Terra Cotta Warriors

You've probably heard of one of China's most fascinating archeological discoveries. The first emperor of China, the person who united seven warring states into one empire, was a little eccentric. A lot of wealthy people in ancient cultures wanted to be buried along with statues or other icons. The idea was that these statues would come to life so that the emperor would have soldiers or servants to wait on him in the afterlife. But this guy outdid them all. He commissioned the creation of 8,000 terra cotta soldiers, each standing six feet tall.

When Anne and I were in New York several years ago, we had the privilege of seeing some of these terra cotta warriors first hand at a special exhibit at the Guggenheim. One thing that is amazing about them, is that each one of the soldiers is unique. All 8,000 of them have unique facial features and unique details to their uniforms. It is simply amazing to think about how they were created.

Thinking about the terra cotta warriors, makes me think of the countless orphans in China. Each child is unique, loved by God, and in need of love from others. Just like you and me. Part of the emotional process of adopting has been reconciling the fact that we are not just picking one out of the thousands of orphans in the world, but we are uniting ourselves with an individual child. Just like these terra cotta warriors at first glance seem like just a faceless army, they are in fact all unique.

We are praying for all the orphans in China and throughout the world, but won't you please join us in praying also for our individual, unique child?

You can also check out this fascinating documentary about the terra cotta warriors: