A Note from the Director - It Doesn’t Make Cents (or Sense)

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’ Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” 1 Corinthians 1:18-20

Earlier this week a 23 year-old young man, a stand-out running back from the University of Alabama, and a current member of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers retired and walked away from the game of professional football. Reportedly, Glen Coffee walked away from a contract set to pay him upwards of $1 million over the next three years, not to mention a lucrative $828,000 signing bonus.

When interviewed by Matt Barrow’s a Reporter for the San Francisco Bee, Coffee said, “It was a struggle for a long time… football was no longer my dream. I found Christ in college (and) it changed my views on everything.” ESPN.com reporter Mike Sando commented on Coffee’s sudden retirement, “if he does have regrets years later, he will have missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

As believers so much of what we are called to do is seen as radical, crazy, insane, and even demented to the world in which we live. Everyone has an opinion, and most aren’t too shy to share it with you, especially when you’re a making a decision that seems like a radical abandonment.

Reading the Bible, we soon learn that a life devoted to Christ is a life that looks foolish to those who don’t know him. Isaiah was asked to prophesy to a people who would not listen or change their hearts. Hosea was asked to marry a harlot. Moses, slow in speech and despised, was asked to speak for and lead his people to a seemingly impossible task. The disciples were asked to lay down their nets, to leave their jobs and family and follow the Messiah. Jim Elliott was asked to go to Ecuador to a savage people whom later killed him, but received the Gospel in part to the faithfulness of his wife Elizabeth and their children. Glen Coffee was asked to leave football and millions of dollars. Countless numbers of families are called to rearrange their families, to travel to far off lands to graft orphaned children they’ve never seen into their families. Foolishness... Radical…

Meanwhile, the world exclaims, it doesn’t make cents – why throw away money, the American Dream, your life? The opinions and comments come from every direction urging you, pleading with you, to follow the path of the world. It can be deafening… I urge you brothers and sisters, listen to the still small voice of your Savior who pleads I have something so much better.

So the questions you must ask yourself are, “do you believe that Jesus is worth abandoning everything for? Do you believe him enough to obey him and to follow him wherever he leads, even when the crowds - and even your church - turn the other way?”

Adoption and orphan care are hard. They are life altering and life changing. Caring for orphans challenges your faith, yet strengthens your resolve and hope in your creator. Parents, friends, co-workers, and even those within your church will challenge you and question you on your commitment. It doesn’t make cents or sense at times, unless God calls you to it and then you have more cents and sense than ever.

In a recent article Dr. Russell Moore, the Dean of Students at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, likens adoption and orphan care to spiritual warfare. And the analogy is true. Satan does not want Christian involved in taking care of impressionable foster children who need stability, love, care, and Christ. Satan doesn’t want a radical Christian family impacting an orphan not only for today but for an eternity. Satan detests when Christians organize to spread throughout the world training orphans with life skills and the Gospel. It is a war, but we serve a victorious God.

“On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. In that day they will say, ‘Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.’” Isaiah 25:7-8

So the last question, since we are fighting a war, “Will you join the ranks?” We need families to help us rescue children from literally perishing at home and around the world through adoption and foster care. Any good army enlists many volunteers and we need people to stuff packets, answer phones, recruit families, mentor birthmothers and orphans, etc. And lastly every good army is well funded – can you share the resource of Heaven with Lifeline as we seek to eradicate the word “orphan.”

Partner with Lifeline today. Visit LifelineAdoption.org to donate to the cause, to apply to adopt, to sign up for a trip through our (un)adopted ministry and visit orphans in need, to apply to be a foster parents for a child in US foster care, or to volunteer in one of many ways for the sake of orphans.

Oh beloved, will you allow God to use you to impact the life of a child? Please do not hesitate to give Lifeline a call because we are here...

On behalf of the orphans.

Herbie Newell
Executive Director
Lifeline Children's Services
giving children a hope and a future
twitter: @hmnewell