A couple days ago, we went to see the something of the past.  Mystifying, the Mayan ruins of Tikal stood above us as silent sentinels of a lost world and fading culture, that when imagined urges you to question why you were born into the time and the place you were.

But as we left the ruins our journey happened to intersect the course of another body of people, still alive, but in some ways quite as lost. That again stirred up questions of fate and destiny and what names of character and culture those forces place on us.

Questions like,

“When I lay my head on the same mattress as an abandoned
orphan’s, what separates my name, ‘Son’ from his?”

We could discuss these questions all day long but frankly, philosophical questions of identity are not what motivates me to write this to you.  I want to talk about the problems I have seen in this country that are NOT OK…

24 hours ago we pulled into the courtyard of a rural church in the highlands of Guatemala, children running everywhere.  The children were the people who stirred up the aforementioned questions.  These orphans are displaced into this church because their previous home burned to the ground.

Since then the Father’s provision has rained down.  Due to the sudden need, donations were heaped on them, and the burning of the rented property opened up a door for the orphanage to purchase an almost-complete facility of their very own.  We spent the afternoon helping clean the rooms of the construction remains and assembling bunk beds.  So we celebrate the blessings and the way our Father has of allowing the good to go in order to make room for the better and the abundant.

But we need to pray for more than just provision.
We need to pray for Restoration.  For Adoption.

THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN

This family of more than 20 orphans is well cared for by a husband and wife that have given their lives.  It reflects in the children.  They walk with respect and love towards others.  I could gush for pages about them.  Ask me about them sometime.

The other orphans we have met in this country are also well cared for, food shelter, even some love.  But they still have a terrible name.  ORPHAN.  It isn’t going away.

YOU need to pray for supernatural occurrence of physical and spiritual adoption. 

·      CURRENTLY GUATEMALA IS ESSENTIALLY CLOSED TO ADOPTION.
Even pending adoptions are in limbo.  Google it.
·      The Enemy has turned the response to human trafficking on its head.
Many governments honor closure to adoption to prevent child trafficking
·      Adoption for Guatemalan Nationals can be complicated.
Some orphanages carry a random adoptions-only policy

 
Credit: Alyssa Benson

AS A RESULT: Orphanages are full, ‘temporary’ homes are operating without funding, and there is no easy fix to the red tape that encompasses these orphans
THIS IS NOT OK.

SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?

We will pray.  We will believe in the impossible and not balk at political impasse or a random selection.  We will pray that our King’s reign comes, that the authorities will see the problem as one that cannot be tolerated. We will pray that human trafficking’s fatal wounds will stop hemorrhaging all over the orphans that are already facing enough problems.  We will pray that the hearts of spiritual parents are opened to call a once-orphan ‘son’ or ‘daughter’ across the world as the chains on the doors of adoption break in Guatemala and elsewhere. We will pray that the children of God IN Guatemala are stirred to become Parents of God to whichever child ‘chance’ would bring their way, knowing that God is much greater than ‘destiny.’ Finally, we pray that mothers and fathers would discover the Love of their Father to care for the children he has given them.

All these things we do pray and believe
Because we have a fierce victorious love that will not be denied.

James 1.27