The power of the Gospel is such that God sees us, meets us, and adopts us as sons and daughters.

The power of the Gospel is so profound that it meets us where we’re at. The power of the Gospel is such that God knows everything about us and nevertheless, continues to pursue us, court us, woo us. God remains jealous for us. This is the power of the Gospel…

The Gospel sees us.
The Gospel meets us in all of our brokenness, sinfulness, and depravity.
The Gospel meets the lost and brokenhearted.
The Gospel welcomes the sick, the lepers, the widows, orphans, the AIDS stricken, the ostracized and marginalized…
The Gospel even welcomes us.

When we receive the Gospel, the power and grace of the Gospel is such that God adopts us as His sons and daughters.
The Gospel is Jesus and Jesus is the Gospel.

This truth was especially revealed in a powerful way through an experience and conversation I recently had this weekend and further affirmed through a video I desperately invite you to see below.

First, the story:

This past Saturday evening, I spoke at a “Family Camp” in the Camp Cascades retreat center where numerous churches from the Northwest gathered. After my sermon, a family came up to greet me. It was an older couple and they were pushing along a very large mechanical wheelchair. To be honest, it was large and impossible to miss. In this wheelchair was their 19-year-old son who I’ll refer to as “John”. As we talked, they shared how something I preached on deeply resonated with them. It was the point I was making about our human inability to look at people in the eyes – especially those that don’t fit into our boxes of “normal.” They shared the pain of how literally none of the adults had asked about John thus far at this “family retreat.”

This, it itself, convicted me. I had noticed John but I didn’t bother to take the time to say hello to him or ask of his story.  As I shared earlier, it was impossible to miss him – not only because of the humongous mechanical wheelchair – but also because of his heavy breathing. While I was preaching, I could occasional hear his heavy breathing.

So, I asked this older couple,

“What’s your son’s story? What’s John’s story?”

Over the next couple minutes, they shared a glimpse of John’s story. John is paralyzed, deaf, mute, mostly blind. He is only able to feel some touch. They explained that when John was three months old… Just three months old…his biological parents pummeled him to near death. Doctors estimated – at best – he might live another month or two.  When this couple heard about his story, they chose to adopt John in hopes that for the remaining weeks of his life, they simply wanted to convey to this little baby a glimpse of beauty; a glimpse of what God intended; a glimpse of love.

John is now 19. His life is a miracle but even beyond, his adoptive parents’ love is a greater miracle in that they chose to adopt him as their own and love him. This is probably not what they had in mind for the second half of their life.

This is the power of the Gospel.

The Gospel sees us.
The Gospel meets us in all of our brokenness, sinfulness, and depravity.
The Gospel meets the lost and brokenhearted.
The Gospel welcomes the sick, the lepers, the widows, orphans, the AIDS stricken, the ostracized and marginalized…
The Gospel even welcomes us.

When we receive the Gospel, the power and grace of the Gospel is such that God adopts us as sons and daughters.
The Gospel is Jesus and Jesus is the Gospel.

Secondly, read this letter.

Hi Pastor Eugene,

Thank you so much for your email, and prayers, both are very much appreciated.

I’m doing alright. Any job has its highs and lows, and in this line of work the highs are so beautiful and fulfilling, and by nature then the lows can be incredibly heartbreaking. I’ve had to walk families through some difficult times before, but never something like that. This family had adopted from Thailand before, and though they came back to adopt from Thailand again, when they realized their only option there would be to wait three years for a baby, they decided to adopt from a country where there are children waiting for families. I had watched this little girl wait for over two years, and get passed over time and time again for children who were younger, cuter, less delayed. This family immediately fell in love with her. They saw past the shaved hair, and the lazy eye, and just saw a little girl in need of a family. It had only been about a month since I sent them her file, but when I told them the news it was clear that it was no less tragic for them. Part of what makes it so hard to understand was that it was so unexpected. We have families adopting children with serious heart conditions or blood conditions, but she just had cerebral palsy. All the orphanage said was that she became ill and passed away, and knowing the realities, it’s likely that she passed away from some common, preventable, treatable childhood illness.

There’s not much you can when you’re delivering news like that, and the mother was crying so hard she couldn’t speak either, but we’ve emailed several times since then and they’re doing alright. Our agency isn’t Christian, but she brought up her faith before, so we’ve been able to talk from that perspective, which has been healing for me, and hopefully them. If anything she’s been ministering to me. They’re the nicest people and she repeatedly has said she’s praying for us, that she knows how hard it must be after working so hard for these kids. They are still moving forward in their adoption, they know there are many other children in need of families.

I would love continued prayers for encouragement and healing, for this family and myself. If anything, this makes me more determined to advocate for the children who are waiting. No child should die for lack of a family.

I believe in a gracious God, so I believe “LQ”  is with Him. Nothing about her life on earth was easy- it was difficult to walk, to talk, to learn, and doubtless difficult to grow up without parents, but I trust she is healed now.

– Lindsey

And lastly, please watch this video.