This week’s Pulse is a moving story from Haiti that I have copied from Albert Mohler’s blog, www.albertmohler.com.  Mohler is the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and his blog is the most popular Christian blog, according to technorati.com.  As someone with a heart for adoption and who himself has been adopted (by my Father in heaven – see Galatians 4:4-7), I found this story particularly poignant.   

Arno was inseparable from Mr. Penguin. The little Haitian boy was almost three years old, and the plush penguin with the word “love” inscribed upon it was his most treasured object. The orphan and his penguin were always seen together.

The boy had been given the penguin just after his birth. A Dutch couple was in the process of adopting him almost from the start of his life — they had been matched to him when he was only two months old. The penguin represented a promise.

The process of adoption took two years — the length of time considered adequate to determine that no living relatives might claim him. According to official estimates, there were over 50,000 parentless orphans in Haiti before the earthquake came and orphaned many thousands more.
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Near the end of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church comes this sobering line:  “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you– unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5).  I have two reactions as I read that verse:  the first is that it is a great idea to test ourselves.  After all, is our faith really genuine saving faith?  Are we sure we really know God?  Are we convinced that we will go to heaven when we die?  I can think of no more important test than to be sure that we are “in the faith,” as Paul puts it. 

The second reaction, however, is just as important:  how do we test ourselves?  Read more »