Redeemed

"Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'" Matt 24:34-40

He came to us filthy, his only possessions dirty clothes and a diaper that had obviously not been changed in quite a while. Without words or smile, his wide-eyed stare said it all.

"He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him." Isaiah 53:2-3

In a moment of panic his mother had sought refuge for him from the harshness of the city streets. She needed time to get back on her feet and away from a boyfriend situation that was less than pleasant.

"...Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute." Psalm 82:3

Of no fault of their own, these kids come from very difficult backgrounds and frequently have little skills beyond that of survival. It's easy to point fingers and blame the parents for laziness or selfishness or worse. But here in the suburbs with a nice jobs, comfortable houses, and available transportation we can be (and surely are) all those things and still have children that are clean, well fed, and properly educated. Remove the niceties and all you have is raw humanity and lives defined by fear. Tremendous compassion and grace added to a remembrance of our own human condition are required.

"In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us." Ephesians 1:5-8

Foster care is hard. It's not a simple thing to love someone else's kid with all their issues and baggage. While this child will not become a permanent member of our family, it so vividly reminds me that I was not just "someone else's kid" but the kid of the enemy, the devil, when God adopted me into His family. He chose me not because I was pretty or well behaved or had anything to give but precisely because I was none of these things.

May God use even this small offering of a warm bed and three square meals a day as a brushstroke in his masterpiece of redemption.