Life is a gift....

This is the time of year when folks go to 'holiday' parties (how dare they call it a Christmas Party, wouldn't want to offend anyone), and their CEO or President tells them all about the wonderful work they've done all year, highlighting sucessfull projects and milestones, and talks about how they look forward to next year. "Were going to have a great year, team!"

The following is excerpted Cecile Richard’s (of Planned Parenthood) annual report to stakeholders…

• We provided medical services to more than three million people and helped prevent an estimated 621,000 unintended pregnancies in the U.S. alone.
• Our activists and supporters helped convince 11 more states to decline federal abstinence-only funding, bringing the total to 26.
• We helped defeat anti-choice legislation and ballot initiatives across the country, including 33 of the 34 abortion ban bills introduced in state legislatures in 2008.

Sobering; 621,000 lives ended this year and PP is rejoicing over another successful year. 621,000 mothers, for whatever reason, would not keep their babies. I will pray for them and hope they will find comfort. I wish I could be upset, but I’m really just saddened.

Saturday, I was driving around town, doing the usual holiday routine, not thinking about anything other than the weeks to come. Then, as if it were a five-story stop sign planted right in front of me, I was stalled. I saw a billboard with an incredible blue eyed, blonde haired, smiling baby on it. It had a bright white background with only [5] words on it:

“Smile, your mom chose Life”.

That was all I needed to remind me that there are bigger things in this world. Larger than my Christmas, larger than what days I may need to take off for the holidays. It is Life itself.

[8] years ago I had never really bought into the pro-life movement. I always said, abortion is not for me, but who am I to tell others what to do with their bodies. That means for twenty five years I went through this world non-stop, not seeing the signs, or at least not taking the time to read them. That is, until two things happened in my life.

First, I had a child. It’s amazing what a joy that is. Words cannot describe the happiness in my life all a direct result of having children. I have [2] now and they are both incredible. In fact, my wife and I are looking into fostering and adopting to help bring the joy of family into others lives.

The second was listening to a very compelling testimony from Gianna Jesson (I’ve mentioned her in a blog before). It is incredible what this young woman had achieved and terrible what she had to go through as an abortion survivor.

http://www.giannajessen.com/EPK/bio.html

It’s those two moments in my life that helped me realize that Life is amazing. It is a gift, and an honor to be alive. Use your time here wisely, and never, ever, take that gift from anyone else.