I walked up to her as she was sitting along a three-foot high cement wall built arund the side of OAKLAND HIGH SCHOOL, with a girlfriend. We had just finished leafleting the school - Edna, Mary, Anne and I - and were headed back to our car. As I handed her our literature packet, she said she had already received one. "I HAD AN ABORTION," she told me, with a sad look in her eyes, "BUT AFTER SEEING THESE PICTURES, NOW I KNOW WHAT I DID, AND I FEEL BAD ABOUT IT." She was an attractive, well-dressed black girl about 17 years old. "DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO FEEL BETTER IF YOU ASK GOD’S FORGIVENESS?" I told her. "BUT MORE THAN THAT, YOU HAVE TO PRAY FOR STRENGTH TO STOP HAVING SEX BEFORE YOU’RE MARRIED. GOD WON’T FORGIVE YOU UNLESS YOU’RE SINCERE ABOUT OBEYING HIS RULES. FORNICATION (HAVING SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE) IS A SIN. THE BIBLE SAYS, ‘ALL FORNICATORS, ADULTERERS, LIARS, CANNOT SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD.’ DON’T YOU WANT TO HAVE A NICE HUSBAND AND FAMILY SOMEDAY?" She agreed. "IF YOU KEEP HAVING SEX BEFORE YOU’RE MARRIED, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE REAL LOVE," I told her. "START GOING TO CHURCH AND YOU MIGHT MEET A GOOD GUY WHO’LL LOVE YOU FOR YOURSELF AND WHO’LL WANT TO MARRY YOU. DO YOU REALIZE THAT YOUR BODY IS A TEMPLE OF GOD?" I asked her.

     As I was talking to her, she stared at me intently with a subdued, sad look in her eyes. "STAY CLOSE TO JESUS CHRIST," I told her. "JESUS SAID, ‘I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE.’" "WHAT ABOUT THOSE MINISTERS AND PRIESTS WHO ARE HAVING SEX WITH MEMBERS OF THEIR CONGREGATION?" she asked. "YOU CAN’T SAY THEY ARE CLOSE TO JESUS." "YOU ARE RIGHT," I answered. "THEY HAVE GONE OFF ON A TANGENT - AWAY FROM JESUS CHRIST."

     Throughout our conversation, I was aware that the young woman’s companion was listening to every word. "IT IS FOOLISH TO HAVE SEX WITH YOUNG BOYS WHO ARE JUST USING YOU. DON’T YOU REALIZE THIS?" I asked, looking at both of the girls. They both nodded in the affirmative in total agreement with me. As I was about to leave, I handed each of them a tract - "SMILE - JESUS LOVES YOU" - which they accepted. They both opened it and began to read.

Several hundred students walked out of IRVINGTON HIGH SCHOOL in Fremont at lunch break. All were headed for the corner crossing. We stood with our tote bags full of literature on the corner, not missing a single student as they waited for the traffic lights to change. We soon crossed the street to a shopping center where we knew there would be a gathering of tough kids just sitting around in small groups on the curb and raised cement walls.

     Almost immediately, they began making fun of the colored pictures of abortions. I told them that if they could make fun of the death of babies, their hearts were hard and they should "PRAY ABOUT IT." With this as an opener, I began a session of questions and answers with about a dozen teenagers giving me their rapt attention. After getting into the subject of "abortion being wrong because God says it is", one girl asked me the unusual question of whether I would die for God. I told her I would pray that God would give me the courage. "DO YOU BELIEVE IN BIRTH CONTROL?" one student asked. I told her that the birth control pill kills babies in about seven days from conception. I told the girls that "TEENAGE BOYS DON’T KNOW WHETHER THEY’RE COMING OR GOING, AND THEY’RE NOT REALLY OLD ENOUGH TO STAND BY YOU IF YOU GET PREGNANT." The girls nodded their heads in agreement. "WAIT UNTIL YOU’RE MARRIED TO HAVE SEX," I said.

