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Did you know that
most “orphans” around the world have at least one living parent or another
relative that they could live with? So
why are there so many orphanages? There
are various reasons why parents send their children to live at orphanages-vulnerability
(poverty, abuse or violence) being the main one.
Did you know
that there is a World Without Orphans movement with chapters in at least 40
countries? Their mandate is to “pursue a
world where every child is cared for in a safe and loving family, and where
every child reaches their God-given potential.”
Go to https://www.worldwithoutorphans.org/declaration to read more about the declaration and how
they are empowering families to keep their children, reintegrate children back
in their homes or find foster/adoptive families so every child can live in a
loving family instead of orphanages.
Why do I share this under the advent theme of “love”? Because I’ve seen our Families of Blessing ministry in Thailand move away from the orphanage-style home to several families caring for the children in our care. Unfortunately, it happened in a stressful way, but I see this as not being a setback but rather a set-up for some future good!
Some of our children can return home to their relatives during school breaks. I was there when some of the children came back to Daniel and Joy’s, one of our Families of Blessing. Erica and her dad met us after a day of fun at a waterfall. Erica got in the van and Joy and I joined the rest of them after quickly picking up supper at the market. There was Erica at the far end of the seat, head and body turned into the van window and away from all the other children. When she got out of the van at the house, I pulled her into my arms to hug her, hold her and tell her that I loved her. Joy then took her and loved her. Erica was already missing her dad.
Another two girls in our care have mothers who dearly love their children. Work can be done to reintegrate these girls back into their homes. World Without Orphans talks about preparing the parents and children alike for being reunited. Provide counselling for heart wounds. Empower parents with employment. Teach the parents about parenting and leading healthy families. Pray that they accept Christ who brings complete transformation in cultural beliefs and way of life. This is one aim of Good News International with some of our children in Families of Blessing. We work alongside of God to change the life of not only one child but a family and community.
Psalm 6:8 says, “God sets the lonely in families.” We are thankful for our parents in Families of Blessing and the way they love the children and work with the families.
This Christmas, hug your loved ones, love those around you, and worship the Lord your God. “We love because he first loved us,” I John 4:19.
Have you ever watched a storm approach and gone to take cover? Perhaps you’ve watched a tornado track, seeing whether you needed to head to the basement? Or watched a hurricane and prayed for those in the devastation? Or maybe you are like my (Traci’s) husband, Jason, and are a bit of a storm chaser. When we were first married, he went outside in a thunderstorm to try to photograph that “perfect shot” of lightning. He came back in to get a chair in order to steady the camera. However, when he grabbed a metal folding chair, I suggested a plastic one.
Ann Voskamp once wrote, “Our storms can be canvases for God’s lightning glory.” Let me share how God’s lightning glory shone through during our recent heartbreaking storm of transition from an institutional model (House of Blessing) to many family-style homes (Families of Blessing).
Rob and Amber were driving back from the city to the small town where our original House of Blessing was located. Rob had driven this road many times before but for some reason, he missed the correct exit and had to circle back. While in heavy rush hour traffic, they received an urgent phone call stressing that funds needed to be transferred immediately or a great opportunity would be lost. This wasn’t a hoax as it was from GNIM’s lawyer. It all happened because of a clerical error. Rob and Amber didn’t know how they would get to an actual bank branch in time to do so only to realize just then that God had put us right in front of one. Some would call that coincidence. I would call that God-at-work: “God’s lightning glory.”
Here’s another example: eleven children needed to be placed into three separate homes. These eleven children had become one family so how could we separate them? God had a plan! Six children stayed with J and A, the new houseparents that had come on staff earlier this year. Two children went to live with a pastor couple who were friends of J and A. God had earlier put it on this couple’s hearts to take in a couple children…and the best part?! They live close to J and A so the children can all go to the same school, same church and remain friends! The remaining three children went to another home where the father is a former chef…and the girls LOVE to cook! Again, “God’s lightning glory!”
It is in the darkest storm that “God’s lightning glory” shines the brightest!
Tammy is another one of our board members who is full of
energy and enthusiasm for the work of GNI and helping to organize past galas. Today she shares what motivates her to be
involved and how she has been inspired by our leaders. Welcome, Tammy!
Thank you. Let me
begin by saying that I am involved in GNI because of Rob and Judy and their
family. They are truly amazing people and I trust their hearts and their
direction as being led by the Holy Spirit. They bring so much energy,
life and love of Jesus in everything that they do.
I have known Rob and Judy for over 20 years as I was a
youth sponsor when Rob was a youth pastor.
At that time, their daughters, Amber and Amanda, were teens in the youth
group. I often think about the first
mission trip that I took with them, which was also Rob’s first time out of
North America. We were driving from California to Mexico and down the
Baja. Rob was so worried about making the crossing at the border that he
was using his radio to contact me as I was driving the van ahead of him.
He wanted to stop and defer, but I just kept on going despite his calls,
and drove right up to the Mexican border where I pushed the button and
thankfully got green. As Rob’s van pulled up, I was aware of the
ramification of my decision if he got the red light! Thankfully he got
green as well and we went through with our vans full of kids with no check at
all! I like to think that this moment was monumental in making Rob a
travelling world changer.
I am excited for the future of GNI because I know that
God’s heart is to heal the broken-hearted and set the captive free and Rob and
Judy exemplify this will in their life mission and purpose as they lead GNI.
I have seen how they have stewarded God’s favour and resources well and
how, as a result, GNI has grown throughout the years.
I am thankful for the focus on the Golden Triangle and
think that the result will be multiplied because of the focused efforts in one
area. I love how GNI empowers national leaders who understand the issues
at hand and the culture around them and are passionate to bring positive life
change to their people.
