Adoption. We think of it immediately when we hear of friends or family members who are experiencing infertility. What a wonderful solution! Yes, but it is so much more. Adoption is not just about finding a child for a family who can’t have a child. Consider it the other way around: adoption is about finding a family for a child who doesn’t have a family.
“So … how far can we go?” asked the e-mail I received from a participant in one of my teen chastity talks. I’ve responded to this question numerous times and I’ve even grown to expect it following my talks. But this time, it suddenly hit me that this question is a symptom of a much larger phenomenon in our culture today.
Pro-life means much more than opposition to abortion. My wife Gloria and I learned this lesson personally when we received a call that our 21-year-old grand-nephew, Justin, was hospitalized after a serious motorcycle accident.
After 33 years, abortion has had a phenomenal impact on our youth. Are they better off because of the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision? Abortion advocates claim that it is all about “pro-choice.” But sadly, many young women come to Word of Hope saying they felt they had no choice. Their parents wanted them to get an abortion, or their boyfriends pressured them to get an abortion. Instead of freeing women from male exploitation, abortion has made them more vulnerable—playing into the hands of men who seek sex without marriage.
The box for the “Breakfast of Champions” always showed a picture of a champion. I firmly believe that many of today’s generation of young people are worthy of such distinction. More and more of them are realizing that chastity is the choice of champions.
Jonah was a reluctant messenger with a powerful message. It was God’s message and God worked through it. The Church today is often reluctant to share God’s message about life and apply it directly to abortion and assisted suicide and other life issues. But God’s message is a positive and powerful message. It is a message that brings people to repentance. It is a message that reveals God’s compassion and forgiveness. We do not have to be reluctant to share such a powerful and positive message of life!
Dr. Richard C. Eyer uses Hebrews 2:8b-10 for his text. He makes a contrast between how the world views suffering and how those who know Christ view suffering. Dr. Eyer writes of the need to speak honestly about suffering, “the way God speaks of it.” We view suffering through Christ’s suffering. We know God is at work in suffering. “There is more to suffering than meets the eye because we know Jesus Christ.”
When a man remembers the Word of the Lord, he is equipped to protect vulnerable and fragile lives.
“I came back today to talk to someone from Lutherans For Life,” said the young woman standing in front of the LFL booth I was manning at a teacher’s conference. It had been one of those particularly difficult days. My small children were bored, running around and generally creating havoc. Couldn’t I just go home? But apparently God had a different idea for here was this woman standing in front of me …
The woman was scheduled for surgery. One day she called to tell me she was “getting her affairs in order.” I didn’t think much about it as she went on to ask me a few questions about her durable power of attorney. It was not odd for the woman to speak this way because I knew her to be a person of common sense. She understood that the operation would, for all practical purposes, be a routine procedure. Nevertheless, a few days later she called back to say, “Whatever the Lord’s got going here is fine with me.”