There’s an elephant in the room.

As friends and family find out that we’re hosting an orphan for the summer, some greet us with excitement, others with joy, others with concerned eyes. And although most don’t ask the question out loud, we hear it in their pauses, in their round-about queries, in the awkward (God bless them) ways they bring up the subject of orphan hosting as the date gets ever closer.

As we pack and prep to pick up our superhero-in-waiting this weekend, we wanted to not only ADDRESS the elephant, but light him up in stage lights, discuss his traits and give an entire presentation on this amazing but rather large and awkward creature, because it’s only IN THE LIGHT that we can hold REAL conversations about the questions we ask in the dark.

The big one is this: Is orphan hosting really in the best interests of this child? And is it really in the best interests of our family?

These are the hard answers to the hard questions we’ve been asking ourselves for the last six weeks. They’re not perfect answers, and they may not be complete answers, because this is not a perfect process, and we don’t know the end results. But they’re honest answers, and they’re f’real answers, and they are the conclusions we’ve come to as we’ve asked these same hard questions and turned them over to an all-providing God in prayer this month.

There are 132 million orphans in the world.

132 million.

All innocent superheroes-in-waiting. All Supermen and Superwomen just waiting for families to teach them how to fly. All heroes just waiting for someone to help them SEE and discover their “super.”

It doesn’t take perfect families to impact orphans. It doesn’t take perfect people. It simply takes the love of a PERFECT GOD, poured out through the available hearts of flawed families who are willing to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

If we don’t fight for these superheroes, who will?

If we don’t speak for them, who will?

If we don’t open our hands and our hearts and our homes, WHO WILL?

Not everyone can adopt. But everyone can do SOMETHING.

Like Leia’s family, you can sell or buy jerky.

Like Erin’s family, you can organize, volunteer at or run a 5K to fundraise.

Like the Storyteller Missions team, you can travel to orphanages, share narratives, purchase books that support orphan ministry and make it a passion to TELL and TELL AGAIN THE ORPHAN STORY.

And this summer, you can help us tell ours.

Meet DJ – a Cuthredible for summer 2016.

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