From: BreakPoint – John Stonestreet
As you consider your presidential, state, and local vote, many issues are important. But a few, like the protection of innocent life, are essential.

Tomorrow is Election Day. And here’s some advice from Chuck Colson from a few years ago that applies even during this crazy 2016 campaign. “Vote as your conscience informs you. And allow your faith to inform your conscience.”

We must be morally informed and conscientious citizens who see voting as a civic duty. And to do so, we need to distinguish between those issues essential for Christians, and those that are matters of prudential judgment. As I wrote in an article for Decision magazine recently, the sacred value of every life, the essential institution that is marriage and family and the preservation of religious freedom are fundamental, essential issues. Others—such as minimum wage increases, gun control, education policy, health care—they matter, but they’re prudential. In fact, it will be impossible to get those issues right, if we don’t first establish that human value is intrinsic and universal, that no society survives without strong families, and that people are first of all allegiant to God, not the state.

When it comes to these essential issues, there can be no debate for Christians. Here at BreakPoint and the Colson Center, we’ll never tell you for whom to vote. But let me be blunt. The dignity of human life from conception through natural death is non-negotiable. And voting for a candidate or initiative that supports the killing of children in the womb or the early termination of the life of the elderly and the infirmed cannot be reconciled with the Christian faith.

As we say here often, politics isn’t everything, but it isn’t nothing, either. The fact is, one presidential candidate, during a nationally televised debate, defended not only abortion, but partial-birth abortion. And one party not only has forgotten its promise to make abortion “rare,” its current, 2016 platform supports the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which would force taxpayers—you and me—to pay for the abortions of Medicaid recipients.

In a powerful homily in October, the Very Reverend John Lankeit of the Phoenix Diocese told his Roman Catholic parishioners that they sin if they vote for candidates and platforms that support “intrinsic evils” such as abortion—harming their own souls and causing a scandal in the church. “Make no mistake,” he said. “There is no single issue that threatens innocent human life more directly, consistently, imminently, and urgently than the deliberate killing of baby boys and baby girls in their mother’s womb.” We have a “serious obligation to protect human life,” he added. “Whoever fails to do so, when able to do so, commits a serious sin of omission.”

Listen, voting is a moral act. But one nominee for vice president, like too many other politicians who claim Christian faith, says that though he is “personally opposed to abortion,” the government shouldn’t be involved in women’s “personal decisions.” One vice-presidential candidate received, despite his “personal convictions,” a “100 percent pro-choice voting record” designation from NARAL Pro-Choice America. There is no such thing as being personally opposed to abortion while publicly promoting it.

This candidate claims that his faith is central to everything he does, but as Bishop Thomas Tobin of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, said, “…apparently, and unfortunately, his faith isn’t central to his public, political life.”

The dignity of life is an essential issue for Christians. Period. It’s why I’ve spent considerable ink, airtime, energy, and strategy recently urging my fellow Coloradans to vote against Prop 106, which would legalize doctor assisted suicide.

Look, if we claim to be pro-life on Sundays, we must be pro-life on Election Tuesday as well. And, of course, the day after that and the day after that. In fact, we’ll be calling all BreakPoint listeners and readers to participate in March for Life and Sanctity of Life activities in January. And, our “21 Days for Life” Prayer guide, updated and expanded is back, and will soon be available as a downloadable app.

Until then, please vote. For Life.

A few excerpts from another of Chuck’s Articles

And let me say this. The next time you hear someone tell you that Christians ought to take a vacation from politics, tell them to go fly a kite. Listen, it’s our duty as citizens of the kingdom of God to be the best citizens of the society we live in.

If your pastor no longer has the energy or courage to motivate his flock to speak out on public issues, maybe you can lovingly “buck him up.” Remind him—or her—that God’s people are to love their neighbors, to desire the best for them, to pursue the common good. And we can’t do that on the political sidelines.

Go out and vote for the candidate of your choice. Vote as your conscience informs you. And yes, allow your faith to inform your conscience. But today of all days, thank God we still live in a free nation. So speak out. Exercise your right. Fulfill your duty. Go and vote.

Our Founders recognized that true rights come not from government, but from God Himself. Government must not take those rights away.

And to protect those rights, we must vote.

“A private faith that does not act in the face of oppression is no faith at all.” – William Wilberforce

Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor. 

