I can.
And if you’ll indulge my imagination for a bit, I’ll share with you a few possibilities. Yes, these are fictional wanderings but after 30 years of pro-life activist experience, (including thousands of testimonies read and personal conversations engaged in), I don’t think they are far off the mark. You see, when I am in front of an abortion clinic, it is to serve two purposes: 1) to help sidewalk counsel as needed and 2) to present a pro-life witness to the public passing by. My signs and banners, therefore, are of most immediate importance to the incoming clients, but I'm also very serious about showing them clearly to those hundreds of people driving by during the time I’m there. I smile, give a gentle wave, try and ensure that both directions of traffic can easily see either my sign and/or my banner...and I pray.
I'm well aware that many of those driving by don’t want to notice me (or “us” if I'm with colleagues), but the clear fact is – they do! And I am quite confident that God is speaking to them. After all, by His very nature, He is a revealing God Who constantly tugs at men’s heartstrings. He does so through conscience and memory, through creation, through the written and verbal word, through examples, and through the “still, small” voice of conviction.
What does God want to say to those people driving by an abortion mill and how will they respond to His entreaties? The answers to those questions are as many, as varied, and as complex as the people involved. But we can be sure of this – God knows each person intimately. He is “in on” every detail of their history, their beliefs, their hopes, their fears, their secrets, and their future. And so God can use any tool available to reach out to them, not the least valuable of which are courteous, prayerful Christians who conscientiously present the winsome pro-life messages of their signs, banners, demeanor, and conversation -- and who then pray for the Holy Spirit to use them as He wills in the individual’s life.
Again, what goes on in those minds and hearts?
We can only imagine...
And that's exactly what I did in this Vital Signs letter from a couple of years ago. Check it out.
