A Daily Devotion courtesy Rev. Peter Panagore

This Is: 

Saving Orphans 1:

They Did Good

A revolution reached Freetown, Sierra Leone where lived twenty-six orphan children and their caretaker. Among the twenty-six was a baby girl about to be adopted by a Maine coast couple. War raged - bullets broke windows and riddled orphanage walls; mortars exploded nearby. Fearing for the life of their new and far-away daughter, this couple contacted everybody they knew and organized a rescue mission. A US President, a senator, an ambassador, an admiral, our state department, and the US Marines all got involved. At last an arrangement was made for our marines to rescue the orphans and their caretaker by airlift at sun up, across the city, at a beach-side hotel. A lawyer in his old Toyota ferried them all through street battles to the rendezvous. Bullets hit his car, mortars burst beside them. No child was hurt. The hotel refused them entry. They waited as night fell in a churchyard. A rain came. Barefoot, cold, and wet, they waited. Soldiers arrived, pushing M-16 muzzles into the necks of children, as an officer decided whether orphans could flee the country. Just as he decided they should all die, our marines arrived by helicopter and saved the children -- this story to be continued. The Prophet Isaiah says, "... do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan..." A handful of people an ocean away, and a handful of marines, "did good." Let's Pray: Dear God, we thank you for lives saved, and pray for lives lost. We thank you for do-gooders. Amen. Here's a Thought: "... do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan..."