Category Bullen Family

December 2010 will live in my memory as the month of Christmas miracles. God showed Himself mighty in so many ways this month. It started with two officials of the Colombian government flying into Houston on December 3rd to meet and learn more about Orphan Hope International. We enjoyed 3 days of meetings and learned much about each other and how we can cooperate together to help the children of Colombia. The Holy Spirit was strongly felt in all of the meetings but it was the third day that will stand out in stark relief in my mind. We had been discussing many processes, programs and plans for our future work with orphans in Colombia when both of these officials with tears in their eyes looked at us and said, “The greatest thing that Colombia needs from Orphan Hope is the spiritual element. Luis (our Director of Operations) has been telling us how his life was changed through Tres Dias and we want you to bring that to all of our institutions in Colombia (about 30,000 children).” I felt the blood drain from my head and the hair stand up on my neck as I looked at the other board members in the room to make sure I had just hear what I had heard. Their wide tear filled eyes assured me that I had indeed heard correctly. We went on to talk about how Orphan Hope brings something that other organizations don’t bring and that is spiritual transformation through Jesus Christ. We talked about how reaching the children of Colombia with this message could ultimately impact the future of a nation and the world. It was a miracle moment and the beginning of a string of Christmas miracles that we were to enjoy as 2010 came to a close. To God be the glory!

Hospitality has always been a passion of the Bullen family. The Bible says some have entertained angels unaware by being hospitable. Mother Teresa called those in need of hospitality “Jesus in disguise.”

In the last three years and especially the last few months, God has taken it up a notch for us. On July 3, 2008 a tortured, frail, and frightened African girl was dropped on our doorstep (Jesus in a beautiful but tortured disguise). Jan. 15, 2010 an abused, distraught, oppressed young woman was dropped on our doorstep… (Jesus in a beautiful but painful disguise). Until last week we had a homeless mentally ill young woman living with us that Jana brought home… (Jesus in a distressing disguise). Now we have three Colombians, two of them orphans, staying with us for the Holidays …(Jesus in a beautiful, love starved disguise)… We have a Sikh young man from India coming to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with us this year too… (Jesus in a lonely disguise)…

Then yesterday I get a text from a sweet young woman named Hannah in New York who is like a daughter to me saying that her friend from Bible College is flying from NY home to Mexico for Christmas but that she has an all night layover in Houston and Hannah knew we would help her out. She flies in tonight at midnight and leaves tomorrow midday (same time “coincidentally” as I will be at the airport picking up my son Levi coming home for Christmas from the Navy)… (Jesus in a stranger disguise)… I responded that of course we would love to have her (because we don’t have enough Latinas in the house as it is LOL)…

Then I was reminded of page 86 of the book Radical… “Bullen how are you going to impact the world?” “I am going to disciple the nations” Then I realized that if He wants to God can bring the nations to my door one or three or four at a time if He wants to… I looked from the text message from Hannah, laughed out loud at God and then looked to some of my family standing around and told them of our guest coming the next night. We all laughed and shook our heads at (or should I say with) God and then we said laughing, “Well this year we are the Inn at Bethlehem but we will make room for Jesus” We all stopped stunned and looked at each other. “Wow” we said, “That’s powerful. May there always be room at the Bullen Inn for Jesus.”

God is moving mightily among us here at OHI. On December 11, 2010 at 6:00 pm we will host Share the Hope, a gala dinner and auction to promote the ministry in Colombia. Please mark your calendars for this important event! More details to follow…

Almost minutes after our fifth trip to Bogota in June we began planning the launch of an organized ministry to take the lead in organizing and promoting what God was leading us to do in Colombia. Two weeks after we arrived back in the states we had a meeting and chose the name Orphan Hope International. We formed a board of directors which included David Richardson as president, Chris Dinkler as vice president, Bill Byrd as treasurer, Shoby John as secretary, and me as spiritual director. We elected two officers, Sandra Patricia Forero as vice president of Colombian affairs, and Alexandra Venegas as assistant secretary and translator. Many nights were spent at Bill and Sandy Byrd’s house hashing out all of the details of organizational structure of the ministry. Sandy always fed us like kings and we always had fun fellowshipping with one another so that made the chore very enjoyable. We also added and continue to add advisory council members including Luis Escobar, Curt and Tonya Currie, Dave and Gail Beach, Nep and Dona Reyes. God continues to send us wonderful people with varied talents and gifts to assist us in blessing the children of Colombia. We have established a website at www.orphanhopeintl.org and we have a presence on Facebook as well. Our vision statement reads, “Positively transforming the lives of orphans and those who minister to them through Christ-centered Mery Missions, Padrino Program, Adoption Awareness, and Haven Homes. You can read all about it on our website. We have also helped to establish an alliance partner organization in Colombia called Fundacion Tayakai. Tayakai means Me in a native dialect of Colombia. It brings attention to the fact that these children are people. Through these two entities we hope to greatly impact the nation of Colombia for Christ in the years to come and rescue many sweet little children and bring them to the savior. To God be the glory!

