Day 37: A Few Good Stories

Well, today's the RSVP date -- come to our Victory Party this Sunday, and bring a friend along to find out just how fun 40 Days for Life can be! We're looking forward to seeing you!

Today we also have an opportunity to share several positive high-lights of our forty-day vigil. As you may know from personal experience, many wonderful conversations and personal interactions happen as a result of our prayerful witness on Duke Street, and it would be impossible to share them all. However, below are four recent examples, showing anew God's ever-present grace and mercy!

A few days ago, one man brought a young girl to Gynecare Associates in a white transport van. He dropped her off and then approached vigil keepers to ask them about their activities. When he learned that Gynecare was an abortion facility, he became very perturbed, and took flyers and information back to the clinic to speak with the girl. Shortly thereafter, the man left with the girl in the van, and gave a cheery wave to vigilers as he drove off. We have this man's contact information, and will follow up to determine the outcome of this situation, but in the meantime let us all keep this girl in our prayers.

Vigil keeper Liam sends in the following report:

I believe the gentleman's name was John. John parked in the lot next to the vigil site and walked over to myself and some other prayer warriors. He wanted to know what we [pro-lifers] would do if all the abortion 'clinics' were closed as this would lead to dangerous back-alley abortions. We spoke to him about this fallacy or red herring if you will, and he proceeded to make the accusation that religion was the root of many of the world's troubles and Pope Pius XII was somehow an ally of Hitler. It became apparent that his relationship with God or lack thereof was the basis for his unrest and probably why he stopped to talk to us. He mentioned how he had been raised Catholic and had seven children. Though most of his comments were shallow and he refused to acknowledge the points we made, the exchange remained civil.

In looking back at the whole encounter, I came to this conclusion: while it appeared John stopped to talk to us about the ominous danger of back alley abortions, God had something else in mind. While I may have said some things differently in response to his accusations, I'm proud that I and the other prayer warriors kept our cool and were able to leave John with a Christian example.

When it became apparent that he was getting nowhere, he left to go back to his car. We wished him well and told him we would be praying for him and his children. As John drove by he gave us a thumbs up. Though this positive gesture was unexpected, it was an affirmation of the importance of a Christ-like witness to those persecute us.

In addition, Mary Ellen sends in the following news which happened just this morning:

I had an opportunity today to let two people know about abortions taking place in the clinics. One woman came from the parking lot to ask if abortions were done there and was very disturbed to learn that they were. She was here for her first appointment with that doctor, for gynecological issues, and she had no idea that he did abortions... She was obviously upset at what her new doctor was doing and... went back to his office... The other person was a man passing by who struck up a conversation about our vigil and was surprised to learn about the clinics. He was very pro-life.

Finally, yesterday evening as I was keeping vigil with a friend, we spoke with Arturio, who told us that he frequently bikes past our vigil and shows his support for life. He told us that his first child was aborted, and that his current girlfriend went for an appointment at Gynecare (not knowing it was an abortion facility), where the receptionist appeared to be a "very young girl," as Arturio put it. He took several flyers to distribute among his friends, and joined us in prayer for a Litany in Response to Abortion, found in our Prayer Book.

As you may know already, incidents like these are frequent when we choose to be present to pray and witness for life at abortion facilities. We must continue to pray for all who are tempted or have been hurt by abortion, and thank God for those who have been saved or healed. Let's remember the children scheduled to die today at Gynecare Associates, and never stop working and praying on behalf of the unborn!