Sunday, October 25, 2009

New Appreciation for Great Fathers

I've had new appreciation recently for some of the great fathers God has placed in my life. In August I had the opportunity to attend two weeks of amazing training in how to recognize and document human trafficking and modern-day slavery. While I was there, I realized how prevalent the dangers are. I saw that I could very easily have fallen into the recruiters' traps at certain vulnerable stages of my life. And I couldn't but help but think of our "adopted" African granddaughter. Beautiful, photogenic, outgoing, mature-looking, and innocent. Vulnerable. But I also learned that kids from good families and with good father relationships are not so vulnerable. And I thought of Whitney, leaning up on my husband's arm. She's always had a very close relationship with him, in a very wonderful kind of way. I always appreciated it, but never as much as now.

Then today I visited my oldest daughter Carrie's church. Her husband Bill is being sent to Afghanistan for a year right after Thanksgiving, leaving Carrie with the sole care of their seven children, all still at home. Bill shared with the church what he'd be doing on the Agri-business team with the Indiana National Guard and the elders of the church prayed for him. But before that, their church has a protracted time of singing and worship. There is an area to the side where people can dance to the Lord. There are also flags people can take and wave in praise to God in time to the music. My granddaughters are big fans of this, so as soon as they arrived, they began dancing and waving their flags. At one point I looked over. Bill was standing in the middle, his hands raised to the Lord. The girls were skipping and dancing around him in a circle, waving their flags as if he were a Maypole. It was very touching.

Later I looked over again. Bill was standing there swaying to the music, and his daughter Serena and him were just hugging one another--a long, extended hug that went through at least three songs I think. I was so touched that tears just started streaming down my cheeks. I felt like I could hardly breathe I had so many emotions washing over me. Concern--yes. That hug was a definite, "Goodbye, Daddy. I want all the hugging I can get while you are here." Sorrow--yes. Why do they send men who have seven children? Joy--most definitely. That hug was the kind that said, "Everything is right between me and my Daddy."

And I was so thankful again for both the son-in-laws God has placed in my life. Bill and Steve, our second daughter's husband, are both wonderful, involved, committed fathers who love God and love their children. I don't know why I should be so blessed to have such wonderful men in my life. I know some men have caused their women great pain, but I have to say, I have new appreciation of the great fathers in my life. It's one of the most precious gifts God could have given our granddaughters, and they will be less vulnerable to those who would want to recruit them for evil purposes because they have such fathers in their lives. Thank God.

Would you pray for Bill's safety and for Carrie and her family in the year ahead? I would deeply appreciate that.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

African Albino children need love, acceptance

Following the nationwide television special on the tragedies being faced by albino children in Tanzania, our organization, Every Child Ministries, has received many inquiries about our work with albino children in Africa. Praise God, we have also gained child sponsorships to enable several albino children to go to school!

As I think about the experience of Every Child Ministries in serving albino children, I realize that the first things albino children need are love and acceptance. They need to know that although they may look different than other children around them, they are valuable human beings like everyone else. It is easier for them to understand that God loves them when they know that others love them, too. Our gifts of sunglasses and sunscreen to protec their sensitive eyes and skin are just tokens to show them our love and acceptance by offering them something truly helpful to them.

The first two steps of our program for albino children are well underway. We have developed teaching for the children, their parents, their friends, and their schools, and begun distributing it by email. We've begun making contacts with albino children and their families and distributing the sunglasses and sunscreen. Our next step will be to place some media pieces to help move the public perception of albino children in a more positive direction. We realize that people's perceptions change slowly, so please pray for this effort!

The most outstanding thing about her trip was...

Last night we enjoyed a wonderful time with friends and partners at our annual IN Banquet in Crown Point, IN. I was especially struck with the reports of Katie Suitor, last summer's mission team leader to Uganda. She said that the thing that struck her most about her time in Uganda was ECM's sponsorship program. She said she noticed the HUGE difference between children who were sponsored in our program and those who were not. She could even tell from looking at pictures, even if she didn't know who the kids were. The sponsored kids looked healthier, were happier, cleaner, better dressed, and somehow more hopeful. The sponsorship program is labor-intensive for Every Child Ministries, so I was really encouraged to hear what a difference it is making in kids' lives. Thanks for that encouragement, Katie.

We gained five new sponsors during the evening, and we are very thankful for that. Many more are waiting to be sponsored.

By the way, I want to send a heartfelt thank you once again to everyone who worked so hard to make last evening a success. We only came halfway to our offering goal for Uganda, but that is a good start and we are thankful for the progress made. Many, many volunteers worked hard to provide this big event. We really appreciate all of you.