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Save the Goldfish!

I went to the eye doctor yesterday and couldn't help but to think of what an absolute luxury that was.  Do you know how much those pieces of equipment costs and it cost me all of $15 for the service?  I couldn't help but to think of those who don't have insurance, who don't have the funds to even go to doctor when they desperately need one, for those around the world who will die because they cannot in all their dreams pay a $2 prescription med costs for a malaria pill that would save their life!

The doctor to patient ration in Ethiopia is 1:42,000. 1 Doctor to 42,000 people. 

94% of births do not have a skilled attendant present.

Life expectancy is age 57 with nearly 1/2 the population under the age of 14. 

40% of children under 5 are moderately to severely underweight.  

Eye appointments? A luxury.  Insurance? A blessing.  Helping others who have not?  A gift of life because to ignore the help really does mean death to another person.  Sponsor a child or give a one time gift for medical needs for children in NEED!  www.compassion.com or worldvision.org are just a few.  Not wanting to over commit to monthly sponsorship?  These same organizations have one-time gifts that can make a world of difference!

2 Corinthians 9:7 "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."  

Pray and ask God how you can help others.  Maybe it's not through sponsoring a child, maybe it's not through adoption, or helping in a soup kitchen for the poor.  Although these things are honorable before the Lord, He does have many ministries that require many hands and feet of His people TO DO something.  Doing nothing isn't helping anyone.  Something, may only help one.  But isn't that 'one' worth it?  You were worth it to God.  Each 'one' He loves and pursues desiring for that 'one' to come to Him.  If God didn't care about 'one' than why did the Good Shepherd leave His sheep of 99 to go after the 'one?'  He cares for each and every one.  Ask God what you can do, He'll let you know, then please, act upon it.  Love is an action.  It has hands and feet that move and serve and give.  Without it, nothing gets done and not one is the recipient of love!

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute."  Proverbs 31:8 

Let me ask you to think upon something:

If God asked me to save the goldfish through clarity and confirmation, and even though it made no sense to me, I follow His words and obey.  If I sold all I had, if I wore orange everyday to raise attention for the sake of the goldfish, if I ...you name it.  Would you think I was crazy?

Would you question me and judge me for my mission? (yes)  But it was assigned to me by God Himself!

In questioning the mission, one would be questioning God - am I right?  Questioning God, questioning the person who God put in charge to carry out a plan of His, and questioning the worthiness of that little goldfish - or whatever the cause - that one could possibly be such an important part of God's will! Do we value life?  Do we value what God values?  Do we seek to do His will and carry on His plans even if it makes no sense to us?  We don't think as God thinks and we don't love as God loves.  Only through the power of the spirit within us can we receive His eyes to see and His heart to love others.

This plan of His- well, God said to do it, so it must be important to Him!  God said to do it, so He must have confidence that His plan has purpose.  God said to do it, so He has faith in those He placed the challenge in that they would carry out His assignment!  Am I right?

Relax, we are not trying to be "fishy" and to show our support for the goldfish or asking others to wear orange today to show their love for goldfish, or donate to save the goldfish! But....

But, we have been sent on an adventure placed in our hearts by God -the mission to adopt- and we are turning our faith into action by advocating for the orphan, for the poor, for the oppressed, for those who have no hope in Jesus.  Some do say we are crazy.  Some do look at us like we are asking for help to save the goldfish!  Can I ask you to do something?  And it would be this: Trust us in what we have been called to do in turning our proclaimed faith into action for what God wants for our family.

Doers of the word, not hearers. This is what He desires for of each of us in following through with the mission that He has places in our hearts.  It's not always our own ideas or our own 'wishes come true.' Following His plans seem really difficult at times. We are reading the God given scriptures and trying by God's strength to follow through on His commands with His help and guidance every step of the way!  No bonus points are in it for us or for you, God loves us just the same.

