Pure Religion

James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father considers pure and undefiled is this; to care for widows and orphans in their distress and to stay uncorrupted from the world." That doesn't sound like a suggestion to me but how do we do that? I have read a quote that if 8% of people claiming to be christians adopted one orphan, there would be no more orphans. I don't really know if that statistic is true but I do know that it would make a serious dent in the numbrs of children that do not know the love of a family, do not know what its like to be tucked in at night or prayed for or have their art work hung on somebodys refrigerator. Do I think every christian is called to adopt? No! But I do beleive God has called all of us to help the orphans. How do we do that? First of all by praying. Does God want you to adopt an orphan? Thats between you and God but you can no matter if your called to adopt or not, you can find a specific orphan to pray for. You can advocate for that child on a blog, Facebook, at church, whereever...You can help a family in the process of adopting. Help them with their fundraising...its expensive to save a childs life. You can find families in the process of adopting and children still needing homes at www.projecthopeful.org and www.reecesrainbow.org  I know a great family who's adopting a 14 year old boy with special needs who need some help with fundraising. They're having a walk-a-thon for their boy on May 5th. If you cant participate you can sign up to be a "virtual participant". Go to www.asonacrossthesea.com or to Project Hopeful and click on "Family Found". Their son is Marat and all pledges are tax deductable through the Project Hopeful website. God has commanded ALL of us to help widows and orphans; what does He want YOU to do specifically?

Ok...I'm a little nervous about doing this since I've never done anything like it before. Last year my youngest daughter, Anne-Marie was going to Haiti for spring break to help with an organization called Hand to Hand. I was worried about her safety and started looking up information on Haiti and the political situation at the time since they would be holding national elections during her stay there. I followed several links and came across a picture of an adorable little girl named Irina on a website called www.positivelyorphaned.org The article said she is HIV positive and has cerebal palsy. She is also an orphan. For more information about children with HIV and HIV in general go to www.projecthopeful.org The article also said that she had been transferred to a mental institution. I still didn't fully grasp the significance of what that really meant. After doing some research, I found that children in most Eastern European countries with disablilities like cerebral palsy, Downs syndrome etc... are routinely sent to mental institutions at around age six. When children in the US are preparing for kindergarten, kids in EE are being sent to institutions where they literally sit and rock all day. Nearly 90% die within the first year. Irina is still alive and very much in need of a family. Go to www.reecesrainbow.org to see more children available for adoption. More tomorrow....