This is lengthy. Will you read it all anyway?
We bought a new (used 2006) van today. I've had a van for years. I love having a van. Two months before Levi was born, Luke was rear-ended while driving it and the back row was down. The latch was jammed and the back row has been unusable since. So we've had a van that for the last two years only has seats for four people. We want to adopt again. We plan to adopt again. Soon. We need a vehicle that will hold more children. Hence, the new van today.
I posted a pic of me in the van on FB. Within 2 hours, I had 45 'likes' and many comments about my van. Love it! I love it when people acknowledge my posts, esp. ones that are exciting to me like that one! Let's face it. I wouldn't have put it on FB if I didn't want people to see and like or 'like' it.
This past Wednesday, I posted yet another link to the Stuck petition. A petition that takes all of 30 seconds to sign. A petition that will be given to Obama and Congress next Friday 5/17 after an orphan march in Washington, D.C. A petition that simply states that we need to make international adoption an easier and faster process so that children aren't dying while waiting on their families. And yes. This happens. Orphans are dying every second who, with a family and medical attention, many with families trying to get there, would live a happy, healthy, normal life!!! Two days later, it has two 'likes.' (Granted, maybe that's because signing a petition about dying orphans isn't something you like, but there has been little activity!)
If you haven't already, would you sign this petition? Would you share it? If not, can I ask you.. really ask you, not rhetorically, why not? God's heart is the orphan (among other things). If you are a Christian, you are commanded to care for the orphan. We post about 'being the good in the world' whether Christian or not. Why not take this easy chance to do just that? To be the good? To care for the orphan? This costs nothing but 30 seconds.
As I mentioned, this petition is being delivered one week from today! One million signatures are wanted. There are around 14,500 right now. Baffling. Just baffling. This petition has been up for months! When the Boston Marathon bombing happened, millions (or more?) rallied. And rightfully so!!! When 9/11 happened, the world rallied. And rightfully so!!! When any tragedy in this country and around the world happens, we rally! We pray. We help. We give. We scream about it on the internet. We act.
Orphans are dying EVERY.SECOND. This is a DAILY crisis. Yet after months, there are 14,000+ signatures when there should be millions.
When I write about and advocate for the orphans, it has NOTHING to do with me. This is NOT about me. This isn't a pity party or a cry for people to like or 'like' me or to get even one blog comment. It's to provide awareness. Show the need. And as I do so, I pray that God will use me and my not-so-eloquent words to convict, not guilt, convict others and cause then to be brokenhearted for these children... to do something about the orphans and this crisis! I will continue to advocate, share, beg, cry and plead even without the likes and comments.
However, I feel much like Chelsea does in a post she wrote not quite a year ago when she was 21 on her blog in a post called I'm sorry, did my status about dying orphans inconvenience you?. We post pictures of our food, funny things our kids say, grammar pet peeves, rants, videos, jokes, quotes like "Be the Good in the World"... scripture.... and don't get me wrong. I post (most) all of these things. I enjoy posting them and I love reading/seeing them from my friends!! Here's another one.... we post our pro-life and humanitarian quotes, articles and thoughts, and many of us 'anti-abortion'/'pro-lifers' are ready to scream and judge people about the murder of babies, but we not stepping up to help the babies who are here who NEED our help! Are DYING without it. Hypocritical much?!
Here are some of Chelsea's words. Emphasis mine. I urge you to read the whole post linked above.
See, I sometimes feel a lot like I'm shouting at a brick wall. Children are dying. Children are starving. Children are literally begging for families to bring them home, and people over here do not care in the slightest. We hear the person who tries to raise awareness. We see them provide practical and simple ways that we can help. But we don't do anything about it. I am just one person, and I'm limited. I was so idealistic when I first got involved with Reece's Rainbow. People don't help orphans because people simply don't know how big the problem is. Okay. So, if we tell more people about the orphan crisis, more people will be available to help, right? Wrong. Awareness is much more difficult than that. It's not a matter of people not knowing. It's a matter of people choosing not to know. Some people shout about the plight of orphans while others purposely ignore. A child dies alone in a crib, and a rich adult in America covers his ears because he doesn't want to know. It makes me feel helpless. You can shout all you want to, but you can't force a person to take his hands off his ears.
Maybe I wouldn't be so angry if it weren't for the fact that so many of us who ignore the cries of the orphans just happen to be Christians. Christians! As in, followers of Jesus Christ.So again.. this is not about me. It's about the orphans. The least of these. And I'm angry that Americans.. that Christians, the body of Christ, are failing these children.
Do something. Sign this petition. Share it. Make a difference because it matters. Because God commands you to care for the orphan.
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