I really do my best to avoid sports analogies. I believe that they are only illustrative to those who know the sport, either by playing or watching. Which leaves some of us, namely me, completely left out of the know. “This team member’s function is that of the quarterback” is often said at my work. The quarterback throws the ball or something, right? How is that related in any way to facilities management? What is the ball symbolic of? I’m clueless.
So now I am going to break my own rule. On top of that, I haven’t ever participated in this sport and will probably get everything wrong in an attempt to illustrate my point.
Last week, we blogged about overcoming the money mountain between us and our son- or daughter-to-be. Any guesses to the sports analogy yet? Yes, mountain climbing! The thrilling ascent to the peak! Right now we are on the gentle slopes upward, we have yet to feel the pressure of the impending cliffs of deadlines, the perilous crags of applying for grants, and the slippery uphill slopes of fundraising.
When we face these more arduous obstacles, we are going to need help. And when faced with a difficult ascent, climbers use a technique called “belaying”. (I learned this term today from Wikipedia! I searched for “person holding rope for rock climber”). While one person is climbing up the cliff, another person is holding a rope that is run through a locking device and then tied to the climber’s harness. If the climber slips, the “belayer” applies tension to the rope, locking the device and stopping the climber from falling to his or her doom. Here’s a picture of it:
While the most important responsibility of a belayer is to ensure the safety of the climber, they also do a couple of other very helpful tasks. They feed more rope to the climber to enable them to reach greater heights. Due to their wider view of the climb, they help direct the climber’s route, guiding the placement of their hands and feet to nooks and crannies the climber cannot see. They also warn the climber of any falling debris or unsteady foothold.
To translate this analogy – We need people to hold our ropes, to keep us from falling as we tackle our mountain. You can be our belayers!
Here’s how:
Prayer! Because it is most important, we are listing this first. We need faith-filled people who love God and who love us to hold us up in our climb – not just with the money mountain, but all the other mountains of our adoption too. We need intercessors to pray for provision, the removal of obstacles, and for protection for us and for our child, for us to be a blessing and an encouragement to our agencies both here and in Bulgaria, to the orphanages, and to all the people we meet along the way. Pray Matthew 11:23 for us – “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.”
Funds! If you would like to feed us more rope in our climb, in the form of monetary funds – that would be awesome! Even if you cannot give much, it will bring us that much closer to giving an abandoned special-needs child a home. We realize that just about everyone is facing a financial crunch, but we greatly appreciate and honor the sacrifice you are make to help with our adoption. Check out our page on some of the ways to give.
Ideas! Do you have a great idea for a fundraiser that we could use? We already have some great suggestions that we will be implementing. Create a babysitting team where people babysit for their friends for donations toward our adoption? Great idea! It blesses us and blesses parents in our community! Ask people to give up a Starbucks coffee once a week and give the money to our adoption fund instead? Awesome! You have heard of a grant that we could apply for? Terrific! We may not be able to use all of the ideas, but each one will remind us that you are there for us, helping guide the way!
Encouragement! All climbers face discouragement on difficult climbs and are tempted to turn back. They need their belayer to shout out “Almost there! Another few inches and you will reach a ledge!” Please lift us up with a scripture or a promise from God. Tell us the story of your friend who adopted a baby from China last year. Remind us of how far we’ve come or how short the distance is ahead of us. Tell us we will be great parents! Tell us how cute we are! All of this will en“courage” us – give us courage to face the tough bits of the journey ahead of us. This is more important that you know, for when we are tired and have hit obstacle after obstacle and are ready to give up, one word of encouragement from our friends will give us strength and perseverance to keep on keeping on!
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