Saving Up to Pay for Adoption
Fourteen year old Tyce Pender of Cayce, S.C., has started his own lawn mowing business using a $200 loan from his mom to buy a new lawnmower, rake, and leaf blower. To date, he’s mowed nearly 20 lawns and earned over $400.
That’s a nice stack of cash! He could now afford a new video game system, a primo new bike, or even some great new threads. But Tyce isn’t saving for games, gadgets, or new clothes. He’s saving for something far more important — his own adoption!
Tyce’s step-dad, Eric Jenkins, came into his life when he was just 2 yrs old. He’s been there every step of the way to raise him, mentor, him, encourage him, discipline him, provide for him, and protect him. He’s been everything a father could and should be to Tyce.
The family’s goal, from the beginning, was for Eric to adopt him. Yet times are hard and finances are short. So both Tyce and Eric have had to be patient and settle for Eric's fulfilling the role of "awesome step-dad" rather than "adoptive father." But their patience may not have to hold out much longer if Tyce has his way.
He has committed himself fully to raising money and saving toward the legal fees necessary for him to officially take Jenkin’s name and to be able, finally, to call him his legal father.
"This is important because Eric teaches me respect, independence and what a man is supposed to be," explained Tyce. "If anything ever happens to my mom, Eric is who I'd want to live with. … Court is expensive," said Tyce. "I thought I could make enough money to pay for the adoption."
Tyce may have to work hard to pay the legal fees required to be officially recognized as Jenkin’s son, and good on him for doing so!
But thanks be to God that adoption into His family has been paid in full by Jesus Himself!
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:4-7, ESV).
“This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring” (Romans 9:8, ESV).
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God … “ (John 1:12, ESV).
My Name Is Null
A man claims to have been given free hotel and car rentals, just because he changed his last name to "Null." The Daily Mail reports:
Raven Felix Null, 24, from the United States, says he changed his surname after becoming an adult and claims the word 'Null' is incompatible with a lot of computer programming, leading to many systems not recognising him as a person.
The programming fault means that when an employee puts the word 'null' into the surname box on an IT system, it will recognise the word as meaning 'an absence of data', and refuse to validate it.
The glitch often results in an IT failure where Raven isn't billed for the item he has bought.
But Raven is quick to point out that he didn't change his name to get free stuff. Rather, he claims he did it to reflect his estrangement from his family. He chose the word "null" because, he said "it means nothing, meaning I am not connected to my 'family' in any way anymore."
The story people pick up on here isn’t the real story. This isn’t a story about getting free stuff. It’s a story about the great void in this young man’s life in the absence of a loving family -- a void that is felt so deeply that he chose to change his name to Null.
Sadly, there are countless others who feel the same way. But just because you grew up in a dysfunctional home, that doesn’t mean your name has to be “Null.”
Instead, you can chose to turn to your Father in Heaven, Who loves you with an everlasting love. And although your earthly family may have abandoned you--leaving you feeling distant and alone--your Father in Heaven will never do that. Rather, He promises to fill you with His love, and He welcomes you into His eternal family, the Church, and into the fellowship of Christ’s love.
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love" (John 15:9).
"[Father] I [Jesus] am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me" (John 17:23, NLT).
Dove Super Bowl Ad Celebrates Dad
“It’s no news that many folks watch the Super Bowl these days more for the advertisements than the game,” says Paul Asay of Dads Matter.
Companies will pay as of 2015 $4.5 million for every 30-second spot during the big game, so you know they’re going to try to make them memorable.
Budweiser will send a beer drinker into a life-sized Pac-Man game. GoDaddy.com will feature spokeswoman Danica.
Patrick snuggling with a puppy. Carl’s Jr. courts controversy by showcasing an apparently naked woman strolling through a supermarket (her most critical anatomical bits shielded by produce).
But the front-runner for my favorite ad this year might be this dad-centric spot by Dove.
After a 5 year-break, the Dove Men+Care ad campaign returned to the Super Bowl. The 2015 ad was designed to “celebrate the multidimensional aspects of masculinity that define what it means to be a man today," according to Jennifer Bremner, director of marketing at Dove Men+Care.
The ad (click here to watch it in its entirety), flashes from one scene to another, as children of all ages call out to their fathers to catch them as they jump into the pool; dance with them at their wedding; wrestle with them as they return home from work; soothe them when they’re hurting. “Daddy!” “DaDa!” “Dad!”
Asay continues:
“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare asked. In this ad, we see that the name “daddy” can be filled with a world of emotion. It’s a squeal of joy. An exasperated groan. A salve for deep hurt. It’s more than a name or a title. It’s a conduit for connection—not just between a father and child, but to the many, many emotions that their relationship encompasses.
Paul Asay (@AsayPaul) is a contributor for Dad Matters and a senior associate editor for PluggedIn.com.
A conduit for connection.
God our Father has a name which He longs to hear from our lips: “Abba!” It is the Hebrew term of endearment closest to our modern English word “Daddy!”
It is itself a conduit of connection to the very heart of God.
With the loudest of cries, or the quiet of whispers, it immediately captures His attention and ushers us into His presence.
Dads, we can be a living, breathing picture to our children of what it means to have a father—a Heavenly Father—who cares, who's there, who always responds.
What’s in a name? If the name is Abba, the answer is everything.
"The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father'" (Romans 8:15).