Joy in Our Hearts-- Lots of It

I listened to music while laboring with both my babies. With Eowyn, the song I most remember (the one playing as she was born, actually) is Sandra McCracken's "Close of the Day"-- fittingly a song about all the simple blessings of life -- "close of the day/ fireworks and rain, feels like a holiday/ unburdens my frame"-- as well as the deep blessings of the Gospel-- " the marks of my name/ torn into Your Hands" --with the refrain "and this is not what I deserve." Really perfect to remember as I contemplated the joy of bringing forth a child contrasted with the Hell I'd have earned myself with all my sin, as well as the far greater pain He went through for me!

Anyway... the song that will always remind me of Liam's birth is Sara Groves' "Joy is in Our Hearts." It's got a great tempo, great contemplative, calm, intense vibe that is perfect for the work of labor. And the words... wow, the words are great for the discomfort, pain and trial of waiting that is the last stage of pregnancy and all of labor. It's also been perfect for me as a new mom full of fears: once you've been given such a precious gift, it's easy to fall prey to the temptation that it will be taken from you. This song helps me remember that even if I lost my little son or worse, I would have Christ, and Him for all eternity!- and that would be reason enough to sing for joy. This song was written, I think, with the persecuted church in mind.

 I pray this little montage encourages you! I get teary just watching it. :) Pregnancy and labor are good for my spiritual condition. Which means we'll probably be having more kids.

"Joy Is in Our Hearts"

"We were pressed on every side,
Full of fear and troubled thoughts;
For good reason we carried heavy hearts

"It is good to come together
In our friendship to remember
All the reasons hope is in our hearts:

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Christ our joy and strength!

"Now with patience in our suffering,

Perseverance in our prayers,

With good reason this hope is in our hearts:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Christ our joy and strength!

"Oh, we saw the face of angels--

Many good things well-secured

For good reason this joy is in our hearts:

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Christ our joy and strength!

For good reason joy is in our hearts."

Post-Palm Sunday Monday

My more liturgically-inclined friends know it as "Holy Monday," and we Baptists think of it as "oh yeah, Easter is next Sunday!"  Regardless of what you call it, Easter --the most celebrated day of the Christian calendar-- will be upon us in 7 days.  One of my goals for this year was to immerse myself more deeply in the Christian calendar, not because it's mandated or prescribed, but because I know it will help me to enjoy far more deeply each season and holiday.  Holiday meant, originally, "holy day," and to be truly 'holy,' a day must be "set apart."  It's hard for me to set apart a day for anything without preparing for it, both physically and mentally.  Especially spiritually.  Christian holy-days are set apart for concentrated, intentional worship.  All the trappings are meant to enhance that central focus, not detract from it!

I've pretty much failed this year at observing Lent.  Somehow it just snuck up on me.  I could blame my non-liturgical church (which doesn't even nod at Palm Sunday-- I'm always a little surprised when they even have a Good Friday service, lol)... but it was really just me being focused elsewhere.  Thankfully, I "randomly" (as in, the Lord prompted me to) decided to listen to a sermon while making a meal today, and turned to Grace Church in Greenville, SC's sermon library.  Lo and behold, my old youth pastor (still a favorite preacher to listen to) had preached yesterday, and the sermon was up.  I clicked the title, "When God Draws Near," and found the sermon to be very encouraging.  It also reminded me that I'd missed Palm Sunday (drat). But at least now I won't miss the rest of Holy Week!!

I'm going to be reading the events of Christ's Passion Week in the Gospels this week, and will try to post a thought or link or quote -SOMETHING- each day to point us all forward to Easter, the day on which Christians around the world say "Halleluiah!! He is risen!  Christ is risen indeed!!"  (But I won't say that yet-- the early church wouldn't say 'halleluiah' for all of Lent excepting Sundays, just so it would rip forth with extra joy on the Anniversary of our Savior's Victory!)

