GO! | Faith, Hope, & Love
May 9, 2019 – May is always a strange time of year with a mix of emotions for me. I remain focused on my work at GO! and the consulting work that I do so I stay busy. Not much time for pondering the difficult questions of life.
Saturday, May 4th, would have been Faith Anastasia’s 14th birthday. If you don’t know, we were blessed with a baby girl, our fourth child, on May 4th of 2005. She was beautiful. Her coming and going was painful, but it was beautiful and good. God used her story to compel our family to serve orphaned children. I don’t think we could have done it without her! Faith was a flower quickly blooming and then she was gone. My experience with Faith somehow only affirmed my own faith.
As we ventured fourth in 2005 with starting GO! was not some sort of grief therapy for the family. The Father drew us into the plight of the orphan child shortly after our experience with Faith and we decided to follow this calling. We have been blessed by being a part of this movement with so many other willing individuals that have been faithful to step out and serve these vulnerable children.
Saturday was a good day. A friend of mine dropped by to offer me some coaching on my lawn, and he even showed me how to use a rake. Really, it seems that I was just lacking the enthusiasm required! We talked for nearly two hours about Faith, his family, and other matters of life. It was really a special time as I unplugged and either just talked or listened. It reminded me of hope I have for today and the future. It was good.
Despina and I then attended an International Orthodox Christian Charities event in Denver. The food was just like I enjoy it; good and plenty. I enjoyed a great conversation with Father Chris that evening prompted by his newfound Youtube fame. You can check out A Protestant Learns About Greek Orthodoxy. It’s pretty insightful. We covered the gamut during our discussion to include Sola Scriptura (latin for scripture alone), Campus Crusade, the Masons, and the unity of the Church to name a few of the things we discussed. It was good.
Despina and I then enjoyed a reflective and intimate conversation about our mutual experience with Faith. Things I don’t think we talked about before; each of us remembering elements of the story that the other had forgotten or weren’t aware of. It would be difficult to go back and to experience all of what occurred again, but there is something sweet about all that Faith somehow caused us to see and do. We experienced so much love from others during our time with Faith, and was also reminded of this incredible love the King has for His children -to include us! As we shared Faith on Saturday evening it only deepened my love for her mother -Despina. It is good.
As we arrived back in Parker I took a left on Jordan as I have done so many times before, but then took a right to swing by Sonic. As I took my second turn Despina already new what I was up to. She also knew what I had on my mind. I was going to teat myself to a banana-carmel shake.
You see, when Despina was pregnant with Faith she craved banana-carmel shakes, which I didn’t even know existed at the time. I took many late-night runs to Sonic to bless my beloved back in 2005, but on Saturday we decided to celebrate Faith once more. It was good.
Scott Nordstrom is the President & Founder of Global Orphan Relief. He has spoken internationally as an advocate for the orphaned child. Scott has been instrumental in deploying 23 teams to the mission field deploying 157 volunteers in the effort to serve these children and to spread the Gospel. He has personally led 17 of these teams to DR Congo, India, Mexico, Nepal, and Zambia. You may send support or other correspondence to Global Orphan Relief, 16352 Prairie Farm Cir, Parker, CO 80134.
Movement of FAITH | Voice of HOPE | Act of LOVE
Global Orphan Relief is a Christian relief agency serving Orphans in need and a recognized U.S. public charity, tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3). All donations are tax deductible to the extent of the law.