Scattered
Itinerant

From John Piper's website: Desiring God

That is the title of a sermon I preached January 17, 1993, three days before Bill Clinton was inaugurated president. It is just as relevant—or more—today.

The text was 1 Peter 2:17, “Honor the king.” I closed with eight ways to honor a pro-choice president. The seventh was this:

We will honor you by expecting from you straightforward answers to straightforward questions. We would not expect this from a con-man, but we do expect it from an honorable man.


For example,

1. Are you willing to explain why a baby's right not to be killed is less important than a woman's right not to be pregnant?

2. Or are you willing to explain why most cities have laws forbidding cruelty to animals, but you oppose laws forbidding cruelty to human fetuses? Are they not at least living animals?

3. Or are you willing to explain why government is unwilling to take away the so-called right to abortion on demand even though it harms the unborn child; yet government is increasingly willing to take away the right to smoke, precisely because it harms innocent non-smokers, killing 3,000 non-smokers a year from cancer and as many as 40,000 non-smokers a year from other diseases?

4. And if you say that everything hangs on whether the fetus is a human child, are you willing to go before national television in the oval office and defend your support for the "Freedom of Choice Act" by holding in your hand a 21 week old fetus and explaining why this little one does not have the fundamental, moral, and constitutional right to life? Are you willing to say to parents in this church who lost a child at that age and held him in their hands, this being in your hands is not and was not a child with any rights of its own under God or under law?

Perhaps you have good answers to each of these questions. We will honor you by expecting you to defend your position forthrightly in the public eye.

You have immense power as President of the United States. To wield it against the protection of the unborn without giving a public accounting in view of moral and scientific reality would be dishonorable. We will honor you by expecting better."

As a mother of boys I have begun to notice how ubiquitous gender jokes are. I admit to having "typed" many-a-man, and now that I'm raising two sons I find the categorization of men obnoxious.

Walking through the mall, I see young girls wearing shirts that say "Boys are Stupid Throw Rocks at Them." How outraged would women be if a man, or even a young boy, wore a shirt that said "Girls are Stupid Throw Rocks at Them." Boys would be sent home from school, the press would be called, and the women who have fought for women's liberation would be outraged.

Pay attention to commercials on the television. There is a marketing trend where commercials have a beautiful, lean, and somewhat sassy woman married to a dumbed down man who is slightly overweight, and partially balding. The commercial will somehow play on some stereotype, and will end with the woman swooping in with how to resolve the issue.

Many women do with their words what they have fought hard against. Women have spent generations trying to be recognized as equal to men, and seem willing to trample men's egos to gain their own sense of power. The demeaing attitude of which I write reminds me of the school yard, and my Nana explaining that those that insult you only do so because they feel inferior.

Somehow it is acceptable to demean boys and men of all ages. The lumping of my boys into the stereotype is offensive, and yet I still struggle to overcome my own tendencies to form opinions based on our societal classifications.

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”

I'm growing weary from sarcasm, and find myself slipping back into old patterns. I used to have a terrible habit of using sarcasm to say what I was feeling or thinking without having to be vulnerable. Sarcasm enables me to hide from confrontation, disguise my opinion, and quite frankly I don't think it looks pretty on anyone. Back to square one.

I said I would stop sharing my political views and I did for the most part. Before the nominations, debates, and elections happened our pastor explained "you will never legislate transformed lives." It rocked my proud little world.

My heart has been trying to focus on where I put the responsibility for change, and what my role is in the shift. Voting is only one way to make a stance be heard. What about the other 1,459 days of a 4-year-term?

My prayer is that God would change my heart and desires for the things that He both loves and hates. I have been challenged on many election issues, and put responsibility on the church (myself included). I have not raised awareness about the issues that I support. I have not put my money where my passions are. For years the only political voice I have had is on the ballot, and it sickens me.

I have started to redirect responsibility of social and political issues to believers. Want immigration reform? Start sending money to missions organizations digging wells, building hospitals, and educating natives. Give people a way and reason to stay in their country. Want abortion to end? Give of your time and resources to help pregnancy crisis centers graciously counsel women faced with the decision to abort. Obviously I am simplifying the solution, but I wonder what our country would look like if believers really started to live as believers.

