Member-only story
My Father Was Left at an Orphanage — Here’s What God Taught Me About Caring for the Fatherless
I think I’ve always known what the Bible says about orphans, but so many times, when faced with the overwhelming problem of orphans and foster children, I’ve turned away.
Maybe you’ve experienced similar feelings and felt guilty about not helping orphans, especially if you know what the Bible says about our responsibility toward the orphan. You may not be able to adopt or foster children, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help orphans in real, practical, and meaningful ways.
We often forget that the orphan crisis is worldwide, extending from countries where children are left parentless due to war, disease, and genocide to our cities and counties where children are removed from their homes due to drug use, abuse, neglect, or incarceration of the parent(s). In many cases, children become orphans or, as we say, “part of the system” even though they may have one or more parent very much alive.
Both my father and my grandfather were raised as orphans. That’s why the concern over orphans is something that I’ve resonated with over the years. The world is a cruel place for children who have lost their parental protection. My father’s story is proof.
