Musical Monday – "Courageous"

 Musical Monday
Courageous
By Casting Crowns

This song speaks for itself. We’re meant to be courageous – be not afraid! God is with us, and with God, nothing is impossible. If you haven’t already, you should check out the movie Courageous which this song was made for (I think). It’s an awesome movie, with a great message for you: Go the extra mile, and be people of courage.


“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.” ~Ambrose Redmoon

What’s more important to you than fear? 

Dear Planned Parenthood – When Does Life Begin?

Earlier today I posted this picture on the Planned Parenthood’s Facebook Page…

…and let’s just say I don’t plan on doing that again anytime soon. I’ve posted links and had conversations on their wall before, but this must have really hit a chord in people’s hearts because it garnered a grand total of 403 comments in a couple hours. Wow.

I’ve heard the pro-choice rhetoric, the cuss words, the false accusations, the lies, the non-arguments, etc. But the people who were commenting on this were plain illogical. They started out saying that life begins at the picture in the top right corner, or the one after that: the first representing an unborn baby past the point of viability, and the second after birth. Then someone decided to point out that the picture on the top row second from the left looks like a shrimp (slightly creepy and twisted), and that they were now hungry for shrimp. Ew. Comparing an incredibly complex and beautiful human being to coconut and garlic shrimp is not cool. At all.

1. Our physical lives begin when our physical bodies begin to exist. That is the moment of fertilization: not when we’re considered “viable” or after birth.

2. When I asked them to elaborate on this point, and when they thought life begins, I received this shining example of pro-“choice” logic:

“When something no longer needs to be attached to something else either with or without their consent in order to survive.”

So, wait a second, we’re not considered to be alive if we depend on something else to survive?!?! No way! ‘Cause we sort of rely on a lot of things like food and water to survive…..This person even went on to say that life begins when we can breathe. I asked her if she believed a person on a ventilator qualified as being alive, and she said….wait for it….no. We’re not alive if we’re on a ventilator, because apparently we’re only alive if we can breathe on our own. Huh? This takes the cake for most illogical statement of the day award! I’ve heard it many times before, but it is so illogical, I had to include it.

Some other gems of comments in response to “When Does Life Begin?”:

“Life starts when I say so, B***h!” 

“When a woman chooses it’s time for her to bring forth life.”

“Technically a fetus isn’t a person or citizen until it gets a birth certificate, so I would say after it is born.” 

“The word “life” is a multi-meaning word, it means many different things to different people. Maybe you’d have better luck brainwashing…a sunday school class full of gullible six year olds.”

“Life is a fuzzy concept.”

Now maybe I’m being too simplistic, but life and death are black and white to me. Life is not a fuzzy concept when you have science and logic on your side. Maybe I’m being harsh, I don’t know, but life is life, and death is death as far as I know. Abortion kills an innocent person, and that is wrong. Is that really too hard to understand?

After this part of the conversation, it moved on to people saying that “any woman who has an ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage is committing a murder, and should be tried for involuntary manslaughter.” And this is where I just have to sigh and pray for these people. I tried explaining, but alas! These brains filled with pro-“choice” mantra were impervious to the facts of life. I will go more into this in a later post.

I am not “all-knowing”, but I can tell you this: no matter what people tell me about abortion, and when life begins, it will not change the scientific fact that life begins at the moment of fertilization and that each and every life deserves a lifetime. I wish I could learn from these people what their stories are, and why they think how they do, but all I get are new cuss words.

This is one reason why I read the book “UnPlanned” by Abby Johnson, and why I go on abortion blogs and Facebook pages every so often: I believe we have to understand the opposing side in order to defeat them. We have to see exactly what Satan has infiltrated hearts with to see how we can then be a tool of Christ in turning those same hearts back to Him who created us. I sure didn’t learn much from this post because all it was were empty pieces of rhetoric I’ve heard before. These “arguments” are getting rather old.

I pray for everyone involved in that comment thread, as there were some very troubled people who desperately need God’s mercy and love. Please join me in praying for them, and never, ever stop standing up for what you believe in, no matter how much heat you get from the other side. You never know how God will use you. Metal is put through fire to make it strong. God puts us through tough times to solidify our beliefs, bring others to Him, and strengthen our resolve. Let us begin.

