PEA RIDGE — The term “the elephant in the room” refers to that which is obvious but which we often just ignore. For the American church, there are so many that one would be hard pressed to even begin to name them. Collectively, it is our obsession with self and our ignorance of a lost and dying world and, dare I say, culture, which is preoccupied with personal pleasure and gain and often times oblivious to the call of the Great Commission. We are all participants in this strange game of lip service Christianity and Madison Avenue living. (The computer I am typing this blog on could feed a family in Eastern Africa for a year!)
One of the opportunities that is right in front of us is the blessing that comes from Christian families doing foster care and adopting orphans. The ministryof foster care and adoption is a wonderful opportunity to share the blessings and bounty of our lives with children who are in great need.
Dorothy and I began foster ministry eight years ago when we were in Texas.
We did not start it with the purpose of adopting, however, we did end up adopting one of the children who was placed with us and it has been a tremendous blessing and in many ways we could not imagine our life without him! For sure, foster/adoptive care is not always easy, often times frustrating, always time consuming and, in the end, worth every second! I do not know if the Lord will allow us to foster in the future now that we are in northwest Arkansas. I cannot help but believe that we will, especially as more room is made available in our home. I cannot imagine life without our adoptive child and I thank God for the opportunity to have made a difference in the lives of those we were able to care for in years past.
My simple challenge on this Father’s Day weekend is that we might echo the words of the psalmist in celebrating a God who is the Father to fatherless and simply pray about the command of Scripture we find in James 1:27: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
There are thousands of children that need not only the care of a loving parent, but also the love of a forgiving Savior. Maybe God hasnot called you to foster or adopt, but then again, how will you know unless you ask Him?
There is an elephant in the room - let us not ignore him any longer.
(For more info on foster care or foster to adopt contact the local office of Department of Family Services.)◊◊◊
Editor’s note: Jack Maddox is the pastor of First Baptist Church, Garfield.
Follow him on his blog at www.wordpress.jackmaddox.com, or e-mail him at [email protected].
Church, Pages 2 on 06/13/2012