Guys and Hearts

Orphan Ministry is so much more than merely putting out information and pictures and asking people to move. Orphan Ministry is a calling, something you feel in your heart. It's a Motion of Mercy, a little voice inside you, call it what you will. My point is, Orphan Ministry is something that takes your heart and soul. And that means it is honestly not for everyone. Some of us (myself included sometimes) shy away from pictures of emaciated children dying on the streets in the middle of Uganda. Or graphic depictions of all that has (and in most cases still is) going on in places like Rwanda, Libya, and/or Iran, where war tears everything, form buildings, to families, to legacies, to human beings apart. It is honestly heart-wrenching, and I admit I turn my face away in my own fear and pain sometimes. But that love that encompasses you when you reach out, trying to emulate the love of Christ to those who haven't seen it or don't know about it, is almost like a stronghold that keeps you up so that you can look in the face of tragedy and see good in it. So if we use our talents for God's Glory, I think we'd find that even if it wasn't everyone, a lot of us are called ot mission work and orphan care.

Now I've been exploring this community for close to a year now. I follow blogs, I connect with the authors, etc. And Honestly, I've met some of the best people in the world through it. So its really been a win-win, both for the Orphans who need our help and have reeled in another voice, and for me to find some great people of like mind. And as I've looked around the blogs, I've found we generally fall into two genres, categories, whatever. Insert your word. There's the Adoptors, who are taking the BIG step and adopting these children. They blog as they forge through paperwork, while they travel the country, and what life is like once they're home. Hey, MY family is one of them! And the second category is the Advocators. We who have felt the call to "produce" the former category, so to speak, by praying these kids into the arms of their forever families, sometimes it's tough, most of the time its rewarding. its just awesome. And as I have searched through the latter category, I've found something quite common:

There are a LOT of young girls advocating for these kids!

Now, 1st off, to any of you whom I have just described, HUGE kudos. You are facing facts that most adults wouldn't be able to, and you're DOING something about it! and most of you are only between the ages of 12 and 18! That's AWESOME! And to any other readers of the female gender, you do an amazing job helping orphans too. And you're the EXAMPLE for these girls! Good for you!

And yet, at the same time,

There seems to be an outright shortage of guys in the business!

Now, as I said before, Orphan Ministry is a Spirit thing that people can't just do, they're called to it. It's a call you feel straight down to your heart. And women, as the natural mothers and caretakers God created them to be, just have a much more natural inclination to help a child who's 2 feet long, 20 pounds and 4 years old than a guy, who probably just sees an undernourished little kid whose situation is sad.

But seriously guys, we're the natural Fathers to these kids! We need to STEP UP TO THE MIC!

Now to be fair, there are indeed male bloggers for Orphan ministry I have found. My own Dad is one of them. Mr. Nalle and Mr. Hinz are others. They care and make sure their wives keep them up to date on all the latest happenings in the Reece's Rainbow world. But I want to see more YOUNG GUYS! Like teen guys! Tori is friends with a couple of them. They are so awesome they went down to Peru during their spring break to help set up a celebration of an orphan's worth in an orphanage that houses 900 kids. THAT"s what I'm talking about. Now when I use the term "natural fathers," I don't mean we are necessarily the birth fathers of these kids, and We're DEFINITELY not the adoptive fathers, not at 15 and 16 years old at least ;) But if these girls can be like mothers to these kids, we can be like fathers! A male role model. And no family is complete without a Mom AND a Dad, So in the spiritual Family of the Church, we need to be there!

Girls, this is the one time I'll tell you to badger the tar out of any guys you know who you think would be great advocators, so go out, find 'em, and tell 'em to come back here! And for any guys who are reading this, lets rally together with all our fellow guy pals, show our hearts for these kids and Speak for the Silent as MEN OF GOD !

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."- Ezekiel 36:26-27