Day 7 Daily Email From David Bereit...

Although all of the daily emails that we get from the national group are encouraging, I found this one to be particularly poignant. It is always a thought to me of how devastating it is for many of the fathers of the lost babies. Today's email certainly drove that home...

"I watched him head down the street, alternating between wiping the tears from his face and punching the buildings in anger and frustration as he passed them. Eventually he headed back toward the parking lot. As he approached, I went to him first. All I could think to say was that I was so very sorry for his loss. He began to cry again. Then a truck pulled up leaving the parking lot with his girlfriend and her mother inside. The girl's mother yelled at him to get in and cursed him as he opened the door. He had one foot inside, then stepped back out and closed the door. As she drove away he promptly sat down on the curb and cried like a baby. Three of us sat down beside him -- all men -- and cried with him. Eventually, he began to talk. He was probably in his very early twenties. He told us that his girlfriend did not want to keep the child because she feared they would not be able to provide for him. He asked her how she could destroy a life based on a hunch. He told her this child had a heartbeat and a soul and deserved to live. He even tried to convince her to, at the very least, put the child up for adoption. I was struck by the fact that this young man knew all this simply because his heart told him it was true. He was wise well beyond his years and he was hurting terribly. I was struck by the clear reality that fathers have so little to do with whether their own children live or die. I also couldn't help but notice that despite the high volume of Planned Parenthood volunteers around, none of them approached him. Before I left him, he stood up to hug me. All I could tell him was what I truly believed -- that today, his child knows that his/her father fought for it. That to his child, he is a hero and that someday he would know that also.Please pray for this young man and others like him.The tragedy of abortion is real and happening everyday. No one knows that better than he.I sincerely hope this young man comes to embrace the exceptional advice he was given; but that will most certainly take time. I cannot even begin to imagine the anguish.This is a first-person account of what abortion does to fathers. Who knows how many others have walked in his shoes, as there are more than a million abortions every year -- and more than 50 million since the 1973Roe v. Wade decision that opened the floodgates to abortion on demand."

Just wanted to share here in case you don't get the daily emails.

Has it been almost 6 months???

Well, the answer is yes! In exactly 4 weeks we will be kicking off the Fall 2009 campaign for 40 Days for Life in Boulder and it will run from September 23 - November 1. We are praying that all of you will again be praying along side us, whether that be with us out at the vigil site or from your home or churches. We wanted to give you a quick heads up on a couple of dates to put on your calendar:

Cast The Vision -
Saturday, September 19th at 4:00pm
8125 Ute Hwy (same as Hwy 66)
Longmont, CO
(Directions: Come North on Hover through Longmont. Go west on Hwy 66. Once you have passed "The Agricultural Heritage Center" on south side of the road,
look for blue and grey balloons on north side of Hwy 66. Turn north onto dirt road and travel 3/4 mile north. You will cross over two ditches. Stay left when road forks. Our driveway is the first one on the left. Two story house, detatched garage, off white with green trim. For questions about directions, please call Val at 303 684 8345).

AND

Kick-Off Rally -
Sacred Heart of Mary
6739 South Boulder Road
Boulder, CO 80303
303-494-7572
Wednesday, September 23, 7:00pm
Joining us will be:
Father Gerry Schnackenberg from Epiphany Anglican Church
Suzie LaVelle from Sacred Heart of Mary's Memorial Wall
Commander Johnson of the Boulder Police Department

Please come and join us! Also, please remember that we have a Facebook page set up especially for our group and anyone who would like to pray along with us. You will find us at Facebook here.

We are so excited to see what the Lord has in store for 40 Days for Life this fall; we have NO doubt that God will be moving!

A Word of Gratitude...

What a wonderful 40 Days for Life we’ve had! The response and participation that we enjoyed for our Boulder campaign was much larger than for our first campaign in the fall of 2008 and our prayer is that our participation will grow even more for the upcoming fall of 2009! What a blessing it was to stand alongside all of you out at the Boulder Abortion Clinic and petition our Heavenly Father concerning all of those affected by the procedures that take place inside that very sorrowful place. We are thankful that our vigil was 100% peaceful on our part and we can only pray that many lives were touched by our presence even if we may not be aware of it. Indeed, we are commanded in the Scriptures many times that we must be in prayer; as Paul shares in Romans “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:11&12)

We may never know the results of our efforts in front of BAC this side of Heaven; however, we pray that Jesus is pleased when His own are obedient and humbly serve. There were many different experiences and stories that came out of this campaign, mostly positive, and it is a great joy to know that the Lord will use those experiences to advance the work of His Kingdom.
On behalf of your 40 Days for Life – Boulder leadership team we want to express what a blessing each one of you are! Whether you were physically able to make it out to pray with us at BAC or you were praying along with us elsewhere, we are humbled to be able to count ourselves your prayer partners. It seems appropriate to share these verses with you “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace…” (Philippians 1:2-7).

