January 18, 2006

[Rev. Doc]

Part Of The Family

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."
John 14:18

It happened many years ago, in a small town in one of our southern states. One evening, during an electrical storm, a bolt of lightning struck a house, setting it on fire. The fire spread quickly and burned the house to the ground. A man and his wife perished but their child, an 8-year-old son, Billy, survived. They had no relatives, so the boy was placed in an orphanage. Those were hard years for Billy—years of loneliness and rejection. Many times people would stop by looking for just the right boy to adopt, but Billy was passed over again and again. Finally, after 4 years when he was 12, a couple came to the orphanage and interviewed 3 boys, all about the same age. Billy was among them. The head of the orphanage said, “Well, which one do you prefer?â€