"What is an Abortion?"

"What is an abortion?" One of my eleven-year-old boys at work asked me this loaded question today. We had been playing an energetic game in the gymnasium with a super bouncy rubber ball. Someone came into the gym to take over for me while I took my break. I came back a half hour later to find my kids sitting on chairs and on the hard floor all talking together. We got into some pretty serious stuff, like drugs and alcohol. I do not bring up these topics but they were all talking about the kids in high school who do those things and relatives they know who are smokers or drink a lot. One of my eleven-year-old girls - who is fairly mature for her age - mentioned that she knows what rape is and has heard about abortion. Gulp. I didn't want to say too much. That's for their parents to talk to them about. Then out of the blue, from across the gym where he had begun bouncing the rubber ball again, one of the boys called out, "What is an abortion? I've heard that word before but I don't know what it means."

You want to know what an abortion is? I just wrote a twenty-page paper on abortion for a seminary course called Moral Theology. The title was, "Is Abortion Ever Justifiable?" I wasn't quite sure what to tell this group of youth who were all looking at me expectantly. So I decided to tell them the truth. Now, I don't want to lose my job or have parents getting angry at me, but the kid asked a question and it's kind of common and legal in Canada so I told them. These children are always telling me about graphic murders they've seen on TV shows, explicit dancing they've watched on YouTube, and violent games they've played on gaming stations. But, to my relief, they were absolutely shocked at what I told them. And I was not graphic at all; I told them very briefly and matter-of-factly what an abortion is so that I don't get in trouble. I told them that when a woman or girl gets pregnant and does not want to keep the baby, she can go to a clinic and pay to have them kill the child. They were horrified. While they may not be innocent in some ways, their dumbfounded expressions told me that they still hold some innocence as children in this century. They just could not fathom a woman deliberately ending her own child's life. So naturally, they asked, "How?" And I said there are a variety of ways. I told them I just wrote an essay about it and I had seen some extremely upsetting photos in books and websites. I said two common ways are sucking/vaccuming the baby out or burning them. Well, they could just not believe that anyone would do that to their own child. And that's all I said. The horrific reality of it was enough.

The girl who had earlier mentioned rape declared that even if she were ever raped she would keep the baby. She said that it doesn't matter how the baby got there because if it is inside of her, it is her own child and she wouldn't give it up for anything. Amen. That was pretty much the thesis of my paper. She went on to say that she'd heard you're not allowed to have an abortion in Canada unless you had been raped. I informed her that, sadly, that is not the case. Any girl or woman can have an abortion at a clinic. In fact, virtually all abortions are simply cases of "inconvenience" and not cases of rape, a deformed child, or the mother's health at risk. I found this website very helpful in my research: http://www.abort73.com/abortion/.

I would have loved to tell them what God thinks about the matter - that he created their inmost being and knit them together in their mother's womb. That they are made fearfully and wonderfully (Psalm 139:13-18). That regardless of how they were conceived they are precious in his sight and loved so much that the God of creation would send his only Son from heaven to earth to die a horrible, shameful death in order to save them from their sin so that they could have a fulfilling relationship with their Creator and spend eternity with their Saviour.



A Tiny Taste of Heaven

This holiday weekend (Civic Holiday 2011) has been an incredible one, although the word "incredible" can't really do it justice. On Friday evening I picked up my best friend at the VIA Rail station. She'd come to visit me for the weekend. I'd planned a bunch of fun things to do, one of which was go for a long bike ride along the St. Lawrence River. So Saturday morning we put on our workout clothes (but foolishly, no sunscreen) and grabbed a backpack filled with water and snacks and set off. The bike ride was just lovely. It was a hot day but there was a glorious breeze along the river that provided the relief we needed. Along the way we passed many other people enjoying the great ourdoors - walking, biking, fishing, and roller blading. We also met some creatures in their natural habitat, including a snake, a groundhog, a beaver, and a turtle with a slug and a snail stuck on his back. At one point, we meandered off the paved path, set our bikes down, and cooled our feed in the flowing water. Later on that day we drove to a nearby beach and played in the fairly warm water. With it being the long weekend, the beach was packed with families. It was good to see people sharing life together and taking a break from the daily grind. I am so very grateful for holidays when we can relax, rejuvenate, and relish the time we have with loved ones.

On Sunday we planned on going to the Ottawa Busker Festival. We decided to go to a large AGC church in Ottawa called The Met (Metropolitan Bible Church). The building was impressive, with a large library, a fireside room, a beautiful children's section, and so on. Part of me was slightly skeptical because sometimes churches - especially big ones with appealing "attractions" - seem like the service is more of a performance than a real worship time. Thankfully, I was wrong. Very wrong. The man leading the service looked a lot like John Piper. They began with prayer and singing instead of announcements. I cannot begin to describe the singing time. The songs weren't all modern, nor were they all fast-paced tunes. Some were new and some were old but the message in them all was the same: we worship a good, great, and holy God who loves and cares for us and is worthy of all our adoration. 

I can't now recall the individual songs we sang but I'll never forget the experience. It didn't feel like a concert. Sure, the people up front were playing the instruments and leading the music, but it didn't feel like a show. I closed my eyes for much of the singing and I had a taste of something I'm not quite sure I've had before: I think I had a tiny taste of heaven. There were so many people around me singing like I've never heard before and it was beautiful, breathtaking, glorious, worshipful, heavenly. At times I had to stop singing because I couldn't even swallow, but I enjoyed it even more when I couldn't hear myself, but rather hundreds of people around me worshipping the Lamb. Revelation 7:9 says that one day in heaven there will be a great multitude that no one can count, people from every nation, tribe, people, and language, who will be standing before the throne and before the Lamb, worshipping him.

 Just as my fun weekend was refreshing in that I got to spend time with a dear friend, it was also refreshing because the Holy Spirit blessed me with the minutest glimpse of what heaven will be like. The Bible says we cannot even fathom how wonderful heaven will be (1 Corinthians 2:9). I'm most looking forward to eternal life because I know God will be there, and I cannot wait to see his face. I appreciate this thought by John Piper, "People who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there." Heaven is what we have to look forward to because it is when we get to spend eternity with the Lord of all creation, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, the God of wonders, the Lover of our soul. Many times when I've considered eternity, I've been terrified because, to be honest, it sounds a little boring. But the unique experience I had this weekend clarified for me that spending eternity in heaven with other believers worshipping the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all day long is the most fulfilling, most wonderful, most beautiful thing I could do. I look forward to it with great anticipation!

The MET