From Hope Unlimited, Brazil – Philip and Corenne Smith

The stock market is down 10%. S & P downgrades our credit rating. In 24 months, the US-Brazil exchange rate drops from 2.35 to 1.55, eroding our purchase power there by almost 40%. Nobody will give in this climate.

And then this morning, I saw the really frightening figure: it is estimated that the global economic collapse has pushed orphan numbers to 163,000,000.

163 million children without homes or family.

Time to throw in the towel? Time to surrender these children to a destiny of despair and death? Can’t we admit when we have lost?

No. We cannot, and we will not. Let me give you two compelling reasons why we stay in the fight, even when the numbers look hopeless.

First, the critical number is not 163,000,000, it’s 1.

It is one child that does not know he or she is part of a worldwide phenomena. It is one child that doesn’t follow the global markets. It is one child who is hungry, frightened, hopeless. It is the one child for whom you can change reality.

You may not be able to move the Dow, change a culture that views children as disposable, or move the worldwide orphan numbers, but you can decide today to change the life of one child.

But even more important, there is One who sees the big picture, and He loves every one of these children intensely. And – important words here – He has called us to join with Him in changing their lives.

We hear it over and over again in Scripture, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress.” It seems that we spend far too much of our time worrying about the things that are God’s purview – the big picture stuff – and not nearly enough time being faithful in what He has given us.

So in the midst of all this bad news, my admonition to you is this: be faithful today. Go to the Hope Unlimited website, or that of another child care organization.  Sent a gift; sponsor a child.

Do something for one child, today.