Whose Victory?

Deuteronomy 1
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30 The LORD your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes,
31 and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God bore you, as a man bears his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.

Dear reader,

please join us at our Victory Celebration, to begin at LaGrave Church this Sunday at 2pm, and to end in thanksgiving prayer at 320 Fulton.

Victory? you might ask. But there are still abortions taking place at 320! That may be so, but there are also mothers choosing to spare their child's life and seek real help for their pregnancies. But not all the time slots were filled! That may be so, but there was more coverage from the Knights of Columbus during the Knight Shift this year than ever before, there were more non-Catholic churches involved than ever before, and there was almost total coverage during the hours when abortions are scheduled at 320. But...someone submitted a stupid zoning complaint to the city and we weren't allowed to park at Omega House anymore! Settle yourself. This was barely a setback. We had to walk a few more steps from our cars was all. In the end, we'll have a lovely parade of prayer from LaGrave Street all the way up to 320 that will draw quite a bit of attention from citizens who otherwise may not have known there are children perishing in their neighborhood every week. But...but...there were protesters...with signs...protesters? Where? I don't see any protesters. Oh-- you mean those two people coming on days it doesn't rain? Yeah, well...there aren't many people willing to get up every day and proclaim to the world, "Abortion rocks! Honk if you hate babies!"

Fortunately, there are many, many people in this city who chose to stand and proclaim before God and Grand Rapids, "I love life! I love Jesus! I want to humble myself through fasting, pray for an hour in the cold and rain, and seek the face of God in my brothers and sisters in need of healing at 320 Fulton!"

God's victories have never exactly made sense to our frail human minds. The Almighty Savior of the Universe, for example, was knitted in the womb of a virgin, a woman of low estate, was born in a small backwards speck on the map, and was first adored by shepherds, people who belonged to the most demeaned rung of their society. This same Almighty and Everlasting Prince would be whipped, stripped, and executed in the most abominable method known...and this was victory.

God's victory is that every single day, for forty days, someone stood at 320 and acknowledged His greatness in the silence of their hearts. God bore each one of us, dear reader, as a parent bears a child, while we made our way to 320. God will continue to bear each one of us, will continue to shelter us, caress us, forgive us, bring us peace, bring us victory. God will continue to love us, will continue to love each child who perishes, has numbered the hairs on each of their dear little heads, has cherished every cell in their tiny infant bodies. God will show mercy to those at 320 who change their evil ways. That includes the both of us, dear reader. I too am in need of healing, and thanks be to God, healing will come. God will love me, even when I neglect Him, even when I behave like the wayward people of God have always behaved since the time of the Exodus to the present day. God bore them, bears me, bears you, as a father bears his son. God holds us tenderly to his breast and whispers in our ear, "I love you!"

That victory we could spend an eternity trying to comprehend.