I specifically remember the first time I read Psalm 139. I mean the first time I really read it and really understood what it meant. “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” I remember it because of the commitment I made to the Lord the day I read that passage.
On Sunday, 720 people lined up along Merle Hay Road for an hour and a half as part of the Des Moines Life Chain, an annual pro-life event that takes place on the first Sunday of October in cities across the United States. Life Chain offers an opportunity to peacefully stand up for the lives of the unborn and to pray for the end of abortion in our country. Participants stand along a roadside and hold signs that read “Abortion Kills Children,” “Adoption: The Loving Option,” and “Jesus Heals and Forgives.”
I had an interesting conversation with one of the Life Chain organizers who’s been involved since the beginning. She said Sunday marked the 19th Des Moines Life Chain. Apparently, more than 3,000 people showed up the first few years, but that number had slowly decreased to about 400 in recent years. Attendance increased slightly to about 600 last year and even more to 720 this year.
Although it’s sad that attendance has decreased so much since 1989, it’s encouraging that more people have been showing up the last two years. But even more encouraging is the number of young people who were there. I would guess about three-fourths were under the age of 30. It was great to see so many young people caring enough about an issue to do something about it.
The commitment that I mentioned earlier was to stop just saying I think abortion should end and actually do something about it. When I realized how much God loved each of us before we were even born and that he had a plan for our lives long before we took our first breath, I decided just saying I was “pro-life” was no longer enough.
We all have things we want to see changed, and it's easy to talk about everything we think is wrong with the world. But how can we expect to see change happen unless we’re willing to do something?
