June 28, 2007

(NOTE: At the time that this letter was written, one of our family members was facing an impending divorce. Although the situation looked hopeless at the time, she eventually returned. We have removed the opening paragraphs of this letter which dealt with this situation, but we still covet your prayers that God will help our family members stay faithful to Him and to each other.)

This past Sunday, we heard that "Rev." Al Sharpton was coming to speak at Compassion Christian Center. Sharpton advocates women having the “choice” to abort their babies, although abortion impacts the black population disproportionately. We knew that someone needed to speak out for the truth. Within about two hours, we threw together a flyer and gathered a small group of people.

Terri explains how abortion impacts blacks to two men entering Compassion Christian Center.

The atmosphere outside Compassion Christian Center was tragically familiar: it was as bad as being outside the killing center. We were told to move away from the public sidewalks in front of the church, and the ushers grabbed our flyers out of people's hands as they entered the sanctuary. Nevertheless, the truth of Sharpton's hypocritical abortion advocacy was heard from his own lips. As Jesus said in Matthew 23:24, "blind guides" like Sharpton "strain at a gnat" (focusing on censoring three specific words from rap songs) but "swallow a camel" (deeming abortion a "civil right").

Monday morning, I didn't intend to be outside the abortion chamber, but Terri was so busy helping one woman after another who decided not to abort their babies, I couldn't pull myself away. Then a car pulled up next to me, and a

Read the tragic update to this story

young woman inside asked for literature. Three years ago, she explained, she had planned to abort her baby, but she had changed her mind after talking to us. "Does the baby's father help you at all?" I asked. "No," she answered, "but I don't need his help." Her eyes overflowed with tears as she showed me her little girl in the back seat. We hope to keep in touch with this precious mother and child.

Although our financial problems have dashed our hopes of having a "Traveling Life Center" (a pregnancy help center in an RV), we are offering mobile services now to the best of our ability. For example, tomorrow we will travel to Rosamond to meet with a pregnant girl who wants an abortion. (The girl's mother called us yesterday asking for help.) The counseling methods and resources we will use in Rosamond are very similar to what we use in the LifeHouse (and what we would have hoped to use in the "TLC").

Sometimes we find encouragement in unexpected places. A few months ago, we wrote to Rick Warren asking him to correct erroneous statements he made on the Family Life Today radio program minimizing the abortion holocaust. When I heard that he was on Family Life Today again yesterday, I hoped to hear him correct his previous errors. But instead, I heard him say these encouraging words:

I used to believe that life was hills and valleys.... I don’t believe that anymore. I think life is more like a railroad track with two rails, and you have them both at the same time. There’s always something good in your life, and no matter how good things are going, something bad is in your life.... You get them both at the same time, it's not highs and lows.... The goal is not to focus on the good or the bad, ... keep your eye on the goal, and the goal is Jesus, the goal is finishing the race.

Thank you for helping us to stay "in the race". We look forward to the day when we will reach the goal together.