Orphans

Rubel Shelly tells of his friends Rich and Patty White, who traveled to a 3rd world country to adopt a little girl named Olona. After 2 years of effort and paperwork, the Whites stood before a judge who read words from an official document: “Inasmuch as Olona Morgan is orphaned and unwanted by any family in this country... Inasmuch as no citizen of this country wishes to have Olona Morgan...” When this recitation concluded, which gave the Whites custody of Olona, the loving couple dropped to their knees, hugged their new daughter, and promised, “You will never have to hear the word ‘unwanted’ spoken of you again.” When they arrived back home in Tennessee, they changed their daughter’s name from Olona Morgan to Hope White. “You and I are unwanted orphans in a hostile universe,” Shelly writes. “Dearly loved, sought after, and claimed, we are God’s children. We have been given Christ’s name as our own. We are secure because of him. On the authority of Jesus, we rest in confidence that we are more precious than we dared dream.”