Honoring The Lord's Name
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).
He Wanted A New Name
Stephanie Morrow, in an article on the legalities of changing one's name, relates the following story:
... a Vietnam teen received the right to legally change his name from Mai Phat Sau Nghin Ruoi, which translates to "Fined Six Thousand and Five Hundred." Named after the fine his father had to pay for having a fifth child, Fined Six Thousand and Five Hundred's dad finally agreed to help him change his name to something more traditional after his son continued to be teased in school. Fined Six Thousand and Five Hundred's new name is Mai Hoang Long, which translates to Golden Dragon.
A name, if it is given any meaning, should reflect something positive about the one holding it. Unfortunately, this father chose to give his son a name that reflected his own misgivings about his birth. The name he chose made it clear that it was all about how his son made him feel.
Although we don't use names this way in the West, we do tend to think of others in terms of how they make us feel. This marks one of the biggest differences between the way we love others and the way God loves us. When God calls us His "beloved," it's not because we have done anything to make Him feel that way. It's because He loves us, no matter how we make Him feel.
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10).