Being Clay

She was four. I was one. I was busy ripping out my older sister’s hair in chunks. She was busy weeping over child sponsorship infomercials on TV. I spent my time eating Play-Doh. She spent hers being clay. In a few short days, my sister Lorae will embark on a trip God’s been molding her to make since she was four years old. Since she first realized compassion. And her calling.

And so, Ukraine waits for her. With its 100,000 orphans living in sewers underground, 10% of which will commit suicide before their 18th birthdays. With 70% of its orphan boys living a life of crime, and 60% of its orphan girls turning to prostitution. The orphans of Ukraine wait. Eighty percent of them abused and recklessly abandoned by their parents. One hundred percent of them seeking hope. Seeking somebody to love them.

With James 1:27 as her anthem, Lorae departs for Klavdievo, Ukraine on Sunday. There, she will work alongside fellow volunteer Jonathan Adams at the Eastern European Outreach‘s summer camp for at-risk youth, after which Lorae will volunteer at Sunshine Children’s Center just outside Kiev from mid-September through mid-November.

Pray for Lorae and Jon. That they would be used and stretched and humbled and grown. That they would be strengthened as they defend the cause of the fatherless. And pray always for the orphans. That they’d realize the joy that is theirs in the Father’s love.

Lorae will be a regularly contributing columnist for Relevant Magazine’s RejectApathy.org over the span of her trip, and will also be keeping a personal blog about her experiences. I invite you to read along here and here!

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” James 1:27