For it is true we learn by example.

I was thinking the other morning about how long have I have been helping girls who are pregnant. And you will not believe what came to mind.

An old cinder block building.

It sat in back of our house. It was the summer before my 7th grade. The building had a washer inside and the windows were open holes without glass panes. My Mama thought this would be a great place to put my radio an the few records I owned.

My girlfriends on the block would come over and we would practice our dance moves. We were a bunch of misfits enjoying the summer. Each girl was coming of age in her own way. One was shy and bookish, her sister enjoyed playing ball, another loved singing but hated her glasses, and one always suffered from her home perm given by her aunt.

And then there was Pam & me. She visited with her grandparents in the summer. She & I just clinked. We seemed to have grown into little barbie dolls over night. Pam could do all the new dances. And took great pride in teaching us. I knew we were different by the way the older boys always wanted to walk with us or talk with us. I saw no use in boys since at the time I had 5 younger brothers. I could not imagine what older boys could offer that I might want! It was summer and we were free and dancing the days away in that cinder block building.

Near the end of summer I started to notice that Pam did not walk across the field to our home. Looking back I guess Mama noticed, because out of the blue one day she walked out the back door, through the field, across the road and up onto Pam’s grandparents front porch. I stared in disbelief while hanging out the clothes. I could not imagine what my Mama would be doing at their house.

Then Mama walked back across the street, though field and straight to our back door. She paused on the top step and looked at me. Then she said, “Pam is pregnant.” I just stood there, clothes pins attached to my shirt, in my hand a wet diaper waiting to go on the line and I am sure the most confused look Mama ever saw on my face. Pam could not be pregnant. She was only a couple of years older than me. But as I slowly hung up the clothes I would sneak a peek across the field. By the time I had finished the words had become real. Pam is pregnant.

I would love to say that I grew that summer and became Pam’s best friend, but I did not. She never came over and when school started my thoughts went other places.

One day when I came home I saw Mama out back talking with Pam. She would hand Mama the clothes pins as they moved down the line. Every now and then stopping to laugh. She still looked the same from the back, but when she turned around her belly surprised me. I stood by the window wondering how she was doing.

After all my brothers went to bed that night, I asked Mama why they were laughing. She did not share much, but said Pam would come over during the day and they would keep each other company. Now, I realize the importance of those months. Back then your parents would not let you be friends with a young, single, pregnant girl. Pam must have felt very lonely though out her pregnancy. My Mama, the mother of 6 children, was reaching out to Pam. And my Mama knew about loneliness. During those moments of laughter and quiet talks Mama was giving love. She was offering her emotional & physical support along with sugar biscuits and weak coffee. Sharing in jokes about her children and the reality of life with a baby.

I barely remember when Pam gave birth. We moved not long after that and I never saw her again.

Now almost 38 years later I remember my Mama & Pam with a tenderness that surprises even me. And I can see without my knowing it, how that friendship opened up a place in my heart. I was not my Mama easiest child, more like her toughest one. But I think she would be happy to know that I remember this time in our life together. That I learned something about compassion from her. And to know she was the sign I stood behind that summer and watched her give love to pregnant women in need.

Let God’s Grace shine! Offer yourself to a Mom.

And if you are lucky, God might give you a Pam to love.

The following things are yelled by the escorts.

“Get the **** out of here”

You are blocking the driveway ( said every time I walk from one side to the other)

Are you an illiterate terrorist or can you read?

Shut the **** up

Get away from me you scum (when he comes over to stand in front of my sign)

pro life = murder

you don’t know right from wrong ... you don’t know ****

we are going to kill all those babies just bring them all in here

**** you terrorist

I do not want to hear your terrorist religion

QUIET QUIET QUIET QUIET ......ETC..... (shouted at us)

you’ve got **** on your sign

Jesus is a man made event

get the **** out of my face

you are a **** criminal

a reck less driver needs to rearrange your body parts

they don’t care about your stupid sign

I am not threatened by your God

ripe open the bellies of pregnant women

B**** nazis B****

I will kick your teeth out of your ******* mouth

pro life is a lie you don’t care if women die

(chanted over & over from a person on speaker phone held out for me to hear)

you have a KKK truck here

who the **** are you?

If you read this far

you are probably wondering

how do we respond to these words from the escorts?

PRAYER

I can hold my own in a discussion,

but these people are not looking to discuss the issues.

They only want to make noise and try to lead our emotions into anger.

Each Saturday, for a few weeks I would leave

and just shake my head thinking about how lost are these people?

But now, I believe they are not looking for salvation.

These escorts, are quite happy in their lives.

And they find great joy in trying to humiliate us.

I find myself at times becoming numb

to their spiritual needs

and angry at their indifference

for the babies who die.

It upsets me greatly

to see their lack of compassion for the women.

It is during these moments

that I ask everyone I know to pray for me and my friends.

For each of us do suffer with these emotions from time to time.

Sometimes it is very hard

to look at these escorts

as they shout

and remember

to pray for them.

For I must pray for them while standing there.

For when standing on the enemy’s ground

only PRAYER can win this battle.

So I am asking for you spread the word to your

Sunday School classes,

women’s groups,

youth groups,

men’s groups,

Bible study groups,

anyone you know who does pray,

to please ask God to give us strength as we stand there on Saturdays.

Pray that I will live my life as a Christian in front of the escorts.

"Tender Moment on a Saturday morning"

As I walked to my car on Saturday morning

I watched a very touching moment.

At first glance you will see a woman talking with a man.

As they stand in the driveway

she puts her hand to her forehead to block the sun

as she looks up into his eyes.

He glands down and shakes his head.

A moment later he takes the paper she is holding.

She watches as he goes to stand by the door.

Then she walks away.

Now in the Pro Life movement from a distance this is progress.

The material got into the hands of a man

who has brought a woman for an abortion.

And that is cause for praise and thanksgiving to God.

But I happen to know the woman. She is very quiet.

She actually has a hearing problem, so talking with strangers

can be somewhat of a challenge for her.

I got out of my car and walked over to where she now stood.

We talked for a few minutes about the police cars

that had come by earlier in the morning.

Then she shared with me, her visit with this man.

It seems that he walked over to her

and he said “I tired to talk her out of it."

My friend talked with him for a minute then listened

as he said it again, “I tired to talk her out of it.”

She realized that this man did not want to be there.

He did not want to be a part of what was happening.

And he desperately did not want to be inside that building.

When she offered him the information

to show his friend he said he would.

but he did not go right back in.

Maybe she was already in the back

and he could not get to her.

I do not know.

But what I do know is a casual glance

will never tell the whole story

of two people meeting in a driveway

for only a few moments.

That time gave this man

a chance to share his heart.

My friend offer him prayer and kindness.

She was a place where he could go

and speak his feelings.

She was able to remind him of God’s love.

She was where God needed her to be.

Her tenderness made her the right

person for this man.

Could you be the next right person?

Could you come out an

pray for an hour?