Heart in China

The eyes of the world have been fixed on China for the past little bit. I don't know about you, but the people who live at our house have stayed up waaaay too late too many nights, watching people run, jump, swim, vault, row and whack volleyballs.

Most likely, the 2008 Summer Olympics will be remembered as the Michael Phelps Games. What an amazing, talented, dedicated athlete. I'm in awe. But over and over, I've been reminded of what people of faith call grace—unmerited blessings. Phelps has perfect physique for swimming. Except that he doesn't have gills, he could be an excellent fish. He's made the most of his physical gifts, but he wouldn't have landed on that winner's stand without the help of God's design. And he's been blessed by excellent teammates, which he readily admits. Plus a remarkable mother, a great coach and, last but certainly not least, that famous half-stroke in the 100-meter butterfly.

Familiar places

Olympic sports are mesmerizing. But what I've enjoyed most has been seeing sights of China I witnessed firsthand almost three years ago. Scenes of Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and crowded Beijing streets take me back to a special place and time.

A group of us traveled to China with Buckner International as part of its Shoes for Orphan Souls program. Like many other groups who visited orphanages around the world, we placed shoes on children who do not know their parents. Shoes provided one tangible expression of our care for them. But better still was the opportunity to hold them, to hug them, to play games with them and to attempt, despite significant language barriers, to express Christ's love. 

Unforgettable children

China's children are especially close to my heart, because the young ones we met are victims of social engineering. In an attempt to control the nation's burgeoning population (China is home to 1.3 billion people) the government has decreed that each family is to have only one child. Parents want sons, because in their culture, the son is responsible for caring for his mother and father in their old age. Tragically, many little girls are aborted each year. Other girls are abandoned. And the same fate awaits many handicapped children. In the calculus of their culture, girls and handicapped children are liabilities.

One day, we visited a large state-run orphanage in Beijing. We saw room after room of children, most of them mentally or physically handicapped. Eventually, we came upon a room full of the most beautiful little children you've ever seen. Every one of them was a girl, and every one was slated for adoption in other countries. But, unless caring people intervened, all the other children had to look forward to was an entire childhood in that orphanage and then, most likely, life on the street.

I was enormously relieved to learn Buckner is involved in helping the Chinese childcare authorities—kind, gracious and enormously understaffed people—develop an extensive foster-care program. Placing these children in Chinese homes is a gift that will produce a lifetime of positive consequences. 

What's next for the children?

So, the Olympics has reminded me of the children of China. Would you join me in praying for them every day? If you have the opportunity, take a trip with Buckner to minister in an orphanage somewhere in the world. And if God is leading you, open your heart and your home to an orphaned child.