Location : Atlanta
Date / Time : 18th December' 2004
The trip here was to meet up with some key engineers and researchers to discuss some emerging issues .. at least that's what I thought it would be .. ended up being a story that I am going to share with everyone I get an opportunity with this Christmas.
This is the story of two angels, Roger and Kate Thompson & eight lives they changed.
Roger's a first generation computer anti-virus researcher and while he's not teaching and speaking to rookies, he invents the future. Kate's the drama director at a large church, teaches / writes music and is now documenting her experiences in the world of fostering and adoption.
After the meeting, Roger decided to give me a lift back to the hotel and on the way, we stopped at his house to pick up a book written by his wife .. I knew vaguely that they were involved with projects to help kids in tough situations .. but what I found out blew my lights out, I got to meet the most amazing family in the world.
We all talked so much and they most kindly invited me to spend the rest of the day instead of heading back to the hotel immediately.
Roger and his wife Kate have adopted eight kids all of whom would end up being sad statistics if it weren't for Christ looking out for them. They all come from broken homes, fatherless, some suffering from substance abuse during pregnancy and from various ethnic backgrounds.
My respect for Roger shot up about a gazillion notches .. from the laidback but brilliant AV guy to someone much richer than Bill Gates (if you look at him from the 8 kids eyes of being their dad, you will get what I'm saying ).
What separates Roger and Kate from the rest of the pack .. their faith .. they are the kind of people who give Darwin and Nietzsche the creeps.
In a world that demands the survival and selection of the fittest, you've three powerful components that shake the game upside down .. Faith, Hope and Love.
The God of wonders, the author and finisher of my faith specializes in making the wisdom of the wise turn to dust, Christ works with only the impossible .. he uses people like Roger and Kate to do it.
To those 8 kids and through their lives, the world will see that there is a real fight .. a much higher ground. People like Roger and Kate are seldom seen .. they are the miracle workers and workers of the potter's clay.
After reading Kate's book (released in 2004):
http://www.booksurge.com/product.php3?bookID=GPUB00449-00001
I shudder to think of what would have happened to the eight wonderful kids I met.
Future geniuses, beacons of hope for this pathetic world and now my friends ( lol .. I felt just at home with < 12 yrs of age - Shouts to Devin, Dustin, Brianna, Alicia, Jada, Alexis, Meghann and Zachary ).
Roger has a simple theory .. if every family decides to adopt one kid , the world
would be a different place.
I didn't know what to make of the day .. did I meet people or did I meet angels ? did I meet a security guru or the architect of eight lives ?
In a world where people break up with their wives, quit on their kids/parents when they become a "liability", run after "better options", better cars, engage in sensory abuse/illusions and the rest .. there are an elite few who go the other way .. they live on a different level.
I get this from many of my friends .. " if God exists, he should prove himself to me " .. my retort is that why would the creator waste time with fallen unrepentant sinners ?
Why would he want anything to do with another idiot who is all about "me, myself and my world" ?
Is it not funny that we try to create a definable world in the hope that we will lay hands on the indefinable yet all powerful currency called love ?
This is the world where billions are spent on degenerate and evil pursuits .. and yet we have the audacity to ask if God is real .. he is very real and the time for grace is running out.
I pray for more beacons and endless strings of miracles far beyond the 34th street this Christmas.
My prayer for this year is that God makes it more clear to me as how much he's loved me , how much it has cost him to redeem me, that Christ makes me laugh as I lose all that is not from him.
I also learnt that the pain, rejection or disappointments that I've faced or about to face cannot be worse than a baby left in a dump by his own parents.
" It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. " - Mother Teresa
Date / Time : 18th December' 2004
The trip here was to meet up with some key engineers and researchers to discuss some emerging issues .. at least that's what I thought it would be .. ended up being a story that I am going to share with everyone I get an opportunity with this Christmas.
This is the story of two angels, Roger and Kate Thompson & eight lives they changed.
Roger's a first generation computer anti-virus researcher and while he's not teaching and speaking to rookies, he invents the future. Kate's the drama director at a large church, teaches / writes music and is now documenting her experiences in the world of fostering and adoption.
After the meeting, Roger decided to give me a lift back to the hotel and on the way, we stopped at his house to pick up a book written by his wife .. I knew vaguely that they were involved with projects to help kids in tough situations .. but what I found out blew my lights out, I got to meet the most amazing family in the world.
We all talked so much and they most kindly invited me to spend the rest of the day instead of heading back to the hotel immediately.
Roger and his wife Kate have adopted eight kids all of whom would end up being sad statistics if it weren't for Christ looking out for them. They all come from broken homes, fatherless, some suffering from substance abuse during pregnancy and from various ethnic backgrounds.
My respect for Roger shot up about a gazillion notches .. from the laidback but brilliant AV guy to someone much richer than Bill Gates (if you look at him from the 8 kids eyes of being their dad, you will get what I'm saying ).
What separates Roger and Kate from the rest of the pack .. their faith .. they are the kind of people who give Darwin and Nietzsche the creeps.
In a world that demands the survival and selection of the fittest, you've three powerful components that shake the game upside down .. Faith, Hope and Love.
The God of wonders, the author and finisher of my faith specializes in making the wisdom of the wise turn to dust, Christ works with only the impossible .. he uses people like Roger and Kate to do it.
To those 8 kids and through their lives, the world will see that there is a real fight .. a much higher ground. People like Roger and Kate are seldom seen .. they are the miracle workers and workers of the potter's clay.
After reading Kate's book (released in 2004):
http://www.booksurge.com/product.php3?bookID=GPUB00449-00001
I shudder to think of what would have happened to the eight wonderful kids I met.
Future geniuses, beacons of hope for this pathetic world and now my friends ( lol .. I felt just at home with < 12 yrs of age - Shouts to Devin, Dustin, Brianna, Alicia, Jada, Alexis, Meghann and Zachary ).
Roger has a simple theory .. if every family decides to adopt one kid , the world
would be a different place.
I didn't know what to make of the day .. did I meet people or did I meet angels ? did I meet a security guru or the architect of eight lives ?
In a world where people break up with their wives, quit on their kids/parents when they become a "liability", run after "better options", better cars, engage in sensory abuse/illusions and the rest .. there are an elite few who go the other way .. they live on a different level.
I get this from many of my friends .. " if God exists, he should prove himself to me " .. my retort is that why would the creator waste time with fallen unrepentant sinners ?
Why would he want anything to do with another idiot who is all about "me, myself and my world" ?
Is it not funny that we try to create a definable world in the hope that we will lay hands on the indefinable yet all powerful currency called love ?
This is the world where billions are spent on degenerate and evil pursuits .. and yet we have the audacity to ask if God is real .. he is very real and the time for grace is running out.
I pray for more beacons and endless strings of miracles far beyond the 34th street this Christmas.
My prayer for this year is that God makes it more clear to me as how much he's loved me , how much it has cost him to redeem me, that Christ makes me laugh as I lose all that is not from him.
I also learnt that the pain, rejection or disappointments that I've faced or about to face cannot be worse than a baby left in a dump by his own parents.
" It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. " - Mother Teresa