Chewymom

I have joined a liberal Bible study. Oh, I jest. It is a Bible study lead by the pastor’s wife of a church that many of my local friends would consider to be “liberal,” because it is main-line. Let me tell you, this leader is a godly woman who understands more about the gospel and applying it to her own life and to the lives of those she loves than most people I know. She is a treasure and a gift in my life!

Anyway, my leader starts each Bible study by saying, “God is good,” to which we respond, “all the time.” And then the reverse - she says, “All the time,” and we respond, “God is good.” It is a helpful reminder!

On Facebook, I often see people post prayer requests, and then later they will post, “…blah, blah…God is good!” Usually the God is good part relates to something good happening. For example, a dear friend of mine had encephalitis. It was a very frightening time as we waited to see whether he would even survive–which looked doubtful at one point. Then we wondered if he would be mentally the same, which also looked a bit doubtful as he seemed to have lost his short-term memory. Hundreds of us rejoiced when it became clear that he was making a full recovery. “God is good,” many proclaimed on Facebook! And God is good. And it was beyond good - it was and is amazing and wonderful to see our friend recovering. And it is good to declare that! But what would we have said if our friend had been taken from this life? Would we still proclaim God’s goodness? Would God still be good in our eyes? Could we still post that on Facebook? Would we dare to say, “This has turned out horribly for our friend’s family. We did not want this outcome. We loved this man and did not want to see him leave such a gap. But we know that God is good.”

I guess that is true reformed theology put to the test. What do we do and say when things look really, really bad? Does it shake our faith in God? Do we still call him good? Has his character changed, or do we start to think it may have been questionable to begin with? Do we distance ourselves emotionally from God, suspecting that he does not have our best interests at heart, or worse, that he might not really love us as much as we had hoped?

Don’t get me wrong - anger and frustration at God are, in my opinion, allowable. God understands that we do not have the whole picture in mind. He knows that our circumstances, and even the things from his hand, can look really bad at times. The Psalmist openly asked God where in the heck he was?? Jesus wanted to understand WHY the father had forsaken him! But can we at the same time express our earthly perspective to God, “Lord this sucks right now,” and still say, “But you are good?”

It’s a challenge, and one that I make to myself every time I see someone post, “God is good,” because a spouse who was unemployed has found work; or a child recovered from a serious illness; or a financially strapped family got an unexpected check in the mail. If the opposite had occurred, could I and would I still say, “God is good all the time. All the time God is good?” I hope so.

There’s a story here.

We have been visiting various churches in our town recently. It has been a really neat learning experience for our family–seeing worship styles we have never been exposed to before. This morning we decided to visit an Episcopal church. We were preparing the children for the Eucharist because two of them have never had the Lord’s Supper before, and we were fairly certain that it would be offered. We explained that most likely, we would go forward and that the priest would place the bread in our mouths. This was obviously concerning to Sally.

I am happy to report that first of all, the priest did not in fact, stuff bread into anybody’s mouth. He carefully placed it into our open palms as we knelt at the altar. Then a challis of wine was brought, and we dipped our bread into the wine (and no, it wasn’t Welch’s, like we get in our usual church) and then ate it.

As soon as the bread was in her mouth, Sally made a face, fanned her mouth, and whispered loudly, “That bread is DISGUSTING!”

Watching two of my children take their first communion was a beautiful thing, even if they slightly missed the point of the whole thing.

Can I make a true confession? Advent season underwhelms me.

There. I said it.

The lighting of the candles, the hanging of the greens, the recitations, even the hymns. Often they leave me rather ho-hum.

Part of it is probably my upbringing. My mother’s birthday was on Christmas day, which is depressing in itself. Two-for-one gifts and spending her birthday in the kitchen. Plus, I believe she suffered from SAD. She was just not very excitable in December. I mean, sure, we were good Presbyterians and did all of the Christmas stuff–made the advent wreath and did the little family readings and lighting of the candle nightly, went to the Service of Lessons and Carols, even rode the Pink Pig at Rich’s in downtown Atlanta. But still, I think as hard as Mom tried, December was stressful for her. (Duh! She was a mom!)

Another part of the issue for me is that it always seems that compared to Easter, the Christmas story is just less moving or something. I mean, Easter - now that is big! Jesus rose from the dead! He died for our sins! And he didn’t even stay dead! That’s big news!!!

