Winter has returned to North Carolina after teasing us with a few days of summer. My kayak sits in my car, a forlorn expression on its hull. We both eagerly await the opportunity to try out the new shade top I constructed last week. Alas, the forecast is not promising.
This Monday, my Cities4Life team and I stood in pretty unbearable conditions to speak to the women who were streaming in to the abortion center to kill their babies. It was pouring rain with temperatures hovering just above freezing. What surprised and warmed my heart was a brand new volunteer showed up. She told me she would NOT let Satan defeat her. She had other problems getting to us that morning aside from the miserable weather. But she said if so many obstacles were being thrown in her path, she must be on the verge of doing something very good. What a glorious attitude!
She was right. It was her first time on the sidewalk with us, but she could barely contain herself in calling out words of hope and encouragement to the women who thought abortion was their only choice. She tried to hand out literature, and she called out to the clinic manager, begging her to let us help her find other work. And while she wasn’t calling out or listening to others, she was praying. No wonder Satan tried to stop her.
Three women chose life, by the way. Three little babies slated for death by their own mothers were reprieved.
So many people have distorted views of the pro-life presence on abortion center sidewalks. It is NOT a protest, first of all. We are not protesting abortion. We are proclaiming the sanctity of life and providing help so that choice for life is supported and affirmed. A recent Charlotte Observer news article called us “protestors” despite my careful explanation to the reporter that is NOT what we are. On the other hand, he called the “pro-choice” group “advocates.” Why not call them “protestors to live birth”? The bias in how we are characterized is immediately apparent to anyone paying attention to word choice. That is not to mention the untruths slung at us from the quotes he presented from the clinic director while not attempting to get any rebuttal or any comments at all from our Cities4Life director who was on the sidewalk while the reporter was there.
But to be clear on the first point, we are not protesting. We are offering help to every woman who will let us help them. We don’t just tell them the desperate horror of abortion, we show them the vision of a transformed life where the precious nature of ALL human life before God is proclaimed. We share stories and testimonies from the countless women we have helped over the years. We discuss and list every obstacle that they face, and then work with our partner ministries and community resources, and churches to help resolve each one to the best of our ability.
And we point them to God.
Abortion is a Gospel issue. Jesus died that NONE should perish. God cares for every human life. How can anyone, particularly any church, shut their eyes to the extermination of dozens of unborn babies every single day but Sunday at this one abortion center alone?
I can’t.
None of the usual crew of "pro-choice advocates” were on the sidewalk that day. Perhaps it was too cold and wet to stand up for what they believe in.
*****************
Ephesians 4:22-24
To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.