Adopted Kids

Maggie's friends slept here last night and rose at 3:30 to catch an early plane to St. Vincent for a mission trip. One of them reported that her parents now had 7 kids because they had taken in 2 children from Guatamala, a 9 year old boy and an 11 year old girl. Both children are sweet, and I know from experience, their mother adores them.

I also know from experience that that mother is in for a roller coaster ride. "Yes," says, Rachel, "pray for my mom."

When we got our boys from an orphanage in Ukraine, I was aware that there could be "adoption issues" attached to them, but I chose to fully rely on God to train me rather than to delve into textbooks of psychology for answers which may or may not apply to our situation. Instead of me hearing the voice of the Spirit, human authors could put worldly notions in my head, ideas that do not take into account that God is the Father to the fatherless and that He already has been working in a customized way in that child's life, and I had best NOT step in without consulting Him.

It turns out to be so true. And God being the gracious Father of the fatherless, He keeps right on working in young hearts. Only now, He occasionally allows us a window into their souls to see what He is currently cleaning up in there.

The most recent is that something, as they say, turned up missing at our house. This brought up the huge issue of trust and whether things have been missing occasionally in the past as well. And whether this loving mama has turned a blind eye because she wanted to think the best.

........Then last night, downtown, as I stood with my hand on the back of a very serious man who asked me to pray he'd be free from his drug addiction, I saw it all clearly and, oh so simply.

I head myself saying, "Tony, we all have idols in our life. Some of us love a person more than God. Some love alcohol more than God, some love our stuff or money more than God. When we do that, we break the very first commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve."

If you look at a syringe or a packet of white powder or a bottle of pills and want that more than God, that is your idol. And you are sinning against God's first commandment. So it is a matter of having a false god. You are saying to that white powder, "I am looking to you for my provision, my joy, my security, my healing, my very life." It is does not makes sense that you should make a god out of some white powder. Give it up and worship the one true God."

I reminded my boys this morning how another of our friends, A.C., stood up at the meeting last night and bravely shared how he had been in the "doghouse" for 2 years and that his life, even when he was good, was a fake good life for us all to see, that God was NOT impressed by his being an usher in church now.

This past week A.C. had come to Amy's and confessed it all, and last night he entered the REAL, narrow gate, the gate of obedience that leads to life. Last night in front of a big crowd of Believers and sinners, skeptics, drug addicts, lame, sick, 'church folks' and street buddies, A.C. was baptized in a big, round, blue, swimming pool with Bible verses painted round it and on the bottom of it.

John 3:36 says, He that believes on the Son of God has eternal life, but he who does not OBEY the Son of God, the wrath of God abides on him. This applies to the rebellious ones downtown or uptown, the drug addicts, the thieves downtown or uptown, it applies to the "good" folks and the bad, the biological children or the adopted kids.

The narrow gate is the gate of obedience to God's laws. Or the wrath of God abides on us.

Trust AND obey, for there's NO OTHER WAY. Trust AND obey. This applies to the church kids or the orphanage kids. We all gotta do it.