Nearly there.

It's Friday. In two more days, we'll have completed another successful 40 Days for Life campaign.


What makes a successful 40 Days for Life campaign? Well, it always helps to have enough people to cover the vigil for the full five and a half weeks. We didn't have as many people as we'd like, but we had more than last year. That's good. We also like to have people from new churches come out to join us, and this year the Nazarene's, the Church of God in Christ, and some Messianic Jews came out and prayed with the rest of us. That was neat. We like to see babies saved, and I can't speak to that yet. I haven't heard any stories of babies saved here, but I know that over 400 were saved nationwide.


Most of all, a campaign is successful when we all accomplish what we set out to do. We set out to fast and pray for 40 days, to rend the heavens and implore God that he would end abortion in our country and then the world. And each year, it seems like we get closer to this goal. More clinics shut down. More politicians are willing to listen. More laws that were meant to regulate the abortion industry are actually enforced (see http://www.operationrescue.org/. They cover all that kind of news.).


I set out to sit outside of an abortion clinic in my car for three hours a week and pray. I gave up processed sugar and sweets. I feel like I lived off tea and honey during the wettest time of the year. I got my daughter up even earlier than she wanted to rise, loaded my car with snacks, books, my computer and a movie, a potty chair, and a blanket, and parked in the right out way outside a place where I know, though I have never seen, people die. And for three hours I prayed, intermittent with cuddling the Boogaloo and mentally cussing out my reluctant computer. I learned how to pray while coaxing a three year old off the steering wheel and how to pee in a can. I learned to watch the sky and think of the clouds being rolled back and our Lord coming in glory to make everything right some day. I learned to be patient. I learned to do what I signed on to do and let everyone else do what they signed on to do. I learned to appreciate the work of people who have been doing this for years before I signed up. The last month and a half has been very educational.


The big question at this time of year is always, "Where do we go from here?" What needs have we addressed, and what more can we do? Our clinic is still open, so we'll be back next year and every abortion day in between. How can we see more accomplished? I hope the Lord reveals that to us. In the meantime our course is to keep going. There will be a day when all such injustices are wiped off the face of the earth and everything becomes known for what it is. I wonder how people will react on that day.