When Rachel and I traveled to pick up our adopted daughter, Eden, in Ethiopia, we had the chance to spend time at several orphanages.  One that particularly stuck with me is the Kolfe Orphanage in Addis Ababa, a home for older boys:  its battered building sit in dry, hardpan clay; thin rays of hope came from caring Ethiopians and Americans that worked with the boys, but could not easily erase the aching existence many of the young men knew.

This story shared with me today is of one young man from Kolfe, named Solomon, and a very special couple I met at Summit, Eileen and Jerry Mestas.  It brought a broad smile to my face, and I imagine it will for you as well.    (As a side note, Rachel confessed feeling she was in the presence of a celebrity when she learned that Eileen Mestas was not only a champion of adoption and orphan care, but also had developed the patent for the original “hooter hider” nursing cover, for which many a mother is undyingly grateful.  But that’s another matter…) :

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Solomon Bekele is 19 years old and has been living in an orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the last 10 years. He was living without hope or plans for a future and he thought he was forgotten, even by God. He was all alone with not one living relative in this world. The Kolfe Orphanage with boys ranging in ages 7-21 years had not been maintained in over 30 years. The living conditions were tragic, with raw sewage seeping up from the ground, broken windows in all the dorms, and the beds they slept in were trash pile worthy. They only had injera (their national bread) and soup to eat every day, three times a day

Then in November 2007, the Mestas family from Wake Forest, NC traveled to Ethiopia to adopt a sibling group of three. They were taken to visit the Kolfe orphanage and met Solomon. They became pen-pals and miracles began to happen through the letters to Solomon.

Upon returning home from Ethiopia, the Mestas family started speaking all over the country on behalf of orphans and were instrumental, in just 2 months, of raising over $50,000 to renovate the orphanage. Eileen Mestas started posting Solomon’s letters on their family blog www.jobsdaughters.blogspot.com which began spreading around the country like wildfire. How many people get to know a real orphan boy in Africa and hear his cries for help and his heart’s desire to be loved? People from all over the U.S. started to visit Solomon at the Orphanage in Ethiopia, and continue the humanitarian aid efforts. When he was asked how many people had visited him he said; “Too many to count.” In two short years, the Kolfe orphanage has become famous and is being transformed. Solomon has been instrumental in getting several of the younger boys adopted, and many more of them sponsored by American families.

Solomon failed the Ethiopian Government National School Exam in 10th grade and was considered not worthy of further education. He was not permitted to attend any more government schools or University and was destitute with no hope for a future.

The Mestas family started to financially support him going to a private school in Ethiopia where he graduated in August 2009, as Valedictorian! Out of 400 students he was the only orphan. Through a series of miraculous events, Solomon was awarded a full tuition scholarship to attend The College at Southeastern in Wake Forest, NC.

The president of Southeastern, Dr. Danny Akin, agreed to give Solomon a tuition scholarship if he could get to the United States. This was the greatest challenge of all, since the US Embassy normally does not grant student visas to orphans. It is mandatory for all international students to return to their country after they graduate. All students must prove ties to their native country, such as family, property, bank accounts, and other resources. Typically orphans have no ties to ensure their return. The odds were against Solomon again.  The Mestas family elicited the support of several organizations, such as the Gladney Center for Adoption of Fort Worth, Texas, Open Door Baptist Church in Raleigh and others who wrote letters of recommendation in support of Solomon’s application. They also engaged the Office of Senator Kay Hagan, who assisted in the expedition of his VISA approval just yesterday, Monday June 21, 2010!! He received his Visa this morning and is booked on a flight to the USA tonight which arrives at RDU tomorrow, Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 1:30 p.m.

God performed another miracle for Solomon and he will be living with the Mestas family and joining their speaking ministry for at least the next 4-5 years. Solomon has become the VOICE OF THE ORPHAN!

A crowd of at least 100 people is expected to welcome him at the RDU airport tomorrow.

Cardus online carries the article, Crossing the Sahara. It explores a question that haunts many who care deeply about orphans, foster youth and other pressing needs:  Given the struggle and sorrow that mark so many attempts at bringing justice and mercy, is there really any motivation that can keep us in this work for the long haul?

Crossing the Sahara

A gripping scene in The Soloist is a moment of dark epiphany for the film’s antihero protagonist, L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez. Casting about for a story to fill his syndicated column, Lopez discovers that a homeless schizophrenic he’s happened upon was once a virtuoso cellist named Nathaniel Ayers. Although Lopez has interest in little beyond good writing material, the clumsy relationship that grows between the two men slowly wakes him to genuine concern, setting Lopez on a quest to rescue Ayers from both mental illness and the streets.

After many false starts, Ayers seems to have finally turned a corner, accepting a rented apartment and playing the cello once again. But when Lopez asks him to sign some forms, Ayers’s paranoia re-ignites. He seizes Lopez by the neck and drags him to the floor, thumbs nearly crushing the terrified writer’s windpipe until Lopez finally wrests himself free and runs for dear life.  More…

This past weekend, my parents gave Rachel and me our first overnight away from 8-month old Lincoln.  As much as were missing the lad and his three older sisters, we can’t say it kept us from relishing the time together amidst California’s breathtaking redwood forests.  The quietude also provided a rare chance for extended reading.  I picked up Tom Davis’ Priceless and couldn’t stop ‘til it was done.

The book is a page-turner, no question, in the vein of Clancy or Ludlum.  And despite its relentless pace, the book’s descriptions of Russia and its people are rich.  I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the former Soviet Union, and again and again found myself in the grip of nostalgia, nodding or grinning at the way Davis captured the beauty and quirks of the mystery-shrouded land and its people.

