Protecting the Fatherless

                                                                                                         

                                               

             

This guest post is from Ian Myers, Regent Law 2L and Wills, Trusts, and Estates student:

 God frequently calls us throughout Scripture to take care of orphans. Job 29:12 says, "… I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist them." Furthermore James 1:27 states, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." God loves orphans and as his people so shall we. 

These verses hold a special place in my heart because I spent my first few months following my birth in an orphanage. In fact, the picture included in this post is the orphanage I lived in as a baby boy in Medellin, Colombia. My birth mother was very young and very poor. Thus, when she found out she was pregnant she began looking for help with giving me up for adoption. Once I was born I lived in the orphanage until my wonderful adoptive parents flew down from Florida to meet me for the first time. An international adoption is a complex and time consuming process so while the adoption moved forward I remained at the orphanage. I was and continue to be incredibly blessed by God. I was adopted by two loving parents. However, not every child gets adopted. 

One of my biggest takeaways from learning about Trusts is how powerful and useful a tool it can be. As a second year law student nearing the beginning of my legal career I hope to steward my resources in a way that allows me to create a Charitable Trust to support orphanages. A Charitable Trust must have a charitable purpose such as relief of poverty, advancement of education, promotion of health or religion. Deuteronomy 14:28-29 states, "At the end of every third year, bring the entire tithe of that year’s harvest and store it in the nearest town. Give it to the Levites, who will receive no allotment of land among you, as well as to the foreigners living among you, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, so they can eat and be satisfied. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all your work." 

What a blessing it will be to give back to the very orphanage that feed, clothed and bathed me as a baby.