09-03-25

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 3, 2025
Twenty-one years ago on this day, Donna and I arrived in Guatemala City to complete the adoption process and bring our eleven-month-old child home. What was to be a three-month process turned into a nearly yearlong and very painful journey. We traveled three months earlier to visit the child that had been assigned to us, yet while we were there on our visit, we learned of other couples who had been given a referral and then, for one of many reasons, were told that they’d need to start over with another child. From the first day of the referral, I fell in love with the child that had yet to be born. Every few weeks, we’d receive an update with a picture from the foster mother. Of course, those were the days of dial-up internet, and so we’d click on the picture and then spend the next 15 minutes watching it slowly download. It sort of felt like a metaphor of the entire process—waiting only to get a glimpse of what you were hoping would become reality.

For a lot of people, the Frogge experience is not all that dissimilar from their own. The actual experience might have been very different, but the waiting with great uncertainty, followed by more waiting, followed by little glimpses of hope and more waiting, is equally painful and frustrating. And telling people, “Have faith,” is not terribly helpful. Being a faithful friend who just listens without judgement might be the best gift that can be offered. Sometimes it is impossible to understand what another person is experiencing unless you’ve experienced it yourself. Empathy begins with listening without any sort of projection of one’s own assumptions, and definitely no pithy little sayings.

For the many tough and painful moments of life, we are thankful that you are forever preset, Gentle and Loving God. Provide us with a little extra sustaining power, especially when we feel all tapped out. Amen.