We are truly humbled and in awe of your commitment. God bless you all and we look forward to our continued partnership in this work of the Lord!

Ugh...

A post from another blog that reminds us of one of the many reasons we must remain faithful in our stand for life. Very disturbing...


http://caffeinatedthoughts.com/?p=2335

Please Join Us!

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Our spring campaign's midpoint rally will be at 7:00 p.m. Friday March 20 at Harvest Baptist Church in the Gunbarrel area of Boulder.

Guest speaker will be Pastor Jim Tarr, of Christ Community Church in Basalt, CO. He will speak on the power of prayer and fasting. He and his wife have completed two 40 day fasts. Kyle Peterson will lead music and worship! Hope you all can join us!

7493 Old Mill Trl
Boulder, CO 80301
(303) 530-4412

Feel free to call John or Val if you have questions about directions:
John (303) 917-8536
Val (303) 229-2152

For Your Calender...

Franciscan Friars of the Renewal To Pray With Us at Boulder Abortion Clinic

Dates: March 12, 2009
Time: 1:00PM-2:00PM

Fr. Conrad Osternaut and Brother Simon Dankoski of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal are giving the parish mission at St Tom's this week and would like to join us for prayer at the Boulder Abortion Clinic on Thursday at 1:00. Viewers of EWTN may already be familiar with Fr. Benedict Groeschel's religious order. To pray with these men would be a grace! Consider yourself warmly invited to join them in peaceful, prayerful witness to a culture of life.

Cool Vigil Happenings...

Audra shared this in an email on Wed. (3/4/09) night and I wanted to make sure that everyone had a chance to read it! God is definitely moving...

"So, today, the same two women came to the clinic, but what was kind of odd-they both came by the same cab-driver. I had waved and smiled at him as he dropped the first young lady and so I must having been staring at him as he finished dropping off the other woman. He pulled his cab alongside where we stand, slowed down and said, "Excuse me, but may I ask what you all are doing out here?" I said we were praying. He held his hands together and said, "Praise God!" I asked him his name and he said it was Jackie. When I began to ask him if he would mind taking some of our Pregnancy/Post Abortion info, he completed my sentence and said, "...and hand it to them? Sure!"

If that were not remarkable enough, one of the vigil participants had asked if the Lord would send only Jackie back to pick the women up later. The first cab driver that pulled up was unfortunately not Jackie, but he drove away without picking anyone up. Moments later, Jackie comes back, gets out of his cab, smiles and waves at us as he goes into BAC and then personally escorts the first young woman that went into BAC back to his cab!

How much must the Lord love this woman to surround her with His people and give all of us an opportunity to help her!

Please keep Jackie, the Lord's Taxidriver, in your prayers!

In Christ Our Hope,
Audra

Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me-a prayer to the God of my life (Psalm 42:7-8)."

Visit...

HUGE & EXCITING NEWS:Audra just got word this morning that we will be getting a visit from Shawn Carney, 40 Days for Life (National) Spring Campaign Director! We would definitely encourage anyone who could make it out to the vigil site for his visit to do so. He is a very encouraging speaker and you will be blessed!!

WHEN: SATURDAY, MARCH 7TH @ 12:30

Hope to see you all then!

During our last leadership meeting before the kick-off of the Spring 2009 campaign, Audra emphasized the range of emotions that we may experience while out at the vigil site. As a past participant, I can verify that you do have moments where your emotions run the gambit while out at the vigil site in prayer; those emotions went anywhere from sadness, sorrow, anger, fear, indignation, etc. How do we handle these emotions? I think that first and foremost, of course, we look to God and ask for His help and guidance to act in a loving way. In His infinite wisdom, God reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13:1, 4-7 that:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal…Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

I hope that I can keep these verses at the front of my mind during this campaign; I hope that they will shape my heart and mind for the entire 40 days. However, last night at the Kick Off Rally, another point was made that seemed to have a great impact on more than one of us. Our speaker Maureen Yockey, Executive Director of Alternatives Pregnancy Center (Denver, CO) shared with us her first response anytime she is asked why she thinks that abortion is wrong; her simple response is “Because it hurts women”. She was careful to tell us that she does not imply that this is the ONLY reason she is against abortion, but she feels like it is an important piece of the puzzle that is often left out of this issue. She nudged us to remember that there are always at least two victims from an abortion, the baby and the mother.

So, my prayer is that if I daily join these thoughts with the wonderful words God has given us in 1 Corinthians, the first emotion that I will have for all the people (mothers, babies, fathers, grandparents, clinic workers, etc.) we are praying for during this time God has called us to will be…love.

At the end of this post I want to share a video of a song that God continued to “put in my path” last fall during the campaign. I honestly think that He did it to keep reminding me that there are a variety of victims of abortion and many of them are the mother’s left behind to deal with the decision she made.

Mark Your Calendars!!!

