“Are their parents dead?” – Talking with my kids about orphans

My family sponsors three children.  Daniela lives in Romania and is about the age of my daughter Abby.  Gabriel lives in Sudan and is about the age of my son Grant.  Asly lives in Honduras and is about the age of my daughter Ashley.

Sponsoring basically means we make a financial gift each month that goes towards the physical and spiritual well-being of these kids.  It’s been a great way to introduce a global perspective to my kids.

I’ll never forget 4 years ago when we first began sponsoring Gabriel.  I had visited the orphanage in Sudan where Gabriel lives.  I don’t know for certain, but there’s a good chance that Gabriel’s parents are no longer living.  When Gabriel’s picture and bio arrived I sat down with 3-year-old Abby and told her about him.  Somehow even at age 3 Abby knew to ask where his parents were.  I didn’t want to come out and say “they are dead” so I just said they weren’t around. Very instinctively she asked me, “are they dead?” Tough conversation … but a great way to help Abby and my other kids get some insight into the rest of the world.

Without fail every night before bed at least one of my kids prays for Daniela, Gabriel and Asly.

I love this story our Bluefish TV team found about a teenager who is sponsoring a child through Compassion.  Sometimes we can think that teens are so self-focused that they would never make a monthly sacrifice to donate money like this. Casey was inspired at a conference my friend Mark Matlock does called Planet Wisdom and I think her story is amazing.

Casey’s story is part of a powerful new series we just released called Made to Make a Difference featuring teaching from Max Lucado.