If you were sitting next to me in my office you would have seen two seemingly unrelated items on my computer screen late this morning. The first was a piece of music – an arrangement of “This is My Father’s World” – that I am considering to have our church choir sing. The arrangement is powerful, beautiful, and awe-inspiring. The second was an email update from the adoption agency my wife and I are working with.
For those of you who do not know, Casey and I are pursuing an international adoption. We have now completed the bulk of our paperwork (which is considerable!) and have been approved by our adoption agency, the state of Minnesota, and now the U.S. State Department for an international adoption.
The update today was to inform us (and others) of what is happening as we await a recommendation by the adoption agency for children who could be placed with us. Our adoption agency owns and operates a babies’ home in Liberia where infants to young children can come as they wait for adoption into the United States. Right now the workers in Liberia have brought five new children into the home. It is entirely possible one of those five could be my son or my daughter.
To be honest, I felt overwhelmed in soul. My thoughts went immediately toward the stories of how those children arrived at that home. All came out of some set of tragic circumstances or they would not be in the position to need adoption: parents who died, shattered homes, terrific poverty, malnutrition, ect. . . Beyond this I thought about the wait both myself and my wife are experiencing. If one or more of those children were added to our home, it will still be quite some time before it could happen. I ache to think of the care they will miss during that time away from us. The home in Liberia does a wonderful job caring for young ones but it is not the same as God’s design of a stable and loving family.
As I was processing these thoughts I looked up at the screen and switched back to the piece of music I was reviewing – “This is My Father’s World.” I focused on these words – “This is My Father’s world, O let me ne’re forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.” There are no doubt a myriad of wrongs that brought those five children out of their homes to await adoption – wrongs that are horrific to think about. It is not good that they have to wait to find a warm embrace of a loving mother and father. Evils like these abound in ways that we cannot begin to count all over our planet.
But my Father – my God – is ruling. The battle is not done. He, through Jesus, will win over all these evils one day.
“Dear Father, my all-gracious God. I ask for your mercy for these five children. Be merciful to their families who gave them up in hopes of a better life for these children. Be merciful to those who will care for them while they wait a permanent home. Be merciful to those wait for children of their own. I long for your Son Jesus to come and right the many wrongs on this earth. May He come and come soon. I ask these things in His name. Amen.”