I finally have some shots to share from the adoption conference we attended a few weekends ago.

It was a fantastic conference, and I have picture after picture . . .

. . . but not many words at the moment.

This is odd for me, because I process things verbally.

I figure out what the heck I’m thinking and feeling by talking. But as I approached this post and tried to assemble my thoughts and nudge them into words, I was coming up with handfuls of nothing.

Well not nothing exactly–but whisps of ideas and strings of feelings that refused to be grappled into a sentence.

I will say that I love how the first speaker, Vermon Pierre, talked about the biblical basis for adoption. And it’s very simple: believers are the adopted sons and daughters of God. God does it, and we’re supposed to imitate him.

We were messed up and undesirable–Vermon used the phrase “unadoptable”–but God chose us anyway. We actually rejected him–killed his Son–and yet he still embraces us and makes us co-heirs with Christ. I get the same inheritance that Jesus gets.

Would you adopt someone that had murdered one of your natural children? I wouldn’t . . . but God did, by adopting me. It’s pretty radical, if you think about it.

And therein lies my call to care for the orphan, because we’re told to extend the same grace that we were extended.

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”” (Romans 8:15)

“You are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” (Galatians 4:7)

Vermon went on to say that one evening his adopted son asked “Dad, how do I know I’m really your son now?” Vermon looked him straight in the eye and said “Because I chose you. I chose you, and now you’re part of my family.”

“I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.'” (Hosea 2:23)

I don’t really have a lot more to say–other than my heart is open. I see the need, I get it–it’s just a matter of God stepping in and saying “Now. Now is the time!”

So I think I’ll just tell you to go read my friend Carrie’s wonderfully written post about adoption . . .

. . . in fact, I think I’ll go read it again too.

And I want to add–thanks for listening, friends.