Scripture
God in His holy dwelling is a father of the fatherless and a champion of widows.
~Psalms 68:5, HCSB
Quote
“Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven.”
~Henry Ward Beecher
June talked me into watching Hallmarks CHRISTMAS ORANGES Monday night. It is a saga about a little orphan girl named Rose. It was set in the 1900’s long before DHR and the welfare system. Her mom put Rose in a basket and left her on the front porch of Mrs. Hartley’s orphanage. Mrs. Hartley was kind and gentle Christian woman who loved children but she died with the flu when rose was around age 10. Rose was shipped to Irongate, a rigid orphanage with a hateful head master. Rose not only persevered, she prevailed by bringing joy to the entire orphanage including Mr. Crampton, the hard head master. When Rose first meet Mr. Crampton, he was hateful and harsh but she converted him to being kind and gentle. There were a lot of sad parts in the movie and it disturbed my mind. I did a little research yesterday and discovered some alarming facts.
We have about 400,ooo children in our failing foster care system. One fourth of these are waiting to be adopted. Babies are in demand but older children are not. Most orphans learn early on that the longer you stay in the system, the less likely you are to find a home. Most of the children in US orphanages like the Alabama Baptist Children’s Home are not technically orphans, their parents are living but not fit to care for their children. Drug addition is a major problem in America. Parents get addicted to drugs and forget about their parental responsibilities. The international problem is much worse than here in the States. There are 150 million displaced children in the world and many of them are orphans.
I cannot imagine the horror these kids feel by not having parents who love them and care for them. Growing up in the 50’s I never had the least fear that my parents would abandon me. I know we support Samaritan Purse, the Children’s home and some work in Guatemala but it seems like we should do more. We must have a heart for the children if we want to resemble Jesus.
- I wrote this blog yesterday morning but my computer crashed and I lost it. I sat down last night during the storms and rewrote it. The storms did a lot of damage. Tracey and Kelvin were almost blown away. There is damage on Singleton Road, Kneel School Road, Boys Ranch Road and even South of Neel on Maddox Road. We did get some much needed rain but I didn’t get to celebrate due to the stress and damage.
- GATHERING tonight at 6:30.
- SENIOR ADULT CHRISTMAS this Saturday morning at 9:00 am at CB in Hartselle. We have over 20 coming. Not to late to sign up. Just tell Dian or June that you are coming so we can make seating arrangements.