One of my orphans called me Papa today. Then he came up to me and gave me a huge hug and wouldn’t let go. His name is Cero but in Spanish it sounds like Celo. He is 7 years old and he is super cute and probably the most rowdy kid I’ve ever seen in my life.
I love this kid so much and I would adopt him right now if I had the capabilities to do so. I would adopt them all if I was able!
These kids really are something else.
Cero, Louis, Samuel, Daniel, Emmanuel, Mario, Carlos, Jorge, Jesus, Ernesto, Hernando, Albierto, Juan Carlos, Manuel, Nelson, Anthony, Viktor, Kevin, Julio.
All of these kids are precious to me and they all have a story. They all have worth. They all have a future. And none of them have parents in their lives.
So for one of them to call me dad really does mean a lot to me. It also makes me really sad. I am nowhere close to being ready to be a father and I am only able to see these kids 3 times a week. Even then I have to split my time up between like 20 kids.
They have so little experience at being loved consistently that the amount of love that I am able to give them makes them assume that this is what it must be like to have a dad. And maybe it is in a way.
But I wonder what God feels when we call him Dad. We are all spiritual orphans before being adopted into God’s family through Jesus and so I wonder if how I view these kids is how God views us sometimes. The significant difference is that God does have the capabilities to adopt us all, and Jesus has already done the paperwork. That just leaves us with the decision to want to be a part of God’s family or not…and I for one wouldn’t have it any other way:)
