Faith Child

Being the logophile that I am... I was daydreaming about words the other day.

All sorts of words.... The one I was lingering on especially was "peace child", which was coined by Don Richardson, and has come to mean practices or understandings native to non-western cultures which can be used to illustrate the meaning of the Gospel. It is based on the story of the evangelism of a Paupa New Ginea tribe... you can read about it here or in his book.

Then my mind wandered to other similar words, and considered the term "love child". Not quite the same genre of thought, to be sure. It is a rosy term hippies (and maybe others too, but not within my experience) use to refer to children born out of wedlock... meaning that the child is the overflow of their "free love". I grew up with a lot of these "love children" in Northern California. Quite honestly, it seemed like, while they were born out of "love", they did not continue to be loved, or even wanted... so many hurt and broken souls... some resilient, others destitute. Yes, there were some who were loved and cherished beyond everything else… but most… not so much.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we would change the meaning of that word?” I thought, “What if we called all the children who were truly loved and wanted, “love” children?” Then my mind turned to my empty arms… and to my little boy across the ocean. “He is my love child, in the literal sense of the word,” I thought.

But then a great and mighty, yet silent, Voice interrupted my thoughts.

“He is your faith child,” He said.

My restless mind and heart stood still. It was the truth and I recognized it with awe. Though we love our little boy enough to climb every wall between us, to give our all to bring him home, to sacrifice our time, money, and sanity to make this orphan our son, to love him fully and completely… he is not the natural result of our love. He is, however, our faith child. He is the supernatural result of our faith.

We know that God did not want our little boy to be born into sad circumstances and to be abandoned by the woman who was supposed to love him. We know that the years of neglect, pain, and suffering he has gone through were not the hope of God for his life. But God did arrange for his rescue! We know that God has placed this little one into our arms; he is our son! He is 100% ours! It is a simple, strong example of how faith works: God promised him to us. We believed with faith that we would see that promise come true, and we began to take the necessary steps to prepare, knowing that God is faithful to all His promises. And now, true to His word, God has given him to us – he is the fulfillment of God’s promise. He is our faith child!

While we see his face now, we still have miles to go before he is in our arms, tucked into his little bed in our home, snuggling his teddy bear, or play-westling with his daddy. Obstacles will probably arise and there will be wide rivers to cross. But how can we worry or fear? All of God's promises are Yes and Amen... and while it may not be easy, we know the outcome already. We will overcome. We have a son... a promised son.