Pure Religion

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; look after orphans..." (James 1:27)
Last night Rachel, Alison, Erin and I had the honor to play a small part in changing an orphan's life. Steven Curtis Chapman is an adoptive father and huge adoption advocate. He began a ministry called Shaohanna's Hope that encourages the body of Christ to care for orphans and also assists families with the financial burden of adoption. Last year we received a grant from their organization towards our own adoption process. It was a huge blessing & encouragement to us. At Steven's concert in Spartanburg last evening we were able to volunteer as Show Hope representatives for their "Change For Orphans" campaign. It is an effort to raise adoption awareness as well as to collect change for adoptive families. One of the best parts of the evening was seeing our girls worship with their new friends - four siblings recently adopted from Ethiopia. Talk about a glimpse of heaven! At the end of the concert, a check for $4,000 was given to a local family that is in the process of adopting their 5th child from China. Very cool. Fact - Every 18 seconds another child becomes an orphan. It must thrill God to see His children acting on this statistic & "making change".