Anyone who knows me knows there are a couple of things that I get all fired up about and perhaps even a little “John the Baptisty” about, and one of those things is children who are in need- and particularly the responsibility we share as followers of Christ to care for them. And not so much even the responsibility… but the privilege. Not that it is an obligation to hang over us- shaming us with guilt if we don’t do enough, rather following Christ can deliver us from our empty desires for futile things and fuel us with passion to love and serve in ways that beautifully reflect how He first loved and served us… and in ways He specifically says are important to Him. If God had New Years Resolutions, it’s one of those things that would always make the list. To do what is right and just, to defend the cause of the poor and needy… “Is that not what it means to know Me?” God says in Jeremiah 22.

Along these lines, many of you share that passion and encourage me and spur me on by your pursuit of Christ in it (see also the family we hung out with the other night who have four kids under the age of five- 3 of whom are/were in the foster care system. Holy cheerios, you are my heroes.) And some of you have emailed me or called me from time to time, asking me if I know of any opportunities where your family can partner together to serve those in need. It is not always easy when you have little ones of your own to know where/how/when serving together as a family might/should/could look like. So for those of you in that boat, I throw out this one easy way your family can help “the cause of the poor and needy”…

Not long after we returned from Africa last fall, we were sitting around the table with our kids one Friday night and one of them asked if we could go to Breadwinners on Saturday morning for breakfast. After all, it is one of their favorite places and we hadn’t been there in forever and how come we hardly ever go there, PLEASE? So Paul and I affirmed that yes, Breadwinners is one of the all time worthiest reasons to put on 5 pounds just by pulling into the parking lot, but did they know that for the money we would spend on just one breakfast there for our family, we could feed an entire family in Africa for one whole month?

Seriously, we could eat one breakfast there, or an entire family could eat every day for a month.

Now, I am not lobbying for Christians to boycott all eating out. I am not claiming that we never go to a restaurant. There are times for celebration and feasting, and I am so not out to make anyone feel guilty. Let’s say it together, She is so not out to make anyone feel guilty. But I did realize from that conversation that we are maybe missing a great opportunity to teach our kids sacrifice. Why not have times where we choose to forego an expense SO THAT we could take what we would have spent on ourselves and spend it on someone else? Wouldn’t that be a great exchange to practice?

I admit, we have been fans of this idea for a while but we have been terrible at pulling it off. Usually we start with some generic idea of giving the money away, but days go by and it usually falls off the radar despite good intentions.

So, my goal is to keep at least one “exchange/make a difference” opportunity up on this blog. If the Lord should so stir you to use this kind of scenario as an opportunity to shepherd your kids and serve others… And if you perhaps are challenged like I often am in knowing a great way to make a difference now… then hopefully it will be one possible help in your efforts, as I hope it will help me be more pro-active in ours.

I’m starting things off with an opportunity to help fund an adoption for a family who is trying to bring home three beautiful children from Ghana. (A family that takes me way back to my Denton Bible days.) You can click on the picture of the shirts they are selling over on the left to see their blog and find out more about who they are and where they are in the process. There are a thousand ways to love and serve, and maybe for some this is one of them.

(Please feel free to pass on other opportunities to me that you think others might want to know about too.)