Report from America - Day 15

Dear John,

Cynthia arrived outside the Ottawa abortion center at
6:00 AM to find a woman sitting on a bench outside.
"There was a bitingly cold wind and she was huddled
down on the bench," she said, "with a hat on and her
collar up, with not much more than her eyes exposed
to the elements."

Early morning temperatures in that part of Ontario
had dropped into the upper 30s (that's 4° C to
Canadians).

As the woman sat silent and motionless, a man came
out of the clinic and told her to leave or he would
call the police. He said it was illegal for her to be
there -- which was not true.

She did not respond. This happened twice. "Quite
obviously her silent prayer vigil was a great
distraction to him," Cynthia related. "To his intense
displeasure, she did not respond to him nor
acknowledge him."

She merely continued her silent prayer until her
vigil hour was over.

"What was so tremendously heartening was to see how
obviously upset he was merely on account of her
silent prayer," Cynthia said. "At 6:30 a.m. there was
almost no traffic on the street, few people on the
sidewalk and essentially no one to take note of her
vigil. But the mere fact that she sat there, praying,
caused him obvious distress. It bothered him."

Such is the power of prayer. "For those whose hearts
require a conversion," she said, "your prayers are
felt very strongly indeed -- and uncomfortably. And
that's a good thing."

Rita noted a similar reaction from clinic personnel
in Amarillo. "The CEO of Planned Parenthood came out
and verbally assaulted one of our volunteers," she
said, "but that's typical for her. They really feel
the heat inside when we are outside praying."

Speaking of heat, I've heard from many of you
regarding the incident in which people praying at a
40 Days for Life vigil were sprayed with fire
extinguishers by abortion advocates.

Many of you are seeing signs of encouragement from
that report, and for that I am grateful. Writes
Gretchen, "All the fire extinguishers in the world
can't put out the Light of Christ!"

"Although it was very frightening, I think it was an
absolutely brilliant symbolic event," writes Kelly.
"The enemy is trying to extinguish this fire that has
started, this holy fire that is within us." But it
won't work.

"It seems not everyone is pleased," Jason wrote in
his blog, noting another incident where someone
expressed anger at vigil participants.

In reflecting upon what had happened, he said, "I
have renewed my determination to be a part of 40 Days
for Life. I pray that you will join me."

Renewed in Christ's strength, we continue our 40-day
journey of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion.