One Reason I'm Thankful

The Lord has this habit I don't quite understand: He likes to teach me things when one of my children are reeling from pain in my arms. I guess he really does like to identify with a crying baby.

So there I was, in the middle of an hour with Lydia while she thrashed in some sort of tummy ache. She had just nursed, so it wasn't hunger. Gas drops hadn't worked, so it was time to just sit there and hold her while she cried.

Something about that crying empties my mind, perhaps clearing the way for me to listen to God. Then came a reminder of something he showed me while I was holding a crying baby Josiah two years earlier: all around the world, there are babies in as much pain as Lydia was then, who have no father to hold them.

I expect God's lessons to consist of more facts, greater knowledge. But instead it was just a simple, "you should care more about this."

So we sat for a while, with tears in both of our eyes, until Sarah (four years old) awoke from her nap.

In Sarah's typical form, we then had to try every remedy again. Sarah had even thought of a few I hadn't remembered. But again nothing worked, so we both sat there with her while she cried.

I hadn't planned on saying anything, but my heart was so sad that I couldn't help but teach Sarah about it.

"Sarah, did you know that some babies don't have a mommy or daddy to hold them when they cry?"

Sarah solved that one quickly: "oh, so another adult holds them, then."

I realized what I as about to say would probably change the way she looked at the world, and it actually felt like a bad idea. But something in me felt she was ready to hear it. "Yes, sometimes another adult comes to hold them, but some babies don't have anyone."

That made her pause for a small instant.

But it was no more than an instant until she taught me another lesson. "Daddy," she said, "I want to learn how to take care of babies, so that one day if a baby doesn't have a mommy or daddy, I could be it's mommy!"

The excitement on her face only added to the power of her sweet voice. She had just learned that orphans exist, and already she wanted so spend her life taking care of them. That will teach Daddy a lesson!

I could only think of one thing to say, but now it feels like just the right thing. "I think that would make God very happy."

Since then, she has paid attention to the way we take care of Lydia, and asked to do almost all of it herself. She was already doing that to a degree, but seems to have an intentionality about it now. And she's declared her intentions, with the same words, to both Emily and me on separate occasions. She won't forget it, and seems to mean it.

It would be foolish for me to plot out her course when she's four years old: I don't know what the Lord might do with her, or if He will even call her to faith. And I can't hold her for her whole life to the same noble ambition she has today. But to get a glimpse for an instant of my little girl caring for the poor- that renews my vigor to raise all three of them to fear and love Jesus.

What if God allows us to raise three healthy adults who truly care for the poor? That makes every spanking, sleepless night, tear, and backache worth it.

So this Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for the lessons God continues to teach us. He is a good father, with much wisdom to give. He gives encouragement when we need it. And he gives us the sweetness of children to remind us of it.

Happy Thanksgiving to you.

Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.
Psalm 107:13

MegaTrip: The Conference

Part Three in a series chronicling our first big family road trip. 

Thursday and Friday were spent at the Together For Adoption Pastors' Conference, put on at Southern Seminary for pastors interested in adoption or in leading adoption ministries in their churches. We did the sorts of things that people do at conferences: sing, listen to preaching, attend breakout sessions, and meet people. But what most people want to know is what we got out of it, what our family's future holds, and our hopes for OBC.

We don't know much about our future, but we did leave the conference with a greater burden for caring for widows and orphans. I have been praying that God would put that burden on our hearts, and it appears He is.

As OBC moves to a period in which we concern ourselves more deeply for the lost around us, I am praying that we will also concern ourselves with the suffering around us. Perhaps God will use Emily and I in that change. He is awakening us as a people to the needs our lost neighbors have for the Gospel- perhaps that compassion will make us also more sensitive to the physical needs of the poor.

For the Cooks, we've resolved that any adoption or foster care we may one day do would be done only as an answer to God's call to care for the poor. We've been tossing the idea around for a while, led now to this part of the journey. Adoption is a central theme of the Gospel, and we would love to picture it by adopting children of our own. But the desire for that picture, or the picture of a multi-ethnic family, can't be the reason we adopt children. They aren't tools in our plan to preach the Gospel we love- they're orphans we're called to love because of that Gospel. So we're just going to love them and see what God does. Nobody preached that at the conference but, strangely enough, God used them all to remind us of it.

The main thing we got out of it was a deeper appreciation for the Gospel that has saved us. How great the love lavished upon us all that we should be called the Sons of God! And be given the spirit of sonship- that we should call Jesus our older brother. Who is like the Lord?

God has been very good to us indeed. And he's patiently working in our hearts to bring about that kind of mercy from us as well. Will we adopt children one day? Will you one day have a family member who isn't a part of our family right now? We don't know, but we are looking for ways to care for widows and orphans. When you do that, as some families in our church have found, you can wind up with a fatherless child in your home and a heart to adopt it. Knowing the goodness of our God, that could be us one day.