This Boy Needs Our Help

Earlier tonight I was reading "Second Touch" by Bodie & Brock Thoene. In it I read the following passage. It is a hypothetical conversation between Jesus and the blind man He healed. They are speaking about the poor, blind, crippled and lame.

"Who am I to do anything?"
"It's not who you are."
"So many...all around."
"Seeing requires something, eh? That's all the Law and the Prophets. Summed up?"
"So many men know the Scriptures. And still there's the viaduct. The rubbish heap. People who exist in the long, dreary waiting, like animals locked up and forgotten."
"Easy not to be bothered. Easy to follow the letter of the Law. Make a great show of keeping the Law. But men forget the true intention of the Law. By turning away from those who suffer, they miss great blessings from heaven. Maybe the one they refused to help was an angel in disguise."

I was convicted because so often, I'm willing to turn away from those in need. I often place myself in a position above them and choose to do nothing to help the people I see in need even though I have so much and am commanded in Scripture to help those same people.

A religion that is pure and stainless according to God the Father is this:
to take care of orphans and widows
who are suffering...
James 1:27

Right after I put my book down, the first blog I read was this: (It can be found here)

Hello Friends,I received an email from a friend a few days ago, letting me know about a young orphan boy who needs our help. I know ... there are hundreds of thousands of orphans who need our help ... but, this story touched me deeply.Misha is a 15 year old from Russia. Several weeks ago he was flown to the U.S. for life-changing surgery ... the amputation of both legs. Misha was born with a severe deformity of his legs and arms. In Russia, it is known as the "throw-away" disease. Despite the deformities, Misha is a very well-adjusted and intelligent young man, with much hope for the future. A wonderful, large, homeschooling family on the East Coast welcomed Misha into their home for the surgery, and immediately fell so in love with him that it was determined that he should become part of their forever family. However ... next May Misha will turn 16 ... an age where he is no longer able to be adopted into the U.S. ... also an age where he will be turned out of his orphanage in Russia, and moved to an insane asylum. Seriously ... this boy is not insane, but he will be "thrown away".This wonderful family believes with all their heart that Misha is to become their son. However, they have no idea how the Lord will raise up the $27,000 needed in the next few months. The funds must be raised before February, so that the adoption can be completed before Misha's birthday in May.I hope you will visit their family blog http://helpmisha.blogspot.com to find out how you can best support this precious family, and Misha. As Melissa, the mom, says ... "If 2,700 people donated just $10, the money would be raised." I, certainly, want to be a part of that 2,700 people ... how about you?My blog, alone, gets about 500 visitors per week. Obviously, many of those are repeat visitors. But, my blog reaches quite a few people. If 100 of my readers gave just $10, and then posted the information on their blogs, I truly believe that the money could be raised very quickly. It would only take 27 blogs, with 100 readers, giving $10 each ... to save the life of Misha.



If you have a moment, please pray about helping this young boy. Visit the blog for video and pictures of him. If you choose not to help financially, then please pray for his heavenly adoption as well as his earthly adoption.

Pray for Sarah & Baby

Please keep my sister and her family in your prayers. She's currently 26 weeks along in her pregnancy and is having some serious concerns. I left her house on Saturday morning and on Sunday night she went to the hospital because she was having regular contractions pretty close together. The contractions got pretty intense and they started her on magnesium. Although I've never had it, I've heard it's pretty horrible stuff and Sarah confirmed that. The magnesium helped slow down the contractions and nearly stop them while at the same time making her very sick. They took her off of the drug this morning. (They were scheduled to take her off at 6:00 and when they hadn't shut the magnesium off by 6:05, Sarah called the nurses station and asked for someone to come turn it off because it was "after 6:00).

I spoke with Sarah this morning and she sounded SO much better than she had on the meds. She said she was still doing well off of it (it had been off about 2 or 3 hours when I called). If all looks good, they'll send her home to be on bedrest until she's at least 34 weeks. She will not be able to go back to work until after the baby comes. She's like the rest of my family and has a very hard time sitting still and not doing 15 things at once. Bedrest will be difficult for her, especially since she has a 22 month old to care for. Family members and friends from church will be helping out during the coming weeks.

Please pray that Sarah is able to get the rest she needs so that this baby doesn't come until she's ready. Pray also for Chris as he'll have a lot more on his plate than normal. Sarah said Bekah's had a hard time not having mommy around. Please pray that through all of the changes, that Bekah will handle it well.