Defining Moments: A Highlight Reel

Have you ever had a moment that captured you, a defining moment?  We hear that a lot in the sports world.  As a St. Louis Cardinals fan who has followed most every game for over 20 years, there are certain moments that define my “fan-ship.”  Among so many others that stand out, there was McGwire and Sosa in 1998.  There was the month in 2003 when no one could get Bo Hart out.  There was So Taguchi’s game-tying homer against the Cubs in 2004 that forever earned him a not-so-repeatable middle name from Cubs fans.  There was the unimaginable World Series title of 2006, defined in my mind by Adam Wainrwight’s devastating curveball in Game 7 of the NLCS that froze Carlos Beltran for strike three to send them there.

And then there was last year – WOW! Tony LaRussa, the longtime manager who retired after last year, always pushed his teams to “play a hard nine.”  Nothing captured this never-say-die attitude quite like David Freese’s performance in Game 6 of the World Series last year.  After allowing a pop-up to doink off his head earlier in the game, Freese stood at the plate in the bottom of the 9th inning as the potential last out of the game and was down to his last strike before launching a two-run triple to tie the game and then ending the game with a walk-off homer two innings later.

There are already moments from this year that, as a Cardinals' fan, I will always remember.  Daniel Descalso and Pete Kozma's heroics last Friday night, for starters...

A Personal Orphan Care Highlight Reel

I have found that as I have engaged in orphan care ministry, there have been many defining moments.  A video here, a song there, numerous Scriptures, and numerous stories have served to convey God’s heart for the orphan to me and to others.  I began this blog with My Taco Bell Moment, which served as my call to pursue orphan care as a ministry at Colonial Hills Church, where I serve as a small groups pastor.  There have been many other moments that have strengthened that call.  Welcome to a glimpse of my highlight reel:

• Eighty babies in a room in an Eastern European orphanage and no crying because no one ever came when they cried.  How is that a highlight, you ask?  Because it propels people to action.
• Calling the Pillstroms from my room in Poland as they were in China to get Lynleigh a little over a year ago.  Seeing and holding her for the first time a week later.
• Passion 2012 and their focus on significantly decreasing human trafficking in this world.  I wasn’t there, but my friend Josiah was, and he personalized everything I was hearing about what God was doing in his generation.  Songs that came from the same conference:
• Kristian Stanfill’s “Who You Are”

You hear the cry of every broken heart
You give the hopeless soul a brand new start
You lead the captive in Your freedom song
This is who you are
And in the night when all our hope is lost
You are the one who won’t give up on us
You hold the orphan in your loving arms
This is who you are

• Christy Nockel’s “Sing Along” (Click here for the story behind the song and the original first line)

From babies hidden in the shadows
To the cities shining bright
There are captives weeping
Far from sight
For every doorway there's a story
And some are holding back the cries
But there is One who hears in the night

• Seeing Eric Ludy’s “Depraved Indifference” video for the first time.  Tears every time since.  I can’t wait for our church to see it on Orphan Sunday in less than three weeks.

•  The captivating lyrics of Needtobreathe’s “Slumber,” a song made popular in our church by young adults preparing to serve orphans in Russia:

All these victims
Stand in line for
The crumbs that fall from the table
Just enough to get by
All the while
Your invitation
Wake on up from your slumber
Come on open up your eyes

• Stories of kids taken into foster care with their belongings stuffed into a garbage bag.  The look of people’s faces when they hear that, the look of “THAT”S NOT RIGHT!”

•  More than any of these, God’s Word from Genesis to Exodus to Deuteronomy to Job to Psalms to Isaiah to Ezekiel to Hosea to Zechariah to Galatians to Ephesians to James (and that’s just off the top of my head) that makes it clear that our care for the voiceless is a direct reflection of God’s care for broken, sinful man.  Orphan care is a picture of redemption.  It is the Gospel.  The Gospel defines who I am.  It should define what I do.

Have you had a moment or moments that have propelled you from comfort into the most uncomfortable world of standing up for the defenseless, the voiceless?  What did it for you?

Thanks for reading.  Join the conversation.

4theVoiceless,
Al