I recently read an article in which they highlighted
an opportunity to volunteer for people
that I thought was really interesting.
They were looking for people to volunteer
to cuddle with babies.
Like, newborn babies.
But not just any babies.
They were looking for people to cuddle
with drug-addicted babies.
Since the year 2000, the number of babies
who are born addicted to drugs,
because they were delivered by parents
who were addicted to drugs,
has increased by 383% in the United States.
That is substantial.
And these babies, who are incredibly vulnerable,
have no ability to take care of themselves,
have no ability to help themselves.
They need to be weaned off the drugs, they need
to go through a detox basically,
so that they're no longer addicted to the drugs
that are inside their body, and the hospitals
have found that one of the things that helps a great deal
is very simply, having somebody cuddle with the babies,
and holding them for long periods of time.
And so they're looking for volunteers to go to hospitals
to do this, and if you're looking to do that,
just call your local hospital.
They probably have a program that's set up
to be able to do that.
But they have found that the drug addicted babies
who are held and cuddled for long periods of time,
they need less medication, and they get out
of the hospital a lot sooner than the babies
who don't have somebody hugging and cuddling them.
They're vulnerable, and they need help.
This week, in our talks together,
we're gonna be spending some time talking
about how Jesus knows that we are vulnerable.
Maybe not in exactly the same ways, but in many ways.
He really acknowledges that when He uses the comparison
to us as sheep, and Him as our shepherd.
Sheep are incredibly vulnerable.
It's not really all that flattering
that the Bible compares us to sheep.
I once saw a video of a sheep that got stuck
in a tire swing,
(laughs)
and so somehow, I don't know how it got stuck
in this tire swing, and it tried to run out
of the tire swing, but instead of getting
out of the tire swing, it just went up in the air,
and then swung back, and went up in the air again,
and then swung back.
And then it finally hit the ground,
and then it tried to get out again,
and it went up in the air, and it just kept going like this,
and I never saw the sheep get free
from the tire swing, maybe the person
who took the video finally got them out.
But it was completely vulnerable to getting stuck.
And sheep are vulnerable to getting stuck.
They have these short little stubby sheep legs
that can't get them out of much trouble,
and they're just soft and fluffy on the outside,
so they get stuck in the thorn branches, and,
sheep are not only vulnerable to getting stuck,
they're also vulnerable to getting hurt.
Sheep have very poor eyesight.
They can't tell if this fuzzy blob coming at them
is another little lamb,
or a fierce mountain lion,
until it's too late.
They also, they're pretty defenseless.
They don't have the strength of an ox.
They don't have the tail of a scorpion.
They don't have the teeth of a shark
to defend themselves.
They have nothing.
They're vulnerable.
And so are we.
So are you.
We'll talk a lot about our specific vulnerabilities
as we go through the week.
But as we get going this week, and as you think
about the ways that you're vulnerable,
the times in life that you don't feel safe,
I want to leave you with a wonderful verse
from the Book of Deuteronomy,
where it says this.
It says that,
"Underneath you
"are God's everlasting arms."
"Underneath you are God's everlasting arms."
maybe you feel vulnerable, like those
little drug addicted babies,
and you feel completely helpless,
to be able to move on in life
with any kind of confidence.
Well underneath you,
are God's everlasting
and loving arms.
And they're the arms of a God who knows
how it feels to be vulnerable.
He was vulnerable on a cross.
He was vulnerable in human skin.
Vulnerable enough that His blood was shed,
His skin was pierced.
And through all of that,
He proved that He's going to love you through everything.
Those are the arms we're going to find refuge in this week.
I'm glad to be here with you doing just that.
the other members of the community do that.