I travel globally, representing Buckner in countries where we've worked for a long time and those we are exploring to see if we can find an answer for orphans. For impoverished parents. For children at-risk of abuse or neglect. Street kids.
There's a common thread in many of the countries where we work, a theme I've noticed that's almost universal. I've seen how many countries treat their poor and orphaned. If I could boil it down to a single word, it's "forgotten." Put them in an orphanage. Put them behind walls where no one can see them. Care for them at subsistence level, but no more than that - that's too expensive. Keep them living, but don't offer a life. Offer them a place, but don't offer them hope.
It's the same kind of injustice that David wrote as a poem or song in Psalm 9. It's a prayer for God to bring hope out of injustice. It's the prayer of hope that is whispered by millions of orphan children in danger of being forgotten.
Hope lives in the faces of the forgotten. Hope is just as universal as the global lack of care of the poor and orphaned. It doesn't matter what country I'm in or what language is being spoken or what the population looks like. Hope lives.
But the forgotten need more than hope. They need help. So during the Advent week of remembering the hope that is in Christ, let's pray for those who hope for justice, let's pray they will find comfort, and let's pray they will not be forgotten.
- Randy Daniels