Here's my Holy Monday link:  the sermon "When God Draws Near" by Bill White, preached April 17th, 2011.  You can download or stream it there.

Beautiful, Oops!

Just a note on this post:  you might start out wondering why it's here, instead of at my book-review blog (www.mamaszrama.com), because it does start off being about a really cool new children's book.  But bear with me, because it's not actually about this book, cool as it is.

This little book has recently captured my fancy.  Called Beautiful, Oops!, it is a whole new type of pop-up book, celebrating the potential in every "mistake."  The book itself is a study in creativity-- totally thinking "outside the box."  This would be a GREAT way to start a discussion with your children on God as Redeemer; One who reclaims for Himself what is captive, ugly and wrong, making it beautiful, holy and right by His very presence.  Watch a video of it here.

Our culture prefers the word "mistake."  It's somehow easier to say than "sin."  It doesn't imply evil, just misunderstanding or poor judgement.  Maybe even accidental action or inaction.  And we make a lot of those (I know I do).  Several times I've heard friends try to pass off a serious hurtful sin as "one mistake" lately.  Well, it was a mistake... and it was also a sin.  Bearing this in mind, that labeling something a "mistake" doesn't let us off the hook where repentance is concerned, this little book contains a lot of truth.  The first way to go about seeing something beautiful come from a sinful mistake always must be repentance; an admission of guilt, an apology, an asking for forgiveness from the offended party AND from God, and a resolve to turn from that sin and do the opposite. With our pride gone and forgiveness granted we are free to be amazed at how God weaves our mistake, our weakness, our sin, into a glorious tapestry of grace and joy.

This has got me thinking...thinking about a blog post written by a friend of mine who just found out that his youngest adopted son, whom he will soon bring home from Ethiopia, was conceived in rape.  Woah.  Talk about sobering.  By my friend's account, the girl was quite young-- some might still call her a little girl-- and she was violently assaulted, violated by a sick man's lust, never to be innocent again.  Talk about a "mistake." That doesn't even do it justice-- that wasn't a mistake; it was sin; despicable, awful, terrible, harmful, the stench of death.  Yet, out of that terror-inducing, evil, agonizing violence God brought a beautiful thing:  someone made in His Own Image.  Wow.  From one man's wicked act God brought life, and in His mercy the girl bearing that life prized it above her own comfort.  She carried her son, gave birth, and then did everything in her power to see that her son --the baby she never asked for from a man she had every right to hate-- was cared for.  And she went away happy. That girl -so young, so poor, so far away- whose name I do not know has become one of my heroes as a mother.

What did God bring out of an evil, disgusting sin?  First of all, a baby boy, fearfully and wonderfully made.  Secondly, the joy of a desperately poor young Ethiopian mother, who has peace in her heart and on her face in knowing that she sacrificed herself for her son.  Thirdly, the delight of my friends, who have a son to love and hold and teach.  Fourthly, the enrichment of his brother and two sisters, who will now grow up sharing all their memories with him.  Think of the aunts, the uncles, the cousins, the grandparents, the friends, the school teachers, the doctors, the nurses whom he will touch... The list will go on and on as this child grows.  His parents are bound to Cameroon to translate Scripture there; it could be that he will save the lives-- physical or spiritual-- of thousands there; time only will tell.

Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God?  You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:20)

You can read even more "Beautiful Oops" stories here, as 4 adoptive parents recount the miracles that brought their precious children into their arms.  I love the pictures of these smiling babies that are beside each story (I have held and changed several of the children featured!).  One of the most striking paragraphs to me:

Shortly after our son Isaiah was born, he was abandoned in a high school.  He was found sobbing and with the umbilical cord still attached by a man named Teshome.  We will forever be thankful for his kindness in saving our son’s life!  He took Isaiah to the police, and from there he was sent to an orphanage.  We are often brought to tears thinking about how close Isaiah came to death.  He is such a happy, curious, strong boy and brings us so much joy and delight.  We praise the Lord for protecting his life and allowing us to be his parents!