Here are some of the reasons we are so passionate about this…

Facts and Statistics

It is estimated there are between 143 million and 210 million orphans worldwide (recent UNICEF report.) The UNICEF orphan numbers DON’T include abandonment (millions of children) as well as sold and/or trafficked children. The current population of the United States is just a little over 300 million… to give you an idea of the enormity of the numbers…

According to data released in 2003 as many as eight million boys and girls around the world live in institutional care. Some studies have found that violence in residential institutions is six times higher than violence in foster care, and that children in group care are almost four times more likely to experience sexual abuse than children in family based care.

Every day 5,760 more children become orphans

Approximately 250,000 children are adopted annually, but…

Each year 14, 505, 000 children grow up as orphans and age out of the system by age sixteen

Each day 38,493 orphans age out

Every 2.2 seconds another orphan ages out with no family to belong to and no place to call home

Studies have shown that 10% – 15% of these children commit suicide before they reach age eighteen

These studies also show that 60% of the girls become prostitutes and 70% of the boys become hardened criminals

Another study reported that of the 15,000 orphans aging out of state-run institutions every year, 10% committed suicide, 5,000 were unemployed, 6,000 were homeless and 3,000 were in prison within three years…

An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked every year; (THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2005)

2 million children, the majority of them girls, are sexually exploited in the multibillion-dollar commercial sex industry. (THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2005)

WHY COLOMBIA?

There are many reasons and ways that God has clearly led us to minister in Colombia. Here are just a few:

In 2010 Colombia had 577,000 orphans. (Children on the Brink) Note: For a little perspective, Orphan Hope International makes approx. 4 organized trips to Colombia per year. We minister to approx. 500 orphans per trip. At that rate it would take us 289 years to just see every orphan once. Colombia, is just one country in Latin America. Latin America is just one of three regions of the world, along with Asia and Africa, where the orphan problem is rampant. Asia and Africa have a vastly larger orphan problem than Latin America.

Colombia has been under the scourge of a 40-year civil war. This, along with the drug trade, has caused violence and consequently a rise in orphans in this country.

Girls, especially orphans, are abducted into child soldiery and sexual slavery and are sometimes forced into armed service by their parents as a form of ‘tax payment’, as happens in Colombia. (THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2005)

In Colombia, for example, girls as young as 12 are reported to have submitted sexually to armed groups in order to ensure their families’ safety. (THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2005)

Interpol estimates there are 35,000 women and girls trafficked out of Colombia every year for the sex trade, with estimated profits of $500 million, making Colombia second only to the Dominican Republic in the West. It is beyond comprehension the horror that these women and girls face as they service on average 40 clients per day. (Interpol)

1.2 million children are trafficked every year world wide; this is in addition to the millions already held captive by trafficking.

The average age of a trafficked victim is 14 years old.

One can only imagine what will happen to the sweet, pretty girls that we meet in the orphanages when they are turned out into the street at 18 years of age. This is why we have made safe houses one of our four main priorities is so that these girls are not on the street and vulnerable.

Here is what God says about orphans…

God Loves Orphans…

Deuteronomy 10:18 “He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing.”

Psalm 10:14 The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan.

Psalm 68:5-6 A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy habitation. God makes a home for the lonely;

Jeremiah 49:11 “Leave your orphans behind, I will keep them alive; And let your widows trust in Me.”

Hosea 14:3 “For in You the orphan finds mercy.”

God Defends Orphans…

Deuteronomy 24:17 “You shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan, nor take a widow’s garment in pledge.

Psalm 10:17-18 O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear. To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror.

