Walmart Encounter

Perhaps my best Christmas gift was given to me in the vacuum isle of Walmart several days ago. A very nice looking young woman with two children smiled at me. That in itself is a gift since women these days rarely smile at men they don't know - even older men like myself! However, I remember thinking, it must really be the Christmas season...that was nice.



Well, as my wife and I continued speaking together, low and behold, she came back around the corner of the isle and introduced one of the young girls, now 7 years old, to me. Leaning over low and drawing close to her she introduced me as the man responsible for her life. We 'high-fived' it and I said something really profound, like 'superduper' or something. This former CPC volunteer from years ago explained that the young girl's birth mother had been diagnosed with cancer and had received counsel from her physicians that she should abort this very little girl.



God had another plan though. Because she ended up at the CPC and made the decision to give life to her child. This courageous mom, just passed away, but she left a tremendous legacy for her daughter I was so privileged to meet.



There were only two things wrong with this encounter: the real heroes were not there to meet this wonderfully energetic, braided and, my goodness, cute, young lady - the staff and volunteers at the CPC who counseled with her mom and her mom herself who made the ultimate sacrifice so that her baby could live. What a Christmas present! I am so thankful to this former volunteer who cared enough to tell the story, again probably, to this little girl in my presence and for the chance to see the result of God's work in our ministry. Oh, and also for that very neat smile.

The True Bottom Line

Someone wise once said, “God is speaking all the time. The question is whether or not we’re listening.” The same can easily be said of the ministry of the Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Every day, God is speaking through us and to us. In the big conversations and the seemingly mundane happenstances of our ministry, God is speaking to both the hearts that are hurting and the hearts of the healing. This means He is really speaking to all of us!

But I find that many – me being the prime example – get so busy in the “doing” of the ministry that we miss hearing the still, small voice of God. We often miss seeing His fingerprints on the day-to-day workings of our ministry. We get caught by the “tyranny of the urgent” and lose sight of what is really taking place right under our noses. I have learned that to hear and see God requires that I slow down, get quiet, and see the Crisis Pregnancy Centers through eyes that miss nothing – through God’s eyes. This blog is my humble attempt to do this and to share with you what I observe.

Today as I reviewed the year-end reports we’re putting together for our ministry, I had trouble focusing on the dollar signs. Because, in the midst of all the figures I saw people. People who in various ways are depending on us. The truth is though that this year our ministry is facing a deficit. But I know that it is not any bigger than the deficit we see in the lives of the women and men we minister to.

Although we are mindful of our need and our responsibility to be good stewards of our resources, we know that God is faithful and He can move on the hearts of those who can – and will – step forward to support our ministry prayerfully and financially. The young women and men staring at the deficits in their own lives don’t yet know that there is a loving God who will perform miracles in their circumstances. Their spiritual and emotional “bank accounts” are empty. They don’t yet know that Jesus paid it all.

So, as I look at those reports the shortfall now has a little more perspective. I will do a better job at communicating our need and I know God will be faithful to provide – perhaps through you. But, at the end of the day, the bottom line isn’t measured by our financial standing. For the Crisis Pregnancy Centers, the bottom line is measured by people. And that’s the bottom line that matters most.