40 Days for Life: Seattle

A friend writes me a couple of days ago:

For those interested, there is a 40 Days for Life underway in North Seattle at the Planned Parenthood near Northgate Mall.

I’ve been getting updates on what’s happening at the vigil site (see below). Della has been organizing this effort and it’s been pretty impressive so far.

—– Forwarded Message —–
From: “North Seattle 40 Days For Life”
To: “North Seattle 40 Days For Life”
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2011 4:24:04 PM
Subject: Day 4 News

Greetings on Day 4!

Today Is Adopted By North American Martyrs Church: All Saturdays during our vigil have been adopted by area churches. Today is of course our first Saturday. North American Martyrs, a Catholic church in Ballard, has adopted today. Fr. Saguto, their pastor, is praying the 4pm hour, and they have a whopping 50 parishioners (plus an unknown number of children) scheduled to pray throughout the day (8am-8pm). Think of all that prayer, and many who have never prayed outside a place of death are doing this for the first time today!

A Rare Incident at the Vigil: Occasionally, we can experience a bad incident while praying at the vigil. When you bring prayer to a place of evil, the devil sometimes stirs things up. We had such an incident on Thursday morning. A pretty young woman came towards me, grabbed our 3-ft sandwichboard sign and the supply box that weighs it down, and flung/kicked them onto Northgate Way. Fortunately for her and all concerned, her action did not cause an accident on that busy street or otherwise hurt anyone or damage property. She also yelled at us, and grabbed signs from some of the other three women at the vigil. I spoke with her, hoping to calm her down, but she soon left, yelling some more. My thought was that she was hurting from an abortion experience, either her own or that of someone close to her. Please pray for healing for this young woman.

In 300 hours praying outside various abortion facilities over the years, I have not encountered an incident like that, so I don’t want you to think it is typical. Note that we have a right to contact the police. If you are physically threatened, please call 911 right away (and then please let me know). With an incident like Thursday’s, in which no one was hurt and no damage was done, it is a judgment call whether to report the incident to the police. In some cases, you may be able to deescalate the situation if just one of you talks to the person, while the others resume your prayers. Whether you choose to report the incident to the police or not, please let me know. Also let me know if you have any questions.

A Wonderful Save at Everett’s Vigil: I thought you might like to know that on Friday, the 40 Days For Life vigil in Everett had a “save.” Two prayer volunteers had the opportunity to pray for, and talk with, a woman who was going in for an abortion. They told her about the help available at Next Step pregnancy resource center. The woman went there and had a free ultrasound and heard the beating heart of her unborn baby instead of going through with the abortion appointment. Please keep her and her baby in your prayers.

23 Lives Saved Across National Campaign: Nationally, just 4 days into the spring 40 Days For Life vigil, an astonishing 23 babies’ lives have already been saved. Please pray for those babies and their families.

Weekly Signups Still Open: Since my earlier email, a few of the weekly slots have filled or half-filled. Here’s where we still need your help to take a weekly slot (ie, where you come at the same hour each week):
Red, no one has signed up
Mondays 3pm, 4pm
Wednesdays 1pm
Thursdays 5pm
Fridays 3pm, 7pm

Yellow, only one person has signed up
Mondays 9am, Noon
Tuesdays 1pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm
Wednesdays Noon, 3pm
Thursdays 1pm, 2pm, 6pm
Fridays 10am, 1pm

Tomorrow (Sunday 3/13): We’re also looking for people to come tomorrow (Sunday)… for future Sundays, we are hoping more churches will adopt the day, but tomorrow is open for one-time signups.

God bless you for standing in the gap in North Seattle!

Go team!