Psalm 146:9 The LORD protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow, But He thwarts the way of the wicked.

Proverbs 23:10 Do not move the ancient boundary Or go into the fields of the fatherless, 11 For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their case against you.

God Commands Care For Orphans…

Deuteronomy 14:29 “The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Deuteronomy 16:11, 14 and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name. 14 And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your towns.

Deuteronomy 24:19-21 “When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. “When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow.

Deuteronomy 26:13 “You shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments.

Job 22:9 “You have sent widows away empty, And the strength of the orphans has been crushed.

Psalm 82:3 Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.

Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.

Jeremiah 7:5-7 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

God Opposes Harm Of Orphans…

Exodus 22:22-24 “You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. “If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

Deuteronomy 27:19 ‘Cursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan, and widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Job 6:27 “You would even cast lots for the orphans and barter over your friend.

Job 24:3, 9 “They drive away the donkeys of the orphans; They take the widow’s ox for a pledge. 9 “Others snatch the orphan from the breast, And against the poor they take a pledge.

Psalm 94:6 They slay the widow and the stranger and murder the orphans.

Isaiah 1:23 Your rulers are rebels And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.

Isaiah 10:2 So as to deprive the needy of justice And rob the poor of My people of their rights, So that widows may be their spoil And that they may plunder the orphans.

Jeremiah 5:28 ‘They are fat, they are sleek, They also excel in deeds of wickedness; They do not plead the cause, The cause of the orphan, that they may prosper; And they do not defend the rights of the poor.

Jeremiah 22:3 ‘Thus says the LORD, “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

Ezekiel 22:7 “They have treated father and mother lightly within you. The alien they have oppressed in your midst; the fatherless and the widow they have wronged in you.

Zechariah 7:10 and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’

Malachi 3:5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the LORD of hosts.

Will you help us?

In the midst of the battle and heartache, our brothers and sisters with whom our hearts have been woven together in the trips to Colombia were a constant source of encouragement through their many cards, emails, and phone calls. Their unwavering love and understanding was incredible.
Also, God was moving in the heart of our friends Bill and Sandy Byrd to go with us in June. Bill would call me every few days with a question or just wanting to talk about the trip. It was a joy to see their excitement. Bill also blessed Lisa and I with an unexpected but very badly needed blessing when he and Sandy paid our way to go on the upcoming trip. It meant the world to us. Bill is the president of South East Texas Tres Dias and is now on the board of directors of Orphan Hope International and is our treasurer. Another dear friend whom some of our team was working on during this time was Shoby John. He is another brother we originally met through Tres Dias.

Shoby and his daughter Hannah committed during this time to come on the trip. Shoby is now on the board of directors for Orphan Hope International and is our secretary. Even in our pain we could see that God was causing all things to work together for our good and the good of the sweet children of Colombia.

Well, there is no Easter Sunday without a Good Friday. We arrived home on Monday, April 19, 2010 tired but full of joy and hope that our sweet Colombian girls were coming home soon. Our beloved African daughter, Mercy, unbeknownst to us was very fearful of the Colombian girls coming and had been working for weeks behind our back to try and sabotage our adoption of them. When Lisa came home so excited about finally getting to meet and spend time with Heidy and Ginary, it was more than Mercy’s fears and insecurities could take. She could not imagine competing with two more girls for our love even though we tried desperately to assure her that God had made a parents heart to always expand proportionately with the number of children He gives them so that they never have to share the love their parents have for them. She panicked and four days later ran away from home. Child Protective Services and the police became involved and brought her home. Over the next five days she ran away two more times and was eventually placed by CPS in a group home. Court dates and much legal wrangling ensued and we ultimately had to let her go forever. The heart breaking phone call came shortly thereafter from our adoption agency informing us that our adoption of Heidy and Ginary had been cancelled and that due to this incident with Mercy we would not ever be candidates for adoption again. We, of course, were devastated. We had spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours trying to save these two precious girls and Mercy but God is the keeper of the accounts and he knows! We are at His disposal and we receive from His hand good things and bad things with the same joy. The one resounding message that continued to ring through my heart as I received this dreadful news was, “My son, I don’t want you to just help two or three girls, I want you to help them all.” Through the pain and tears I bowed my heart before the Lord and replied, “Yes, Lord. I believe, help my unbelief.” Already, unbeknownst to me, God was beginning to move the hearts of key people to go with us to Colombia in June 2010.