But a baby being born to an poor, unwed mother in a stable? Well, not very noteworthy. And not something that tends to draw worship and awe, quite frankly.

Which is probably part of the point.

So I mosey along, caught up in the stresses of the season, barely taking a breath. Rushing to various stores to buy food, gifts, trinkets; fretting over teacher gifts, neighbor gifts, friend gifts; wondering what Santa will bring the kids (and where he is going to get the money!); rushing to chorus practices and concerts, basketball games, school Christmas parties; taking a breath and mourning over the fact that I lost both of my parents awfully close to Christmas.

And then “O Holy Night” comes on. And just as it does every time I hear the song, I am literally almost brought to my knees. Fall on your knees, it exclaims! I catch my breath and really listen to the words. I worship. I, who rarely shed a tear, find my eyes welling up as I listen.

And I am struck by the real message of Christmas. It is huge, just like Easter. Perhaps even more so, because the birth of Jesus marks the beginning of a death march. In a sense, when any of us is born, we begin the march to the grave. But how much more so with Jesus! He left his rightful place as God so that he could limit himself as a human and walk through this life with the sole purpose of death. Not just death because of old age or some crazy accident or illness. But death because without it, we were all going to die. He came to earth with that as his sole goal and intention. Or rather, he came to earth with US as his sole goal and intention.

Not karma. Not you get what’s coming, or you reap what you sow. But you get life. You get relationship with God. You get love from the creator, in spite of yourself and your screwups and mishaps and ill-thoughts and intentions, because God set out with that intention by wrapping himself in the package of a baby, and being born just so that he could die.

And so at his birth, the angels sang.

Fall on your knees! Oh! Hear the angel voices! Oh night divine! Oh night, when Christ was born!

Stop for a minute. Fall on your knees. Worship.

I can’t explain it, but my heart has been drawn to Africa for many years. Watch this video. Maybe this explains some of the draw for me. And maybe it will draw you as well.

HT to Boomama

Click here to join my Chewymom team at MochaClub to support Orphans in Africa.

As I have reminisced about my simple high-school faith, I have been listening to some of the old music of that day. I discovered a seven-part series on You Tube called “The Keith Green Story” and watched the whole thing. Oh what an influence that man had on my life in the 80s!

I loaded some Keith Green songs onto my iPod and listened to them as I ran today. The song “The Prodigal Son Suite” came on. This is not the original version performed by Keith Green, and it is broken into two parts, but you can hear the song here and here:

I thought about my life as a prodigal son. Actually, when I have heard that parable over the years, I have related to the older brother. I am the child who wants to live by the rules. I yearn for someone to give me a play-book and tell me how to act. I can do that! I tried it for years as a teenager and college student, not giving in to the usual temptations. As a parent, I bought into the Ezzo’s “Growing Kids God’s Way” and other programs that promised perfect children, if I would just live by certain rules.

My life fell apart when my husband decided to play the role of the younger brother and stray from his faith for a brief time. As he returned to his faith, everyone rejoiced! Elders prayed over him, people got together with him regularly for accountability, Bible study, and prayer. And I sat on the sidelines thinking, “What the hell??” Seriously. I had been offended and hurt, and suddenly I was forgotten while attention and praise was lavished on my husband. I was pissed!

And frankly, I felt like Jesus gave the older son the shaft in his little story. I mean, if we were talking about salvation, I was just fine with Chewydad being welcomed back into the fold. Lavishly, even. But come on! In the day-in-day-out of my life, I wanted just a little sympathy. A little help. A little pity. Something! I understood the older brother in the prodigal son story being pretty ticked off. Let’s welcome the brother back, be glad to see him and all, but enough already.

Have any of you felt like the older son in the story? Has anything happened in your life to give you a glimpse of the younger son? It did in mine, and I will share that a bit later.

When I think about my faith back in high school, I am filled with both longing and remorse. It was a very simple faith, really. I had always been curious - a seeker of sorts - asking annoying religious questions at my more socially-oriented youth group and always trying to find a deeper spirituality than what I observed among most of my peers.

I was drawn to a Baptist church and began playing basketball there and occasionally attending youth functions. A dear friend Rebecca sat me down and explained in simple terms that there was heaven and there was hell. If I wanted to go heaven, I needed to believe in Jesus. If I chose to reject Jesus, I would someday find myself in hell. I’m no idiot, and hell sounded like a very bad idea, so I chose Jesus. And I chose Him with much fervor.