We aren't a super-hero family, or 'amazing people'- we are just doing what we must do for it lays that heavy on our hearts! Adoption wasn't our idea.  We never even considered adoption when we had infertility issues before child #1.  And now at child #4 (miracles), increasing the family size isn't what we are after.  We are after God's heart and obeying what He has purposed for us. We can't earn the love of God through works, but we can show the love of God to others in how He works through us! Won't you let Him work through you?  Amazing and awesome things will happen for the glory of His name and the building of His people.

James 1:27 "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." 

Caring for the poor, widows, and the orphans, it's a given -it's what pure religion "means" in "the sight of God" -  it's expected of us all. If it wasn't so, the bible wouldn't say.  If it wasn't so, the bible would be optional of what parts and pieces are for you to follow, live out, and be an example of, and a witness for.

"Well, that's your passion, don't expect everyone to jump on board with you." Is what (some of) our peers, church goers, and family will even say to us when we get discouraged in our adoption processes. We don't believe this.

"That's your passion."  Right?  Wrong.  It's God given directive to allll those who call on His name. No, not all are called to adopt, but all ALL are called to care for the poor, the orphan, the widow, ..... and therefore YES you do play some part in caring for the least of these, the children, His children -the people of this world.

"I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!" Matthew 25:40 

If we can pick and choose what parts of the bible are our passion and what parts are left for someone else to do, then we are creating a god to emulate us in our personal preferences and comforts.  We were created in His image, not Him created in our image.  God is a jealous god and He wants all of you.  A good friend once taught me, "the Bible is not a buffet. You don't take what you like and leave the rest."

Yes, we believe that God gives us all unique gifts and talents, desires and wants, but all of these are to be used for His glory and to bring honor to His name by following the commands and example that He has set before us through Jesus Christ. Jesus gave, Jesus taught, Jesus loved so much to all the people of the world.

Yes, we believe that we are a body of Christ with parts that all have unique and equally important functions in the role of fulfilling His purposes.  This is more fuel to the point that we are all called to Love with a Love of action!  Yes, in different ways and in different parts, so no not all are able to or purposed to adopt, but all are able and purposed to be a part of His love for the least of these and for peoples on this earth.

Look at Job 31:15-23 (click the link)

Orphan care is a scriptural assignment to all God's people.  Our family just happens to be the part of the body that is the arms to embrace the children.  You may be the fingers that take photos to raise funds at the Easter photo shoot, the hands that mix the cupcake batter for a fundraiser, or the feet to join us in various orphan awareness events, or the mouth that prays and spreads the word to others.  Maybe you are the ears to listen when times are hard, or the elbows for nudging when we get off track.

"Well, that (loving your neighbor/fellow humans, orphan care, feeding the poor, witnessing) is not what I am called to do. It's not my talent, not my thing." Oh really?  It's God's 'thing'! Again, because God doesn't tell us to Love one another as we love ourselves? Yes He does.  "Well, I haven't found my place in life yet.  I don't know how I am to be used."  Don't over-complicate the words of Jesus and simply start here:

Luke 10:27 "And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.  And love your neighbor as yourself.  

Here we are commanded ("you shall") to do 2 things as believers:  1. Love....above all, Love....Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind and 2. love your neighbor as yourself.

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,1 but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it his not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.


Where is the love?  Where is your passion in action?   What is your passion? What direction has God given you?  If you answer, "to save the goldfish because God told me to", then amen sister or brother, we're here for you- because we're here for God.  We believe in His people and in the work He has called us to DO as individuals in our God given talent, our God given passion, and our God given purpose which all collide to make one beautiful picture of the Love of God!

Don't know your 'spot' in life? Simply turn to the Lord and ask Him.  Ask God to open your eyes to see the world as He sees the world.  Ask God to fuel up a passion in you, a talent that can be used, a cause that needs your help.  When we ask, He will respond.  Listen and be still with the Lord.  Pray and read the Bible.  Listen to pod-casts and Christian radio, etc.  God will speak and I pray that you will do mighty and awesome things because of Christ's strength and presence in your life!

Blub...blubb... He even cares about the goldfish!  What do you care about?  Is it what God cares about?













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