So in February and March of 2010, between the third and fourth trip to Colombia, the Bullen family is in the midst of an all out war. At the same time we are working hard on the mountains of adoption paperwork, I am pastoring, Luke and my girls are leading worship, Lisa and I are counseling dozens of people, I am working 115 miles from home on a new project, I am speaking at two Tres Dias weekends, our family is ministering to these two sweet but troubled girls God has sent us, and my dear brother Chris Dinkler calls me and says, “hey we are planning a Padrino trip to Colombia in April, you and Lisa gotta come.” My heart sinks because I know that there is no way Lisa and I can go. Other than the busy schedule and huge financial struggles that we are going through, Lisa has never been to Colombia or out of the country for that matter and she has emphatically stated on multiple occasions that her entire role in this orphan ministry is to stay home and pray! Well one day a plane ticket shows up in the mail with her name on it. I thought she would be so mad but instead she strutted through the house waiving it in the air telling everyone that she was going to Colombia to see her girls! It was awesome. Now I just had to pray for my way there. We prayed and prayed and just in time the money came in for us to go with some left over to spend on the Goddaughters while we were there. I was so excited that Lisa was going to be able to meet our two sweet girls that she had heard so much about. I had now been in Colombia twice with my daughters Rebekah and Beverly and once with my daughter Brooke and now I was going to get to take my bride. What a blessing! We were delighted that our friends and fellow soldiers Curt and Tonya Currie, David Richardson and his sister, Charlotte, Chris and Julie Dinkler, Luis Escobar and Alexandra Vanegas were also attending. Lisa and I arrived at the airport about 2 hours early and we sat in the terminal and enjoyed a nice lunch. I was giddy like a little child on Christmas morning waiting for the ok to go check under the tree. On a Padrino (Godparent) trip Padrinos are able to take their children out of the orphanage and have them with them for the week. We were going to be staying at the Country Club in Madrid. We met up with our friends and flew to Bogota. After we collected our luggage we walked outside and there were Sandra and all the Goddaughters waiting for us. They jumped into our arms and there were many hugs and kisses. Heidy and Ginary presented Lisa with a beautiful colombian corsage and a sweet letter that they had written for her. Once again I discovered that there were new depths of my heart still to be touched by these wonderful children. The first time I heard Heidy call Lisa, Mami (Mommy), in her sweet little sing song voice and saw the radiant look on her face I felt as if my life and all the struggles were more than worth it. I looked up to heaven in that chilly Colombian night sky and said, “Lord, I can go to heaven now. Hearing Heidy call Lisa, Mami, is reward enough. I don’t need anything more.” I can’t explain how deeply this touched me but once again I knew that I was in the right place, doing the right thing, and that nothing short of death was going to stop me.

