Wednesday, October 19, 2011

My Finest Hour


Since April and really my entire life I have spent countless hours volunteering for various organizations, churches, politicians and on the list could go. I've done things from entering data to collecting signatures, making phone calls to working in a nursery, and scheduling appointments to walking in parades. However, tonight I did something that I will never forget as long as I live: I stood in front of Planned Parenthood for just one hour holding a sign that read, "Pray to End Abortion."

It's called "40 Days of Life." It's a pro-life movement. It's fighting for the lives of unborn babies. It's a cause that is paramount to every other cause. Standing on the street corner in pouring rain I felt as if it was my finest hour and the only thing I could wish was that this was not my first time but my 10th or 20th. Cars rolled by me, some honking, others waving, some not doing anything but smile, some looking the other way. Yet I felt deep in my soul that this was something worth standing for an entire day in the rain. Why? Because for once I was doing something that could effect a life, or rather two or three lives, or possibly an infinite amount of lives immediately.

There were two particular incidents in this hour that stand out in my mind. The first was a man who turned his truck around and drove back by us; rolling his window down he simply stated, "Thank you for doing this." I was surprised because I really wasn't doing anything that thousands of other people had done for years before me, yet he was thanking unworthy me. About halfway through our shift another man brought us hot chocolate from the gas station across the street, thanking us for standing in the rain and supporting the lives of unborn babies. Again, a not expected or deserved blessing.

Overall, my short experience holding a sign in front of Planned Parenthood was rewarding, humbling, and a wake-up call. I realized that fighting for a tiny unborn baby is a cause worthy of a life long dedication on my part. As Horton says, "A person's a person no matter how small." That tiny, unborn life is worth everything, for in it is the future.

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