We Can't Possibly Make a Difference

"The problem is too big!" "We can't possibly make a difference."
Those are words we say (or think) too often when we see issues that seem huge or overwhelming. You know, we've been talking about starting a revolution for the last 2 months. Now, rather than just talking, we're actually doing it. We've been talking about different issues in the world... one of which is orphans. James 1:27 says, "religion that is pure and undefiled (real) before God is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep ourselves un-spotted from the world." In the world right now there are over 143 million orphans. That's right 143 million! To put that into perspective, that's about half the population of the United States. There's that many children without parents. There's that many children without someone to love and care for them. That's crazy! But when you think about an issue that is that big, our first reaction is to shut down and say, "there's nothing I can do." But there is. We can make a difference in one child's life and we are going to do just that. There is an organization called New Horizons and they're based right here in Georgia. They bring children from Eastern Europe here twice a year through their hosting program. These children come from orphanages and stay with host families for 6 weeks. While they're here they are able to experience Jesus and what it is like to be a part of a family. Now, you may be thinking, "but what good does that do? It's only for 6weeks." Listen to this... 85% of all the children that come here through this hosting program become adopted. That's right, almost 9 out every 10 children become adopted either by the hosting family or by someone that meets them while they are here. That is an amazing percentage! So that's what we're doing Revolution... we're going to bring a child here. We can't bring 143 million children here but we can bring 1. We announced it last week and the process is underway. It costs $2,500 to bring a child here. And we need to have a home to host the child in. Dean and Monica Berkley have stepped-up and volunteered to be the host family for the 6 weeks and we've started to raise the money. We've been given an opportunity, through Papa John's Pizza, to raise the entire $2,500 by selling $10 coupon cards. That means that if every student in Revolution sold ONLY 5 Cards we will have the money. It's pretty simple. And by doing this we'll change a child's life forever! Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Not only are we bringing a child here, but we're bringing one that is old enough to hang-out with us in Revolution! So all of us can pour into him while he's here. Cool, huh? So get your Papa John's cards at the check-in station Wednesday night so that we can make a difference.
We love you guys and we're truly honored to be your youth pastors.
Love Ya,
Jim and Mary Jane