Love Hopes All Things

I'm going to confirm this next month when I'm actually in Haiti and can ask around...but I suspect there are lots of pastors caring for groups of children not their own. And not just in Haiti, but in other poor pockets of the world. It is a natural outgrowth of the life of Christ in a person, to take care of the fatherless and widowed.

We just happened upon this one. Although Pastor Val is an extraordinary man in our eyes, we have not met all the others.

I think this because I heard a Haitian friend tell me that yes, he's heard of a lot of pastors who do just what Pastor Val does. They seem to have the capacity to care for many.

Could I?
Could you?

And I heard about a large orphanage in Uganda, where a lady took in her grandchildren as one by one, her adult children died of AIDS. What started as a large family of Granny and the grandkids, turned into over 500 children 20 years later.

So here's a challenge: when we hear about a child or a teen that needs some extra help or care, do we ever think we should take them into our home? Do we even have opportunity to meet people in need like that, or do we live in comfortable suburbs with little or no interaction with the poor and needy? Actually, they may be in our backyard. I've heard many stories of teens who's parents have 'kicked them out' for one reason or another. More than likely, the teen was driving the parents to the brink, but would we be willing to put ourselves out there and take them in for a while? It could save a life.

But the risk is often a broken heart. In the movie, "The Blind Side," optimist Leigh Ann Tuohy takes in a young homeless athlete. The story has a happy ending; Michael finds love and acceptance in their home and goes on to succeed, choosing not to go back to the bad neighborhood. We didn't see Michael choosing the dysfunction, the gangs, the drugs, the crime, the dead-end track. We all probably had a warm fuzzy leaving the theater thinking, "I could do that!" "Surely a child from the hood would want to live in a nice house with all the trimmings."

But many times, the teen from a broken and dysfunctional background can't adapt to a somewhat normal lifestyle and doesn't make it. That is heartbreaking. You can lead a horse to water... It is so frustrating to want something so badly for a child, and have them come so close to achieving it, only to go back to the pattern that is familiar, though unhealthy.

So Christian, be on the lookout for those in need. Be willing to lay your heart on the line to be the one to save a life. Occasionally one will make it out, and make it in life. But we can't stop trying because we calculated the risk, and it doesn't look promising.

Love hopes all things.