Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Recently I was asked to speak to the 5th grade class at my church about why and how I got into fulltime ministry. Naturally, being in a pregnancy center the discussion would at some point need to discuss babies and life in the womb. I was a bit nervous as I do better with teens and adults on this topic. Yet here I was, in a room with 5th graders.

Their Bible verse was Gen. 1:27 which was perfect for me to launch from. We started by discussing God as author and creater of all life and how humans (male and female) are the only life that God created in His image.

We discussed how special that is and that no matter how big or small we are that doesn't change that fact. I asked them if they could think of any times in the Bible when they remember it talking about someone while they were still in their mother's womb and not even born yet. They were awesome! Of course Jesus came up first but then others also were shared (even Jacob and Esau). I kept waiting for someone to say John the Baptist and eventually someone did. So I was able to talk about when Mary was pregnant with Jesus and went to visit her cousin Martha who was pregnant with John the Baptist.

I'm on a roll at this point because I was so excited that they were able to provide the answers I was hoping for. But this one little girl just kept her hand up and was going "ooo, ooo, ooo". I had hoped if I kept talking she would stop but she didn't so I said "yes?" She said "Don't you mean Elizabeth, NOT Martha." To which I laughed and said, "Yes, I absolutely mean Elizabeth. Thank you for helping me."

Guess I better not apply to be on the show "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?"

Putting God First - Freedom

I’ve been thinking about freedom lately, and it isn’t even July 4th. "Freedom" is an interesting word. It means many things to many people. In America I think we take freedom for granted. Too many generations have passed since this country fought for the right to be free. But freedom has a price doesn't it.

Too much freedom leaves society to do whatever it wants to. One person can infringe on another person's freedom by exercising their own. Freedom must have something to go with it or it would just become chaos. So freedom has rules, or laws if you want to look at it legally. If you want to be "politically correct" we'll just call them heavily suggested guidelines.

Why are they necessary? The answer is simple. To protect us. Protect us from what? I would have to say to protect us from ourselves.

Man did not just create this concept. God knew it first. God offers us freedom, real freedom. But there are some who wouldn't see it that way. They would see it as restrictions. Because God's freedom also has something that goes with it. To protect us. To keep us safe. God is not a cosmic kill-joy. God wants us to have abundant joy. A lasting, not a fleeting joy.

There is saying that is derived from the Bible (yet many don't know that), it goes: "I once was lost but now am found. Was blind but now I see." I did not understand this until I understood God. In fact, I did not even know I was blind until I gained my sight.

For the musically knowledgeable they will recognize that those words are also found in the song "Amazing Grace". Why is it that when we are in that lost state we don't see it that way? We think we are free and don't even know that we are captives in our own prison. We are all slaves to something. For some (I relate to this one) that lost state is not recognized because of pride. Those are hard walls to let God break down.

I have so many more thoughts on this topic of freedom that I feel a sermon coming on. Since God has not called me to be a preacher I think I will stop now and close with God's words, not mine:

John 8:36
If the Son gives you freedom, you are free!
(This kind of freedom is one that can never be taken away.)

Romans 6:14
Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.
("Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that is greater than all our sin.")

1 Corinthians 7:35
What I am saying is for your own good--it isn't to limit your freedom. I want to help you to live right and to love the Lord above all else.
(Oh, I get it. "MY" freedom. That is what I hold on to. I have to let my freedom go in order to accept God's freedom. There can only be one Master in my life, I can't serve myself and my God.)

1 Timothy 2:6
He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.

AMEN

Today

My Lord, My God, my heart is weary
Yesterday gone, today is dreary
Miracle requested seems ignored
I trust You will do something more.

Yesterday now is just the past
Memories linger, memories last
Can't be changed or undone
Must go forward, must move on

The focus now is on today
Help me Lord is what I pray
Be my shelter and my guide
Hold me closer to Your side.

AMEN

Tomorrow

My grief runs deep this evening as I wait for tomorrow A young woman confused and desperate knows tomorrow the "appointment" will come. She's been beaten down by threats and fear. Some self inflicted but most imposed by others. She doesn't "want" to have an abortion, she doesn't "want" to be pregnant. She just wants her life back. Sadly that won't ever happen.

Her mother can't sleep. She's been beaten down too. Mom is spent and has nothing left. Unable to be strong for her daughter she gives in to the pressure too. Mom can't sleep, she will drive daughter to the abortion clinic she knows too well. What pain must she feel as she drives down the street where her children died while still in her womb. Mom's wounds are old and mom's wounds are fresh. Her pain runs so deep she can't feel anything at all.

All that can be said has been said. There is nothing more anyone can do. So where do my tears come from? Who am I crying for? Is it the daughter or the mom that makes my heart break? I prayed and I've cried and I've prayed some more. Tomorrow a baby will die. No wait 3,700 babies will die tomorrow. 3,700 and 1.

Tomorrow a young woman will take a pregnancy test and cry. It was her last chance. They've tried it all. Every test, every procedure, every option. But she will learn that her hearts desire to birth a child will never come true. She will mourn her baren womb. She will look her husband in the eyes and feel she failed him. He will feel helpless to heal her wounded heart. They will try for years to adopt a baby but sadly there will be none. The babies have all been aborted.

Tomorrow an older woman will die. She will have lost her desire to live. She will have given up on fighting her grief from years ago. The shame from her abortions wins out. She can't take another night of bad dreams and haunting memories. She didn't know that suicide was a risk factor for abortion. She had never read the statistics that more post-abortive women commit suicide than any other woman group. She didn't know that she would never get her life back as she had once hoped.

Who are my tears for? Who breaks my heart more?

When did children become disposable? What civilized society determined that abortion was okay? I sat as a mother explained why her daughter must have an abortion. Mom saw her grandchild just the day before during the sonogram. Yet, she does not understand. Her little boy played in the room and we discussed how someday he will be a man. All this little boy needs is time to grow. Kind of like her grandchild in the womb? That baby has everything it will need to be an adult some day. Right now it just needs time in the womb to grow.

I'm tired of the old argument about how if abortion wasn't legal women will be dieing in back allies. Really? Possibly. 3,700 a day? I doubt it. Women are dieing now from abortion. A few physically, thousands emotionally.

Our societies complete and utter acceptance of abortion on demand has turned in to an ugly monster disguised as a cute little puppy. And that puppy is hiding behind some bigger dogs who are getting richer every day. When will the mask come off? When will good men stop doing nothing so evil won't keep succeeding.

"Abortion is a reflection that society has failed women." - Patricia Heaton

Amen sister!