Contrast that with this view of mistakes:


Oh Lord, keep us from the arrogance that would make us judges of the effects of sin-- either our own or one inflicted upon us. Give us hearts dedicated to Redemption; determined and expectant to see You work unimaginable beauty from our ashes!

"To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." (Isaiah 61:3)

Supporting Freedom

Forget all the movies starring strippers who choose that life "because it makes them feel good about themselves."  This post is about the ugly truth of sex as business.  It's often forced-- either through outright slavery, desperation, or abuse that leaves the woman feeling as if she has no other option. Often even those women there "by choice" were not introduced to prostitution, stripping, dancing, pornography, etc., voluntarily.  Regardless of their backgrounds, like every person apart from Christ's Rescue, women enmeshed in the sex trade or industry are slaves-- slaves to sin and to Satan, a dark evil master who wants only their destruction.

The sex trade-- it isn't just in exotic nations full of harems.  It isn't just grown women.  It's children, all over the world, even in our own nation.  All around us, both near and far.  There are terrified and hurting women, girls and boys.  What are we going to do about it?

There are organizations made up of people who want to imitate Christ by literally rescuing slaves.  Many of you may have read my post on the plight of "porn stars" in the AMERICAN porn industry.  Here in Louisville,  an organization called Scarlet Hope actively pursues women in the sex industry, showing them kindness, respect, and the compassion of Christ every week.  A Derek Webb & Sandra McCracken concert is scheduled locally to benefit this ministry.  The Pink Cross Foundation is a nation-wide ministry with similar goals.

If it's the people-- especially those literally enslaved-- in foreign nations that God lays on your heart, my friend & fellow blogger Jeanette posted some links to these organizations, which could become Christmas gift sources!  Punjammies are fun, beautiful clothing items made by Indian women escaping prostitution.  Ransomwear sells clothing, purses and hats made by women and girls escaping the sex trade in Nepal. Made By Survivors is similar, selling jewelry, bags, and handmade rugs.  All of these organizations have fairly interactive websites, where you can donate directly or get involved in other ways.  Please check them out.

The Victims of Porn

There is little I hate more than pornography. 

I hate what it does to marriages, to men who look at it, to their wives and to their children. 

I hate how it takes unwitting little children from innocent to never-able-to-get-those-images-out-of-my-head in a matter of seconds.  Just like that, a piece of their innocence is irritrivably stolen, all because they picked up a magazine or clicked a computer link.

I hate what it does to the Kingdom of God.  One of my pastors once described counseling godly young men who should be out on the mission field but can't be, because they can't stop looking at porn.  That made me cry and cry and cry.

I hate how it is so pervasive in our culture, almost ok.  It's even worse in Europe, where ads with half-clad women are on billboards everywhere, and "Porn Sex" shop signs brazenly line the streets like badges of honor.  Talking to acquaintances, their basic assesment was that "as long as it's between two consenting adults," it's ok.  Porn, adultery, prostitution, it's all "ok."  I hate how hardened the porn industry has made us to the evil of infidelity and fornication.  Of course they're not ok! They hurt everyone involved!!  "Consenting"?  What does that even mean?  How do you know what the parties involved actually want?

Now, after a blog I follow linked to this site, of a stripper/hardcore star whom the Lord saved, I hate pornography also for what it does to the women whose pictures trigger such lust.  I never stopped to think about it.  I never knew.  But it makes sense, of course.  The very fact that the women are on display indicates that they are utterly devalued.  Why wouldn't they be treated as such?

My heart grieves for them, for the women in my neighborhood, in my city, in my state who know no other lifestyle, for their parents and their children.  Lord, send Your Servants to love them and save them all!  Place those lonely ones into families, as Your Word promises.  And please crush Your Enemy who delights in these evils beneath Your feet.  Even so, Lord Jesus, quickly come.  Amen.

