“For the sake of the world burn like a fire in me. Light a flame in my soul for every eye to see. For the sake of the world burn like a fire in me.” – Brian Johnson & Bethel Music

Read the beginning of the series HERE

Beverly and I came home from Colombia absolutely wrecked by the Spirit of God. We tried to go back to our life of pastoring and working wherever God provided work but it was no use. For three months I cried at least once every day. I would sit and look at photos of the children in Colombia and weep. My family started asking me, “Daddy, please don’t look at those photos anymore. We can’t stand to see you so broken up.” I remember one day walking through the grocery store and seeing a little brown skinned girl holding her daddy’s hand and I burst into tears. I stopped right there in the store and called my friend, Allen Pate and asked, “Allen, when does the crying stop?” He replied, “Honestly, I don’t know, it’s been three years for me and I’m still crying.” I knew then I was in deep trouble.

I was so wrecked I could hardly function. My elders and the deacons of my church began to worry about me. I couldn’t eat. When I did sleep I would dream about those precious children so desperate for love. It was the most beautiful pain I had ever experienced. Beverly was in the same lovely agony. We were so glad we at least had each other to commiserate with. I began to realize that I was feeling the heartbeat of Jesus. This must be a tiny bit of what He feels for the world! I would try to preach what I thought my congregation needed from the word for their lives but every sermon ended up being about going to the nations. I was eaten up with it, hopelessly addicted, and the only place I could get a fix was a plane ride away on another continent. Also during this time our oldest daughter Rebekah, who was 20-years-old began to bug me every day about when she could go. She was eaten up with holy envy at the newfound passion and hunger that she saw in Beverly and me and she wanted in on it!

My partners in crime, David and Allen, and I began to formulate a scheme to go back. One day I realized that I hadn’t checked my frequent flier miles in a long time and to my great delight I found that I had enough for 2 plane tickets to Bogota! Though we literally had no money and no earthly business turning around and going back to Colombia just three months after that first trip, we went anyway. Like any addict, nothing else mattered now but getting back there and getting a fresh dose of that Holy Spirit gasoline on our bonfire. Rebekah kept saying, “Dad, I have to go or die” and I knew she wasn’t being dramatic. So Rebekah, David, Allen, and I landed in Bogota in September of 2009 with no plan, no money, nothing but a furious passion that could only have come from God. We only knew we were supposed to go no matter what and God showed up for us in ways we couldn’t have imagined.

The first morning we met with some government officials to begin the process of adopting our daughter Heidy. We had been warned that one particular official was very stern and very tough and that we probably wouldn’t make any progress with her so we were praying like crazy when we walked into her office and sat down. Immediately she began to ask many gruff questions about our intentions and what we planned to do. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Rebekah praying like a mad woman under her breath. Suddenly, we felt a Presence enter the room. It was so obvious Rebekah later told me that she was tempted to reach out her hand and see if she could touch Him. As we continued to explain our hearts for these children, the government official softened and even teared up and she told us that she was thrilled with our intentions and would help us in any way she could. She gave us permission to begin the adoption process and even more shocking she gave us permission to take Heidy and David and Allen’s Goddaughters out of the orphanage for a little supervised vacation while we were there. We left that meeting walking on air. The word miracle was on everyone’s lips. And this was all before noon on the first day!

Next we went a visited a little boys orphanage that would later become one of our favorites and then we went on to Heidy’s orphanage. As we drove through the gate my heart began to pound and tears welled up in my eyes. We stepped out of the van and were instantly surrounded by 80+ smiling, hugging, chattering girls. I was frantically scanning the crowd for my little Heidy. What happened next will be seared into my soul for all eternity. Suddenly, we heard a blood curdling scream and little Heidy came running across the yard, leaped over a hedge, and jumped into my arms. I’m 6′-1″ tall and yet she jumped so high she almost went over my shoulder. I fell back against the van and held her as she continued to squeal and yelp with joy, hugging my neck and kissing me on the cheek. When I introduced her to Rebekah she squeezed her like she would break her in two all the while saying, “mi hermana, mi hermana”. Also that day, Rebekah met a little girl named Hasbleydy Johanna. As often happens, they immediately fell in love with each other and before we left Hasbleydy asked Rebekah if she would adopt her and be her Mama. One look at Rebekah’s face told me that she had been bitten by the same fatal Holy Spirit bug and she would never be the same again, hallelujah. Heidy stared in disbelief when we told her to go pack her things because she was going on a little family vacation with us.

The next morning we had a fun breakfast with the girls and then we had an 8:30am appointment with the regional director for ICBF (Colombian Child Welfare) to talk about someday doing a summer camp in Texas where 20 or so adoptable orphans from Colombia could come to the Houston area for a week and stay in the homes of host families who were interested in adoption or just ministering to the children for that week (which we did two years later and 15 were adopted… but I’m getting ahead of myself again). For the next 5 days we had the most wonderful time imaginable. One of the highlights for me was buying Heidy her first ever milkshake. She was so enthralled. Also, Rebekah was able to meet Juan David when we spent the day at his orphanage as well. We left Heidy at her orphanage with a hug and a kiss and a Spanish Bible with her name embossed on the front and the promise that we would be back soon… even if we had to swim the gulf of Mexico…

Here is a small excerpt from my journal the last night,

 
[quote]Rebekah broke down pretty bad as we drove away. She, of course, wanted to bring the whole orphanage home with us. Well if I don’t get on the plane right now I will have to stay in Colombia… Wait, why would that be a bad thing??? 🙂 Oh yeah, they probably wouldn’t let me live at the girls orphanage anyway so I better go![/quote]
 

As our plane left the runway, I looked over at Rebekah with tears running down her face and I knew that Beverly and I had a new addict on our team.

Aflame For God 19 – Recruiting Jesus Addicts