Accountability

This morning our church, along with many other churches across the nation, commemorated Orphan Sunday.  It is a time to raise awareness of the plight of the orphan both here in the U.S. and around the world and it is a call to action.  We can't all adopt, but each one of us can do SOMETHING on behalf of the orphan.  The following was shown:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gi_ko02i_A and it broke my heart.  My thoughts immediately turned to the children that I met less than two weeks ago who want a family more than anything, but no one has chosen them yet.  I have talked to them, played with them, and hugged them.  It is personal now.  They are not just masses of nameless faces.  They are living, breathing, beautiful creations of Almighty God who have been dealt a harsh blow and lost their first family.  They are living in an orphanage because no one has stepped forward to claim them as sons and daughters.  I considered how hard it must have been for them to see other children leaving the orphanage with their forever families while they continue to hope and pray that God will send someone for them.  Can you even imagine how God must feel when he sees so many of us wrapped up in what kind of house we are going to live in or what kind of car we are going to drive or where to take our next vacation when there are children who don't know where their next meal will come from or where they will lay their heads tonight?  I am talking to myself as much as anyone else.  I am comfortably parked on the couch typing on my computer with a blanket tucked around me and a full belly while there are people suffering from sickness and starvation and any other number of things that I will never have to contend with.  It is WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.  It is much easier to turn a blind eye than to confront the reality that is our world.  When all is said and done and I stand before my Maker, I don't want to have to explain to Him that I used the resources He blessed me with for my own pleasure while the rest of the world suffered.  We have followed God's leading in adopting a child, but that is ultimately a blessing for our family.  We have "sacrificed" in order to raise the funds for our adoption, but even that has not been too difficult.  I realize that what we are doing is not changing the world, but it is changing one little girl's life.  I'm not sure what the future holds for our family, but we are not the same as we were when we started this journey.  Our eyes have been opened and we are accountable for what we have learned.