Senate Bill 38

my friend Emily posted this information on her blog this morning, thankfully!! I somehow missed that today was the last day to call! I just did and it only took about 5 minutes. I watched the video below during church on Sunday with my daughter in my arms. It made me cry; the though that 1/5th of children her age never make it into the sunlight, that they are murdered by people who care more about their own lives than their child's... The thought of anyone doing to my daughter what thousands of parents daily do to their own children, born or unborn, turns my stomach and my heart to tears. The Bible says that our God daily bears indignity-- that it's just His mercy keeping Him from wiping us all off this planet. Abortion, and murder of every sort, must be one of the most horrific things He bears with. Please, fight to end this in our nation! Fight for LIFE, either by adoption, by prayer, by protest, by crisis counseling, by foster parenting, by political advocacy... any way you can. And please, those of you in Kentucky, do support this bill.

Many of you may not know that TODAY is the last day to call your state representative and tell them that you want Senate Bill 38 - "The Ultrasound Bill" to pass. It's a bill that will require abortionists to show the mother an ultrasound before their abortion. We know that at least 25% of women will not go through with their abortion after seeing an ultrasound.

The phone number to call is 1-800-372-7181 (7am-11pm EST). It only takes a few minutes to call!

Along the same lines, a dear friend of ours from Louisville recently put together this video for our former church about the importance of fighting for life. If you have a few extra minutes to watch, please do, and prayerfully consider how the Lord is calling you to fight for life.

Popout

Abortion: A Matter of Life or Death from Casey Cashell on Vimeo.

Gianna Jennsen and Haitian Orphans?

One of the most persuasive people I've ever heard speak on the topic of abortions is Gianna Jennsen. She doesn't get loud and in your face, or get graphic and guilt-tripping. She does bring up the Gospel, standing up for what is right, and expecting to face difficulty. Her whole life has been difficult-- she's got to live with several extensive disabilities due to the fact that her birthmother tried to abort her. I find her incredibly encouraging. I just found out that she is going to be speaking TONIGHT at U of L! Any of you in the area who want to come, get information here.



I will be posting a report on the actual talk, providing my own precious baby lets me go and hear something! It will be interesting to me to hear/see how the recent loss of life and devastation in Haiti affects our nation's attitude towards the loss of life in our own land. It's impossible to deny that the people hurt by the earthquake are people, no matter their age, rank or serial number (to borrow the phrase). Pictures plastered all over the news push their suffering undeniably in our face. And so many of us want to help. I pray that those people ARE helped, and that by their suffering we comfortable Americans will be reminded that there are those who are defenseless and helpless here, too. Not in the face of an earthquake, but in the face of neglect, doubt and inconvenience. Maybe the suffering we see in others will remind us just how precious life is. As Horton said "a person's a person, no matter how small"-- whether they live in Louisville's West Side, Haiti, or a woman's uterus.

If you want to do something, either about the suffering and loss of life in Haiti, or the suffering and loss of life due to unplanned pregnancies & abortion here in America, my father is running the Boston Marathon in order to raise money for Bethany Christian Services, an organization that provides an incredible range of services for women, children, and families in dire straights. Infertility care, domestic & international adoption, orphan care, foster care, crisis pregnancy counseling, family counseling, pregnancy and pre-natal care, special-needs adoptions, abortion alternative awareness... they do it all, and they do it lovingly and thoroughly. They already had a ministry presence in Haiti, and now are using that to channel help and hope-- both physical and spiritual-- to those in Haiti, especially the most helpless. If you want to donate, please do one of the following: you can donate under my dad's name (go to www.bethany.org/marathon and click on "Sponsor a Runner" and click 'Bart Thompson'), or through their Haiti Relief & Recovery Initiative. You could even do both at once!

Well, my own little one is calling me now... she definitely is her own little person!!
--Christina

The Cross

“The cross is not simply a lovely example of sacrificial love. Throwing your life away needlessly is not admirable — it is wrong. Jesus’ death was only a good example if it was more than an example, if it was something absolutely necessary to rescue us. And it was. Why did Jesus have to die in order to forgive us? There was a debt to be paid — God himself paid it. There was a penalty to be born — God himself bore it. Forgiveness is always a form of costly suffering.”

