8th Graders' Surprise

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations…”  Jeremiah 29:11-14

            C: Friday was a day of ups and downs.  Bitter and sweet.  It started off with a really neat visit from a family that visited Ryan’s orphanage on a mission trip 2 years ago.  They were instrumental in connecting us with people all around the globe who have been praying for not only for Ryan and that God would prepare a family to adopt him.  It was GREAT to meet them and get to pray with them. 

            It was also really hard to hear what they had to say about the day-to-day, real-life conditions for a child in an orphanage in Eastern Europe.  It’s no mystery that kids with special needs do not get the same level of care in many other countries as they do here, but I guess it was the first time it really hit home that my son has spent the first 5 years of his life in…well…a less than desirable institutional setting.  To sit and talk with real people who have seen Ryan and the other kids he is there with, and hearing them describe just a little of what my son lives with day in & day out, it felt like I just got punched in the stomach.  I wanted to cry, scream or throw up.  (I’m understanding more and more why God says “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress” James 1:27).

            Then, around 5:00 I got a friendly (but kind of cryptic) text message from the parent of one of my students (who just graduated!!!) inviting me to join the students at the end of the year dance party hosted at the school by a few of the parents.  I sort of thought the idea was for there to NOT be any teachers there, but I didn’t have any plans, I was invited and I love spending time with my students, so I decided to go.  HOLY COW was I in for a surprise!

            IT WAS A SET-UP!  They TOTALLY tricked me, in the best way ever!  I got there, said a few “hellos” and then almost right away one of the parents asked me to turn all the lights on in the gym.  At this point I’m thinking “Well, that sort of kills the dance-party atmosphere, but, OK.”  Then it got even stranger…all the kids sort of circled around me (in a friendly way).  I expected maybe a few to say “hi” but this was just felt a bit out of the ordinary.  Which it was because next, Allison (Smiley) tells me they decided to charge admission to the dance and donate all the proceeds to Ryan’s adoption!  WHAT!?!  She handed me an envelope with HUNDREDS of dollars for Ryan!  WAHOO!!!!  Can you believe this is real?  The students had planned this whole thing without me having a clue.  Coolest surprise ever.

            Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, two girls yelled “PRAYER CIRCLE!”  So almost the entire 8^th grade class of 2012 circled up, sat down and spent 20 or 30 minutes praying for Ryan and my family.  Unbelievable.  The whole experience was both humbling and very emotional for me.  I’m not a dude who never cries, and I don’t cry a lot…but I certainly shed some tears when my students prayed for Ryan.  Besides a few short-term missionaries from the other side of the globe, my son has never in his entire life had anyone love on him, pray for him, sing to him, tickle him, hold his hand at the doctor, celebrate his birthday, whisper to him just how precious he is…and here are 30+ students who have never met him circled up fighting for him in prayer.  I can’t imagine a greater gift my students could give me or my son. 

            So, contrast the two experiences.  The first, thinking about the real conditions Ryan lives in almost broke me.  Then God shouted to me “I have plans that you don’t know about!”  “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations…”  Jeremiah 29:11-14