A Father's Day Challenge

It's Father's Day here in Australia. For the past few days I've been thinking about orphans (who am I kidding? I think about orphans every day!) and ways we can care for them. I've especially been thinking of those orphans who aren't adoptable. Some are in countries where adoption just isn't an option, as there are no provisions for that in place or adoption has been banned. As disciples of Christ, not all of us are called to adopt~but each of us is commanded to care for the orphan. So on this Father's Day I'm issuing a challenge~that we would pray and ask our Heavenly Father how He is calling us as individuals (or families) to care for the fatherless.

Here are some possibilities:

1. Support someone else who is adopting. Get creative and do some fundraising for them!

2. Sponsor an orphan or a ministry who does orphan care, the monthly cost is usually less than a meal out for most families.

3. Seek out a single mom and her child(ren) in your church or community and come alongside them. Invite them over for meals, offer to babysit, help with car and other repairs, etc.

4. Become an advocate for the fatherless on Facebook and/or your blog. One beautiful example is Julia at Micah Six Eight .

If you have any other ideas, please comment!

From riches to rags~everyone needs Jesus

Dennis is still making appointments with Sean to share the gospel with people in Mombasa. Yesterday, he introduced Sean to Madame Akarim, a prominent Muslim woman who graciously invited him into her upscale home to talk about Jesus. She had heard "beautiful things" about Jesus, but was confused. If Jesus had died for the sins of the world, then why must people go to hell? Sean was happy to explain God's plan of salvation to her. She invited Sean to come back any time, and we pray that those seeds planted will come to fruition in her life.

After that, Sean visited a leper camp with Action Ministries. They are working with beautiful people who have been affected by this grotesque disease called leprosy. Just as we read in the Bible, these lepers have had to deal with the same stigma, rejection and neglect. The exclusion from society and years of being unloved has run so deep that it has had a severe affect on their children and grand children; who are not lepers, but still outcasts because their family members are.

Through the work of Action Ministry there is a beautiful restoration taking place. The camp was once known as "Tumbe" (meaning a place for rejected people), but they have renamed it "Blessed Camp". Through a feeding program, monthly medical outreaches, educational programs and the founding of a church, they are meeting physical and spiritual needs that have been untouched for years. The work that is being done is incredible… a work of hope and healing.

I've posted this video before, but in case anyone missed it~I'll post it again. These precious people, whom Jesus died for, are considered the outcasts of Kenyan society. But praise God, He has not left them comfortless. There are still many needs at Blessed Camp, many homes that need concrete floors (rather than dirt) and other repairs, food, education for the children, etc. We pray for God's provision for us to be able to help meet those needs.

Action Ministry~no longer rejected, but BLESSED

Action Ministry from Know Think Act on Vimeo.

Visit Peter Ochiel's website at actionministrykenya.com/

Mercy House Kenya

The Mercy House exists to provide alternative options for pregnant girls living in the streets of Kenya. The Mercy House will aid them in education, nutrition, housing, prenatal care, Bible study, counseling and job skills for sustainable living. Check them out at mercyhousekenya.org

How do we care for the least of these?

By loving the stranger:

For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Deuteronomy 10:17-19

By giving of our increase to feed the stranger, the fatherless, the widow and the full time ministers of the Lord:

At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest. Deuteronomy 14:28-29

By treating them justly and sharing our increase with them, remembering that we were once in bondage:

Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to pledge: But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing. When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing. Deuteronomy 24:17-22

By defending them, delivering and rescuing the poor, afflicted and needy:

Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. Psalm 82:3-4

By relieving them and advocating for them:

Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Isaiah 1:17

By sharing our bread with the hungry, bringing the homeless into our homes, and covering the naked:

Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Isaiah 58:7 By showing mercy and compassion to them:

Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. Zechariah 7:9-10

By visiting them in their affliction:

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. James 1:27