For the next four years I will continue to pray for the man God put in office. No matter what kind of leader Obama is, I do not put my trust in him and Obama is not the "Change We Need." This morning I'm content knowing that I serve a sovereign God, and I look to Him to guide me as I live out my life before man.

I am ashamed to write this post. I learned about an atrocity last year, was moved, but did nothing about it. Lately every time I bite into a piece of chocolate the Lord reminds me of my silence, and the irony of my enjoyment.

There have been approximately 15,000 children trafficked into slavery on cocoa farms in Cote D'Ivoire. These children live in inhumane conditions, are nearly starved, and beaten so that they can harvest their owner's cocoa crops. Cote D'Ivoire is the world's largest exporter of cocoa beans, and the United States is the largest importer. So Americans are pleasuring themselves at the expense of a little boy's childhood.

I could continue to write but instead I will post some resources:

Stop the Traffik

Chocolate and Slavery

Slave Free Chocolate

From the International Justice Mission (look under "Slavery: Fact Sheet")

• What are the facts?
  • According to the United Nations Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, an estimated 20 million people were held in bonded slavery as of 1999.
  • In 2004 there are more slaves than were seized from Africa during four centuries of trans-Atlantic slave trade. (Kevin Bales, Disposable People)
  • In 1850 a slave in the Southern United States cost the equivalent of $40,000 today. According to Free the Slaves, a slave today costs an average of $90.
  • Approximately two-thirds of today’s slaves are in South Asia. Human Rights Watch estimates that in India alone there are as many as 15 million children in bonded slavery.

These children could be ours. Those little boys being beaten and tortured so they can harvest an unnecessary commodity could be Elias or Josiah. I thank God for His grace and mercy that my children were born on American soil, and have been given the luxury of safety, comfort, and desires. However, I can no longer ignore that something I so enjoy comes at a high cost for children halfway around the world. As of Saturday, September 27, 2008, our home will be a slave-free chocolate home. Brandon and I will be holding each other accountable in only purchasing fair trade cocoa, and when the temptation to consume chocolate comes we will pray for the children enslaved. I realize this may be an extreme commitment for most, but my prayer is that if you're reading this you won't let these facts escape you like I did for a year.

For the last few weeks I have watched my flat stomach morph into a beautiful pregnant belly. I have grown increasingly aware of the blessing it is to have two amazing little boys and another child growing in my womb. There is no doubt in my mind that life begins at conception and that every child is a gift from God.

I believe abortion, apart from saving the woman’s life, is wrong at every level. To the dismay of my grieving heart, thousands of babies without a voice are murdered every year. Women are left emotionally scarred and physically empty, and somehow their life continues.

I am also a strong advocate of homebirth, and my right to choose where I will deliver my children. Hours have been spent educating and encouraging women to take charge of their pregnancies, labors and deliveries. I have all but shouted that our care providers work for us and in no way can tell us what to do with our bodies and babies.

Many people are horrified at my decision to labor and birth outside of the hospital. They ignorantly believe it to be more dangerous than birthing in a hospital, irresponsible for me to take an alternative route, and barbaric when hospitals have endless technology. Many of those people wear white coats, and sit on boards that the government listens to closely.

This is where two of my biggest passions collide. The upcoming elections are pressing down on my belief system. If I attempt to tell women, with my vote, what is or is not acceptable for them to do with their children, then I wonder how long it will be before someone does the same for me. When the government starts regulating women and their choices then all choices are challenged, and we’re all left at the mercy of what other people believe we should do.

I cannot pretend to have a solution, nor do I have this all thought out. However, as a Christian well informed on pregnancy and birth choices, I cling to the words of my pastor, “you will never legislate transformed lives.” The responsibility of ending abortion should not be entrusted to the government. Pro-life supporters should be laboring to educate and be a messenger of love, grace and mercy for those who are facing the choice to abort their babies. This action may keep the government from imposing their laws on my birth choices and children, and may keep thousands of babies who may have been aborted safe in their wombs.

Sadly enough, most Christians will feel like they did their part by voting for the pro-life candidate on Election Day and their conscience will be clear.