a father to the fatherless

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling." Psalm 68:5

One day at school a couple years ago I got an urgent call from the music teacher. "Come get 'Mason'! I don't know what happened, but he's crawling under the furniture and crying." 'Mason' was a first grade friend of mine who came to visit me often. I brought him to my office and pulled out the play dough to help him distress from whatever had happened. Soon the story came out. The music teacher was having all the kids make cards for their dads. But you see, 'Mason's' dad had committed suicide when he was three. As you can imagine, while the teacher had great intentions, the assignment was quite traumatic for this little fatherless boy.

'Mason' was a 3rd grader this year, and for the first time, he didn't even once find his way into my office. Therapeutic miracle? Nope. His mother remarried, and he had a dad again. His history is not forgotten, but healing is taking place.

It's not at all uncommon to grow up without a dad in the US. An estimated 25 million (40 percent) children are growing up without fathers in the home. About 13 million (50 percent) children without fathers in the home have never even been in their fathers’ homes. (“American Agenda,” World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, December 13, 1994.)

But I am so thankful that Brett has his Daddy. Daddy has a lot of important things to teach him. Like how to be a committed packer fan. How to spit sunflower seeds. How to fix the dishwasher. How to treat a woman. How to grill the perfect steak. How to swing a bat. How to put faith and family first. And how to take the car to the mechanic. : )

Today, we were joking how before we know it, Brett will be looking down when he looks at his dad, as we anticipate Brett will be much taller than Bryan. When Bryan looks at Brett, he does not see his flesh and blood. But he absolutely positively sees his son.

John Piper, Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church of Minneapolis, is a strong advocate for adoption. Both the Lydia Fund (international adoption grants) and MICAH Fund (domestic African American adoption grants) originated and are primarily funded through his church. In his teachings and writings, he explains how the Bible teaches that God has adopted Christians into His family. He further teaches that "adoption at the horizontal level is rooted in adoption at the vertical level of God adopting us." According to Piper, adopting a child who needs a family exemplifies God's unconditional love and grace towards us who need a savior. He says it much better:

I must say in experiencing the adoption of our son, I have a much deeper understanding of my Heavenly Father's love for me!