Dear loved ones and family,
We are so pleased to be able to announce that our baby daughter, Selah Grace Dean, was born to us on October 5th, 2007. The name Selah is a Hebrew word which means "pause to praise." Our sweet daughter certainly leads us to exalt the name of our God; and the unbelievable love that has seized our hearts, once again, has left us breathless and stunned. Nonetheless, the joy we have experienced is simultaneous with our heartache for all the youth of the streets who have never experienced so fierce a love. Our tears of delight mingle with tears of sorrow for them and for our heavenly Father whose heart is pierced with grief.
The precious gift of our own children and the all encompassing love we feel for them has only expanded our capacity for and desire to love the fatherless. As we hold our children close, we cannot help but be reminded–haunted, really–by the words of a friend of ours, Luis. Luis is a reformed child of the streets who ran away from home at age seven due to the constant abuse he endured at home. On the streets he abandoned himself to drugs, suffered from severe hunger, and was tortured ruthlessly by law enforcement officers. He eloquently journaled his experiences as a child of the streets:
"I don't know how long I can endure the trials of this life in the underworld of the forgotten. I have always dreamed of what it would feel like to be loved, and although I have never felt it, I know many others have…Sometimes, when I am depressed and want to be alone, I go to a park where the parents are out with their children, giving them lots of joy and tenderness. How I wish to be in one moments of theirs, to feel what it feels like to be loved…" (as quoted in The Cry, Vol. 8, No.2, pg. 12).
Our hearts resound with his words, "the underworld of the forgotten." We are more compelled than ever to enter into that underworld and to be the incarnational representation of Christ as the Word Made Flesh. We long to share and embody the good news of the kingdom of God, the "upside down kingdom" where the first are last, and the last are first and where these neglected youth and children are revealed as the princes and princesses that they truly are.
With all of our hearts, we thank the many of you who have chosen to partner with us in this calling in a myriad of ways. We invite you to continue to pray over the spiritual and/or financial investment that God may be calling you to make in the lives of these youth.
Jeremiah with Luis in 2004 Our family, October 2007
May you find many "selah" moments this day,
Jeremiah, Jennifer, Jordan, and Selah Dean