What excites me most is to see the kids’ lives that have
been impacted in Thailand and Myanmar and to see how they will take the mission
of GNI to the next level.
Thanks, Tammy, for sharing with us. I like the story about travelling to Mexico and the beginning of Rob being a travelling world changer.
You, dear supporters, can be a world changer, too, both in your own postal code and as you support our ministries!
It is the one-year anniversary, June 23 – July 10, of the
rescue of the Wild Boars soccer coach and twelve players from the Tham Luang
Nang Non Cave in Thailand. With Good News International’s ministry being
located near the cave, Rob and Judy have taken the opportunity to visit the
cave and remember the rescue, possibly one of the greatest
rescue efforts ever to have taken place during their lifetime, with people from
many nations (even Canada) involved in the extremely difficult extraction.
I, Traci, recently read an article by Shannon Gormley entitled “Into the Dark” (https://www.macleans.ca/thai-cave-rescue-heroes/), and learned many things I had not heard a year ago and, as a certified diver myself, I found it fascinating what the divers faced. Shannon explained that during the rescue “there would be children’s lifeless bodies yanked through paralyzing water; fingernails digging into rock walls and human skin; a cable wrapped around a neck; a strap binding a pair of wrists; a needle stabbed into a thigh; a skull smashed into rock; a lifeline drifting out of reach, out of sight, into the black…The cave’s currents were impossible. Visibility was also impossible…The constricted sumps—submerged underwater passages—were worse than impossible: they were deadly.” With divers who had only been trained in open-water diving and carrying oxygen tanks on their backs that were too large to fit through the small spaces in the cave, the diving experts had to be called in. And they flooded in from all over Thailand, Europe, Australia and Canada and finally made contact with the soccer team. The experts began to discuss options for those trapped in the cave. Shannon lays out the options and what they mean:
“Option One: Believe the children’s claims that they
heard roosters crowing. Assume there is a chimney in the mountaintop leading to
the kids and their coach. Find it, somehow. Pull the team out, somehow.
Option two: Assume there is no chimney. Make one. Drill
through the rock—700 m. Pull the team out—700 m.
Option three: Leave the kids and their coach in the cave.
In the dark. For four months. Send in food, letters and medical support. Wait
for the rain to stop. For four months. Bring the team out the way they came in.
Option four: Do what no one has ever done before. Bring a
dozen children and one adult, none of whom know how to dive or probably even
swim, through a few kilometres of flooded cave in almost zero visibility and
torrid currents.
Option one is unrealistic: the kids are probably
hallucinating about the roosters. Option two is deadly: drilling could crush
the children under falling rocks. Option three is torture: stuck on that small
patch of dirt in the dark, surviving on water dripping off stalactites, the
kids hadn’t lasted a few days before trying to claw their way out by scratching
at the rock face with their bare hands; four months would be unendurable. And
option four is madness. No one has ever tried anything like it before. Divers
might die. The ones who don’t die might have to carry out a dozen dead
children.
Tonight, the men choose madness. They want to dive the
kids out.”
So, the rescuers began the drills: pool drills to try on
the full face diving masks on the children to make sure they wouldn’t leak;
rock drills to lay out the miniature mock-up cave on the parking lot and
determine where the rescue stations will be in the cave and what everyone’s
role will be; sedation drills to practice topping up the children’s sedation
along the way so they won’t panic and drown themselves and their rescuers.
So, the rescue began and, although it didn’t all go according to plan and there were times of terror, the world rejoiced as the last boy, coach and rescuer emerged from the cave.
Today there is a gold colored statue raised to honor Saman Gunan, a former Thai navy diver, who died while taking part in the rescue efforts. The boars around his feet represent the football (soccer) team members he gave his life to try to rescue.
Bus loads of Thai and foreigners visit the site to pay
homage to the spirit of the mountain, a mythological princess named Nang Non,
thanking her for protecting the boys and facilitating their rescue. The entire
mountain is named after this woman, who reportedly committed suicide at this
site centuries ago after learning that her boyfriend, a stable boy, had been
found and killed by her father’s army. The surrounding mountain is said to look
like a sleeping woman and the water flowing in the cave is claimed to be her
blood. Hence the name Jao Nai Nang Non (the sleeping goddess). Thais make much
of such myths and are held captive in fear of such spirits.
As Christians, we have Good News to share and set these people free from fear of the spirits. Rob Griffioen, GNI president, writes, “As amazing as the cave rescue was, when one compares it to what God’s only Son, Jesus, did by coming on his rescue mission to save the human race from the penalty of sin, it simply can’t compare. Christ came to make us right with God, to restore us to our full inheritance as children of God (John 1:12). Most of the boys who were rescued still need Jesus (apparently one is a follower already). Most of the people who participated in the cave rescue still need Jesus. We all need Jesus, and praise God that this offer of rescue still remains today. It’s why we are here in Thailand. We want to help people break out of the darkness of sin and come into Christ’s marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9).
While we praise God for the amazing rescue of twelve boys
and their coach, we also are struck by the persistent problem of lost souls and
spiritual darkness in this land. This region is home to unchecked production of
heroin and methamphetamines. The carnage this brings is an addicted generation
of young men and women, who, if they live long enough to have children, end up
in prison or die from their addictions. Parallel to this, children are sold
into human trafficking chains at an alarming rate by parents who are incapable
of or unwilling to run the race of raising their own young. For Judy and I,
having two frontline ministries in this area (one in Thailand and one in
Myanmar), fits our calling. It’s why we are here. It’s why we are investing the
best we have (our own children) and why we are delighted that you have joined
our cause in prayer and support to see this through.
Please pray that God uses our ministry (GNIM), our
amazing daughters (with family) and our partners to make a big spiritual impact
in this land. It’s a bit of David and Goliath story here. But we know how that
story ends!”
