This wait no matter how long signified that "Alonzo", "Sadie", and "Sophia" are worth whatever the cost. That the line was drawn that they would no longer be orphans but beloved son and daughters. It is a legacy of children that wait so long to come home even when a family has been found. And it is a legacy of children that have an even longer wait to be seen and to know love.
Yesterday the adoption community lost a dear friend, Elizabeth DeHority, who advocated for orphaned children tirelessly even when she became sick and throughout her last days. She did not become history but rather left a legacy. A living, loving legacy that continues to hope, seen in the lives of every child she helped to bring home.
The next two book excerpts are a little long. They are part of history that speaks vividly about the choices we have in the legacy we leave. I hope you enjoy them.
Radical by David Platt (p 169 - 171)
"In the late 1940s, the United States government commissioned William Francis Gibbs to work with United States Lines to construct an eighty-million-dollar troop carrier for the navy. The purpose was to design a ship that could speedily carry fifteen thousand troops during times of war. By 1952, construction on the SS United States was complete. The ship could travel at forty-four knots (about fifty-one miles per hour), and she could steam ten thousand miles without stopping for fuel or supplies. She could outrun any other ship and travel nonstop anywhere in the world in less than ten days. The SS United States was the fastest and most reliable troop carrier in the world.
The only catch is, she never carried troops. At least not in any official capacity. The ship was put on standby once during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, but otherwise she was never used in all her capacity by the U.S. Navy.
Instead the SS United States became a luxury liner for presidents, heads of state, and a variety of other celebrities who traveled on her during her seventeen years of service. As a luxury liner, she couldn't carry fifteen thousand people. Instead she could house just under two thousand passengers. Those passengers could enjoy the luxuries of 695 staterooms, 4 dining salons, 3 bars, 2 theaters, 5 acres of open deck with a heated pool, 19 elevators, and the comfort of the world's first fully air-conditioned passenger ship. Instead of a vessel used for battle during wartime, the SS United States became a means of indulgence for wealthy patrons who desired to coast peacefully across the Atlantic.
Things look radically different on a luxury liner than they do on a troop carrier. The faces of soldiers preparing for battle and those of patrons enjoying their bonbons are radically different. The conservation of resources on a troop carrier contrasts sharply with the opulence that characterizes the luxury liner. And the pace at which the troop carrier moves is by necessity much faster than that of the luxury liner. After all, the troop carrier has an urgent task to accomplish; the luxury liner, on the other hand, is free to casually enjoy the trip.
When I think about the history of the SS United States, I wonder if she has something to teach us about the history of the church. The church, like the SS United States, has been designed for battle. The purpose of the church is to mobilize a people to accomplish a mission. Yet we seem to have to have turned the church as troop carrier into the church as luxury liner. We seem to have organized ourselves, not to engage in battle for the souls of peoples around the world, but to indulge ourselves in the peaceful comforts of the world. This makes me wonder what would happen if we looked squarely in the face of a world with 4.5 billion people going to hell and twenty-six thousand children dying everyday of starvation and preventable diseases, and we decided it was time to move this ship into battle instead of sitting back on the pool deck while we wait for the staff to serve us more hors d'oeuvre.
Are we willing to obey the orders of Christ? Are we willing to be like him? Are we willing to risk our lives to go to great need and to great danger - whether it's in the inner cities around us, the difficult neighbor across the street, the disease-ridden communities in Africa,or the hostile regions in the Middle East? Are we willing to fundamentally alter our understanding of Christianity from a luxury-liner approach that seeks more comforts in the world to a troop-carrier approach that forsakes comforts in the world to accomplish an eternally significant task and achieve an eternally satisfying reward?"
While that illustration was used for the church... I can't help but think even beyond the church as a whole, what about us as individuals? He said "things look radically different on a luxury liner than they do on a troop carrier." Are we looking different? You can't miss radically different. Radically different stops people right where they are and causes them to ask why.
Another part that shouts to me is, "And the pace at which the troop carrier moves is by necessity much faster than that of the luxury liner. After all, the troop carrier has an urgent task to accomplish; the luxury liner, on the other hand is free to casually enjoy the trip." 153 million orphaned children seems extremely urgent.... 153 million children without a family, without a place they call home, without the simple assurance that love brings, yes that is for sure more urgent then most of the things we would seek to become a luxury liner.
It really comes down to knowing what we were made for. The SS United States was created for battle. That purpose was never achieved everything it was made for was lost as it was transitioned into a luxury ship.
Have we lost our purpose? Have we sought after more things while there are people dying from the most basic of needs - clean water, shelter, LOVE.
Here is a little history about John Harper. John Harper knew his purpose. He lived his purpose!
From - Stories for the Extreme Teen's Heart (p107-109). True Hero of the Titanic. Moody Adams, from The Titanic's Last Hero.
'John Harper was born to a pair of solid Christian parents on May 29, 1872. It was on the last Sunday of March 1886, when he was thirteen years old, that he received Jesus as the Lord of his life. He never knew what it was to "sow his wild oats." He began to preach about four years later at the ripe old age of seventeen years old, by going down to the streets of his village and pouring out his soul in earnest entreaty for men to be reconciled to God.
