Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

| by archiveworldraceblogs

Today was our first time going to the orphanage here in
Sumbawanga, and let me tell you, it was SO amazing.  We’ve spent quite a bit of time in schools
and with Compassion International kids, so going into the orphanage, I expected
that same type of environment but it was so different. 

From the moment we walked through the gates into the
orphanage, the kids (ages ranged between 1-4 yrs old) ran up to us arms wide
open.  They were ready to be loved on and
man, were we ready to love on them!! 

One little guy, Case, got my attention right away.  He had the same zest for life as my nephews
and I was soaking it up!  He was a little
stocky man, about 2 years old, with the hugest smile and the most joy in his
eyes.  I fell in love with him pretty
instantly.  I spent the morning tickling
him, throwing him in the air, dipping him… oh, we had a blast.  My team and I were in our element., so needless to say, we cannot wait to go back.

I never considered
adoption before today.  I thought I would
have my own babies (one day far from now), and I’d be completely happy and content in
that.  Today, the Lord changed my heart a
bit.  After spending time with these
adorable, loveable, children I realized that we need to love on them as much as they need to love on us. 

The Lord calls us to care for one another, love one another and to be His hands and His feet. 

*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.*  – James 1:27
 
As followers of Christ, we are called to care for the orphans.  I feel like we’re fighting half the battle by standing up against abortion and being Pro-life.  However, if we’re going to be Pro-life, than we need to be open and willing to care for the children that are born that may not have families to go to.  It doesn’t seem right to tell someone to have a baby that they may not be ‘ready’ to have and then when they actually listen, we don’t step in to help them raise that child.  We’re called to love one another…this doesn’t just mean share our possessions (although many of us could use that lesson as well).  It means to share our love, our time, our wealth so that we’re all better off. 
 
*We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what he did.  We can applaud what he preached and stood for without caring about the same things.  We can adore his cross without taking up ours. 
– Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution (HIGHLY recommend reading this book!!!!!)

Rest assured, I’m not planning to come home with any babies
and I don’t plan on starting any adoption paper work in the near future, but
it’s something that God seems to have put on my heart so we’ll see where that
leads me.