Tuesday, the morning after?

I said some time ago, that I would be at Planned Parenthood from 10:00 to 11:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Well, I have been there on Tuesdays, but I did miss a Thursday. I have been being Jonah instead of Ezekiel.

So on Tuesdays, I have been chicken, like when I first started going to Planned Parenthood. Since no one else is there, I get to park right in front of the building, but I have been staying in my vehicle. I get there and doubts begin to swirl in my head.

What's the deal about Tuesdays? My understanding is that on Tuesdays, Planned Parenthood does their preliminary evaluations. Does this mean pregnancy tests? Does this mean pre-abortion counseling? I don't know. I do know that they are quite busy on Tuesdays, and there are no guards, no escorts, and no protesters. Planned Parenthood gets the floor, and there is no rebuttal.

People are faced with their sin and Planned Parenthood whispers in their ears, "Peace, peace." No one plants seed on this furrowed ground. No one proclaims the truth of God when hearts are tender. We wait until Thursday, when the ground has hardened.

Let's say that on Tuesday, a woman's pregnant condition is confirmed. She is faced with the consequences of their behaviour. She is face to face with the fact that because of what they have done and despite their own plans, they have a child growing in her womb... no, no a growth of tissue... because God has opened her womb and gave life for His own purpose... no, no it's because they didn't use a condom, properly... and that that child is therefore deserving of their protection and providence of a nurturing family, and if they're not willing, someone else is... no, no this problem is easily disposed of, and there's no more reason to fuss about this mass, that about that hang nail you clipped last week.

Three Tuesdays ago, I sat reading Ezekiel, and a young girl, quite young came and, after checking in sat outside on the stone bench and read a novel that she carried with her. When they called her, she went in. What did she find out, what did they tell her, what was the burdon on her heart?

Two Tuesdays ago, I sat by the river of Kebar, with the hand of the Lord heavy upon me, a young woman, driving a Mustnang, went in and then left immediately in her Mustang. Then she came back, and sat. She sat on the stone bench and smoked. When they called her, she went in. Is/Was she pregnant? Was her heart tender for the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Last Tuesday, a young man crossed the street (as is his custom at that time of day on Tuesdays and Thursdays this semester) put his skateboard on the sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood and began to pump and glide his way down College Ave. As I watched him in my rearview mirror, I noticed a young woman coming the other way on a bike. They passed one another, and my eyes followed her. My mind was on my daughter, and how we sent her to college with a bike. After passing me, she turned in the driveway of Planned Parenthood. A short-cut, I thought, but then she appeared with her bike behind the fence by the stone bench. She disappeared inside for a moment then sat on the stone bench, immediately opening her satchel and pulling out a green apple and a cigarette. She pulled the produce label off the apple, and took a bite. Amazingly, she was able to light a cigarette while chewing her apple. She was not at peace. She finished the apple and the cigarette, and waited. Finally they called her in. She didn't stay long, but came out and hopped on her bike. She took off across College, then across Second. She was out of my sight, but around the corner where she went was a Kroger, a Wendy's and an ATM machine. There's a whole world beyond that, including the Church of the Good Shepherd office, but somehow, I didn't think that Planned Parenthood had referred her there for counseling.

Minutes later she reappeared, parked her bike and went into the building. Again she didn't stay long, but came out, lit a cigarette, opened a flat palm-sized package, pushed a pill out and popped it into her mouth. Then she popped another one out and that one went into her mouth as well. With an attitude of accomplishment, she put the small, flat box in her satchell, shouldered her bag, got on her bike, lit a cigarette, and left the way she had come.

Is this the morning after?

Hear the Words of the Lord to the prophit Ezekiel:

4 He then said to me: "Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. 5 You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel- 6 not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. 7 But the house of Israel is not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel is hardened and obstinate. 8 But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. 9 I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house."

10 And he said to me, "Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. 11 Go now to your countrymen in exile and speak to them. Say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says,' whether they listen or fail to listen."

12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound—May the glory of the LORD be praised in his dwelling place!- 13 the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound. 14 The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me. 15 I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Abib near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days-overwhelmed.

Warning to Israel
16 At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me: 17 "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18 When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.
20 "Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 21 But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself."

Ezekiel 3