a person's a person, no matter how small.

it's been a long time, friends. i would apologize, except that i've been busy living life, and no one should apologize for living.

this past saturday i participated in a siege with chicago's Bound 4 Life chapter. Bound 4 Life is a pro-life group that organizes silent protests at abortion clinics, among other places. one of the founding verses for this group is proverbs 31:8-9:

Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

we stood along a chain-link fence facing the parking lot of a family planning clinic. each of us had a piece of red tape covering our mouths with the word "LIFE" written on it. we stood there for three hours, silently praying for different issues surrounding abortion, the holocaust of this generation.

the whole thing was very intense. we were yelled at. many times.

"go home!" (we didn't)

"you're breaking the law, every last one of you! you should all go to jail!" (we weren't)

"why don't you ADOPT a kid?!" (we were willing)

"f*** you!" (why the anger?)

"leave them alone!" (we did not speak or engage with any patients)

"get a life!" (yes! now you're talking... that's EXACTLY what we were praying for!)

i understood a little more the verse:

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. ~ Matt. 5:10-11

i am blessed when this happens. my outwardly circumstances may not seem so, but on the inside my heart is alive and my conscience is clean. there is no trade off for being able to lay my head on my pillow at night with a heart that is full of love for the Lord.

at some point during this event i had a revelation of the fact that a quarter of my generation is missing. brothers and sisters, whom the Lord lovingly formed in the womb... they are gone. their smiles, their thoughts, their ideas, their inventions, their love, their unique reflection of the heart of God... i will never see on this side of eternity. this grips my heart.

it was so painful to see young women going into the clinic, and then coming out again two hours later, limping to the cars where their boyfriends/husbands were waiting for them. it pained my heart to see the women in pain, yes... but oh, how i wept for the little ones. they were alive just an hour ago! they were moving and their hearts were beating! now where are they? in a dumpster. in industrial garbage disposals... in the sewer systems.

oh, dear ones. how have we come to this? how have we become so deceived? to think that snuffing out innocent, precious life is somehow good?

dr. seuss said something very wise in his day:

a person's a person, no matter how small.