I remember the day we met our 2-year-old daughter for the first time as if it were yesterday.
Cathy and I had traveled to Ethiopia the weekend of Thanksgiving over nine years ago to adopt our daughter. We knew her name and had seen pictures and even videos of her. She stole our hearts. She didn’t know we were coming. In fact, she didn’t even know who we were.
After a long journey on planes and vans to where she lived, we finally arrived. The emotions Cathy and I felt were more thrilling than the excitement of a young child on Christmas morning. As we met with her caretaker, she asked if we would like to meet our future daughter. “Of course,” we joyfully exclaimed!
So, she took us around the corner of the office to a playground area with seesaws and swings, and children playing in the yard. As we rounded the corner of the building toward the playground, our 2-year old daughter was rounding the other corner of the building. For the very first time we laid eyes on our precious daughter as we came into the playground area. I have no adequate words to describe the joy that filled our hearts when our eyes met with her eyes for the first time. The moment we saw her, tears filled our eyes. The moment she saw us, tears filled her eyes, too. However, our tears and her tears were for two different reasons. We cried in joy; she cried in fear.
Over 16 years ago, God placed a burden on my wife Cathy and me to adopt a child into our family. I could share the many reasons why, but ultimately, as we read and taught the Bible over the years, we saw God’s heart for the orphan. He gave us a desire to love the orphan and to bring a child into our home to belong.
All people long to belong, particularly to a family. Some of us grew up in homes where we felt quite loved, safe and cared for. Others of us have or know those who have experienced anything but love, safety, and care. Therefore, feeling a sense of belonging or being part of a family is a bit foreign to some. Perhaps you feel a restlessness within you that makes it hard to attach because of your past experiences.
While this is true on a human and earthly level, there is a spiritual level where this is also true. Because of the fall where sin entered the world and spread to all humanity, we find ourselves alienated from God (Eph 4:18). The Bible even describes us as hostile toward God (Rom 8:6-7). Yet, we long to belong. Saint Augustine was right when he said, speaking of God, you have made us for Yourself, and we find no rest until we find it in you.
The New Testament uses many concepts and words to describe our relation to God, but one particularly unique word is adoption. At the heart of the gospel is adoption, where we are brought into God’s family to belong.
Adoption is the gracious work of God to bring us into His family to belong. So, there we were in the courtyard of the playground near the seesaw and swings seeing our daughter for the first time. We cried in joy; she cried in fear. You see, we knew her name and who she was. She didn’t know who we were. We would cross the farthest oceans and travel the longest roads to bring her to ourselves. We would stop at nothing to bring her home. Eventually, in the sweetness of who Cathy is, she went up to our daughter and softly and graciously spoke and demonstrated her love to her. In time, our daughter was in her arms, laying her head on her shoulder. You see, our daughter had come home and found a place to belong.
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