One Less

The United Nations reports that the number of orphans around the world waiting for help is more than 140 million.

There are more than 46 million orphans in Africa.

There are more than 71 million orphans in Asia.

There are more than 10 million orphans in Latin America.

There are more than 120,000 orphans in the United States.

A child dies from malaria, a completely preventable disease, every 30 seconds. 1 in every 20 children in Africa alone will die just from this disease.

Every 14 seconds a child loses a parent due to AIDS.

Every day, almost 16,000 children die of hunger. That’s 12 million every year.

There could be one less.

There could be one less broken heart going to sleep tonight.

There could be one less child dying of a preventable disease.

There could be one less child dying from hunger.


There could be one less child growing up without a family.
There could be one less child fighting for survival each day living on the street.

But for there to be one less, then someone needs to step up.

Did you know that if 8 percent of people who profess to be Christians adopted, there would be no more orphans? Did you know that in the United States alone, if one family out of every 4 churches adopted a child there would be no more orphans in our country? There are 2,000 Bible passages that declare our Father's love for the impoverished and their children and that urge us, YOU AND ME, to defend their cause.

Think of the plight of the orphan somewhere right now out there in the world. It’s not just that she’s lonely. It’s that she has no inheritance, no future. With every passing year, she’s less “cute”, less adoptable. In just a few years, on her eighteenth birthday, she’ll be expelled from the orphanage or from “the system”. What will happen to her then? Maybe she’ll join the military or find some job training. Maybe she’ll stare at a tile on the ceiling above her as her body is violated by a man who’s willing to pay her enough to eat for a day, alone in a back alley or in front of a camera crew of strangers. Maybe she’ll place a revolver in her mouth or tie a rope around her neck, knowing no one will have to deal with her except , once again, the bureaucratic “authorities” who can clean up the mess she leaves behind. Can you feel the force of such desperation?
(excerpt from Adopted for Life by Russell D. Moore)

“Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice in our world when He could do something about it.”

“Well, why don’t you ask him?”

“Because I’m afraid He would ask me the same question.”
(anonymous)

(Statistics taken from www.cryoftheorphan.org and http://147millionorphans.com/ and http://joiningthejourney.blogspot.com/ and http://www.focusonthefamily.com/)