I spent a lot of time in the local Christian bookstore. It seemed to be such a peaceful place, and it was full of books about spiritual things and music about Jesus. My heart felt at rest when I was in the Christian bookstore. Besides books, I bought several bumper stickers, like the one that said, “Heaven or hell: Turn or burn.” Not the nicest way to put things, but a pretty simple message, you have to admit!

If there is anything I regret it is that my zeal allowed me to put offensive stickers on my car. It also found me pulling away from my unbelieving, heathen friends, lest my faith waver. And although I didn’t take the advice to burn my Eagles albums, I did put them in the back of my record stack and refused to listen to them, or any secular music, for a good 6 months.

My faith was extremely immature and often offensive to my high school friends and to my parents. And yet it was simple. There was none of this fretting over faith vs. works; free will vs. predestination; supralapsarianism vs. infralapsarianism; sovereignty vs. responsibility; law vs. grace; emergent vs. TR. The choice was simple: heaven or hell. And as obnoxious as I was back then, a part of me wants to go back there and have that simple faith again. The one that is given a choice: Do you love Jesus or not? Nothing more.

But not for the reasons you may think. Most people equate the overturning of Roe v Wade with the pro-life movement. Ideally those who claim to be pro-life have the ultimate goal of seeing abortion numbers go down. The problem, as I see it, is that if Roe v Wade is overturned, it becomes a state issue. Some of us might be able to hold our heads up proudly as our own state makes abortion illegal. We could turn a blind eye as rich teenage girls are carted just across the state line to a state where abortion is legal - maybe even up to the 9th month. We could decry the morals of the poor girls who are made to carry a teen pregnancy to term. We could vote against funding programs that would help the poor, single moms, claiming it is a redistribution of wealth or that they got themselves into this mess, or they need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, or whatever. And all the while, abortion numbers would likely remain pretty close to what they are right now. But in our state they would drop, and that’s what we care about, right? Or do we care about truly reducing the number of abortions?

So why would I like to see Roe v Wade overturned? Because clearly, I don’t think it will really change the numbers that much.

Without Roe v Wade, people will be forced to vote on different issues. It would open the door for a third party, because the religious right would not fear that voting third party would put the pro-life movement in jeopardy. Christians in particular would be forced to look closely at other social issues, at economic issues, at foreign policy issues, rather than focusing on a single issue.

Roe v Wade being taken out of the picture would also force candidates to stop using the abortion issue to win votes, when they really have no intention of doing a thing about the issue once in office. Call me cynical, but I believe that is what many in the Republican party have been doing for decades. They know they cannot win votes unless they claim to be pro-life, so they do. Once in office, however, that issue is tossed aside until election time again, when it is dragged back out of the closet, dusted off, and put back on a pedestal as the KEY ISSUE. Just look at this quote from the Pro Life Alliance website:

After all, when the Supreme Court reaffirmed Roe in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992, all five votes to sustain Roe were from judges nominated by Republican presidents: Blackmun (who authored Roe), Stevens, O’Connor, Kennedy and Souter.

Call me cynical, but I really think the abortion issue is simply a tool to win votes. It is not an issue that presidential candidates truly have a passion for an intend to change. It just charges up the base of support, one way or the other. And among Christians, it is an issue that many use to judge the faith of fellow believers. As I said in a previous post, a vote for Obama is a vote against Jesus, in the eyes of many.

So I would like to see this issue just go away. I want to be able to intelligently discuss politics and NOT have the abortion issue come up. I want to think that people in my town might be able to put the words “Christian” and “Chewymom” in the same sentence again. (And not a sentence that goes something like, “Chewymom likes Obama, so she is definitely not a Christian.”) I would like for Christians to feel like they have the freedom to look at other issues when they cast their vote.

I’m not holding my breath, though, because “pro-life” or not, I don’t think we will see Roe v Wade overturned any time soon, if ever. So cynical Chewymom predicts that elections will continue to be about one issue from now until the day Jesus comes.

For a truly eloquent, heartfelt post along these lines, head over to my friend Nicole’s blog and check this out.

Now, there’s a phrase I wish I would hear more of. It is election season, and that just brings out the fight in some people. I find myself living in a town and attending a church where my political views are not accepted or even respected. People who dare to put a certain candidate’s sign in their yards here will wake up to find it missing. Bumper stickers are peeled off of cars, if you are lucky. If you are one of the unlucky ones, your car will be keyed.

