Banquet of Love

"But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind."
-Luke 14:3
My team took this verse to heart and we had a 'banquet' for the orphans from the children's home in Nepal. We had some Nepali food, and then we took them a field and played games with them. After we got back, we surprised them with ice cream! Imagine their squeals of delight at this special treat! That day was a lot of fun, and it is kind of neat to think we were literally living out Scripture.

There are so many verses about justice and the oppressed and widows and orphans. We are urged to care for them.

Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the cause of the widow. -Isaiah 1:17

Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical nneds, what good is it? - James 2:15-16

"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the LORD. -Jeremiah 22:16

And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. -Matthew 18:5

How can we forget the orphans when they are so much in God's heart?

My Reason

Here I am, back at Eastern again after a break. While I do really like Eastern, part of me just wants to enjoy the warmer weather and not have to worry about tests or papers or studying or homework. But, I leave my home because of the ones who do not know what home is. Sometimes I wonder, "I was so happy to graduate high school, why am I back in school? What am I doing here?" But, it is my dream to be a social worker and help orphans. I want have orphanages in India and Haiti. To do that I need more education. I do not know anything about starting orphanages! Sometimes I long to just back out into the nations, and sometimes I just want to go and help orphans now. But, I need to further my education to do that.

Rita Springer sings a song called 'If You Say Go', and one line of the song says, "If You say go, we will go. If You say wait, we will wait." Right now I need to wait. I believe someday I will go, but for right now I have so much more to learn.

I believe God has put this dream to help orphans in my heart. Some of my life verses are:
"Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free,and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-when you see the naked to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry, and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in darkness, and your night will become like noonday. The LORD will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sunscorched land and will strenghten your frame. You will be like a well watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations. You will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings."
-Isaiah 58:6-7, 10-12

So, I am attending college for the orphans. I am here so I can later help them. In my dorm room on the wall in front of my desk I have pictures of the orphans and a quote that says "Vocation... The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet" (by Frederick Buechner) to remind myself, on days when I do not feel like being in school, why I am. When I do not feel like doing school work to remind myself, I'm doing it for the orphans. And it is going to be worth it all.