If I have learned anything in the last few years it has been that “there is no victory without a fight, there is no sunrise without a night, there is no purchase without a cost, and there is no crown without a cross.” We came home from out third trip in January to all out war at home, which frankly, always excites me because you only get shot at if you are in the heat of the battle. This war had been building for some time. It actually started back when we took in our African daughter, Mercy. So let me rewind a little back to July 2008. Three weeks after Mercy came to live with us my two sons and I were all laid off from work on the same day. I was unexpectedly laid off from a six figure income job that day and was consequently out of work for almost a year and financially we have never recovered. But the three of us getting laid off was not to be the height of the spiritual warfare for that day. We came home, gave the bad news to the girls and mom, and decided to go to dinner and forget our fears and worries. On the way home from dinner an old man who was off his medication tried to run my wife off the road in our little, safe, gated community where we live. She pulled over and the boys and I got out to see what was going on and he accelerated to about 30 miles an hour and just missed me and hit my oldest son Luke sending him smashing head first into the man’s windshield and then he flew over the car and landed on the pavement as the man sped away. My heart sank to my feet as I watched all of this just a few feet from me. But God! Even though the man’s bumper, fender, mirror and windshield were dented and shattered Luke jumped up off the ground with no broken bones and only a small scratch on his head. The first responders who arrived shortly after and saw the damage to the car could not believe that he had even survived much less was unharmed. That day we knew we were in a war. Over the next several months our entire family’s lives were wrapped up in ministering to Mercy. Here was a girl who had been beaten, had horrible scars all over her body from being tortured, was passed around and rejected over and over again, had been on the run from the guerillas in Liberia, had ingested caustic soda and destroyed her esophagus. Had lain in a hospital bed in Africa for two years begging to die and when we met her was 13 years old and only 48 pounds. Now she was healed physically but spiritually and emotionally she was desperately sick. We poured our lives into her and then 11 months later God sends me to Colombia for the first time. Fast forward now to February 2010 and the war we came home to. Within a week of our third trip to Colombia another abused and broken orphan girl was dropped on our doorstep and a legal battle with her abusers ensued. Because the people had formerly been a significant part of the church I was pastoring, the legal and spiritual battle overflowed into my church and split it to pieces. At the same time the abused girl was an emotional, spiritual, and physical wreck and for the first 3 months she was with us my entire family spent nearly every night praying, singing, and reading scripture over her as she fought with her attackers in horrible nightmares all night long. Of course, during the same time my health was severely attacked and our finances continued to take hits from every side. But with every fiery dart God would also send a little miracle to assure us that, like the 3 Hebrew children, He was with us in the fiery furnace and in the end when we could come out our clothes wouldn’t even smell like smoke! We would pray for money to come in for the orphans and then the phone would ring and someone would donate the exact amount that we were praying for. God continued to send us people to help as well. It was a surreal time in the Bullen family. One day in February, in the midst of all of this, I was down to my last $20.00 without taking something to the pawnshop. I put the $20.00 in my gas tank and said, “ok Lord, I’m in your hands.” That afternoon I was offered a job starting the next day. I was so excited and thankful. The next morning I left to go to my new job and was in a car accident half-way there. It was kind of a freak accident where my car just started sliding and I couldn’t stop it. I had to call my brand new boss and tell him and then be towed to the mechanic. As I was sitting at the mechanic waiting to find out how bad the damage was I received a call that my oldest son Luke (the one who was ran over by the car) had had a car accident that morning at the exact same time as me and that his car had slid off the road and spun end for end into a field “barely” missing several trees and power poles and had landed in the only spot that it could have landed without destroying his car. Later that afternoon I learned that my father had had a very similar car accident that same morning at the exact same time as Luke and my accident. All of us were unharmed and only my vehicle had any major damage. Thankfully my Christian boss understood and I am still working for him today. These are only a few of the things that happened between my third and fourth trip to Colombia and all it did for me was solidify that I was in the right place, God was at work, and the devil was really mad about it. All, wonderful things to know. We survived February and March. The sun began to shine again and in April we went back to Bogota for a fourth trip. But that story is for another post. Here are some quotes from Christians whom God used to change the world that really encouraged me during this time.

“A radical willingness to risk, sacrifice, and suffer is the attitude of authentic ministry.” – John Piper

“Affliction is often that thing which prepares an ordinary person for some sort of an extraordinary destiny.” – C.S. Lewis

‎”Pain and suffering have come into your life, but remember pain, sorrow, suffering are but the kiss of Jesus – a sign that you have come so close to Him that He can kiss you.” — Mother Teresa

‎”God had one son on earth without sin but never one without suffering.” – Augustine

So I am in the midst of a whirlwind of orphan ministry activity at this time. We have been back from our September ’09 Padrino trip less than a month, I have spoken to two Tres Dias ministries and shared about Colombia, we are in the middle of adoption paperwork, and someone mentions to me, “Hey have you heard about National Orphan Sunday, November 8, 2009?” So I started checking into it and found that Chrisitan Alliance for Orphans and Steven Curtis Chapman’s ministry and others had organized a national day to recognize the plight of the orphan and were encouraging churches across the country to have a special emphasis that day. We quickly began to plan and promote Orphan Sunday at Heritage Church where I was pastoring at the time. When the day came the church was filled with people and there were dozens of multi-racial children there who had been adopted. Someone commented that it looked like a miniature United Nations that day. It was one of the best days of my life. Several people spoke, including our daughter, Mercy, from Africa. We took several videos that day and you can access them at http://www.youtube.com/user/heritagefamily

After the testimonies I preached from Job 29. Here is a very brief summary of the sermon.

Job is one of my heroes. Job was a godly man. Just listen to God’s description of him in chapter 1 verse 8, The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Wow! What an amazing accolade from the Almighty! There are many things that we can learn from Job but one of my favorites is this; Job was a man who was passionate about orphan ministry.