Beyond the sheer pleasure of a good read, however, the significance of the book is far deeper.  It leaves the reader awash not just in knowledge, but in the experience and emotion, of what it means for an orphan to live without provider or protector.  It helps us not only to understand, but to feel, why God calls us to “defend the cause of the fatherless.”

That’s why every movement in response to God’s call for justice requires not only good theology and strategy, but also good art.   As CS Lewis describes it in The Abolition of Man,  our head can only rule our decisions “through the chest [heart].”  That means that as vital as right thinking is, it is ultimately a rightly-formed heart (will, desire, emotion, aspiration, longing) that most impels right action.   (This is why Scripture urges, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life”—Proverbs 4:23.)  Good art, from truth-telling stories to music to movies, can powerfully stir and shape our hearts.  It can draw truth from idea to action.  Good art leads a migration from mind to heart, and then from there to hands and feet.

That’s just what Davis sought to do via a can’t-put-it-down thriller in Priceless.   He accomplished his goal marvelously.

One of the most thrilling things about a true movement is that new expressions of the “galvanizing conviction” start popping up everywhere.   That’s exactly what’s happening with conviction that God cares deeply for orphans and calls His people to do the same. It was just six years ago that the first Summit took place, an exciting but small and first-of-its-kind gathering.  Today, new events, conferences and regional orphan Alliances are visible and growing across America like new vegetation in springtime.  It is beautiful to see.

One upcoming event I’m particularly excited about is the Mid-Atlantic Orphan Summit on November 5-6, hosted by a remarkable team of local believers in Hershey, PA passionate for Christ and orphans.  With a first-rate lineup of speakers, the conference promises to be a rich and inspiring event.

But here’s another facet that’s particularly encouraging:  until recently, the Christian orphan movement was much less visible in the Northeast than, for example, in the South or Midwest.  I believe that’s starting to change, and this conference will be both a visible indication and a special catalyst of that expansion.

My prayer is that this conference will not only inspire and equip believers across the region for orphan ministry, but also bring together many men and women who’ve long been serving faithfully despite feeling a bit isolated in their mission.  The truth is, they are part of a much bigger, deeper, richer movement than they may have dreamed.  The Mid-Atlantic Orphan Summit stands to be just what’s needed to give orphan advocates across the northeast and beyond a fuller sense of the countless passionate co-laborers they have in their work.

Orphan ministry takes on a remarkable texture when it’s not just the parents doing it.  After church on Sunday, Rachel and I piled our brood into the minivan for an hour’s drive out to a small walnut farm, residence of Eric and Lisa Kjeldgaard and their six boys and two girls.  There’s an awful lot that could be said about the Kjeldgaard kids.  Respectful.  Exhaustingly energetic.  Thoughtful.  Unjaded.  Helpful.   Vivacious.  (The evening ended with a spontaneous dance party when, as the sun set over the walnut grove, one put some raucous tune and the whole bunch began hopping and shimmying around the patio for a good 20 minutes).

What struck me most, though, is how the family is responding to God’s call to care for the orphan: together.  In the family office, pictures of individual children they’ve sponsored around the world are spread across a map, prayed for most every day.   The family is looking seriously at adopting, too—something all the kids are cheering on.  Following Summit, Eric presented to the elder board about creating a new foster and adoption ministry in the church, a project all of them will be involved with as it grows.

Perhaps best of all, later this month the family will be hosting its fourth annual Riverbend Ranch Charity Carnival to raise money for orphan care.   The kids were nearly breathless as they described their plans for the carnival, their respective roles in it, and how they love working together as a team to make it happen.   From pony rides, a 24-foot slide and a dunk tank to enviable raffle prizes and mouth-watering foods, this is going to be one heck of a good time, with every penny made going to help orphan ministry.  And each Kjeldgaard kid plays an indispensible role.

What’s the fruit?  Certainly, many orphans’ lives have been impacted by the Kjeldgaards, and many more will be over years to come.  But I also see such fruit in the Kjeldgaard family as well:  spiritual maturity, compassion, real joy, a sense of family mission.

A short blog post by one of the two outnumbered Kjeldgaard girls, Kate, after our visit captured the spirit I sensed in all the kids.  (You can see it here.)   Kate’s words and her presence reflect the kind of heart I pray God will help Rachel and me cultivate in our children as they grow:  passionate for Jesus Christ and lit up by Him in love for others.   I suspect that one of the best ways to do just that is to make orphan ministry a family affair like the Kjeldgaards have done.

Our good friends Dan Cruver and Jason Kovacs at Together for Adoption are building toward their national conference in Austin, TX on October 1-2.  Together for Adoption provides tremendous theological leadership in the realm of adoption and orphan care.  From their thoughtful blogging, to insightful instruction delivered at recent Summits, to in-church training opportunities, Together for Adoption plays an indispensible role continually drawing believers to the true wellspring of every Christian adoption:  God’s adoption of us.

The conference promises to be rich in reflection, as well as practical knowledge, for Christian action.  As always, Together for Adoption will weld together unswerving commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the biblical call to care for the fatherless.   See here to register!

Unwanted infants in ancient Rome were often disposed of via the practice of “exposing.” Whether undesirable because it was malformed, female or simply inconvenient, the child would be left alone, outside the city walls, without defense before glaring sun, icy winds or roving animals.

In 374 AD, the Christian emperor Valentinian banned the practice. But for centuries prior, a marginalized group gained a reputation for rescuing these children: Christians. The early church was known, even among many who despised it, as a people who defended the orphan. Believers went outside the city to find infants abandoned there, taking them in, and often raising them as their own. This witness was one powerful factor in the vibrant life and growth of Christianity in its first 300 years, and at other high points in history as well. It can be that way again…

Read the full article here.