As John Harper's life unfolded, one thing was apparent... He was consumed by the Word of God. When asked by various ministers what his doctrine consisted of, he was known to reply, "The Word of God!" After five or six years of toiling on street corners preaching the gospel and working in the mill during the day, Harper was taken in by Reverend E. A. Carter of Baptist Pioneer Mission in London, England. This set Harper free to devote his whole time and energy to the work so dear to his heart. Soon, John Harper started his own church in September of 1896 (no known as the Harper Memorial Church). This church, which John Harper had started with just 25 members, had grown to over 500 members when he left thirteen years later. During this time he had gotten married, but was widowed shortly thereafter. However brief the marriage, God did bless John Harper with a beautiful little girl named Nana.
Ironically, John Harper almost drowned several times during his life. When he was two and a half years of age, he almost drowned when he fell into a well, but was resuscitated by his mother. At the age of twenty-six, he was swept out to sea by a reverse current and barely survived, and at thirty-two, he faced death on a leaking ship in the Mediterranean. Perhaps God used these experiences to prepare this servant for what he faced next.
It was the night of April 14, 1912. The RMS Titantic sailed swiftly on the bitterly cold ocean waters heading unknowingly into the pages of history. On board this luxurious ocean liner were many rich and famous people. At the time of the ship's launch, it was the world's largest man-made, moveable object. At 11:40 p.m. on that fateful night, an iceberg scraped the ship's starboard side, showering the decks with ice and ripping open six watertight compartments. The sea poured in.
On board the ship that night were John Harper and his much beloved six-year-old daughter, Nana. According to documented reports, as soon as it was apparent that he ship was going to sink, John Harper immediately took his daughter to a lifeboat. It is reasonable to assume that this widowed preacher could have easily gotten on board this boat to safety, however, it never seems to have crossed his mind. He bent down and kissed his precious little girl. Looking into her eyes, he told her that she would see him again someday. The flares going off in the dark sky above reflected the tears on his face as he turned and headed toward the crowd of desperate humanity still on the sinking ocean liner. As the rear of the huge ship began to lurch upwards, it was reported that Harper was seen making his way up the deck yelling "Women, children, and unsaved into the lifeboats!" It was only minutes later that the Titanic began to rumble deep within. Most people thought it was an explosion; actually the gargantuan ship was literally breaking in half. At this point, many people jumped off the decks and into the icy, dark waters below. John Harper was one of these people.
That night 1528 people went into the frigid waters. John Harper was swimming frantically to people in the water leading them to Jesus before the hypothermia became fatal. Mr. Harper swam up to one young man who had climbed up on a piece of debris. Reverend Harper asked him between breaths, "Are you saved?" The young man replied that he was not.
Harper then tried to lead him to Christ only to have the young man, who was near shock, reply no. John Harper then took off his lifejacket and threw it to the man and said, "Here then, you need this more than I do..." and swam away to other people. A few minutes later Harper swam back to the young man and succeeded in leading him to salvation. Of the 1528 people that went into the water that night, six were rescued by the lifeboats. One of them was this young man on the debris. Four years later, at a survivors meeting, this young man stood up and in tears recounted how that after John Harper had led him to Christ, Mr. Harper had tried to swim back to help other people, but because of the intense cold had grown too weak to swim. His last words before going under in the frigid waters were, "Believe on the Name of the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved."
Does Hollywood remember this man? No. Oh well no matter. This servant of God did what he had to do. While other people were trying to buy their way into the lifeboats and selfishly trying to save their own lives, John Harper gave up his life so that others could be saved.
John Harper was truly the hero of the Titanic.'
Our experience of knowing and choosing what we were made for will probably not look anything like John Harper's with being on a ship that is sinking and having to lay down our lives. Yet, we all have that same choice to make.
Once we know what we were created for, once we know we are to be love, once we know we are to feed - invite in - cloth - look after- and visit, we have that choice to make too if we are going to live out that purpose or seek after that luxury ship.
Matthew 25:35-40 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
As our pastor was teaching the other day, he shared this verse from Matthew 21
Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King
21 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
What is the Lord telling us He needs... does he need our homes to open up, does he need our families to love... does He need our hearts so that whatever it is He needs of us we trust to give a yes whether it makes sense to us or not? I want to live like that!
Lyrics:
Live Like That
By: Sidewalk Prophets
Sometimes I think
What will people say of me
When I'm only just a memory
When I'm home where my soul belongs
Was I love
When no one else would show up
Was I Jesus to the least of those
Was my worship more than just a song
I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You
If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back
I want to live like that
I want to live like that
Am I proof
That You are who you say You are
That grace can really change a heart
Do I live like Your love is true
People pass
And even if they don't know my name
Is there evidence that I've been changed
When they see me, do they see You
I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You
If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back
I want to live like that
I want to live like that
I want to show the world the love You gave for me
I'm longing for the world to know the glory of the King
I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You
If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back
I want to live like that
I want to live like that, I want to live like that
