Adoption — Faith On The Move

COUNT YOUR CHANGE.
CHANGE A LIFE.

Close your eyes. Count to 18. Another child has just been orphaned.

Now, imagine that in the next 18 seconds — or the next 18 minutes — you could do something to help.

According to Steven Curtis Chapman, you can. In fact, that’s the philosophy behind his latest effort to get orphans from around the world into the arms of loving families. It’s called Change for Orphans, and it’s just about the easiest, most accessible way for people just like you and me to help the body of Christ care for orphans. The concept is simple enough: Collect change, bring it to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert and drop it off.

The money will go to one local family who needs a little extra help bringing home an orphan…and making him or her part of their family.

And while this effort is Chapman’s latest in the cause for orphans, it’s really just an extension of faithfulness that he exhibited years ago. Shortly after he and wife Mary Beth brought home their first adopted child (they now have three adopted children), they founded an organization called Shaohannah’s Hope to provide families with funds to aid in the adoption process. “There wasn’t a place for people to go and be encouraged in that way,” says Chapman. “Or to be educated and inspired to take this journey into adoption.”

Five years later, their faithfulness has given grants to countless families who are doing their part to end the plight of orphans around the world.

“I have come to see what a main thing this is on the heart of God,” he reflects. And why shouldn’t it be? After all, God’s the greatest foster parent of them all.

“To be a parent and to have that relationship brings such a deeper understanding,” says Chapman. “Now it’s a whole new deeper level of understanding. I’m God’s adopted son. That whole reality is like…wow.”

Wow indeed ...

And so, just as God adopted his children…take a moment, count your change … and think how you might help bring more children into the arms of parents and families who can love them, heal them and introduce them to a heavenly, eternal love.