In Job 29:2-11 He tells us some things about His relationship with God that ought to make us sit up and take notice. He says…

God watched over me… His lamp shone over my head… by His light I walked through darkness… the friendship of God was over my tent… the Almighty was yet with me…

Then Job goes on in verses 12-17 to tell us why he was so blessed…

Because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the orphan who had no helper. The blessing of the one ready to perish came upon me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy, and I investigated the case which I did not know. I broke the jaws of the wicked and snatched the prey from his teeth.

There we have it! Job’s wonderful relationship with God was because he was faithful to diligently minister to the poor, needy, widow, orphan, lame, and blind. He defended those who were being mistreated and punished the predators.

We get another glimpse of Job’s passion for the orphan in Job 31:16-22 where he says very passionately… “If I have kept the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my food alone, and the orphan has not shared it (yet from his youth the orphan grew up with me as with a father, and from infancy I guided her), If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or that the needy had no covering, if his stomach has not thanked me, and if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep, if I have lifted up my hand against the orphan, because I saw I had support in the community, let my shoulder fall from the socket, and my arm be broken off at the elbow.”

Job was very serious about caring for the poor and needy, the orphan and the widow. Yes, we can learn a lot from Job.

There were some people in attendance at our Orphan Sunday that deserve mention because God has continued to knit our hearts together to launch Orphan Hope International. Shoby and Dolly John were there. We had originally met at Tres Dias, then Orphan Sunday, and now Shoby is on the board of directors of Orphan Hope. Praise God. Luis and Marcela Escobar. I told you about meeting Luis at Tres Dias, then I had lunch with him, then I had lunch at his house and met his family, then they came to Orphan Sunday, and now Luis has been to Bogota with me 3 times and is a valued member and advisor to Orphan Hope International. David Richardson was there. He originally invited me to Colombia and is now the President of the board of directors for Orphan Hope and a dear friend. Allen and Cindy Pate were there. Allen opened my eyes to orphan ministry originally through his talk at Tres Dias that led to my “safe prayer.” He is now a valued member and advisor to Orphan Hope. Doug and Leann Platt were there. He has been a true friend and mentor for a long time. He is Allen Pate’s brother in law and has also adopted from Colombia. There were others there that blessed me richly. Last but not least, I should mention my beautiful wife and daughters who have worked tirelessly to assist me both here in the states and multiple trips to Colombia as well. The future is bright and exciting as we look to what God is doing and allowing us to tag along.

No doubt about it. Orphan Sunday, November 8, 2009 was a life altering day for me.

After Tres Dias, Lisa and I became Godparents to another girl that I have mentioned before. Her name is Ginary and she is a precious, precious girl. Ginary grew up with her large family in the city dump scavenging for scraps. When she was ten years old she got a job as a maid. When she didn’t please the lady of the house she was severely beaten and so she ran away when she was twelve and ended up in the orphanage where she lives now. Our family is so honored and blessed to be able to love and be loved by this sweet girl. We also started in earnest the process to adopt both Heidy and Ginary and make them our own. My daughters, especially Beverly, worked long and hard over the next three months on orphan ministry, adoption, and in the church. They did the lion’s share of the paperwork and maneuvering the menagerie that is international adoption. We exchanged many sweet letters and emails with our Goddaughters and continued to work on developing a long term orphan ministry to the over one million orphans of Colombia. I was blessed to speak several times and in several places about the need and to share my excitement about God’s calling upon us to do something about it. We also continued to experience many amazing divine appointments as God again and again revealed to us that we were being led to work in Colombia. For example, in twenty five years of ministry I had never just “ran into” someone from Colombia and yet in the last year I can hardly go a week without “running into someone.” It is very exciting when God puts it together. During this time we also experienced some resistance from those who don’t understand or are simply just intimidated by the idea that we are somehow responsible for the plight of children in another country. But God in His gracious lovingkindness continued always to confirm again and again that this is what He wanted the Bullen family to be about. To Him be the glory.

