Thoughts about Foster Parenting [part one]…

This past fall my wife, Carla, and I went through a 6 week class/training to become foster parents. The classes were interesting, informative…and to be honest… at times…what I was hearing made me a little nervous!

After we finished the classes we basically just had to wait for all the paper work to be processed, then wait again to be asked to take a child into our home.

Several people have asked us “why.” Why do you want to be foster parents?

There are several good answers to that question. One of them being that we want to make a difference for a child at a crucial, difficult time in their life.

As we prayed and thought about taking this step, a theme from the Scriptures kept pulling us toward this decision. In the Bible, God has a big heart for children…especially children who have been oppressed, forgotten, or neglected.

In the New Testament letter of James it gets put like this:

²⁷ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  [James 1v27 TNIV]

The word that is here translated as orphan [Greek “orphanos“] literally means “bereft of parents…a guardian…a guide or teacher.”

Our understanding was, that at this time, we could feel the Holy Spirit tugging our hearts toward helping children who were going through difficult circumstances.

We understand that this is not for everyone, nor does it make us uber-spiritual…this is just where God has us for now.

So, we were approved to be a foster home.

Then the phone rang…