It's Not a Wave, It's an Ocean

Today I trudged down to my old stomping grounds and had a MEETING. It was a MEETING because I had to put on my serious face and talk about serious topics. Pastors (plural! with an s!) were there, and we all got the chance to sit around and talk about orphan care. Which kinda happens to be one of my fave topics, so at least there was that.

It's funny. One of the guys there said something that really struck me. At the time I was suffering from profuse sweating, hyper active heart beating, shallow breathing, stomach churning, light headed-ness, and overall nervous discomfort mixed with high anxiety,  so when he said it I knew I wanted to say something in response, but my thoughts were disjointed and well, the meeting really wasn't about me.

But I haven't been able to get his statement out of my head, and the more I think about it, the more I think it says something about how a lot of churches view orphan care ministries and perhaps why resources  - financial, as well as human - are slow to be deployed to adoption and orphan care centered ministries.

They see it as a wave. Or as an extra. A bonus ministry, if you will. Something that is happening right now, but in a couple of years will be over.

We were talking about "waves" and wanting to go where God is working. They were applying this concept to missions and other areas of ministry - as in, we would want to go where the Spirit of God is already at work. That seems pretty typical of what we all would seek out as believers. If the Spirit is moving - go there!

But when applying it to orphan care, the wave thing, it doesn't, um, hold water? There is an orphan care movement happening, yes. God's people are responding to His word. God's people are acting out His heart, reflecting His character. But God's heart, God's character, these never change. These are not waves to be caught. These always stay the same and have always been clear. Defend the cause of the fatherless. Protect the least of these. Care for the orphan.

Orphan care is a non-negotiable. Not an add-on, also-ran. Though it has been relegated to the side aisle and the back door, it is not a fad. It is not a wave to ride out that will then end and everyone can say, "phew, glad that caring for orphans thing is over now."

It is not a trending topic on twitter.

Orphan care is the very heart of God.

Over and over and over again God identifies himself with the orphan. The very least of these. The vulnerable. The unprotected, discarded, and forgotten.

Orphan care is the heart of God, and for that we can all be thankful. For if God did not care for orphans, then where would we all be? Without an Abba? Orphan care is not something that some hipsters came up with to have a worthy cause to promote, it is something that God came up with, and He came up with it before creation (Romans 8:29).

And it will always be a battle, and it will never be easy. It is one of the toughest spiritual battles because it is one of the most important matters of God. Winning back life, winning back children, winning back babies. Reuniting across racial lines. Love trumping flesh heritage and DNA. It's everything the enemy hates and that the Church should be about. But its hard. And sometimes the wave is really small. And sometimes, like right now, the wave swells and it gets a little more surfable. But its always there.

Adoption. Orphan Care. God's Plan A.

Strategies grow and change, but the heart, it stays the same.