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Luke 24:2-6a (NIV)
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them… “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!”
Why do my husband and I continue to provide a foster home for older children? We serve a risen savior who asks us to provide for orphans and widows in their distress. (James 1:27) Yes, we could send money, clothing, or food instead of ourselves. In fact, we do support a child through World Vision. However, children actually need someone physically to care for them. Like the prophet Isaiah, we foster and adoptive parents say, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8 NIV)
We have adopted seven children over our 14 years of providing foster care. Some children have been easy to parent. I could even say a joy to parent. Other children have been difficult to parent. I can tell you honestly, that if it wasn’t for our belief in Jesus, the power of prayer, and eternal hope, we might not have been able to parent some to adulthood. While thoughts of disruption flitted into our thoughts, nightly prayers pushed those thoughts out of our minds.
Every child is precious to our Lord. Statistics show that children who have a permanent family are more likely to succeed then children who age out of foster care. Our two oldest daughters, now adults but adopted at nine and 15, are employed and attending college. They have maintained jobs and apartments. Therefore, they have already exceeded the accomplishments of their birthparents. They have beaten the odds and it looks like the tragic cycle of foster care that so many families experience may be broken for their family.
While parenting an older adopted child isn’t always easy, it can always be rewarding especially if your strength isn’t coming only from yourself. You have many opportunities to witness to an adopted child and lead that child to salvation. There are many programs, AA being one, that look to a higher authority for strength to overcome adversity. Our traumatized children have much adversity to overcome. What better way is there to empower them then by giving them the hope of eternity with Jesus Christ?
These are some interesting arguments supporting the resurrection if you are interested.
In fact, there is more legal-historic evidence (the kind used in courtrooms) for the resurrection than there is for Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo.
There is more evidence and better quality evidence for the reliability of the NT and the Resurrection of Jesus than there is for any other book or event of the ancient world.
When determining a question of fact – that is, whether something happened at a particular time and place –a judge must bring to the hearing an impartial and unprejudiced mind. That is, a mind that bears no preconceived ideas about what probably happened, a mind that bears no prejudices toward the witnesses who will be testifying or other characters involved in the case. A judge must confine his or her thoughts to the event in question. My analysis is that the resurrection passes the
test.
Photo Credit
Attribution license creative commons
Ihar’s photo stream uploaded August 2, 2005
