111Project FL

09/27/2026

2 sets of sisters we have had the privilege of living with in our home. 2 very different stories.

I found myself last week in a courthouse to celebrate an adoption. 2 girls who lived in our home now have a forever family to call their own. They will grow up all their days being known, loved, belonging and knowing how loved they are by their family and also the Lord.

To my surprise, in walked another set of sisters. Girls we had loved, welcomed and advocated for in previous years. Girls who were a part of our community. Girls we fought for. And there they were…with another foster family who also had an adoption that day…but not their adoption.

As we talked and they told me life updates, it became clear that they will live until adulthood in the foster care system. Not adopted. Not seeing their biological family. Just waiting the years to age out of the system.

I have wrestled for the days since then on how to make sense of that hour on a random Wednesday. Why is the world so broken? When will it ever make sense that there are kids that have no option other than to age out of foster care? Could we have done more? Should we have done more? What will the rest of their lives look like as a result of the broken foster care system?

This is what I know to be true: a governmental system designed by humans will never be the answer to broken families and relationships.

It’s why the church is so vitally important in the foster care space. Both sets of sisters had the chance to live in gospel community with other Christ followers who loved them and influenced their lives. Both sets of sisters saw healthy marriages and families and know that there are options other than chaos and abuse for their relationships. Both sets of sisters saw us parent and live imperfectly and they heard us apologize, attempt to restore relationship when we hurt the people in our home and move forward still loving one another.

The foster care system will sometimes do what is best for kids and sometimes it will fail kids. But the church…we get to do it differently! For however long a foster child is in our church family, we get to be the hands and feet of Jesus to that child. We get to pray over them, we get to share the story of Jesus putting on flesh to have a relationship with them, we get to tell the greatest and most true realities that will ever exist. That the Lord will return and make all things right. That brokenness and sin and loss ultimately do not win. And that eternity in perfection with the only One who has ever loved us perfectly is much longer than brokenness on this Earth.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

09/21/2026

09/06/2026

So thankful for faith based agencies like A Door of Hope who continually remind us why the body of Christ needs to be on the frontline of foster care.

09/01/2026

08/27/2026

O Lord our God, before the foundation of the world You were Father and from that overflowing love You made a world wired for community, belonging, fellowship, and communion. You are the everlasting God who is Father of the fatherless and protector of widows.

We acknowledge, Lord, we still live east of Eden. Addiction has emptied cribs. Violence has driven children from their homes. Sin has fractured this world. Today, in Circuit 10 there are more than eleven hundred children in the system, exiled from their homes: Each one a name, not a number. Each one made in the image of God.

And Father, we give thanks that many in our midst have answered the call to minister to the least of these; our families fostering and adopting, caseworkers and social workers. Who carry loads too heavy for too long, may they not grow weary in doing good.

Father, forgive us for the ways we stand at a comfortable distance from this wreckage: Help us by your grace. Strengthen us and to fight to show up for the vulnerable. May we bring peace and reconciliation to bear. Lord, have mercy on what sin has broken. But Father, You did not leave us as orphans. You sent Your Son, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons and daughters, crying out by Your Spirit, Abba, Father.

So we pray for every laborer in this good work:
For social workers, worn thin by caseloads, give them wisdom, endurance, and a church that stands with them.

For foster and adoptive parents, may their homes be filled with your peace and love. Would the good news of Christ pervade their hearts as they lay down their lives for these children. Would your steadfast love sustain them in this good work you’ve called them to.

For guardians ad litem, judges, and mentors, who speak up for the children the system might otherwise overlook. Grant them wisdom and teach them how to judge rightly according to your law.

For parents working toward reunification, grant true repentance and real help. May fathers return to homes and lead by faith in Christ for the good of their families.

And Lord, make this congregation a people who do not outsource compassion, who foster, who adopt, who mentor, who thank the weary caseworker by name, and who pray without ceasing for your kingdom to come, your will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Father, all of this labor is done with hope. You have promised a day when every when the case file will be closed. Where we will dwell in an unshakable home, and on that day, sin and death and all of its effects will be no more. You will dry every tear from our eyes and finally make all things new. And there, at last, we will rest and find our true rest in you forever.

Until that day, keep us faithful extending your heart in ordinary obedience.

We ask this in the name of Jesus, who has promised, I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Amen.