Most Sundays I get the privilege to seat behind two of the best parents you will ever meet and their two children: Scott, Donia, Eli, and Evie. The reason why there is no genuine parent of the year award is because Scott and Donia would win it every year, which would be remarkable when I try to calculate the number of times Scot gets put in time-out.
Anytime I sit behind the Neuhaus family, it is not unusual for Scot or Donia to pull out this little pink book titled, “ .“ and read through it with Evie at some point during the services.
This simple books details the long and complicated journey that Scot and Donia undertook to reach their daughter. I recently asked Scot and Donia what inspired them to make this little pink book, which I consider to be a stroke a of genius.
They wrote, “Before we ever left to meet Evie and pick her up in China, we wanted to be sure she knew how much she was loved. We fixed up her new room, bought her some toys and snacks we thought she might like for the trip, and had fun picking out clothes.”
“We also took tons of pictures. We knew she would always want to know "why" to about a million different questions we didn't have the answers to. We started putting things together to make a book for her to answer some of those questions the best way we knew how.”
“It's a simple pink book with all of the things we thought would be the most important things for her to know. We have pictures of us getting ready for the trip, Eli waiting for her at home, her favorite caregiver from the orphanage, the outside of the orphanage, her birth certificate, and lots of places we visited in her area while we were there.”
“We mostly tried to emphasize how much everyone in her life loved her and did their best to take care of her. One of her first words to us in China was the Mandarin word for hug. Someone in that orphanage loved her, took care of her, taught her what a hug was, and made sure she got one. We wanted her to know little things like that. We made that book just after we got home from our trip to China, and it's still one of her favorite books to read.”
Our identity serves as the cornerstone upon the rest of our lives are built. With this book, questions like, “Who am I?” “Where did I come from?” have already been answered for Evie. But I think there is another thread running through this book that Evie does not yet have the ability to fully understand.
I think it will happen around age 17 or 18, when Evie picks this book up and comprehends the magnitude of truth that is on every page of this book. She will realize that this book is not just about her parents’ trip to bring her home, but it also documents the lengths to which God went in pursuit of Evie.
Despite moving through the eons of time, crossing vast oceans, and searching for one in the midst of billions, God’s love was still able to find her. And it will be this realization that will once and for all solidify Evie’s identity as an instrument of God’s love meant to be played for anyone who would listen….Just like her parents.
Now you might say how does that apply to me? What do I have in common with an orphan girl from China? Well I Eph 1 might be able to connect the dots for us. For I think we will find that God’s pursuit of Evie is not all that different than his quest to reach all of us.
Ephesians 1:4-6
New International Version (NIV)
4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he[a] predestined us for [STOP] ADOPTION [STOP] to sonship[b] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
You see until we confess Christ as Lord we too are orphans looking to be adopted in a world that will not have us. But then comes the moment when God’s loves breaches the outer walls of our heart making known God’s intention to adopt us as sons and daughters. Written with blood of Christ, and sealed with his empty tomb, our adoption is certified.
And like Evie, we too have been given a book. Now it’s not pink and covered with stickers, but it powerfully displays the strength and determination of God’s love to reach those created in God’s image. And thereby shapes our identity
Not only does our book tells us who we are and where we come from, but more importantly our book discloses as to who are to become and to where we are going. May we all take more time to read our book over and over. And as the years go by, it is my prayer that it will still be one of our favorite books to read.