I will admit that this all baffles me. Is disagreement that dangerous? Does the majority here feel so threatened and unconfident in their views that they must destroy those who disagree? Or at least destroy the evidence of the disagreement. The fact that I may vote differently from others around here does not mean that I am a threat, or that I am stupid, or uninformed, or that I am an unbeliever.

Let me give you some examples of verbal attacks and arguments I have faced over the past few weeks. I have a Facebook account. One of my Facebook friends was in a discussion/debate with a girl who likes Obama, but who could not back up anything she said. My friend had some clear, legitimate reasons for liking McCain. But rather than depend on those reasons and just trying to win her over to his side with logic, he kept adding, “…and besides, you CANNOT be a Christian and like Obama.”

Well, that bothered me enough that I posted as my Facebook status, Chewymom “is wondering why people say you can’t be a Christian and vote for Obama. Um, I believe that Christianity is about Jesus death on a cross, not our voting record!” And THAT, my friends, prompted some real ugliness. Not all irected at me, but also directed at a friend of mine who does not even claim to be a Christian, but who is open about her pro-choice views, and directed at Chewydad. Christians hopped on my page and said things like, “Or would you rather have a president who may turn out to be another Adolf Hitler?” and “Supporting Obama is essentially supporting the murder of innocent children.” and in response to a pro-choice statement, “Thats about as pagan as it gets….I cant believe you would be in such defial of Gods very words.” and “HAHAHA! why should SINFUL people start worrying about making the world a better place.”

I could go on and on, because the comments went on and on, but I won’t on that issue. But in another place on Facebook, Chewydad was subjected to this remark because he did not think Palin was doing well in the debate. “I don’t like either candidate. However, I cannot and will not support any one who is a staunch supporter of abortion, period. There is not a lot of difference between the two in other items other than abortion. Obama is a NARAL poster child with a 100% rating including partial birth abortions. McCain is not.. The commandment: “Thou shall not kill” is not a suggestion. Supporting abortion is supporting murder, period. There are no other commandments that are as specific, period. Therefore, I can’t support anyone who has a Poe choice stance. Say what you want, there are no other choices.” Followed by this, “Right on…. Incredible that people think it is OK to ignore this. Willfull ignorance?”

And you know what? I REALLY RESENT this attitude! THIS is why disagreements divide us, and why people lose friendships and leave churches and such. It is such a pompous attitude to say, “I am right, and there is no room for disagreement. Anyone who disagrees with me is a pagan or ignorant, or an unbeliever.”

Y’all, it would be so much more productive to listen, with an open mind…and no, your brains won’t fall out, as that not-so-hilarious bumpers sticker states…to what others believe and why. I have posted about why I no longer feel compelled to always vote pro-life. Mainly, I think the movement is ineffective and often those who claim to be pro-life often do it to win votes, not because they are really going to DO anything to help the pro-life cause. You may argue that I am wrong, but nobody has the right to tell me that my name is not written in the book of life, or that Jesus’s blood no longer covers me, because of the way I choose to vote.

Another issue that recently came up, not politically, but in religious circles, was the issue of women. I heard someone teaching about the role of women and men in marriage. Frankly, I disagreed with what was said. I kept my mouth shut and didn’t say anything. I don’t have a problem with people teaching stuff I disagree with - in fact, I pretty much know that I’ll get that in my denomination. My problem is the attitude behind the teaching.

It could have been prefaced with, “this is what I believe” or “this is what our denomination believes, but this is one of those issues about which genuine believers disagree.” But instead it was peppered with “this is a very hard teaching, and if you disagree, I hope you can get past it and accept it because it is in the Bible.” There was no room for disagreement. No concession that fellow Christians disagree on the issue. The assumption was that if you don’t agree about submission, you must be immature, or you must not value Scripture, or more likely you are a strong-headed woman who is unwilling to submit. Y’all, I agreed with wifely submission for most of my marriage. I’m not sure I agree with the method of interpretation any more. I don’t want to turn this into a post about why I disagree, because that’s a different post. But I just want to hear some concession from those I disagree with that it is OKAY to think differently, and that it doesn’t make someone an unbeliever or a hard-headed woman, or someone who does not value Scripture and is refusing to submit to certain parts of it, or a poor, uneducated believer who just has not been taught well. Genuine, Bible-believing Christians disagree on the issue!

