Day Twelve: So that just happened...

So I just had the weirdest afternoon. It would take a long time to accurately describe our first experience with juvenile court. We did however get to see our foster kids' mom for the first time and talk briefly to the man who is being paternity tested to be the younger one's dad (although we think he'll check out from his looks). We were able to give him a photo of his daughter. Seemed like maybe the only one he had ever had.

Lots of other things were bizarre about this experience too. Mainly just sitting in a room full of people who we would never in any other circumstance rub shoulders with. After all of the years of pondering and griping and theorizing about the issues that plague our country and other heady stuff, today I finally felt like I was in the game. Getting my hands dirty way up to the elbow. Feeling the deep pain of the possibility that our girls will leave us for a home far less than ideal. But I wouldn't trade it for the world.

You know I think the whole experience reminds me of verse after verse of my favorite chapter in the Bible. I hope you will all take time to read it straight through. Then I pray that you won't just listen to it, but you will do what it says. There are lots of actionable steps in it, for me the obvious one has been the last verse. Here's how it reads in my favorite version:

In God's eyes, the purest form of putting worship into practice is caring for single parents and displaced kids in their distress--getting your hands good and dirty, but keeping your heart clean. James 1:27 KGV


Lord, I pray that you will call all of us to get our hands dirty doing the work of worshiping You. I pray that in it all, we will keep our hearts pure. I pray that we will be a light in a dark world.