- Timothy Keller, The Reason For God (New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 193.

Red Envelope Day TODAY!

Send your red envelopes today!

We sent 3 from our home-- one from Ryan, one from me, and one from our unborn child. I remember a story from my childhood, The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss. It's a plea of one on behalf of many-- in this story, truffula trees-- in the face of danger. The trees are being sawn down ruthlessly because their tops can be used to make very profitable products. They are losing their lives for money, for convenience, for another's gain. This story always stuck with me as a powerful argument, not just for caring for our environment, which it certainly is, but as a wonderful argument against abortion. So many of the arguments against irresponsibly, selfishly sowing destruction in our world could and should be used against irresponsibly, selfishly sowing destruction against our own wombs. If it is wrong to cut down a tree merely for your own convenience or gain (and to a certain extent, I believe it is!), how much more so to take a human life for your own convenience or gain!

"I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues."

"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy." (Prov. 31:8-9)

"May He defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!" (Ps. 72:4)

Amen!

Red Envelope Day Tomorrow

...just a reminder! Tomorrow's the big day- don't let it slip past you!

For a real-life case example of Right of Conscience

Here is one story I read that falls exactly under the "right of conscience" issue: a lesbian couple sues a doctor who declined to inseminate one partner artificially because of her own religious convictions (to not inseminate unmarried women). The woman went to the doctor to whom she refered her, got pregnant, and then decided to sue the first doctor. San Diego courts, I'm glad to say, ruled in favor of the doctor. Remember, all of these "Right of Conscience" issues are over ELECTIVE medical procedures.

Just think of all the examples... a health care worker who asks not to be scheduled to hand out contraceptives to minors without parental consent, a fertility doctor who states up front that he or she will not perform "selective reduction" in the case of multiples, a family physician who will not end a patient's life on demand, a prison doctor who will not administer lethal injections, a nurse who will not assist at abortions, an adoption agency that will only refer to married couples (or to couples of a certain religious conviction, or to couples of only a certain level of health), a fertility doctor who "draws the line" at certain practices (IVF or donor sperm/egg, etc.), a mental health care worker who does not choose to use certain methods of treatment, surgeons who will not perform sex-change operations... Note that none of these in any way compromise the life of any party involved... unless you count not performing abortions or physician-assisted suicide as SAVING lives. I will also say that, were I a doctor/nurse, I wouldn't necessarily object to all of the situations I outlined above, but some people might, and they have every right to tell their patients that they aren't willing to do those things. That's called integrity.

There are also scores of POSITIVE examples when we do want medical personel who stand up for what they believe is right, especially in life-or-death situations-- think of a surgeon who insists on doing a risky procedure in order to save a life, a hospital administrator who refuses to let a person's income or race determine their eligibility for a transplant, a nurse who appears at a patient's bedside, day after day, with encouraging words and a smile no matter how the patient treats her, or a doctor who tells a patient's family words they do not want to hear in order to save or improve a loved one's life. Doctors take the Hippocratic oath, and we honor them when they hold to that, when they stand fast to their convictions. Why not the other way around-- why should we criminalize integrity?

Calling All Doctors

I received this from a friend of mine currently in medical school, right on the heels of having heard it discussed on the radio while driving home one day. While this letter was written directly to medical students and medical personnel, I post it here in the hopes that you will make your healthcare providers or friends in the medical professions aware of what's going on. This also HUGELY affects us! Would you want to be cared for by a doctor who was being forced to violate his conscience? I sure wouldn't! Lastly, there is lots that WE as JoeShmo & Suzy Americana can do-- it's our country, after all! Please read this and take as many of the steps towards action as you are able to do!

