This Is Us

By: Pastor John Smith

Over 12 million viewers tune in for every episode of This Is Us. Its not a shoot-em-up thriller, and there aren’t even any zombies. Its a realistic story about the Pearson family, diverse and flawed, and a story about love and redemption.

In the story there is pain and healing, and both the pain and the healing are caused by family.

At Orphan’s Tree we know that we are a diverse and flawed group of people who are working through to love and redemption. This is us.

The orphans we work with have experienced the pain caused by badly flawed or deserting parents. They have been neglected, rejected, and given to the care of orphanage workers who, though committed, are paid to provide food and shelter. At night, with the exception of overnight security, the orphanage workers go home to their own families.

The orphans leave their orphanage somewhere between the ages of 15 and 18, unprepared for the challenges of independent living. They have not known a loving family. Orphan’s Tree is there to be that family for them. We are diverse in nationality, Russian and American. We are not perfect Christians. But we have come to know the love of our Heavenly Father. We live in the family of God and simply want to say to the orphanage graduates, “this is us, and you are welcomed to be part of this Family.”

Jen Chaney, a television critic for Vulture Online describes the underlying theme of This Is Us like this: “When God closes a door, he opens a window. In other words, life’s events are part of a bigger, organized picture that makes sense. Even the basic narrative structure of This Is Us reinforces the sense that there is an architect behind the scenes who has everything under control, and there is a larger purpose.

We have come to know the Architect of Life. We believe that Architect has a purpose for each Russian orphan we serve, and Christ calls us to be part of that plan.

Diversity. Pain. Redemption. Family. This is life! This is faith! This is us!