But that is not what I am getting on any front. The assumption seems to be that disagreement is dangerous, and those who are not in lock-step must be either rebellious, dangerous, or pagans. And therefore I am all of those things. Period.

And the problem I have is that this attitude elevates certain views–abortion, male-headship–above Scriptures that tell us that we are to be unified as a body. It places theology above the idea that one part of Christ’s body cannot function without the other. That we are above all to put on love. And that these are the things that will show the world that we are truly in Christ and will woo them to Him. Being “right” about abortion, or gun control, or economics, or wifely submission are not the most important aspects of Christianity. Love is.

I urge all of us to put on love. Whether we need to guard our tongue (or fingers) as we type on blogs and Facebook accounts and such, or whether we need to have a conciliatory attitude when we speak on difficult subjects, or whether we just need to get that darned plank out of our own eye so we can help remove our brother’s speck, I encourage all of us to put on love.

Chewydad and I have spent almost our entire married life in churches and under teaching that had a lot of law in it. I love law. I crave rules. If you will just tell me how to live as a godly person, I’m on it. You can probably understand why I liked the Ezzo’s Growing Kids God’s Way series so much. It told me what to do and gave me a list of rules to follow so that I could produce godly kids. It was all so easy.

Until my husband wasn’t going along with my image. We began to struggle in our marriage, and suddenly looking perfect and following the rules wasn’t going so well for me. I felt and looked foolish in front of my Christian peers, because I no longer had my act perfectly together. My halo got tarnished.

Soon after the bottom fell out of my life of perfection, I found myself at a church where grace was preached. From the pulpit and even more so, in Bible study, I heard over and over and over, until it finally started to sink in, that my Christian walk was not about rules, it was about grace. If I had heard that message any time earlier, I think I would have either walked out the door or I would have tried to figure out way to manufacture that grace in my life. But because of the timing, I was at a low enough point that I just heard it and had to believe it.

I heard repeated that God is a loving Father. I heard that I was living as though I was an orphan. I began to grasp just how beautiful is the picture of adoption.

It was like I had been this little bud or seed, and suddenly I was being filled. I was growing…plumping up if you will, until what I was learning began to explode out of me. I was able to let go of so many of my wrong expectations of my husband and kids–expectations that were ultimately only about making me look like a godly wife and mother. I was able to truly love those who were struggling, because now I too was struggling. I wasn’t afraid to be friends with unbelievers any more. They weren’t going to corrupt my kids, and in fact, their struggles suddenly seemed a whole lot more like my own. It dawned on me that in reality, the only thing separating me from my unbelieving neighbors and friends was my hope in Christ. Our struggles, however, are really not that different.

I am thankful for the teaching I have been under. It has allowed me to move out from under the law and to really live as a daughter. It has allowed me to begin to think for myself again–religiously, politically, in terms of my role in this life. I have tackled issues and realized that I don’t necessarily think like everyone else in my town and my church. And that is okay! Well, it’s okay with me at least. I am free to come to my own conclusions about…oh…women’s issues, the environment, Obama, the economy, illegal aliens, aid to Africa, and even abortion.

Some might argue that there’s a name for this.

Mid. life. crisis.

I’m in “mid-life.”

I don’t think I’m in a crisis though.

But I am, in a sense, finding myself and my voice.

And that is why I am noticing a shift in what I am being taught. It isn’t that grace has been removed. But rules and law have crept back in. There’s a new tone of “this is how to live the Christian life.” And it isn’t about freedom any more. It is about the Ten Commandments. And being a submissive wife. And understanding difficult Presbyterian theology like sanctification and justification.

And suddenly this plump piece of fruit that was me has begun to shrivel.

Not in real life, of course, because no matter how I eat or exercise, shriveling and shrinking is not part of the picture. This is all figurative, as those who know me in real life can attest.

I am beginning to feel like a raisin who is having all of the plump, juicy goodness of the gospel sucked out by the parching, dry heat of rules and regulations and “godly living.” I’m sure I could live that way again. It’s kind of in my nature to see a rule and try to follow it. I suppose it always will be. My flesh kinda likes it. But my soul kicks and screams now, and begs to be released.

And I don’t really know where I’m going with this post other than to say that I am longing for the cool refreshing flow of the gospel over me again. I am missing the grace. I am longing for the soul-quenching, life-giving messages that my heart learned to love. I’m on a quest to find that again.