A little background info on this issue:
"In August 2008, the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) took long-overdue action to address a growing crisis of abortion-related discrimination that could force thousands of conscientious healthcare professionals out of medicine. After several months of public comment on its proposed regulation, in December 2008 HHS finalized a regulation that made clear the protections offered by three civil rights laws passed by Congress with bipartisan support.
The civil rights laws declare that American tax dollars will not fund programs in which healthcare professionals are fired, penalized or otherwise subjected to discrimination because of their ethical stance related to abortion and other morally controversial issues.
However, in March 2009, following protests from abortion special interest groups, the new administration officially declared plans to rescind--get rid of--the conscience-protecting regulation. The administration has, as required by law, called for public comment on the proposed plan to get rid of the conscience-protecting regulation, with a deadline of April 9, 2009." (from freedom2care.org)

Remember-- the proposed legislation will remove the law that currently says medical professionals cannot be coerced into doing something that is against their consience. That means that if you go to your doctor & request an elective procedure, he has every right to say, "You know, I would not feel comfortable doing that, [and here's why:___]. But here are several of my fellow doctors' names & numbers-- they are competent & would have no trouble doing that for you. I'll be glad to send your files over to whichever of them you choose." THAT'S ALL! Tell me how that is so outrageous!?? I mean, people and their doctors have always had a right to disagree-- that's where the whole "second opinion" comes in. If you don't agree with one doctor, after listening carefully and researching, you are free to find another one... and there's no need to sue the him, either! That said, read the below.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A letter from David Stevens, MD, MA (Ethics), leader of the CMDA (Christian Medical & Dental Association) to all members of CMDA:

Your Right of Conscience is going, going and could be gone. The administration intends to rescind the HHS regulations we fought so hard for last fall and for the first time put teeth into Right of Conscience laws. I need you to speak out now before it is to late. Here is what is going on in a nutshell:

• You have until April 9th to make public comments to HHS and encourage others to do so - colleagues, nurses, pharmacists, office staff, friends, SS members. We need to flood the site so the administration sees a high political price if they go forward.
• CMDA has organized the Freedom2Care Coalition, to fight for your right to not participate in abortions or other activities that violate your conscience. Coalition members include the Family Research Council, Concerned Women of America, the Catholic Church, Alliance Defense Fund, National Right to Life, The Christian Legal Society and others are joining daily.
• Our three goals:
  1. To protect the new federal HHS [US Dept. of Health & Human Services] “provider conscience” regulation.
  2. To educate and persuade the public, policy makers and the medical community regarding conscience rights.
  3. To expose and undermine the abortion-mandate ideology of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Planned Parenthood and other abortion lobbyists as unethical and detrimental to patients.

Here is what you need to do:

• Go to http://www.freedom2care.org/ today and frequently as it continues to develop with content daily.
• Send a comment to HHS: Click the "Healthcare Professionals'" link at the top. You can send a form letter or write one. I encourage you to write your own comment. Address the issues that HHS wants addressed. Information, including specific examples where feasible, addressing the scope and nature of the problems giving rise to the need for federal rulemaking and how the current rule would resolve those problems; Information, including specific examples where feasible, supporting or refuting allegations that the December 19, 2008 final rule reduces access to information and health care services, particularly by low-income women; comment on whether the December 19, 2008 final rule provides sufficient clarity to minimize the potential for harm resulting from any ambiguity and confusion that may exist because of the rule; and comment on whether the objectives of the December 19, 2008 final rule might also be accomplished through non-regulatory means, such as outreach and education.
• Learn more about the issue.
• Find resources to equip you to educate others.
• Sign the petition on the site that will be forwarded to Congress and the White House.
• Tell your story of discrimination or being pressured to violate your conscience. Stories are worth their weight in gold!
• If you have been discriminated against or pressured to violate your conscience please let us know by sending us an e-mail to communications@cmda.org. We are putting together audio and video resources to tell your story. Stories are a dramatic tool that demonstrates the need for these regulations.

