorbed cruise-control until issues build up and your wife lets you know that something has to change. For me, I then run a cycle that ranges from denial and excuse-making to grudging admittance and finally I resort to reactive problem solving.

My barometer is my wife's threshold for the chaos that accompanies my self-absorption. Instead, maybe I can begin to garner a proactive position of leadership in my home by using the word of God as my barometer.

Generations Radio - Dad-Focused - Christian Worldview

WWW.GENERATIONSWITHVISION.COM

Don't Be Content With The Middle-Class Life

Life is full of business, surprises, stressful moments, family times, and time with friends. Don't settle for the "I'm doing a nice job raising my family" fake-out. Sure, discipling your family is priority number one. But, you should be killing two birds with one stone. Disciple your family in the word daily and disciple your family in making disciples weekly.

In our culture, you must go past the "Look at me - I don't cuss or steal or leer at women" witness at work. Truly, you must invite people into your home for dinner. You must build relationships outside of work with coworkers. The sure-fire way to get a chance to disciple and share Christ is through hospitality to strangers and acquaintances.

Living the cloistered life of home and church and "being a good witness at work" doesn't cut it. Sure, it's a life. But, it is a selfish life. Not the life of a harvester. Take a risk - invite some unbelievers into your house for dinner and a little game of Chinese checkers. And, you'll be surprised to see opportunities to share Christ springing up. What will take you years to accomplish at work may take place quickly around your dinner table. Like I said, don't be content with the middle-class life of safe Christianity.

Homelessness at the Rest Stop

I tried not to make eye-contact but she stared at my kids hanging onto my two hands. Her sign was an old pizza box-top and had something about being stranded scrawled in Sharpie. A few minutes later, we emerged from the stench of the roadside restroom. She looked eighty but appeared about forty - the tracks of meth all over her as she hunched in a dirty blue sweatshirt.

I gave her thirteen dollars "from Jesus" and she looked at my son and said, "you be sure to say your prayers." It was one of the saddest sentences I've ever heard. There was a preventative longing in her voice. I put my hand on her bony shoulder and prayed for her in her abandonment.

Turned towards the car a minute later, anger burned hot as my eyes caught a quick movement. Her 35ish year-old pimp quickly pocketed the money, lit up, and disappeared back in to the background, leaving her waving half-wittedly at my car-seated family as we took the clover-leaf back onto the south-bound.

What should I have done? What should I be doing? Under The Overpass by Mike Yankoski shines some Jesus-light onto this situation.

Eaten Alive

Picture this - You're standing in the urgent care center on the corner of Monroe and 13th. The young mother in front of you clutches her insurance card in one hand and caresses a young son's hair. The 5-year old's stomach is distended and pokes curiously out of his Sponge Bob shirt. You wonder why that kid looks pregnant. His hair also appears abnormal. Instead of a natural black, it is reddish and brittle. The admittance nurse glances across the desk and whispers audibly to her coworker, "Another one of those kids being eaten alive. Incredible! It only takes one pill that costs 2 cents." With that she says flatly, "Next." "I can't afford it," you hear the mother say...

If that happened in your urgent care center, you'd do something about it. And, if you didn't do something, your government would. But, this is happening in India. Thousands of children are eaten alive by worms. Imagine being sick most of the time and because the meager meals of curry aren't going to your cells. They are going into the stomachs of parasites and worms living in your tummy.

Help is there. India Partners from Eugene, Oregon (a group I trust and have looked into) accept donations and make sure that the pills are purchased and transported to clinics in the slums of India. Think about what an impact $100 bucks would have if it only takes $0.02 to bring health and relief to a child being eaten alive.