Day 11 - Don't Stop

Something that hasn't been a part of our campaign up to this point has been protesters. The other night, that changed. We wondered what it would look like for our prayer warriors if they were challenged by individuals protesting the peaceful, prayerful presence of 40 Days for Life - and now we know.

Our campaign director sent us a quick email:

It happened. There was a demonstrator out on the sidewalk tonight at 7:00.

Kay'd and I were out there from 6:00 - 7:00, and were relieved by a group of four wonderful people: Richard, Alex, Bob, and Aurora.

As we were getting in our car, we saw a young woman getting out of a black van, and we asked her if she was 40 Days. She smirked and said no. Then she went out to the sidewalk and was yelling out at cars, gesturing to the prayer vigil folks, and had a sign that was generally illegible except for "closed minded".

I went back and talked to the group, told them that she was an abortion center person, and said to stay peaceful and prayerful.

Richard had brought a small table and had several votive candles burning. It was getting dark, and looked really peaceful.

I asked them to e-mail me to let me know how it goes.

Please say a prayer for them.

I'll let you know if anything comes of this.

Later on, we were updated by one of the prayer volunteers:

We had a lovely evening. The opponent couldn't stand the power of [prayer] or the cold or both. She left quietly leaving her sign behind. We did get approached by a woman wanting to know what we were doing. She was surprised to learn she was standing in front of an abortion clinic. She thanked us and said she was going to pray for us.

Richard

And so i guess the issue is a small one. We learned from our praying friends that in the face of protest? Our response must be to remain peaceful and prayerful... There is no question that our presence there is having an impact on the community around us - let's continue to allow it to be one that shows the love of God.