Monday, Feb. 23rd (7:00-8:30pm)

Join Us for our Kick-Off Rally
Sacred Heart of Mary (St. Bernard Hall)
6739 S Boulder Rd
Boulder, CO 80303

Keynote Speaker: Maureen Yockey-Executive Director of Alternatives Pregnancy Center
Suzie LaVelle of SHM's Memorial Wall, a place of Hope and Healing

Good Information Audra Came Across...

Great Video!

Sobering Statement

While listening to the live training call tonight, David Bereit made a statement that was really startling and sobering for me. I would not say that it was something I was unaware of, but for some reason it really "stopped me in my tracks" I guess. The statement that he made was that abortion "is the #1 cause of death in America". Following him making that statement, I got to wondering why this fact does not cause the body of Christ to be more mobilized to stand against abortion in our nation. It also begs the question that if these were babies who were being killed after their actual delivery, wouldn't the Christian church as a whole be out in droves against that? So, my question is this...how do we communicate effectively to our brothers and sisters in Christ that this problem demands urgency and large numbers of participants? I sometimes think that people get in their minds "Well, it is the law of the land. And it has been legal and on demand for 36 years. We can't change anything!". I can understand that; I used to think that way. However, the Lord impressed upon me that ultimately fighting abortion is a sin issue in the midst of a spiritual war; we cannot control it, that must be left in the hands of our merciful, gracious God.

At some point during the campaign in the fall, Audra said something that has definitely stuck with me (and I am paraphrasing, I am sure that Audra was much more eloquent when she said it!); she reminded me that even if we don't see a single person change their mind during our time out at the vigil, we are still called to be there and pray. She is so right! We may never know the impact that our prayers might have on one of the clinic patients, doctors, other workers, passersby, etc. We don't know how the Lord may move in our midst even when we are unaware. All that He asks is for our obedience and our service in His name.

"Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (Romans 6:16)

Encouragement

Because I know that I serve a sovereign God, I know that it is not by “accident” that I find myself with a course writing assignment that ties in so well with the week that I have launched into the leadership team for the 40 Days for Life. I had never sat down and read Martin Luther King, Jr.’s letter from the Birmingham jail, but this is exactly what was required for my paper. Although, he was writing his letter in regards to African American civil rights, he was first and foremost a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of this, I truly feel that there are words that we can pull from this letter and apply to the injustice that we, as Christian pro-life advocates, stand against.

I can honestly say, for myself, that each and every time that I went out to the clinic during the last campaign I was nervous. I never had a complete sense of peace because I was always worried about what sort of confrontation might come our way that day while out there lifting up our prayers. However, these certain words from the letter helped put that in perspective somewhat “But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension”. I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth”. If the “tension” that we may cause while out there changes just one persons view on this subject, I welcome the tension I might cause.

Another great point that came up while reading this letter directly refers to the situation that I have many times found myself in when having a discussion on the topic of abortion with a pro-choice person. They are always quick to remind me that it is a right protected by law in our country. To this I must sadly agree, it is indeed the law of the land. However, Martin Luther King makes a great point about law that I think can be applied to the pro-life cause. “How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law”. He also points out this chilling reality “We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was legal.”

And then there is always the struggle that I have at times at being branded as “too extreme” in my views on this subject. I cannot speak for all of you in this group, I can only speak for myself; however, this atrocity that ends the life of nearly 4,000 precious little lives daily in our country at times overwhelms me. I just don’t understand how a county that was built upon Judeo-Christian principles can abide by this practice. In his letter, Luther says this “though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love…Was Amos not an extremist for justice…Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian Gospel?” Maybe we should wear the badge of extremist with the attitude that it was placed there by Christ Himself.

It is a curious thing, the items that God uses to bring things into perspective for me sometimes. If you have never read this letter before by Martin Luther King, Jr., I would urge you to. It certainly has other points that can be used as encouragement for us in the pro-life struggle. And although I know that there may be theological difference amongst those of us in the group since we are from different denominations within the Christian faith, I would like to share words with you that help keep things in perspective for me when I am faced with criticism because of my strong Christian convictions… “Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise, so help me God” - Martin Luther. Let us remember that because we cannot do otherwise, we are being strengthened by our Almighty and Glorious God.

Our Purpose

40 Days for Life is a focused pro-life campaign with a vision to access God’s power through prayer, fasting, and peaceful vigil to end abortion in America. The mission of the campaign is to bring together the body of Christ in a spirit of unity during a focused 40 day campaign of prayer, fasting, and peaceful activism, with the purpose of repentance, to seek God’s favor to turn hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of life, thus bringing an end to abortion in America.

(Copyright © 2009 40 Days for Life)

This is a group specifically meant to provide information about and for the 40 Days for Life (Boulder, CO) campaigns. This blog's focus is the encouragement of participating members and others who might have a sincere interest in knowing more about this ongoing pro life prayer initiative. Maybe you want to join us or simply keep us and our efforts in your prayers; either is greatly appreciated! Above all we are praying that Jesus Christ will be reflected in our actions and that God's glory will shine forth.