Day off?

Parents, is there ever such thing as a Day off? -- Jan 24, 2008
Today has been restful and productive. I joked with Chelle yesterday that today would be a down day, to basically do nothing. Well, on further thought, that was not checking in my spirit. So I mentioned to Jenn last night, that today, since there was nothing officially on the schedule for us, we should do some pre-planning for when we get home and start our “new life” with the kids. Jenn thought that would be a swell idea so after around noon we got started putting our thoughts together and recording them on the lap top. We first discussed things that we wanted to communicate with the kids before we left UA, while we still had the blessing of language-speakers nearby! Praise the Lord once again for Denis, Oksana, Lori and G! We began talking with Lori about some of our ideas, and we will continue to tweak these as time gets closer to the end. We are not sure where any of the kids we are adopting are in their English understanding and speaking, so we need to make plans as if we are starting from scratch. We think John and A might understand some, more than they are attempting to speak when we have been around them, but can’t say for certain. We began to think ahead to that jumping off of the language barrier, and made plans to discuss such things as travel and navigating the airport, what life would be like at home, meeting our families and church families, school and daily schedule, discipline and how it would be handled, family time together, and some overall goals about how to succeed in all these areas.
Wow, sounds like a lot, but I know that doesn’t even begin to really scratch the surface. Can you imagine back to when you were age 12-14 and the things that were already going on in your life? I can. I work with students and do my best to help them see God through this pivotal time in their lives. Change is one thing, but all these major life changes (cultural, family, home, school, introduction of God in heavy doses, language… and the list can continue) is huge. This equals CHANGE in mass quantities … and we gripe when one little thing changes in our own life and feel that uncomfortable itch that just begs to be scratched. How do you scratch so many itches? Haha TMI (too much itching for those of you Olivtians that remember Joseph’s famous response to Mrs. Jenn).
The only answer is Jesus. Yes, it sounds like the common Sunday School answer, pray and read your bible, but it makes much sense when you think about it. How did anyone throughout scripture deal with change? Think with me for a moment about how Paul dealt with change? He met Jesus, and everything he had done leading up to that point in his career made him a persecutor of Christians, and thus of Christ himself. Yet, Jesus shows up, and at first He is given the gift of salvation and then the gift of blindness. Yes, I said the gift of blindness. How could something so unpleasant, debilitating, crippling, inconvenient, and unusual be a gift? Read it with me and remember for yourself, or see for the first time in Acts 9:1-20. Paul is on the road to Damascus, and Jesus appears to him and he is struck blind. Not the typical salvation experience most of us expect to hear about or experience. Hey Paul I am Jesus, I have a message for you, quit persecuting me and my followers, and go to this place that I will tell you to go to and wait for direction. Paul must be thinking … um aren’t you forgetting something Lord? I can’t see. How can I go anywhere? Is this my punishment for killing Christians? Will I be like this forever? Oh, the questions I can think of, and I am not even experiencing it. Can you imagine what kind of change of life Paul now found? He needed total dependence on others for sight, where there had been total independence before. Paul now required help for daily activities. Scripture tells us that he didn’t eat or drink, but if he had chosen to, he would have had to have help to do that. One of his main senses was gone, and he didn’t know if it was ever coming back, or if he could develop other skills to compensate. We are told he became weak, and nothing else is said about comfort, or any other message from Jesus during those three days. Are you starting to feel Paul’s situation? Ok, the complaining and sarcastic side of my personality says, “Welcome to Christianity, no thanks!” This doesn’t sound like an abundant life to me.
Now, picture this. You are a 12-14 year old orphan. Society has said you are basically worthless, or at least subpar to other people. Others in your orphanage are getting to leave and be part of families in other countries, and you hope for the day it will happen to you. You have visited America and other places, and maybe even deeply yearn for family because of what you experienced there. Your past haunts you, because you are lied to and told that your desires, hopes and dreams will never happen and you are wondering why this is all happening to you. Why were you abandoned? All you can think is that you are destined to have a miserable existence. Then, a ray of hope, a family comes from another place and invites you to join their family. Wow (excited, hopeful, good news), Wow (oh no what, have I agreed to? Can I do this? Will I succeed? Will they send me back?) A flood of unknown. A choice is made to go into the unknown, and there is an immediate crippling, if you will. Whether it comes in the form of blindness, speech/language, adjustment issues, a new culture to navigate, you can see how this “gift” may seem more like a curse. All you hope for is someone to relieve this blindness. Someone take it away. And with time, it is relieved, or you given the strength to compensate. But there is a definite period of discomfort; a period of change that you can’t escape.
Now, this didn’t happen or will not happen the first time we meet with our kids here in Ukraine. But eventually, it is something that will occur in one form or another with our children. Guiding our children through this time is imperative for their survival in one of the biggest changes of their life. I pray that as we endure this space, as many other families we know and love are enduring this space now, that we have an end result something like Paul’s. I pray that we will be used as Ananias was, to provide healing to the hearts of these 5 children. I also pray for other Ananiases like each of you reading our blog that can provide healing in areas that we cannot in the lives of our children. I rejoice for the lifting of the blindness even now in our children and for the day of their salvation. Like Paul, I know each of them is destined for more than they can imagine right now. Would you join me in prayer for them and their response? May their response and ours be like Paul, who immediately got up and was baptized. He immediately professed Christ and followed Him.
Though this process will come with discomfort, I am trying to look forward to the bumps in the road, because I know what blessing there can be along the way and what joy occurs when sight is restored or new senses are found.
Blessings to you all!
Until He is Known
Papa Mark