Rebekah and I arrived back in Houston that Sunday and our feet were hardly touching the ground. We had spent five amazing days in the presence of Jesus and loving on His lambs and we were full up to the brim. Three days later, as the Lord would have it, I was to speak at a three day men’s retreat called Tres Dias. Ironically, this is the same ministry where I first heard my friend Allen talk about orphan ministry and God got ahold of my heart. I was so excited that I was going into this set of weekends, (the men’s weekend followed by speaking at the women’s the very next weekend.) so full of the Holy Spirit. I felt as if I was floating on a cloud as I arrived at the camp that Thursday. I was oozing joy and excitement and everyone around me could feel it. I was to speak twice that weekend, once on The Means of Grace, and once on The Life in Grace. What better subjects to talk about after just spending a week under the waterfall of Grace in Colombia. I preached my heart out both times and showed a video of the pictures from our trip with a song playing in the background by Steven Curtis Chapman called “What Now” The first line of the song says, “I saw the face of Jesus in a little orphan girl.” The presence of the Lord was powerfully present and I knew lives were being changed. After I showed the video it was time for lunch. As I walked into the lunchroom a man walked up to me with tears in his eyes and said, “My name is Luis Escobar. I am from Bogota, Colombia. I speak both languages fluently. I know the city, the government, the culture. I have experienced the grace of God today, I know God spoke to me today, and I am at your service.” I couldn’t believe it and yet I could. I hugged him and said, “I have been praying for you for six months.” So many miracles were happening all around me in regards to this orphan ministry that I quietly bowed my heart to my God and thanked Him for allowing me to be a part of His work. Luis has now been to Bogota on missions with me three times and he is a blessing to me, my family, and the ministry. There were many evidences of God’s hand over the next two weeks to make me stand in awe realizing that he was moving in a way larger than I had imagined.

What I didn’t say in my last post from Colombia in June of 2009 was the last thing that Heidy whispered in my ear before I was dragged into the van to leave. We were both teary eyed and when I hugged her the last time she whispered, “En mi mente usted siempre será mi papá.” (In my mind, you will always be my daddy.) I climbed into the van and sat next to my dear brother David Richardson and as he cradled me in his big arms I wept like a little child. I don’t ever remember crying so uncontrollably before in my life. And I kept saying to David, “I’m going to help that little girl if I have to swim the Gulf of Mexico to do it.” I’ve never felt so passionately about anything in my life. It was a terrible earnestness that gripped me as we drove to the hotel that night. I was as if I was leaving one of my blood daughters in a foreign country all alone. I have since come to realize that God is not bashful about setting the hook very deep when He wants you to do something for him. He knows how to get you where you live. It reminds me of the places in the Old Testament like 2 Kings, Isaiah, and Ezekiel where the Lord says he will put hooks in their nose or in their jaws and make them turn and do what He wants them to do. Well I felt like God had put hooks in my heart and the barbs were very deep indeed. I knew that I would be back to love on and minister to the orphans of Bogota, Colombia if it was the last thing I ever did. Of course, I couldn’t have known at the time that I would be back five more times in the next twelve months… but I am getting ahead of myself 🙂

When Beverly and I returned home, all we could think about and talk about was orphans. I was nearly worthless for the next three months. My family eventually told me that if I didn’t quit looking at orphan pictures and crying that they were going to do an intervention on me… ha ha. I talked to everyone and anyone who would listen. I couldn’t think of anything but Heidy, Heidy, Heidy. Very soon after we returned I received an email from Sandra through David giving me the information to become Heidy’s Padrino (legal Godfather). This would give me a chance to help her financially, communicate with her through email and an occasional phone call, and be able to visit her when I could in Bogota. I immediately completed the paperwork and shortly thereafter Lisa and I became her Godparents. Shortly after becoming her Padrino and less than a month after returning from Bogota, I received this email from Heidy. “I want you to know that for me this 25 days since you left have been very hard not to have you close to me and I love you very much. A thousand thanks for thinking about me and God bless you. I am never going to forget you. Remember the last thing I told you when you were here.” We had many such exchanges that were very sweet. God was setting His hook deeper and deeper into my heart.

Soon, my partners in crime Allen Pate who also had Goddaughters there now and David Richardson who had his Goddaughter Lida there began to conspire with me to go back and see the girls and minister to the orphans. We eventually set the date for the trip as September 23-27, 2009 and then began to pray for the finances to go. Beverly crafted an email about the orphans and sent it out to twelve hundred people asking them to pray and to support our efforts in Bogota. Over ten thousand dollars came in from that one email that we used over the next several months to provide for the orphans. Things were moving rapidly. September 23rd came and Allen, David, my daughter Rebekah, and I flew to Bogota.