I think my timing in posting this is impeccable. Today is mine and Chewydad’s 20th anniversary, and tomorrow we head out of town for a five-day trip! We have NEVER done anything like this, and I am SOOOO excited! If you think of it, pray for my in-laws who are going to be holding down the fort in our absence.

So, anyway…here’s my can of worms. The pro-life issue.

Since 1984, the first election when I could vote, I was pro-life. I voted for the Republican candidate because abortion was heinous, and I could not fathom voting for a candidate who did not understand that life begins at conception, and who was willing to stand up for those unborn babies.

My passion for life has not dwindled over the years. But my political views have. I am no longer a single-party or single-issue voter.

First of all, I have lost faith that the supposedly pro-life party is really doing anything to affect change. Have they overturned Roe v Wade? And do they really want to? The cynical me says no way. If they actually DID anything to turn back Roe v Wade, what issue would keep the pro-life crowd in their camp?

And here’s the thing. Part of my passion for unborn life stems from the fact that I have a son with Down syndrome. Nine out of ten prenatally diagnosed babies with Down syndrome are aborted. How I wish that weren’t the case!! Do you know how awesome it would be for my son to see that many more familiar faces in his life? My child stands out as being that much more different than the general population because such a high percentage are never even given the chance to live!

Let’s suppose for a moment that Republicans are able to change our abortion policies. You know there would be all kinds of clauses–except in the case of rape or incest; unless the life of the mother is in danger; unless the health of the mother (including mental health) is in danger. Folks, NO change is going to be made that requires anyone to bring an “abnormal” fetus into the world. It just isn’t going to happen unless America becomes a theocracy and goes back to Old Testament laws, which I don’t see happening any time soon.

So what does it mean to be pro-life? How can we see to it that abortion numbers drop? When there are adoption incentives in place, abortion might go down. When there are programs to help unwed mothers, abortion might go down. When there are programs that help those born with disabilities, and when there are good education laws in place for them, abortion might go down. When there is sex education, abortion might go down. Yeah, we might appear to condone promiscuity, but if we are really passionate about life, which is the lesser of the two evils? Frankly, I would rather have my child taught about birth control options than to have him slip up and cause a girl to become pregnant. My goal is to teach my children that I do not condone pre-maritial sex. That my goal and desire is that they would save themselves for their marriage partner. But if they choose to go against my counsel, I want them to be protected. Y’all, the older my children get, the more I realize that I can only teach them my values and views. I cannot force them to hold the same opinions. That is the beauty of them being people and not robots. It is the same freedom God gives them, frankly. God tells them what He wants for them, but then allows them to make the choice about their sexual activity. How can I do any differently?

So if my main goal is to lower the number of abortions, in terms of political elections, I need to look at what each party and candidate might do that will, in reality, bring down the number of abortions. What will be put in place, or enforced, that will motivate people to either prevent unwanted pregnancies, or that will encourage people to carry a baby to term? If a frightened woman knows that she and her child will make it, that they will be supported by their freinds, their community, and even their government, she might be more inclined to bring the baby into the world.

I have heard the arguments that this is not the job of the government, it is the job of churches. Well, folks, what exactly is your church doing to help? Besides preaching on the evils of abortion. How is your church supporting unwed mothers? How are they helping those with a disabled child? Do these types of “broken” families feel welcome in your church?

On a personal level, I am often unsure what I can do that will really help. So my tactic is this - I make myself available to mothers who receive a prenatal diagnosis that they do not want to hear. It is not grandiose, it is not an obvious or attention-grabbing way to be pro-life. And yet, it is using my life’s experience to one-by-one try to bring down the abortion rate. Maybe your personal calling is something different - adoption, foster care, counseling. But I would encourage anyone who uses the label “pro-life” to define himself to examine that and see what effect you are truly having that is pro-life. Because if all you do is go to the voting booth every few years and punch the Republican ticket, you are really not having a pro-life effect.

For me, the pro-life issue is personal. It comes down to what am I doing to make a difference. I will not be bought by a party line, and I refuse to be swayed by smooth-talkers who use the term “pro-life” while not supporting life outside the womb.

I encourage comments, but after tomorrow I will not be available to moderate new comments or to respond. Which may not be all bad.

So I’m closing this can of worms and ducking and running all the way out of town…..

If you want to read a really eloquent post by a Christian mother about her views on the pro-life/pro-choice issue, I would encourage you to check out Nicole’s blog.