Musical Monday – God Bless the USA

Happy President’s Day!
This is by far one of my favorite patriotic songs – I wish all Americans shared the sentiments in this song. We should ALL be willing to stand up for what we believe in, protect our country, and our rights as Americans. Rock on America!

“I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. And I won’t forget the men who died who gave that right to me. And I’ll proudly stand up next to you, and defend her still today. “Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land. God Bless the USA!!!!!”

The Girl Behind "The Letter"

**A couple weeks ago I wrote a post asking you wonderful readers to share your stories. This story is from one of my readers, so enjoy! Feel free to email your own story to me anytime – I’m happy to post it here 🙂 


Meet Caitlin McInnis, a homeschooled high schooler. She’s pro-life, and has a knack for filming. Back at the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008, Caitlin hadn’t fully discovered her passion for filming and for life, but that was soon to change.

Caitlin had always been pro-life, and knew that abortion killed an unborn baby, but she didn’t fully understand what being pro-life was all about. In 2007 she saw the movie Bella in theaters, and in January 2008 she went to the March for Life in Washington D.C. For the first time, she saw a graphic picture of an aborted baby at the March for Life, and was brought to tears. How could this be happening? Touched by those events, Caitlin was compelled to research abortion. Only then did she discover the true horror of abortion. She would never be the same.

Around that same time, Caitlin began making films for fun. She didn’t have a camcorder, so she started experimenting with stop-animation, making her first film when she was 13 years old. It was a 5 second video of a stuffed elephant running up to the camera, and then falling down. She loved making the films, but wanted to do more with her talent. After finding a yearning to film, and a passion for the pro-life cause, Caitlin continued making those videos and developed her skills into what they are today.

Fast-forward a few years: In the spring of 2011, Caitlin signed up for a film class at a local university. She loved it. For her Editing II class in fall 2011, she decided to use both her talent for film and her passion for life for an assignment. While online, she ran across an anonymous letter from a grieving mother to her aborted baby. The letter explained how much the woman regretted her abortion, and how sad she was to have aborted her baby. Looking back on it, Caitlin knows that God was the one who clicked on that letter. After reading the heart-wrenching words, she decided to use it for her assignment.

Caitlin’s class provided the cameras and equipment needed for the film, and she saved up enough money to buy an editing program. She had a vision for the film, and captured the footage over a weekend. She submitted it to her class for viewing the next day.

To her surprise, Caitlin’s film was met with great feedback from her professor and classmates when they viewed it in class. Her professor suggested that Caitlin submit the film to a film festival, and another instructor told her it was well done and would appeal to pro-choicers as well. She did not hear any objections.

Little did she know that this film “The Letter” would have a major impact. It went viral in the pro-life community after being posted on Youtube in November 2011, and has been viewed over nine and a half THOUSAND times. Wow! Not only have thousands of people watched Caitlin’s video, but it has saved a life. A woman who was considering abortion was sent the video, and decided not to abort her baby after seeing it.
Caitlin would never have guessed the huge impact her video would have, but is thrilled to help spread the message of life. She hopes to submit the film to LifeFest (a pro-life film festival in California), and dreams of directing and editing films with pro-life messages in Hollywood. She sees the need for moral entertainment, and feels called by God to fill that need:

“Ultimately, it’s up to Him [God], but I have some big-budget film ideas on abortion, euthanasia, and other matters that I would love to be able to create in the near future.”

I love seeing people who use the talents God gives them to bring His light to a darkened world. Caitlin has created a remarkable film as a high school senior, and I know she has an exciting future in store with God by her side. I certainly look forward to seeing Caitlin’s futures projects, and after hearing her story, I hope you do too!

Here’s her video The Letter. Please pass it along to your family and friends!
You can “like” The Letter on Facebook here, and visit Caitlin’s blog here.

Musical Monday – Medley

This week’s Musical Monday post does not have any deep meaning, but reveals the facts that:
1. Andrew Lloyd Weber (who composed the songs in this medley) is a genius, and 
2. I have no idea how this guy, Nick Pitera, can sing like a operatic woman and a manly dude.

This is a just-for-fun watch. Enjoy! You should check out the other songs this guy has done here if you feel like wasting a few minutes of your day 🙂 
Musical Monday #3
Phantom of the Opera Medley
By Nick Pitera