The next several posts will be my daily journal entries from that second trip.

Well, after God dropped Mercy on our doorstep, I was feeling pretty satisfied that I had discovered the reason for the burning in my heart at the men’s retreat as Allen was speaking. I had prayed my “safe” prayer and God had answered immediately and miraculously. Furthermore, He had healed Mercy physically and was in the process of healing her spiritually and emotionally. Surely this was God’s complete plan for my being involved in orphan ministry… And then in April 2009, my dear brother in Christ, David Richardson, who had also been recruited into the orphan ministry by Allen Pate, emailed me and said, “Brother, I would love for you to consider going with us to Bogota, Colombia in June and help us love on some orphans and tell them about Jesus.” The thoughts began to run through my mind, “I’ve been out of work for 5 months.” “I don’t have time.” “I… you get the idea. So I said, “no.” But fortunately my brother David is a very persistent guy. He would send me emails like, “Brother, I really believe God wants you to go to Colombia. I’ve prayed about it and the Lord told me He wants you there.” 🙂 He was relentless. Just about the time I decided to go I landed a good paying job that was to start right about the time the trip was scheduled. I wrote to David and told him that God had closed the door on going to Colombia because I had just got a job and couldn’t go. He wrote right back and told me that he understood but that he was still going to pray that God would make a way. Well, the next morning the company I was to go to work for lost the contract and I was without the job. The hair stood up on my neck when I was informed of this and I looked up to the sky and put my hands up and said, “Ok, Lord, I am yours, do with me as you will, I will go to Colombia.” I came home and told my wife that I thought God wanted me to go. At that moment I remembered that it would be my sweet daughter Beverly’s 18 birthday the same week as the trip was scheduled and I said to my wife, “I can’t go and miss Beverly’s 18th birthday” My faithful wife smiled at me and said, “Why don’t you take her with you?” “What better way to turn 18 than in Colombia loving on orphans with her Dad?” I was stunned. My wife is the careful one in the family. I am the adventurer. I said, “what about the money?” Her reply was, “well we don’t even have the money for you to go so if we can pray down one persons trip fee we can pray down two persons fee.” And sure enough the next week the money came in for both of us to go. Beverly had never even been on an airplane, much less been out of the country, but we packed up and off we went with our dear friends David and Allen to Bogota. In the next several posts, I will share my daily journal entries from that first trip. To God be the glory…

My introduction to orphan ministry came in February of 2008. I was speaking at three day men’s retreat called Tres Dias and my dear friend Allen Pate was also speaking there. During his message on Christian Action, he told the story of how he and his wife Cindy had been called into orphan ministry and had consequently adopted two sons from Kazakhstan and two daughters from Colombia. During his whole message my heart burned and hot tears rolled down my face. I recognized this feeling as the moving of the Holy Spirit in my heart. I had felt it before with life changing results. At the same time thoughts were running through my mind such as, “I’m a busy pastor, father of five, author, conference speaker, construction manager, and I am fighting an incurable disease.” “What business, Lord, do I have getting involved in orphan ministry?” “I don’t have time.” “I don’t have money.” “Surely this is my imagination and not You Lord.” And then I had an idea. A safe prayer that would get me off the hook. So I prayed, “Lord, you know my heart. You know that I am willing but I don’t know where to start. If You will drop an orphan on my doorstep, I will take it in.” I gave Allen a big hug after his message and told him how moved I was and asked him to pray for me as I sought how the Lord would have me be involved in orphan ministry. I went home and told my wife about my “safe” prayer. She responded, “Great!” “IF GOD DROPS AN ORPHAN ON OUR DOORSTEP… we will take it in.” Be careful what you pray for… God takes you seriously.

Two weeks later we received an email asking us to help a 13 year old girl from Liberia, Africa who was 48 lbs. and dying and needed a life-saving surgery. We said yes and over the next several months we helped this girl named Mercy and eventually on July 3, 2008, some people brought her and dropped her on our doorstep. We took her in and loved on her and ministered to her for 22 months before she moved on. Having Mercy in our home and hearing her horrible stories of abuse, poverty, famine, disease, danger, and war softened our hearts for the orphans of the world and made us ready for the next calling of God on our family which I will share in the next post.