What can I do?

I used to love snow days.

Listening to the radio DJ rattle off the list of school districts.  Waiting on pins and needles to hear my district called, followed by the magic words: “Closed”

Spending the rest of the day whining to my mom, “What can I do now, Mom?  I’m bored.  What can I do?”

I ask the same question now, but for different reasons.

I look at the 153 million orphans in the world, and I have a hard time figuring out where to start.  I look at that number and think, “it’s overwhelming, scary, and expensive!”  I freeze and whine, “What can I do?”

Overwhelmed

I searched “Adoption.” Google gave me 34 million responses in under a second.  “Orphans” returned 4.4 million.  I love technology, but it’s also made the world really overwhelming.

I had to narrow it down a little bit first.  OK, a lot.

I spent a couple hours surfing around the Web, just reading blogs and comments, clicking on things that looked interesting.  After a little bit, i started to see a pattern in what types of things I clicked through to.  Then I focused.

I had to look at how I’m wired up, focus in that direction, and then take a little baby step.

You can too.

Scared

I’m scared of crowds.  And new people.  And anyplace outside my house.  Not to the point of agoraphobia, but I’d be pretty comfortable if I never had to wear anything but pajamas.

I get anxious about a lot of things.  And downright scared at others.  But fear is a bully.  And like most bullies, fear can be beaten.  The way I beat it is to start small and build on the momentum.

Broke

The economy still sucks.

If you’re behind on rent, or struggling to put food on the table, then now might not be the time to make big donations or commit to a 3-week mission trip to India.  But maybe you have time to hang out with foster kids at a place like Big House?

Or maybe you’re making ends meet, but there are things in your life that you could cut back on a little bit?

For me, it was eating out.  We ate out a lot.  And by a lot I mean four meals a day.  We will forever be the HunanChickenWithBroccoliPeople to the staff of Golden China.

They miss us now.  But there’s a kid at Dulce Refugio that has uniforms and school supplies because we don’t each so much carryout anymore.

What does this all mean?

It means you don’t have to solve the entire problem, today, alone.  We’re all in this together.  If I take a little step toward something pulling on my heart, and you step toward what pulls on your heart…I think you see where this is going.

Do you love babies?  Volunteer at a local crisis pregnancy center, sew bibs or make blankets for special needs infants in the foster system, or donate to a ministry that rescues baby girls from infanticide,

Do you speak a different language?  Volunteer to help immigrant single moms learn English, sponsor a kid from a country that speaks the same language and write monthly letters in their native tongue, go on a short-term mission trip.

Are you with me?

Do you have a unique life experience or talent?  Use that.  Do you have baggage from your past that helps you relate to kids in difficult places?  Use it to help them heal.

Let’s get creative.  Find one thing that you can do in less than two hours or for less than $20 that can help one kid in your town, and commit to do it this month.

Take a step with me today.

What is your two-hour-twenty-buck thing?  Leave a comment….