“Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand”

Romans 5:2

This isn’t the whole passage, but I love the term undeserved privilege. Our culture is a world of undeserved privilege. We like to think that we have what we have because we worked hard, we tried hard, we saved and pushed our way to get where we are. That’s really not true.

Because we work so hard, it’s easy for us to think we deserve the things we have. These are privileges that we work and sweat for. It’s ours. We love that about ourselves. And, although there’s nothing wrong with hard work (in fact, it’s a biblical principle), the message of the gospel is that we earn nothing. We get to participate in the privileges of God even though we don’t deserve it.

I’ve only shared this with a few people, but there’s a part of me that wants to brag about this adoption thing. The process has been long and difficult. People have been overwhelmingly helpful, but Anna and I have both worked hard to get where we are. Now, it feels like we are in the home stretch, and there’s a part of me that wants to say “I’ve earned this.” However, the reality is that God has been at work at this before it even popped into our heads. When I read undeserved privilege, I hear that God does all the work of redemption. God does all the work of adoption.

It’s humbling. It’s wonderful to be a part of. More than anything, it’s comforting to know that my hard work gets me very little. It’s just a response to the God who has already done all the work. I just get a lot of undeserved privilege. It’s a pretty nice perk.

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Russ and Anna have been married for 5 years. Even as friends, before dating or marriage, they shared with one another that they each wanted to adopt. After marrying in May 2005, talk of adoption slowly entered its way into their conversations. Russ, working as a youth pastor, and Anna, working as a teacher and at a girl’s group home, saw the need more than ever for children to have loving, safe homes. After coming to this realization, they chose to begin the adoption process to adopt a little girl from Ethiopia. They have been on the wait list 8 months and should get the call any day for the referral of a little girl age birth to 15 months whose name will be Lucy. They are so excited about their story of choosing adoption to bring their first child home. You can follow their journey on their personal blog.