I love seeing the creative ways Christians are reflecting God’s heart for the fatherless.  This blog highlighted a few months ago the engaged couple who decided to ask that all their wedding gifts be donated to help a family complete their adoption.  There was also the “Father and Son Bowl” flag football game and fundraiser for orphan ministry.

This week, I heard from Ruslan Maliuta (who spoke on the “Indigenous Leaders” panel at Summit) about the Ukraine Without Orphans’ Bike Tour.  Two teams, one from the Eastern Ukraine and another from the Western part of the country, have begun their ride of than 1,000 miles on bicycles to meet in Kiev on June 24th. The teams include adopted and foster children and children from orphanages which are accompanied by support groups. Their message is simple: open your hearts and homes for children who do not have parents.

Closer to home, I’m excited about the Riverbend Ranch Carnival, where the Eric and Lisa Kjeldgaard family and their friends create an ol’ fashioned Central California country carnival to raise funds for orphan ministry in Africa.  Lisa Kjeldgaard taught the workshop at Summit on “Raising Kids to Reflect God’s Heart for the Fatherless” and the Carnival is one brilliant reflection of a family where that has happened.  All the eight Kjeldgaard Kids play a definitive role in making the Carnival the you-don’t-want-to-miss-this event that it has grown into over the past several years.

I can think of few better outlets for creativity than undertakings like these—revealing God’s heart for the fatherless to a watching world in the most winsome of ways.