A broken arm from dad, smelly men touching her in bad places and constant beatings were just a part of life at three years old. A filthy environment with cat, dog and rodent feces littering the floor, scary people, itching from scabies and lice, it all seemed normal.

Life is different now. She has been in a stable, loving home for a year. She misses her little sister but sees her twice a week and knows she is safe. It is so different to have clean sheets or for that matter a bed. She never knew her old life was bad. It was the only thing she knew. Soccer at the YMCA, counseling, and trips to the park with her foster parents are fun. Seeing mom is good but dad is still scary. She starts preschool next year. She feels safe for the first time in her short life.

Is she living with a typical foster family? No, her foster parents are a gay couple.

Should she be removed?

With a shortage of licensed foster families where will she go? Should she go back to an abusive family? Be bounced around from one over capacity foster family to another? Should she be institutionalized?

 

Imagine a child is drowning at the local pool. Should the lifeguard be barred from saving the child because he or she is gay? Or worse, should we not allow the gay lifeguard to save the child and then not save the child ourselves? After all, it is hard to save a drowning child. We have a busy life. It is inconvenient to save dying children. It would be hard to save a child just to have the child leave us. Or worse yet, we save the child only to have the child go home with an abusive parent. Still, better to let the child drown than to have her saved by a homosexual.

 

Unfortunately this is the attitude of some in the Christian community. Rather than promote foster care and adoption we as Christians are more interested in deciding who God can use to save his children. We are in the business of removing safe, stable homes for children. Look no further than Arkansas new law sponsored by Arkansas Family Council and Focus on the Family that bans fostering and adoptions by gay or unmarried couples. Arkansas currently has over 3,500 children waiting for permanent homes.

Imagine what the result would be if rather than spending our time deciding who is worthy to save Gods children, we as Christians spent our time saving children. As Christians it is our duty and privilege to care for the orphans, widows, poor and the aliens (immigrants) among us.

 

I believe we have lost our way. Read the book of James or the story of the sheep and the goats in Matthew. Do we truly believe the Bible? Do we truly believe it is our duty to save the oppressed? Or have we become like the Pharisees, so obsessed by the rules that we neglect to do what is right and commanded?

 

I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe it is my duty to save children. I believe my God is big enough to use someone as flawed as me to rescue kids. I believe Jesus uses others to save children. Gods work will be done, with or without us. As Christians, let us concentrate our efforts doing God’s work, not preventing others from doing the same.

Todd McNeal