Break The Cycle

I spent last night hanging out with two 16 year old girls. That's not so unusual for me - the wife of a youth minister. But this was different. We didn't hang out at Starbucks or go to a movie.

We hung out in their prison cell.

It wasn't K's first visit to Rivarde Juvenile Detention Center. She'd been many times before, almost always for fighting. H found herself locked up and awaiting trial as an accessory to murder. She showed us the newspaper clipping that reported the story.

K is the oldest of her mother's children, but the youngest of her father's children. It is a fragmented family. While she's serving her sentence, her 6 month old son is being kept by his father's family. The cycle has already begun to repeat itself.

H lived with her grandmother. She has no idea how long she will be incarcerated. The 17 year old girl who committed the murder has already been tried as an adult - and found guilty.

Both girls have hopes and dreams. They desire a different life. But somewhere, somehow the cycle has to be broken.

That's why First Baptist New Orlean's Rivarde Team goes week in and week out. We know that a relationship with Christ can break the vicious cycle. Christ is the Ultimate Cycle-Breaker. He came because humanity was stuck in a sin-sacrifice-sin-sacrifice cycle. True repentance had been replaced by rote ceremonies and sacrifices. He saved us from such drudgery. And because of Him, we have crossed from death into life. 

God forgives, reconciles, restores and makes all things new. Pray for K and H - that they will allow Christ to break the cycle and make them new. Pray for the Rivarde team who speaks words of life into the lives of incarcerated teenagers each week.

FBNO - Fire Up the Pastor Search Committee...

Fire up the Pastor Search Committee...Not sure he'll be with us much longer....

Transformation

This was a sign we passed leaving the Songhai neighborhood...I had the taxi drive stop and back up so I could take a picture...Is there a barbershop anywhere else in the world where you can go in looking like a black African man and come out looking like a very white Alisa Milano?

For more about our actual work here check out David's blog at davidecrosby.blogspot.com.

Jet Lag

So...today was our first full day in Ghana - and it was a great one! We went down to the Makola Market to meet and interact with the Songhai people in the area. We walked about three miles through the market stopping to talk and give CDs about Jesus to the Songhai vendors.

Currently, there is no church - Ghanian or American - seeking to reach the Songhai in Accra, Ghana. Many of the them have never heard the gospel.

Jet lag had caught up with some of us at the end of the day... We sat down to eat a delightful dinner at a restaurant - of course, Pastor David's food came first - which he proceeded to gloat about...

But, it meant that he had to wait for all of us to finish eating...and that's when the jet lag bear jumped on  his back.

While he slept, we finished eating, got out of the booth and left the restaurant. We sent the doorman back in with a camera to take a picture - the flash on the didn't wake him up and nor did the entire restaurant laughing at him.

The doorman finally shook him and said "your friends left 10 minutes ago. Why did they leave you?"

Picture for your enjoyment:

For a more informative blog about our day check out David's blog. He woke up to write it for you...

Fathers to the Fatherless - Video should work now...

Below is a video of adoptive fathers that was shown at our church this morning...

He's Ready for Eli!

Jon picked up every little guy under the age of 2 while we were in Ghana. Below are just a few examples!

An Orphan's Grief

One of the things about our trip to Ghana that I haven't been able to shake was our experience at the orphanage. I've worked with children in schools in Central and South America, Africa and Asia. And, despite all of the reading I've done throughout our adoption process, I wasn't prepared for the difference. 

Orphans, no matter how young, have experienced a traumatic, life changing event - and they know it. The little girl I'm holding in the picture below was in her crib sobbing uncontrollably. Even after I picked her up (which calmed every other baby in that facility) she just sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. (I had to put a heart over part of her face to not break any laws).

My initial thought was that in all of the chaos of getting 43 babies fed, she'd been skipped and didn't get her bottle. She was just hungry.

I approached the head "auntie" and asked for a bottle for her. The auntie's response let me know that it wasn't her tummy that was yearning for something, but her heart.

She had been dropped off at the orphanage only 3 days prior. And she was sad. So sad.

I don't know exactly what tragic circumstance brought her to this orphanage. But unfortunately, her experience is shared by 145 million orphans worldwide.

These children experience intense grief at such young, tender ages. I've not only read about it in adoption books, I've seen it in this little girl's eyes.

Pray for orphans worldwide - that God would heal their broken hearts, mend their little spirits, and put people in their lives to show them love.