NARAL
NARAL has called me twice in the past week.
Both calls were pre-recorded, but so well done that I had trouble telling they were pre-done. The first was voiced by Bradley Whitford (“Josh Lyman” of West Wing fame for those who know, Eric Gordon of Billy Madison for those who don’t), the second by Kate Michelman, president of NARAL. Both implored me to travel to DC for the “March for Women’s Lives” this Sunday, or to give monetarily if I couldn’t make it.
I don’t know how they got my number. Perhaps they’re just wardialing the entire 215 area code, or maybe the person who had my home number prior to me was pro-abortion. Either way, I received the calls. I was incensed.
Passion
As anyone who knows me well can attest, there is no subject that stokes the fires of my soul more than abortion. I detest it. I abhor it. No other matter can simultaneously arouse my anger and engender a deep, abiding sadness that the thought of taking the life of an unborn child. Most estimates place the number of children aborted since Roe v. Wade at between 30 and 38 million. 38 million! My mind cannot even begin to fathom that number. I want to retch, I want to cry, even now as I type these words.
NARAL, cont’d.
It was in this frame of mind that I angrily looked up the contact information for NARAL on the web. I called their main number and explained that I had been called and I no longer wanted to receive any such solicitations. The secretary answering their phones, who sounded more than a little weary, forwarded me to a voice mailbox for their membership department. I left a curt message explaining that, ideologically, I couldn’t be farther from their position and thus I wished to never be called or contacted by them again.
My wife confronted me nearly immediately after the completion of my call. She said that I had sounded extremely angry, almost scarily so. Granted, I was angry, but I thought that I had kept my voice measured and my tone moderated. I felt a bit violated by the fact that they had called and felt that my anger was righteous and well-placed. “What about ‘love your enemies’?” she said to me. I had to admit that she was right. It’s not my duty to judge the folks at NARAL, nor is it my job to be angry. I’m supposed to show them love in whatever way I am able.
Still, I was troubled by the whole affair.
Purpose
It was with these things in mind that my wife and I set off to attend a kickoff cookout/”simulcast” viewing with our church. Riverside (our church) has just begun going through the 40 Days of Purpose series of sermons, Bible studies and devotionals and this evening’s festivities were to get the whole thing started.
After the traditional church picnic fare (hot dogs, burgers, pasta salad, potato salad, and a mess of desserts) we headed indoors to watch the pre-recorded “simulcast” video that was to serve as an introduction to the whole Purpose-Driven “experience.”
Let me back up a bit. I’ve been skeptical of the entire PDL “experience” for about as long as I’ve known about it. It has struck in the past as a very Prayer of Jabez/Wild at Heart-esque, pop culture Christianity message, all of which has earned it (I’m ashamed to admit) a bit of my scorn. When I heard that our church was going to go through the series, I thought “Oh, great. Well, I guess I’ll just slog through it and hope for something rewarding on the other side of that 40 days.”
I have also been severely lacking in a sense of purpose for the last few years. I would probably trace my loss of purpose back to the disintegration of my Christian fellowship in college. I came away from that group deeply cynical and more than a little hurt and I’ve been drifting, fairly purposeless since then. I like my job, I love my wife and I’m more than materially provided for, but I’ve felt that I have no purpose.
Back to the present.
After a brief intro by our pastor, the video started up. Images of people participating in the “40 Days of Purpose” program, as well as associated merchandise flashed up on screen, which screamed “mass market Christianity” to me (which, in all fairness, is better than pop culture Christianity, at least in my opinion). However, once Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose Driven Life and pastor of Saddle Creek Church, began to speak, I had a great change of heart.
He spoke of the five purposes of why we were created:
- We were planned for God’s pleasure (worship)
- We were formed for God’s family (fellowship)
- We were created to become like Christ (discipleship)
- We were shaped for serving God (ministry)
- We were made for a mission (evangelism)
Suddenly, things snapped into place for me. Warren cited Revelation 4:11b (NLT): “For you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.” I have often wondered why God would bring children into existence, only to have them snuffed before they leave the womb. In that passage from Revelation, I think I began to see an answer.
The entire universe was created for God’s good pleasure. He created us so that we could give Him pleasure in the same way that we derive pleasure from our own children. He creates children so that we might know the joys He encounters in watching us learn, grow and become mature. The fact that humanity is depraved enough to rob its most innocent members of life saddens God immensely, but it’s a consequence of Him allowing us to make our own choices, even when they’re sinful and harmful to more than ourselves.
Politics
I’ve often said that I would like to run for office at some point in the (hopefully near) future and, when pressed by friends and family as to why I would do such an insane thing, I’ve been unable to come up with an answer acceptable to anyone, let alone myself. I’ve just felt that I wanted to run for office.
Bringing it all together
God created me the way He did for a reason. There’s a reason, a purpose for my desire to run for office, and I think that I’ve begun to see the way in which He’s bringing together my passions and my politics in order to unveil His purpose for me. I think that He’s beginning to tell me that He’s given me my passion for the unborn and my desire to run for office in order to, in some small way, perhaps, fight the evil that is abortion. I hope that He will continue to develop my character and set before me a clear path.
And all of this thanks to a call from NARAL. Go figure.
[Update]
More here.
