“Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” ~Isaiah 1:17 (KJV)

God is obssessed with underdogs. The oppressed, the widow, the orphan. So much so that He defines the true purpose of learning as becoming equipped to defend and deliver His underdogs. Jesus went even further and suggested the underdog, and orphans in particular, are the leading, and perhaps only, class of people in the kingdom of God (Mark 10:14). You might say, “that’s exclusionary!” Well, hate to be the one to break it down to you, man, but the kingdom actually is an exclusive realm. Don’t fret so hard, though, because if the locks on the pearly gates require latchkeys and fatherless children are indeed the only folks who will make it in, the joint may be more populated than most might think.

Check the stats: 30 million American kids are fatherless (don’t have a dad living with them); 85% of all kids exhibiting behavioral disorders are fatherless; 71% of all high school dropouts and 70% of all juveniles in state operated institutions are fatherless; and, according to UNICEF, there are a whopping 208 million fatherless orphans globally. Yo, there are a lot of orphans in our world. And these are just the stats for the under 18 crowd. Fatherlessness is not cured by turning 19. What of the almost one billion around the world who have survived hellish childhoods to become wounded adults? You know what? Because you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you might be one of those. An adult survivor of fatherlessness. An old orphan. A preject.

Gil Scott-Heron wrote and performed with the preject in mind, back in a day when most of America thought a fatherless-orphan-preject was just the sad creature showing up on TV screens with distended belly, brown face, floured lips and more flies on their head than hair. But he defined home in a way only a preject can understand. Home is where the hatred is. And if you can understand it, feel it, then maybe you’re a preject, too. It’s really simple. If you can’t go home, you’re a preject. If you feel pain when you go home, you’re a preject. If it seems like a good idea to never go home again, you’re a preject. If dad is home, but you’re not welcomed and championed, just tolerated, you’re a preject. If you’re 55, white, and never hosted a fly on your head, but when you think of home you think of hurt, you’re a preject.

And, if you’re a preject, I do have some good news for you: God is obssessed with you! He’s set His house up to be a welcoming, championing environment for you. And just when you thought you couldn’t go home, He’s redefined and relocated home for you. Gil, writing from his pain that he tried, unsuccessfully, to chase on a horse, only knew of the home where hatred lived. I knew that home, too. Still do. But I can tell you, from a place of healing, that there is another home, where Father is. Where the door is always open and latchkeys are obsolete. And all it takes to get there is to start the short journey.

Wanna go home? Click here.