Risky Business

"Family freely assumes the risks..."

While reading and signing the 20-page contract sent from our adoption agency, I found myself zeroing in on one particular word in that phrase. 

Risks.

The document stated that "international adoption is a complex process, often involving circumstances beyond the agency's control..."

Risks. 

Those things you spend your life trying to avoid because you know they could cause trouble or bring you unnecessary harm. 

Risks.

Your lungs are at risk if you choose to smoke.

Overexposure to harmful UV rays increases your risk of developing skin cancer.

Not wearing a seat belt greatly increases the risk of being injured or killed in a car accident.

Investing all your money in the uncertain stock market could be a risk to your stable financial future.

If you use this particular medication, you are at risk for liver damage.

Danger:  Enter at your own risk.

risk - possibility of suffering harm or loss; potential peril; uncertain danger; presumed threat; chance of trouble

I admit my naivete.  I admit my lack of knowledge.  I admit I've thought adoption to be a lot of things.  But the word, "risk" had yet to cross my mind.  Until now.

I had to put the pen down.  I had to think, to really think over all of the possible risks the agency had just listed.  There were a lot.  A whole lot.  Including the whole darn thing following apart all together.

Bottom line:  there are no guarantees. 

Not one.  Not even after all our paperwork is completed and mailed off.  Not even after all our fundraising and payments are processed.  Not even after all our wanting and waiting. 

Adoption is a risky business. 

At the bottom of the last page were two lines marked with an "X". 

My line:
Prospective Mother's signature
X_______________________

My husband's line:
Prospective Father's signature
X_______________________

And above both lines, were these words,

"We have been informed...and freely accept the risks."

Do we?  Do we freely and fully accept the risks?

Both of us stopped.  We held hands and we prayed.  We sought guidance from the One who called us to this journey in the first place.  And in that holy moment, peace prevailed and we were reminded of these simple facts:

Driving a car is risky.
Buying a home is risky.
Starting a new job is risky.
Making new friends is risky.
Giving my heart to another is risky.
Saying "I do" is risky.
Carrying a baby for nine months is risky.
Being a parent is risky.
Stepping out in faith is risky.
Loving big is risky.

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

~ Jim Elliot, missionary in Ecuador; lost his life by the Waodani tribe warriors

And yet even in the midst of all the possible risks, I rest in these constant certainties:

• Jesus promised, "I am with you, always" (Matthew 28:20). 
• He said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).
• He will remain faithful, even when I am faithless. (2 Timothy 2:13).

"If anyone comes after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"

~ Jesus

All of life is risky business. Period.

But if I never take the risk, how will I ever know the reward?

So I pick up my pen and I sign on the line.  Freely assuming and accepting the risks.  Knowing full-well that adoption is a risky business and we are entering at our own risk.

"If you're not willing to give up everything, you've already lost."

~ film, Act of Valor