As I write this, I am sitting in my comfortable East Tennessee home.  My reality is safe, secure, well-fed. But then an email comes from Brazil, telling the story of a family of children brought to our campus, chilling in its matter-of-fact recital of the children’s condition. This group of seven siblings, ages 3 to 17, were discovered in a shack near the City of Youth living in conditions of wretched poverty and malnutrition. The youngest sibling, now a 3-year-old, was a baby who the family ‘adopted’ after he was abandoned by his mother and left to fend on his …

A little theological digression here before we get back to Graziella’s story… How often in the follower’s life does the story turn on those words? But God. . . The case can be made that the thought embedded there is central to our identity. It is an affirmation that He is the creator, that He is sovereign, and—perhaps most important—that He is actively engaged in the lives of those He calls His own. This whole thing is God’s game, not ours, and He can suspend the rules and change the outcome as He chooses. David said it this way: ”Though …

Easy lesson here, but it is one we tend to forget. God can handle this, whatever “this” is. Every time I travel to Brazil, I am absolutely overwhelmed by the experiential faith of our kids and graduates. Experiential because it is faith based on a reality that has already been made manifest. They get this faith thing because they have seen the hand of God in their own lives. I have told you before about the impact our graduate church is having on the neighboring community. Our graduates see the drug addict sleeping in the weeds who believes he has …

Thanksliving I have to confess to never having heard the word before yesterday’s children’s sermon. And that first hearing was accompanied by a brief but vigorously engaged dispute between two six-year-olds about whether the holiday actually was Thanksgiving or thanksliving. Plenty of laughs in church yesterday. Thanksliving.  I kind of like that. It is a lifestyle I have seen over and over again with our kids in Brazil. They get it. Theirs is a deep, profound gratitude. A gratitude that humbles and graces when encountered. A gratitude that absolutely bankrupts any attitude of entitlement. A thankfulness for life itself. Those …

As I write this, I am sitting in my comfortable East Tennessee home. My reality is safe, secure, well-fed. But when I travel to Brazil, I encounter a far different kind of reality. Poverty beyond my comprehension. Kids who know a life I can never understand. Twelve-year-old boys with death warrants against them from drug lords. Girls taught since early, early childhood that their only value in life is in the depraved pleasure they can bring others. A very different reality… Yet somehow I am supposed to believe that God loves them as much as he loves me. Rich and …

Day 26:  30 Days of Prayer for Hope Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me, because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist them. (Job 29:11-13) Is “father” really a dangerous word? Unfortunately, for many children who come to Hope Unlimited—especially our girls—danger is exactly what the word connotes. Their fathers (or often stepfathers) are the ones who beat, sexually abused, or abandoned the child he should have been protecting. The experienced evil instead of a father’s love. Only when they encounter the Father …

Day 10:  30 Days of Prayer for Hope Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalms 51:10) Gleice walked forward, took the microphone from Pastor Derli, and asked the other children to bow their heads with her. Then, quietly, she said, “God, thank you that I am perfect in your eyes.” We never know what baggage, guilt, and negative self-images children bring with them to Hope. But we do know that our God can heal these hurts as He restores the children. As another girl—one who had been prostituted by her own …

I want to leak grace. I want the presence of God to be such an overwhelming reality in my life that this clay vessel simply cannot contain that reality. David said it this way in Psalm 23: You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. When people look at me, I want the grace of God to be first thing that comes to mind. I want the grace of God to be the basic fact of my existence. But I often find myself empty. Not just not overflowing, but nowhere close to even full, much less leaking from excess. …

If you missed the first post in this series: Part 1   The echo of God’s love resonates not just in our hearts but also in our heads. When we see the thousands of children pouring across our southern border, we have no choice; we have to act in Christian love, in charity as Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians 13. They are children – not adults who have made informed choices to break our laws and enter the U.S. illegally. We must live out biblical compassion. But, but… love is every bit as much a head thing as it …

They need more than hugs. When we see children in trouble, orphans, a trafficked girl, a little boy who has walked hundreds of miles in search of safe haven, we act. We have to, because that’s what followers of Christ do. We are compassionate, because our Lord was compassionate. We see these children as our own, because we ourselves have been adopted by the Father of Love. But we are also called to be wise, to show that compassion in a way that is more than just a fleeting hug – a way that transforms for a lifetime, an eternity. …

Reading Psalms 46 today. Sometimes this work seems overwhelming – caring for orphans, that is. The world really does not care or there would not be 153 million children left to fend for themselves. Even our churches seem pretty complacent about it. Much more interested in repairing the crack in the stained glass than the holes in the lives of our children. Our children, because they are ours. All 153 million of them. Then there is the constant noise… Societies that hawk sexuality on every television screen, and every magazine – and then profess outrage that little girls and boys …

A few days ago, I threw out an aphorism on Facebook. Perhaps it was food for thought for some deliberative believers, or perhaps I just wanted to stir the pot. It seems a bit of both happened: Doctrine can become vanity, a self-indulgent exercise to escape the hard work of following. A disclaimer here: My professional training is as a theologian. To no small degree, my livelihood is doing doctrine. But I am also called to live within the context of a world of people that Christ loves, andthat he calls me to love, too. I am called to be …

  Here’s a bit of Bible trivia for you: There is only one person in the parables of Jesus who is given a name. Do you know who it is? Think about for a minute. Lazarus Do you know the story of Lazarus and the rich man? Lazarus is a poor beggar who lies at the gate of the rich man’s home, hoping to grab a few “crumbs that fall from the rich man’s table.” Interestingly enough, it is not the rich man who has a name, but the poor, crippled beggar. Even more interesting, the name Lazarus means “the …

  I was reading Psalm 90 this week: Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.  Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world,  From everlasting to everlasting, you are God. (Psalm 90:1-2)   Okay, God, we understand. All of this is yours. You are in charge; it’s your work, not ours. But You have told us to care for your children, for the least of these. So what is our role? And even more, where are You when our best efforts to touch their lives seem thwarted? I have to admit that I …

I want you to care about orphans, about the hungry, and about the poor. And I want you to act. Now. But I also want you to think deeply about what you do and why you do it. Cures do not involve social tourism, warehoused kids, or one bowl of rice a day. True, New Testament engagement with the least of these means acting intentionally, sacrificially, thoughtfully. It requires long-term commitment. Jesus always acted with the big picture in mind. Look at the encounter with the Samaritan woman. “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that …

There are 153 million orphans in the world today, and many more children are abused, exploited, or abandoned on city streets or even inside their own homes. With so great a need, sometimes it’s easy to wonder—where is God? The Bible tells us He dearly loves and has a plan for each suffering child. In Him, we all have a certain hope. He loves them more deeply than humanly possible. And He calls us to be the hands, feet, and heart of that love. We believe that prayer makes a difference in the lives of the children the world has …

My friend grabbed me immediately after the service. “I finally understand that verse.” A question in my eyes. “The ‘I had no place to lay my head’ verse. Tonight, for the first time, I understand it.” We were at Saturday night worship the night before Palm Sunday at The Net Fellowship, a church formed by former street children who are graduates of Hope Unlimited’s residential program. Joining the graduates, their families, and members of the community who have become part of The Net were about two hundred children who presently live at the two Hope campuses in Campinas, Brazil. And …