Some Background information:

• CMDA Informal Member Survey: 25% have been discriminated against - lost a job, lost a promotion or lost an educational opportunity; 40% have been pressured to violate their conscience, 90% say the problem is getting worse.
• Right of Conscience is guaranteed in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights - "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" [My note- forcing someone to violate their conscience would definitely be a prohibition of free exersice of that person's religion. That's why in many states parents can opt out of vaccinating their children, and in all states religious objectors are exempt from combat duty, just to name a few examples.]
• The present laws are being ignored since there is no provision to enforce them.
• Pro-abortion groups are attempting to force healthcare professionals to participate in activities they are morally opposed to or leave medicine. These regulations are needed more than ever.
• A medical referral means you endorse the competency, ethics and integrity of the doctor you refer to, believe the procedure is necessary and that you have entered into a professional relationship. Patients don't need a referral to find someone to do an abortion, just a phone book.
• Healthcare professionals of conscience have not been doing objectionable activities in the past so these regulations will not limit access for patients. The greatest danger to patient access is to force out of work up to a quarter of healthcare professionals.
• You provide full and accurate information to patients even when they request something you won't do. You treat them courteously.
• Professional and other ethical statements support your position.
  - American Medical Association - AMA reaffirms that neither physician, hospital, nor hospital personnel shall be required to perform any act violative of personally held moral principles.
  - World Health Organization - The physician should be free to make clinical and ethical judgments without inappropriate outside interference.
  - Canadian Medical Association - The CMA stresses that physicians who decline to participate in abortion should not be discriminated against, and emphasizes the need to respect the rights of conscientious objectors, especially those in training for obstetrics and gynecology, and anesthesia.
  - European Convention on Human Rights - Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes… freedom …to manifest his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.
• This is more than the issue of abortion. Should we force pacifist to kill or doctors to participate in executions? What about forcing them to participate in physician-assisted suicide where it is legalized?

There is much more information on Freedom2care.org and CMDA's websites. Act today, don't delay. You may submit more than one comment as you address different parts of HHS's request.

I close with this quote from Crispin Sartwell in the Los Angeles Times last fall. He describes himself as a "Pro-Choice Atheist."

“The extent to which an institution seeks to expunge individual conscience and moral autonomy is the extent to which it is totalitarian and dangerous. The idea that I resign my conscience to the institution or to the state is perhaps the single most pernicious notion in human history. It is at the heart of the wars and genocides of this century and the last.”

In Him who gives us peace in the storm,
David Stevens, MD, MA (Ethics)
Chief Executive OfficerChristian Medical & Dental Associations

Red Envelope Day

"...that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments..." (Ps. 78:7)

As many of you probably already know, March 31st will be Red Envelope Day here in America. I will most certainly be participating, and I strongly urge you to consider doing so as well. As a mom-to-be, I'm already concerned about protecting my child from chemicals, from evil influences, from hormones, from radiation... And motherly concern doesn't just extend to him personally-- I'm concerned about preserving and bettering his home (our world) and praying for his generation of society. Becoming a mother-- even more than being a teacher, and auntie, and youth worker-- is making me more burdened for "the next generation" of little ones who won't stay little. So more than ever, I'm concerned about protecting childrens' lives, and seeing them gain Eternal Life. Your child's life, my own child's life, what difference does it make? Adoption, orphan care, famine relief, the persecuted Church, evangelism, and abortion are (if possible) even more personal to me now-- these issues concern children whom my child could know, or... never know. They will shape the world he knows and in which he grows. Compassion International, Voice of the Martyrs, and the pro-life movement all are growing more important to me. The latest threats from Washington sicken me even more, and my hands go automatically to my belly, where my own child-- not so long ago a tiny child in the embryo phase himself-- kicks & grows & makes me tired. :) So... Red Envelope Day. Think about it.

Strong & Fast!

