Walk 4 Life 2009

Team: "Speak for the Weak"

Audrey & I - After Walk

Creativity Award - Momma, Me, Audrey, Val, Matt & Patty

Walk 4 Life 2009

Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..."

2 miles - yep, I know it's not much, however, it was for a cause that weighs heavy on my heart and it's just a bonus that my assistance could be given by exercise. My team's name was "Speak for the Weak." We raised around $1,400 as a team (5 members). We also won an award for creativity. This year I was able to celebrate a few "personal victories," aside from the cause itself.

• This is the first year that I didn't finish last
  
• Not only did I not finish last, aside from the joggers, I finished about 10 from the front
  
• I DID NOT TRIP AND FALL ON MY FACE (only my friends will understand this)

"Walk for Life" is an annual event and it's proceeds go to Advice & Aid Pregnancy Centers. It's a smooth 2 mile benefit walk to raise awareness and help fund their Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Crisis Pregnancy Centers exist to aid women facing unplanned pregnancies who may feel they have no where to go for help with the "choices" they face ahead.

This is a PRO-LIFE organization that offers free sonograms, medical services, baby necessities, counseling, parenting courses, sexual integrity courses, abortion recovery counseling, Bible studies & various other services. Their heart's cry is that these women would choose LIFE instead of abortion.

Since 1973, over 45 million legal abortions have been performed in the United States.

There is a common mis-conception in our nation that it's a woman's "right" to choose whether she wishes to terminate her pregnancy. It's made out to be all about that woman without taking into account that precious life growing inside that is now depending on her to make the right decision. We've got so caught up in this selfish view-point of what benefits "me," how does this inconvenience "me," am "I" ready for this...and we've over looked the second person in this equation. There is a living, breathing, active baby who has it's own unique qualities, personality and calling over it's life.

The womb should be the safest place for a baby to be, however they've been striped of those protections.

In the Declaration of Independence we are promised "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..." yet the smallest amongst us isn't granted those rights. God's gift, that precious baby doesn't have the opportunity to pursue happiness when they are robbed of LIFE!

Two wrongs don't make a right...

The most common argument for abortion is "What if the mother was raped?" Rape is a HORRIBLE, sick, vicious hate crime and there is no excusing such a painful act. Everything in me sympathizes for someone who was forced to experience such a tramatic event. My answer to this question though is simple, "Two wrongs DO NOT make a right!" We learn that as children, yet we have adults running our nation who can’t comprehend that concept.

Do we kill other criminals’ children for the crime of their fathers?

I’m not making light of the violent hate crime that rape is, however, adoption is an option that doesn’t involve murder. There are positive choices a mother facing this situation can make without "repaying evil with evil."

Those who may have already had an abortion...

There is forgiveness, healing and hope for anyone who has undergone an abortion - God's love can heal a wounded heart. It's just as important to have the abortion recovery counseling that Advice and Aid Pregnancy Center offers as any of these other services. The pain and grief that follows an abortion can take years to overcome, but by God's grace and forgiveness, peace can come.

Alright, I'll step off of my soap box now, this is an issue I'm passionate about so it's hard to keep me from laying my heart bare on the matter.

Verse of the Day:

Proverbs 31:8 (NIV)
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.