40 Days for Life vigils bring Christians together -- but they can also attract a few people who don't see the vigil as a positive thing. At times, those in opposition may want to "share the sidewalk.”
When this happens, though, it lends the opportunity for those who disagree with us to see what the peaceful vigil is really about.
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EVERETT, WASHINGTON
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The 40 Days for Life vigil in Everett had some visitors – a pro-abortion group called Seattle Clinic Defense came out to protest the peaceful prayer presence.
The prayer volunteers knew the demonstrators were coming, so they turned out in great number. “We had a very large crowd of people with lots of balloons and tons of prayer going on,” one of them said.
Another prayer volunteer asked a group of about eight of them “what exactly they were protesting, since abortion on demand has been a legal reality for forty years (longer than the majority of the ‘clinic defenders’ have been alive )? Why should our prayers bother them? In my spirit I knew the real reason,” he said. “It is the shame and guilt that they are protesting.”
“One lady was yelling at us … then I spoke with her and told her my abortion story,” said yet another vigil participant, who’d had an abortion at this facility a number of years ago. “She ended up taking one of our balloons and hugging me and crying and left with lots more information about better services.”
Overall, she said, “today was a day for miracles … if only we could get this many people to come out every day ... it would be the end of Planned Parenthood in Everett!”
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BUFFALO, NEW YORK
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“It was the first time participating in something like this,” a new prayer volunteer wrote to the 40 Days for Life coordinator in Buffalo. This volunteer’s entire family had “a very positive experience” at the vigil, and “we are planning to tell our friends about it.”
The volunteer noted that where sin abounds, God's grace abounds more, and that was very evident during the peaceful singing and prayer liturgy.
“Please keep up the great work in organizing these events,” the volunteer wrote. “Our prayers are with you and all those in the pro-life movement. Before we left on Saturday, our 13-year-old daughter asked if we could come again … praise God! God bless you for all you do for the unborn and their mothers.”
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PRAYER REQUEST UPDATE
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Thanks for your prayers and kind comments about Dr. Royal Benson, who I asked you to pray for last week. Dr. Benson passed away on Tuesday with his family praying at his side.
May God -- and the many babies he spoke up for during his 56 years on earth -- welcome him to his eternal reward.
Dr. Benson was an OB-GYN and served on the board of directors for the Coalition for Life in Bryan / College Station, Texas, where 40 Days for Life began. He was instrumental in helping to expand 40 Days for Life beyond his home community.
He was a dear friend to me, David Bereit, and our wives. We owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for getting us more involved in the pro-life movement.
He leaves behind a wife and daughter and they appreciate all of your prayers and comments over the past week. A true pro-life hero and man of God, may Dr. Royal Benson rest in peace.