     When I got on the subject of AIDS and the dangers involved, one girl said, "WELL, WE JUST HAVE TO MAKE UP OUR OWN MINDS ABOUT THAT." One young lady said she went to Sunday School when she was younger but no longer believed in God, saying that "SHE COULDN’T SEE HIM." I told her that God is very real to me, that she believes in God too, but is rebelling now. I told them that Jesus died for them and that He loves them. "YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST, NOT JUST BE ‘A GOOD PERSON’. JESUS SAID, ‘NARROW IS THE WAY TO ETERNAL LIFE, AND FEW THERE ARE WHO FIND IT. BROAD IS THE WAY TO DESTRUCTION, AND MANY THERE ARE THAT WALK THEREON.’"

     Toward the end of our discussion, there were about seven people still standing there. I offered them pamphlets, "SMILE - JESUS LOVES YOU" and was amazed that they all wanted them. I had a half dozen in my pocket, and one black male student was left without one. He willingly gave me his name and address so I could mail it to him.

The true meaning of the LOVE OF JESUS was expressed to me in an unusual way as I protested before the Northpoint Theater in San Francisco showing THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST.

     It was about 6:00 in the evening, and a cold wind was blowing as a handful of us stood up for Jesus to the passersby and the people attending the movie. I had been witnessing to the people in line, passing out tracts and getting into some deep conversations with many of them, challenging them on their relationship with God and the reasons why they would see a movie which blasphemed Him. Some of the conversations lasted close to a half hour as we discussed the movie and I began to maneuver the conversation into a discussion of "what they were doing with Christ" in their lives. "AT LEAST THIS MOVIE GIVES US AN OPPORTUNITY TO WITNESS TO PEOPLE WHO ARE IN NEED OF THE MESSAGE OF THE REAL JESUS, NOT THE FILTHY DISTORTED IMAGE THEY ARE ABOUT TO SEE," I thought to myself.

     One of the people protesting The Last Temptation was a clean-cut man in his early thirties. He had told me in a slight Irish accent that he had been a sailor aboard ship and had just quit the service. A San Francisco resident, everyday he took a bus to the theater and faithfully took his post in front of the theater. Standing straight as an arrow,he hugged his sign close to his chest ("BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL NOT BE FORGIVEN"), making sure that everyone going into the theater had an opportunity to read it. Every once in a while someone would question him on the meaning of the words in his sign.

     One day he confronted me after I had spent about an hour witnessing to the people in line. "WHY DON’T YOU LET THEM COME TO YOU? AFTER ALL, WE ARE BORN AGAIN. THEY ARE NOT. THEY SHOULD COME TO US," he insisted firmly. "WHEN JESUS WAS ON EARTH," I said simply, "HE WENT TO EVERYONE - NO MATTER WHO THEY WERE. WE ARE NOT SUPERIOR TO THESE PEOPLE," I said. "’THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD GO I.’"

     As we stood there, side by side, immediately after our brief exchange of words, a little old man approached us, almost from out of nowhere. In all probability he was homeless. He was dirty and unkempt. Approaching my companion first, he mumbled some words which I couldn’t understand. "DON’T TALK TO ME IF YOU’RE DRUNK!" my friend stated in an angry tone of voice. I could hear the words, "BUT I’M NOT DRUNK" just before the man came toward me. I looked at him standing in front of me, and I stood there in amazement! The man had unbuttoned his shirt, exposing his chest to the cold San Francisco wind, and on his chest fully covering it was a tattoo - a picture of Jesus Christ with embellishments surrounding it - flowers, angels, etc. - a sight which I had never experienced seeing in a lifetime. "I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO SAY," I said to him. "YOU’RE TRYING TO TELL US THAT YOU LOVE JESUS, AREN’T YOU?" I questioned, with an excitement in my voice. Immediately his face lit up, blossoming out with smiles from ear to ear. "OH, YES, I LOVE JESUS," he said with conviction. His face reflected the joy in his heart. "OH, LADY, THANK YOU, THANK YOU," he said, as he grabbed my hand, bent over and kissed it. He walked away from us as quickly as he had come on the scene.

