Greater Grace Christian Coffeehouse:
Rescuing
Russian Orphans
BY ANDY WHITE
Christmas is here. Jesus has long brought us together to share the joy of His humble birth. Our Savior,
born in a stable, wrapped in swaddling clothes, on
His very first night on earth, laid his head to sleep in
a manger of hay.
And we sing......”Oh Holy Night....”
I am thankful, as I know are most of you, but what
do we make of this night? Do we value the humility with which God humbled himself as a man, and
came to dwell among the least of us? Knowing that
Jesus identified with you personally, with your loss,
or your hurt, or your struggle, or your fear, do you
feel an identification with Him? I hear the Christmas carols, smell the fresh cut Christmas trees,
remember the joys of childhood, and look forward
to egg nag and warm laughter with family and
friends....these are a few of my favorite things. But
something else is on my mind this Christmas.
Earlier in the year we began to seek the Lord for a
way to pull together the Christians in our community here at Greater Grace Christian Coffee House.
Those who joined us were challenged to reach out
beyond their comfort zones, asked to visit a Church
other than their own, and to offer themselves in
service to a Church other than their own. Finally
after a few gatherings with a group of Believers from
differing denominations, traditions etc. everyone
was asked to work together with what we all have in
common, and to reach out beyond our community.
We began with prayer and God took us on an adventure that included a family adopting a son, new
friendships forged in the fire of adversity, and miraculously opened doors to help orphans in Russia.
I have been very excited about this opportunity.
This has presented a huge challenge to me personally, to seek out every possible resource to effectively
make a difference in these children’s lives. What has
this to do with Christmas? Another toy collection
for underprivileged children? No, I wish it were that
simple, but it isn’t. Imagine a child with no parents,
no family, in a dormitory filled with other children,
all cold, all lonely, with very little hope. Imagine a
child, with a beautiful smile, knowing that outside
50 Woman
The County
Magazine
of his window, birds sing, the sun glimmers on the
snow, and the sounds of children playing outside
echo off of the empty walls. Imagine the young girl
dreaming of a family, a mother and father, a little
sister or brother, music, and the smells of good food
as everyone gathers around the table, but when she
opens her eyes all she can see is the old wall, the
same old wall.
Can you really put yourself in the place of these
children...please? If it sounds like I am coming close
to begging, it’s because I have seen these children
with my eyes, I have heard their dreams with my
ears, and I see Jesus in every one of their faces. Yes
it is Christmas, but for some of God’s children,
warmth and love and joy won’t be a reality. Jesus
humbled Himself, and came down as a man among
men, because He knew that we were helpless to help
ourselves. He was willing to have nothing so that
we might have everything. He has given us mercy.
He has given us love. He has given us hope. “Freely
we have received”, and let me reiterate the plea of
scripture, “freely also give.”
Now, I ask you to join me as I put myself in the
place of these children. Do I feel particularly humble
begging? No, because these children, upon their release from the orphanage at 15 to 18 years old have
almost no living skills, no transitory housing, no
supervision, no proverbial net to catch them when
they fall, and no family to go to for help. They beg.
They experience rejection; they experience a lot of
“No’s” as well as dirty looks, name calling and bullying by peers, and recruitment by thieves, pimps, and
drug lords. And they beg. They beg for help. They
beg for food. They beg for mercy from the bullies.
They beg God to stop the pain, to stop the suffering.
And their desperation in a huge percentage of the
cases leads them to the only end they can control,
suicide. The girls, often as young as fifteen, turn
to prostitution and loose any sense of dignity. The
boys band together and steal what they can, often
turning to drugs and alcohol. Putting myself