It was the second to the last day of school with a 12:20 dismissal as I made my way down the 99 Freeway to Turlock. Somehow or other, I took a wrong turn. Having left my mapbook at home, I stopped at a store to ask directions. I ended up getting the wrong directions from the proprietor of the store and asked God for help to find the school. I "followed my nose" and made all the right turns, ending up in just a few minutes in front of the school. The weather was 90 degrees plus as I stood on a corner and waited for the students to come out. Most of them were receptive. One couple approached - a boy and a girl - and within three seconds after I handed her the packet, the girl slammed it down on the sidewalk - "F___ that!" she yelled. To have reacted so fast she had to have seen the flyer "ABORTION IS WRONG BECAUSE GOD SAYS IT IS’ which is always placed on top of the packet.

     One young man said "God bless you!" when he realized the information was pro-life. I could overhear some reactions to the literature. A few of the students said they were "pro-choice." After about 15 minutes of standing in the partial shade (a large tree was planted on the lawn a few feet away), I moved across the street to a city park where there were some students gathered.

A Living Drama

     I was about to witness a living drama of the awesome mental effects of an abortion being experienced by a girl in the park, but the total picture wasn’t clear until I walked away from the scene.

     There were a boy and a girl sitting on the grass as I approached them. They were surrounded by a torn-up literature packet. The pieces were very small. I asked them whether they wanted my literature and the girl shook her head "no." She was sitting there staring transfixed at a half sheet of the torn-up packet. (This is what probably confused me at first. I figured if she was holding onto part of the packet, it must have been someone else who tore it up.) She didn’t look up once all the while I was there. I asked the young man if he had seen the person who tore up the literature. He didn’t answer me. The half page the girl was staring at was a short article entitled "FORGIVENESS FOR ABORTION" (See below.) I mentioned to the young man that the literature does bother women who have had abortions, but it is necessary to tell the truth about abortion because of the physical and spiritual problems it gives to women. He nodded his head in agreement.

     As I finally left the park area, it dawned on me as I was walking away what had actually happened there. The girl, apparently, began ripping up the literature packet (having received it from me across the street) and then was attracted to the article on forgiveness for abortion. She kept staring at it for the whole five minutes I was there, clinging to it like a drowning person holds on to a life preserver. I started toward my car and before getting back. I gave a half dozen packets to a group of girls getting into a car parked behind me on the street.

God loves us with a love so intense that He offered the Supreme Sacrifice for us. He became man, the God-Man, Jesus Christ, and laid down His life for our sins.

     God has many attributes besides His love. One is His complete sincerity and He demands sincerity on our part in our relationship with Him. He will forgive us any sin - no matter how evil - as long as we offer Him our complete sincerity in asking His forgiveness. In the case of a woman who has had an abortion, she must be completely sincere in her repentance. (THIS REPENTANCE MUST EXTEND TO THE OTHER SINFUL AREAS OF HER LIFE - SEX OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE, LIVING TOGETHER, ETC. BEFORE GOD CAN FORGIVE HER.) She must have a resolve never to do it again. She can’t rationalize her way out by blaming her boyfriend, husband, doctor, or even the circumstances. She must say, "Lord Jesus, You died for me on the cross. I know you love me. Jesus, please forgive me for all of my sins, and in particular for taking the life of my baby who I know is precious in Your sight. I take all the responsibility for my action, and I resolve never to do it again."

     There was a lull in the rain as I left my Modesto home headed for a high school - Davis High - about two miles away. The wind and the rain started up again as I stood on the corner, tying my raincoat hood tightly around my neck to keep it from blowing in the wind. I stood in front of a large sign identifying Davis High, which had bitter memories attached to it. Just months before the murdered body of a young girl was discovered behind the sign by a custodian in the early morning hours before school started. I had thoughts of the vulnerability of these high school kids - the way they are being exploited by the school system with their lack of moral identity, the indoctrination of sex ed and the homosexuality factor entering in, crushing much of the idealism of youth. The girls I saw that day seemed to be walking symbols of this exploitation - the dark colored clothes, black lipstick and nail polish which seemed to be one of the latest fads.

     One of the first boys I handed the literature to seemed a little surprised to get it. Then he crossed the street, he looked at me, raised his hand in the air and shouted, "AMEN!!!!" There were only a few refusals that day, but several of the packets had been tossed in the street as the students crossed it and they soon became sopping wet.. One young man accepted the literature and then handed it back to me: "Lady, I don’t want this." I challenged him, "You mean you’re for killing babies?" "What do you mean - BABIES?" he answered. "There’s a beating heart at 18 days," I said with strong conviction in my voice as he walked away.

     An oriental student began yelling at me after he crossed the street. Most of his words were lost in the noise of the cars coming and going on the busy thoroughfare, but it was obvious he was angry as he espoused the "pro-choice" rhetoric. When I heard him say, "women have rights," I shouted from across the street: "Babies have rights too."

     As I left for the day, two girls approached me from the opposite direction, the literature in their hands. As they passed me by, they smiled and thanked me for the material.

As I waited on the corner crossing in Modesto at ROOSEVELT JUNIOR HIGH, a woman approached from the direction of the front of the school carrying a portable phone in one hand. She proceeded to push the buttons regulating the crosswalk traffic, at intervals several times as we stood there. I finally asked her if she was having difficulty crossing the street. "No," she answered. "I’m a school employee. I assist the students when they cross the street."

     The bell rang and the kids started coming out. I pulled a bundle of literature out of my totebag and the woman confronted me immediately. "Can I see what you’re passing out?" she asked. "Have you checked with the school administration about this?" "No," I answered. "This is a FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT. I don’t need the permission of the school." She argued that point for a minute and then tried to stop all the students from accepting the literature saying: "You don’t have to take that." Strangely enough, not a single kid listened to her. One boy smiled at me - pro-life - and asked what church I attended. All of the students were friendly, and some of them began to talk about the contents of the literature as I stood there. Soon another woman showed up, and she began to also tell the kids that they didn’t have to take the literature, but she added, "You can take it if you want it." "I’m glad you said that," I said with a laugh.

     When the flow of students began to subside, the first woman approached me again. She asked me whether I planned to come back this year (semester). "No," I answered. "There are too many other schools to go to." "You know, it would be better if you checked with the administration first," she tried again. "The Gideons always call us first." "There would be too much trouble. This is a controversial issue," I answered. "What about the trouble today?" she asked, implying that what she was doing was giving me a lot of trouble. "Not serious," I replied. "These students need this information," I added. "Before we started doing this, we had some reluctance, but then we started getting calls from junior high school girls who were pregnant. We realized then that they’re not too young. These kids who have abortions can ruin their lives not only spiritually but physically. Some damage their bodies by their abortions - they end up not being able to have children." The look she gave me showed that she wasn’t surprised by what I was saying. "One day abortion will be illegal again," I told her. "It’s been around for a long time," she answered. "So was slavery," I countered. "There was a Supreme Court Decision on that too. Eventually we had to fight a war over it."

     I commented that you can’t be a Christian and be for abortion. "Don’t judge!" she quickly replied. "I’m not judging. I’m stating a fact. You can call yourself a Christian, but God’s Commandment is THOU SHALT NOT KILL. "Let’s not get into the Bible," she stated emphatically. "ARE YOU A CHRISTIAN?" I asked. She immediately became very defensive. Her exterior cool was unmasked: "You’ve got no right to ask me that! You’re breaking the law!" she stated, her eyes flashing. "What a strange comment about breaking the law," I thought to myself. "This woman is spiritually blind - probably attends church and is definitely PRO-ABORTION."