Ryan & I had the amazing privilege of hearing our child's heartbeat for the first time yesterday afternoon! Any doubt I'd had about actually being "with child"-- instead of just having a weird, very-long-lasting flu-- was gone. As the midwife said "there definitely is a living being in there!" It was amazing... I almost cried, just hearing that precious sign of life. If the lights had been a little dimmer, I probably would have cried. :)

Being the technologically-savvy daddy that he is, Ryan recorded the heartbeat and has posted it to his blog (for those wondering how we did it, Ryan brought in his MacBook, turned on GarageBand, and our midwife cranked up the Doppler's volume so it would record! That's why there's a lot of static, too).

Women who see an ultrasound of their unborn child have a FAR greater chance of choosing life over death for their child, no matter what their initial decision was, going in. I wonder how much effect even just hearing a HEARTBEAT would have!

Destroying our Tiniest

I thought this article by Dr. Albert Mohler was right-on, and quite helpful in understanding President Obama's recent removal of embryo-destruction restrictions.

Here is one excerpt which I found a concise summary:

"President Obama is now personally responsible for research that will involve the intentional destruction of human embryos. This comes even as the ideological roots of this conflict have become increasingly clear. Credible alternatives to research that would require the destruction of human embryos have become available, even as the most promising avenues of medical research are now using adult stem cells, which avoids the moral issues involved in the use of human embryos.

The scientific community increasingly appears to have drawn a line in the sand on this issue. The insistence that embryos must be destroyed is a matter of ideology. Some researchers seem to resist any alternative source of stem cells, no matter how great its potential."

And this illustrates well the fallacy within the idea of "keeping ___ and personal beliefs (or religion, or conviction, or faith-- call it what you will) separate." In one sense, you can't! Legislation is almost always moral-- we always legislate morality.

"The "instead of dogma" language is a direct criticism of the Bush administration policies. President Obama delivered a rebuke to the Bush administration in this new statement of policy, but the new President is either disingenuous or deceptive when he suggests that science can ever be free from political considerations. Science does not happen in a vacuum. Scientific research takes place in a social and political context, and when the federal government is involved through funding of that research, such research is intensely political. The space race was fueled by the ideological context of the Cold War. Decisions about research priorities and policies is hotly political. So is President Obama's new policy that will lead to the destruction of more human embryos."

Rejected SuperBowl Ad

Short, thought-provoking, and very controversial. Despite that, it is beautiful.



Thank you, Jacqui, for giving me the heads-up about this!

As a "birthmom"...

...since becoming pregnant with my first baby, I appreciate mothers even more. Especially amazing to me is the love and sacrifice of birthmothers who carry a child for 9 months, and then willingly place that child they have carried into another woman's arms. There is no way you could ever label that "giving away your baby." There is no way that any woman could carry a child for 9 months, give birth, and not do all of it out of love. Wow. Talk about self-sacrificial love. This song makes me cry every time, because it is so beautiful.

The singer & songwriter is Mark Schultz, and he is singing his own story. Just as we often have very little idea of the sacrifice birthmothers make in adoption, so many birthmothers have no idea how amazing a chance they are giving their child. Who knows what each adopted child will become? Only the One who knit them together in their birthmothers' wombs, and selected the places and times they would grow up and live.



That song is my great-grandmother, who did an amazingly brave thing years ago, and gave life to my grandfather, and through him, to my father and his siblings, and to me, my sisters, and all my cousins, and even now her gift of life is ongoing as a new life grows in me. She missed her baby boy for 50 years, and when he found her again and we all got to know her, I think everyone was amazed-- truly our God brings beauty from ashes. And what a sweet, godly woman she was. I'll never forget the kindness complete strangers showed to my sisters and I when they found out whose "grandbabies" we were. Alzheimers took her from us years before she died, and now Heaven has even more of an appeal to me. I can't wait to hug her and thank her and rejoice together at the feet of the One who saved us both. Amen!



To all mothers, be they natural, birth, or adoptive, may you receive the thanks and honor due you for bringing us life and love... for sacrificing so much for us. May the Word to you be "well done, My good & faithful servant. Come and share your Master's happiness."