MARINA MIDDLE SCHOOL (Grades 6-8) occupies an old two-story building surrounded by wide streets in a semi-busy district in San Francisco. I waited on the corner for dismissal time, observing the steady stream of pedestrians crossing the street at the signal. Almost as soon as the kids came out, there were at least three or four teachers standing there with them, making our job very difficult. One of the women teachers, a pretty woman in her early thirties, immediately confronted me, telling us to stop. I told her as politely as I could that it was our Constitutional right to give this literature to the kids. She quickly turned around, muttering something under her breath and went back into the school, obviously looking for a higher official.

     In a minute or two, the school principal, a man in his early forties, came out, telling me to "GET AWAY FROM THE SCHOOL. STAND ACROSS THE STREET!" he commanded. "WE DON’T WANT THE PARENTS COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS." Again, standing my ground, I refused to move. He threatened to call the police. "IF YOU CALL THE POLICE, THEY’LL JUST AGREE WITH US," I told him "BECAUSE IT IS OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO DISTRIBUTE LITERATURE ON THE PUBLIC SIDEWALK. DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?" I asked him. "WHAT’S THAT GOT TO DO WITH IT?" he said sarcastically. "IT’S GOT A LOT TO DO WITH IT," I answered. "IF YOU DEPRIVE THE STUDENTS OF THIS LITERATURE, ONE OF THESE GIRLS MAY GET PREGNANT AND HAVE AN ABORTION. THEN IT MAY BE ON YOUR CONSCIENCE," I said I seemed to have reached him, at least to the point where he didn’t tell the students not to take our literature. (He also made no move to go into the school to call the police. If he had, we would have left.)

     I noticed one of the students - a girl, standing next to the principal during our conversation, listening to our every word. When I finally moved away to the side of the school where there were more kids coming out, she followed me and asked me for the literature.A precocious 13-year-old girl then began to harass me, telling me to leave. I ignored her. Finally, I overheard one of the students saying to another, "HEY, SHE’S GOT A RIGHT TO DO THIS, HASN’T SHE?" "YES, MY TEACHER SAID SO," the other replied. Right before I left, many of the students which I had missed came up to me and asked for the literature.

Mary Carter and I pulled up to ALBANY MIDDLE SCHOOL "on the run." We had just finished distributing literature at a nearby school, and because the kids were already coming out, we parked our car right in front of the school, a practice which we usually try to avoid because of potential harassment. Mary went to the corner, and I stood in the driveway as there were no cars coming out. When the steady stream of students began to subside, I turned around and stood face to face with a police officer from the ALBANY POLICE DEPARTMENT who had parked his car behind me. (The police station was located just a few blocks away.)

     The man showed his arrogance almost immediately as he began questioning me in an uncivil manner. When he asked me for my name, I refused, stating that I was not legally required to give it, as I was doing nothing wrong and I was not driving an automobile. After an unfriendly exchange of words, I walked away, approaching Mary who stood on the corner. "LET’S KEEP WALKING," I whispered to Mary, "IF WE GET BACK IN THE CAR, HE’LL FOLLOW US, FOR SURE." We went to a coffee shop about a block away, waited about 15 minutes and walked back to our car. The "coast seemed to be clear" as we got into our car and pulled away. About a half block away from the school, the unfriendly police officer passed us, moving in the opposite direction. After traveling for about a mile down the road, I could hear the sound of a siren wailing behind me, and I pulled over to the side of the road. I soon found out that I had forgotten to send in my car registration fee, which gave the police an opportunity to stop us. The police officer (not the one at the school who had apparently radioed him) proceeded to "take his time" in writing up the ticket. After at least 15 minutes or longer, he finally got out of the squad car and handed me the ticket. Written across the face of the ticket, instead of the street where we had received the ticket, was "ALBANY MIDDLE SCHOOL" as the citation location.