Passion with Purpose

Earlier this month, I read the first post on ylcf.org about Passion. I wondered what my “passion with a purpose” was as I hurried out the door. It wasn’t that I didn’t think I was passionate – I often use that word to describe myself. I just wasn’t sure what my purpose was.

It turns out I simply couldn’t see the forest for the trees, for when I arrived at my destination a wave of anticipation hit me, and with it, realization. I was on the University campus for a pro-life outreach.

Ever since going through Justice For All‘s Abortion: From Debate to Dialogue training for the first time, I have found a passion for meaningful dialogue, not just about abortion, but other things like creation science or man’s relationship to God. The training (which I have been through 4 times) taught me key techniques, like humbly asking questions, to gently reason with people so as to find Truth.

¹⁷ Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;^[a]
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.
¹⁸ “ Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the LORD…

 

If you’d like to read more about meaningful conversations I have had, click on the “God Stories” tab in the sidebar.

When I opened the door…

I present to you the latest Go Teen Writers prompt entry! This time I received two votes for Honorable Mention, so no points, but I still hold that second place position. Without further ado…

When I opened the door, I could hardly believe what I saw. I clutched the cabinet handle and rested my weight against the sink. All I wanted was to borrow my roommate’s toothpaste; I didn’t expect her to be hiding anything.

The pink + on the pregnancy test was clear, but how could it be true?

Footsteps echoed in the hallway and before I could will my paralyzed hand to shut the cabinet, she opened the bathroom door. I saw the reflection of surprise and horror on her face in the mirror.

“Swear you won’t tell a soul what you saw.” Her words only confirmed what I wanted to deny.

Been away for a while

It wasn’t very long ago that my grandma brought me a newspaper clipping. “Calling All Arizona Artists!” Me, an artist? Sure, I play with paints and pencils. I like to think maybe I have an eye for design, but a real artist? Good enough to submit a couple creations to the Tucson Museum of Art with the possibility of being chosen for display?

Apparently my grandma thinks so. She believes in me enough to pay my entry fee.

So the past two weeks have been spent sketching, planning and painting. Sometimes more than 6 hours a day were committed to artistic expression.

I began with Prince Charming, the painting featuring 3-year-old Joshua giving a handful of wilted daisies to his grandmother (yes, I featured the kind benefactor who paid my fee). I was greatly encouraged when I showed Joshua and he recognized himself!

The second piece is entitled Today Life and Death is Set Before You. In it, a girl is faced with the reality that she holds the fate of not only the child that has been conceived unexpectedly, but the fate of anyone that child might come in contact with, if she is not aborted. Throughout the painting process, I would discover tears on my cheeks, thinking of all the women faced with the little pink +, and the fate of so many of the children known only as an +. So many have been aborted, and it is not only they that pay the consequences. Think of all the lives one person touches in a lifetime. How many lives would have been touched by those lives destroyed before birth?

In a month or so I’ll find out if either of my pieces were selected. I’ll be sure to post either way, along with digital images of the paintings.

Only One Question

In the JFA ambassadorship training, it is stressed that there is truly only one question that needs to be answered in order to know whether or not abortion is ok. The question is, “what is it?”

The unborn fetus, whether you view it as a mass of tissue or a human being, is biologically alive (it is growing, metabolizing and reacting to stimuli). So then, before we can answer the question of whether or not we can terminate that life, we need to figure out exactly what it is.

If it’s a part of the woman (my body, my choice) then it’s her decision.

If it’s a separate human entity, it’s not the woman’s decision.

See how important this question is? This is the way that I see the answer (and by the way, if you don’t agree, feel free to leave a comment. If you don’t want it published, just let me know. I have to hand-publish all comments)

If it’s growing, isn’t it alive? (as we have already discussed)
If it has human parents, isn’t it human?
And isn’t human life, like you and me, valuable?

Having “one question” also helps to focus the conversation, so that we don’t go off on tangents. The abortion debate especially tends to have a lot of rabbit trails (What if the mother is only 13? What if she’s poor? What if…?).

I think that all hot topics have “one question” of their own that must be answered. For example, in the intelligent design/evolution debate, the one question is “how did it all begin?”. I’m trying to boil down other topics to “one question” as well.

What do you think?

My God is so Awesome

I can hardly believe He chose to use me. He chose me to be His ambassador. Wow. I’m just in awe of what He did today.

I was back out at the JFA exhibit (see my last post) and talked to many people in spite of the cold (record lows).

One conversation in particular stuck out to me. It started within probably a half hour of our arrival and ended about a half hour before I left. Now, it wasn’t on-going for that whole time. Here’s how it went:

I went out to my favorite spot – the free speech board – when I saw someone stop to write something. I was a ways away so I just prayed that he would stay long enough for me to get out to him. I didn’t have to worry – this guy wasn’t even close to finished when I got there. I began to read what he wrote. It started out “on a cold February morning I drove my girlfriend to an abortion clinic…” my heart went out to him immediately and I just knew I had to talk to him. By the time he finished, though, I wasn’t so sure. The “story” ended with a strange, absurd twist – a rap poem from the mouth of the unborn.

He stood up to walk away and I stopped him, “excuse me, can I ask you why you decided to write that?” he looked startled, and looked at his clock, “uh, well I don’t really have time to explain…” he had to get to class and said he’d try to come back in a few hours. I told him to find me and that was that…I wasn’t sure I’d ever see him again.

Fast forward about three hours. I came out from eating lunch and went back…guess where? 🙂 and guess who was there? Well, he was back, and talking to two other pro-lifers, one of which is on the JFA staff. We were taught not to “gang up on” people since it can be overwhelming to be talking to too many people from the other side, so I hung back, just within hearing. He spotted me and waved me over. He told the others about our encounter earlier, and they left us to continue the conversation. I tried to take up where the others had left off, but he stopped me. “what were you going to ask me earlier?” he wanted to know, so I repeated the question.

He talked for awhile about being an artist, and wanting to express how he was inspired by the exhibit. He talked about “zig” and “zag”, contrast, shock value, and other stuff like that. Setting up a pattern, then drastically going against that pattern. I can’t say I agree with him, but at least I got to where I understood. The conversation wrapped up, so I brought it back around to the unborn. He didn’t really like my segue (or lack thereof) and I told him we could keep talking about art if he wanted, but I had come out to talk about babies. He was ok with that, and told me what he thought of the people he had been talking with before (he thought they did well, but that their reasoning was kind of circular), then he checked the time. He told me he had to go soon to pick up his son from school, and I wasn’t really sure where to go with the conversation having only about five minutes, but he gave me the answer. He said, “I have my aborted child to think of.” wow, bombshell! He said I had four minutes to present my view. I immediately asked how he and the woman (the mother) were doing. It caught him completely off guard. He seemed to be expecting me to attack him and tell him how terrible he was. When he recovered, he said they were both doing fine (I had my doubts…). I offered some more comfort, and asked him some more questions. I could tell that he had thought a lot about the abortion, and even though he tried not to show it, I could see it had affected him deeply. I closed the conversation by thanking him for talking to me. I told him that I loved hearing about the art, and that I appreciated him coming back, then he left.

I watched him walk away until he was out of sight, and prayed that God would keep leading him along, bringing him to more people who would lead him to a place of ultimate healing. I also prayed for the woman involved.

I am so amazed that God would entrust me with this conversation, and that He trusted me to reach out and represent Him to this man. That was a totally awesome experience!

Let me know if you want to hear more stories of how I saw God work today!