try to keep an open mind...

i have been thinking about something for a while now.
i just wanted to share it to possibly challenge your thinking.


ok.
there seems to be a sort of "fad" that is going around. 
i like to look at different people's blogs from time to time.
there is something that i have seen on so so many blogs...
adoption.
now, i know that some of you probably just started to feel a little defensive, and that is not what i wanted.
i am not exactly sure that fad is the proper word choice,
but there are literally hundreds of blogs devoted to different families who are going through the process of adopting. 
typically, it is international, but not completely.


before i go any further, and lose some of my readers who might be passionate about adoption, let me say this.
i have a heart for orphans.  
i really do.
i spent a little bit of time volunteering at a girls home.


i remember one night sitting on the Mansion Lawn at liberty university.
i was talking to God and asking Him what He wanted me to do with my life.
i felt like God was telling me to care for orphans. 
it wasn't audible, 
but it was strong.
in my mind, i was thinking that i wanted to open a home for boys.
(funny, since this was before i had 2 boys of my own!)
maybe this sounds weird...
and i don't really know why i am blurting out my feelings here to just anyone 


but anyways...time has passed, and i still think that we will adopt.
strongly.
me and adam have already begun the process we need to be foster parents
after going to the dominican republic one summer, and haiti the next...seeing the need...my heart just longed even more to be able to adopt.


so that is my background. 
now back to what i was saying...


without doing perfect research, i would say close to 80% of these blogs have one verse posted somewhere on their page.
can you guess what it is?


james 1:27.


do you know what the verse says?
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.


here is my point.
all of these blogs are using THIS verse to say that God commands us as christians to care for orphans, to look after them, to adopt them.


i have seen shirts, hats, bags, key rings...all with this verse on them.


here is my question.
what are you doing for the widow?


this verse is clearly saying that we need to look after orphans.
i am not debating this.
but in literally the same sentence we are told to look after widows in distress.
i mean, read the verse!
"look after orphans and widows..."
it's like the same breath.
the same command
the. same.


so i searched.
i searched for blogs that had anything to do with widows.
i found...none.
i didn't see little fund-raisers on the side asking for help to relieve my widow.
i didn't see shirts made up with how many widows there are in the world
(there are about 142 million orphans by the way. and i still don't know how many widows.)
in fact the 6th result down in my google search for how many widows there are was for WINDOW replacements!!!


while i am certainly not against the idea of adoption becoming a fad
i just think that we need to be true to the whole Bible.
not just the parts that make for cute pictures in a blog, great stories that can touch your heart, and hundreds of followers of your blog.
am i making sense?


maybe God would be calling us to care for widows!


if you are one that takes this verse as a command,
please take the entire verse as a command.




just some food for thought.
and i hope i didn't get anyone mad at me in the process!


and by the way...i have 2 beautiful sister-in-laws, 3 precious cousins, (just to name a few) who i love, thanks to adoption.
i am definitely for adoption!