Recently the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to encourage the closing of orphanages around the world. They didn’t say what would happen to the eight million abandoned or orphaned children currently in care facilities somewhere. Closing orphanages is a reasonable goal only if there are good alternatives. So far, very few viable options have been forthcoming, I doubt there will be. The UN is the same organization that has shut down international adoptions. It seems they are slowly taking away options from the ones who need options the most. Continue reading
Nothing Changes Unless…
Very soon, this decade comes to an end. The average person only experiences about seven or eight decades in their lifetime. Not that we should wait for the end of a decade to take stock, but it does mark the passage of time and tends to remind us that the clock is ticking. It’s good to look at where we are, what we’ve done, and where we’re going. Are we headed in the right direction?
“An unexamined life is not worth living” Socrates
A Different Gift
This time of year, so much of our time and energy is focused on finding the “right” gift. Currently, countless websites list “The best gifts under $20”, “The most popular gifts on Amazon”, “Top toys of the year”, etc. All these lists have one thing in common; we spend money to buy something for someone else. Retailers are trying to get you to spend money on gifts in their store or on their website. Let’s talk for a minute about a different kind of gift. Continue reading
Embrace the Mess That is Short-Term Missions
Most people are a complicated jumble of conflicting priorities, values, and reactions. Anyone who has worked with a homeless outreach, done marriage counseling, or worked with teenagers will tell you that the vast majority of people are messy. In a perfect world, things wouldn’t be so difficult. It’s not a perfect world. Not even close. Until we embrace the “messy,” ministry will be an unending exercise in frustration. Continue reading
DJ from the orphanage 