Not flesh of my flesh,
Not bone of my bone,
But still miraculously my own.
And, never forget, for a minute-
That, although you were not born under my heart...
You were born in it.
___________________________________________________

{So, my dad came to town the other day and we were chatting. As a soon to be grandfather of a trans racial adopted child, we had some things to discuss. His main question for me was, why? Why are we adopting? What has moved us to that decision?}

Here was my simple answer to that seemingly simple question:
Adopting is our piece of Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I was able to tell my dad that Kyle and I have been moved in a supernatural way to look deeply at the teachings of Jesus Christ and ask ourselves what our part is in all of it.

The primary teachings of Jesus while He was on earth concerned the poor, the afflicted, the dirty, the lonely, the hungry. The widow. The orphan.
Time after time he instructs the religious, the clean, the well fed, the rich...to take care of "the least of these". He even goes so far a to say that "whatever you have done for these, you have done for me." (Mt. 25) Basically, the overarching theme of His message concerns people that can not help themselves.

I shared with my dad how we have wrestled with this for years, even tuned it out at times by the overwhelming need in our world versus our feeble minds' comprehension of this call. (Surely, there is nothing we could ever do to make a difference, right?)
And, then-in a way that cannot be explained, Kyle and I were both moved to answer the cry of the orphan. We hear a child calling to us and we know that this is our opportunity to provide unconditional love/a family/a name/a place to belong/a mommy and a daddy/a sister/and a dog to a child that might not otherwise have this.

It was special to get to see my dad's face soften. His jaw relax, his eyes brighten as he could see our hearts in all of this. He then shared with me the ways that he has seen God use him throughout his career working in real estate, specifically in assisted living facilities for the elderly. He said that he felt that providing newer, cleaner, better staffed, dignified homes for those that can no longer independently care of themselves was his piece of the Gospel.

(That was sweet.)

You see- there many, beautiful pieces to the tapestry called the Gospel.

What is your piece?