Charles H. Spurgeon

Why All The Silence, God – Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer

God’s silence should never be interpreted as the indifference of God.

The silence of God should be interpreted as part of the purpose of God.

How else can we grow in faith?

We know that God is with us, but sometimes it appears that He is not for us but against us.

Even John the Baptist had doubts.

Christians take promises that are intended for the future as if they are for today, then wonder what is happening.

Trust Him no matter what.

That trust gladdens the heart of God.

Unanswered Prayer
Dr. Cindy Guthrie Ryan

The doctor delivered the news to the wife just after I introduced myself as the hospital chaplain, “Your husband has no heartbeat. He is not breathing on his own. We are working as hard as we can. But, it doesn’t look good.”

The wife’s shocked and terrified eyes met mine. Before I could offer to pray, she was on her knees there in the ER Family Room. No one ever gets good news in the Family Room. But, I’d never seen anyone go to their knees there either. Deep from her soul came the prayer, two words repeated over and over and over, “Please God, please God, please God, please, please, please.” I didn’t have much to add to the prayer, so I simply stayed beside her and added my own silent prayers for mercy, comfort, peace… anything at all.

Agonizing time went by until the doctor returned shaking his head. Her husband, age 49, was dead. The “Please God” prayers she’d prayed echoed around that tiny room mocking her faith and now mixing in with her cries of grief and anguish.

Studies have shown that people who pray and who have a spiritual component in their lives tend to experience less stress and depression; recover more quickly from illnesses and even live longer. Some studies have shown that specific prayers can actually cause a change in a person or a physical outcome. One study even showed that people who were being prayed for recovered more quickly than those who were not prayed for…even when all the subjects of the study didn’t know anyone was praying. Prayer is powerful.

But what do we say about unanswered prayers; those prayers that seem to fall into a black hole? What do we say when entire communities are praying for the child with leukemia and still he dies? What do we say when planes crash, buildings collapse, wars rage, illness strikes or one particular family suffers cruel loss after cruel loss? What if 10,000 Disciples pray and our denomination still declines?

You’ve seen it and so have I. Maybe you’ve even been in the midst of it. “Please God, please God, please.” You know that gut wrenching, from-the-heart prayer.

Once, in the midst of an uncertain time, I became bold enough to demand that God speak to me and answer my distress. I asked for an answer, for direction, anything…and then I listened. Never in my life, have I heard such deafening, sickening silence. All I could hear was nothing.

What do we say to that? How powerful is prayer when it comes from deep within us but seemingly God is busy with other things? How powerful is prayer when it encompasses all we are, all we feel and all we desire and God silently turns away?

In the area of spirituality and theology, experts abound. I’ve heard and read many “experts” postulating why some prayers go unanswered. Some say prayers go unanswered because the one praying has forgiveness issues to resolve. Others say it is because we don’t know how to pray as we ought to. Some say unanswered prayers are simply the ones which don’t align with God’s will or that we are not in proper fellowship with God. Others theorize that it must be that the person praying is lacking faith. One scholar even denied the reality of unanswered prayers saying simply, “there is no such thing as an unanswered prayer.” Country singer Garth Brooks even managed to get in on the theories singing “…some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.”

I’m not sure any of the theories hold up if you are the one on your knees in the ER family room pleading, “Please God, please God, please.” Or, if you are Jesus crying out to God, “…if you are willing, let this cup pass from me….” (Luke 22:42). Or Paul who writes of asking God over and over to remove his thorn in the flesh, but it did not happen. (2 Corinthians 12: 8-9). Unanswered prayers are when the husband dies anyway; when the cup does not pass from even Jesus’ lips; when Paul’s thorn is not removed, not the first time or the second time or even the third time he asks. It simply does not happen.

Truly, if prayers are answered or not based on our ability to be close to God, fully forgiving, properly faithful and only asking for the “right” things, then I imagine we are all in trouble. If somehow the answer to prayer depends upon our prayer technique and our ability to properly attach ourselves to God, then, let’s face it, we’re doomed.

The older I get, the more years I spend in ministry and in parenting and in life, I find the less expertise I have…the less I really have to say about anything. I really don’t know why life is so painful for some. I really don’t know what to say about some of the tragedy, injustice or evil I’ve seen. If someone asks me a “why” question these days, I certainly don’t try to answer it, what do I know, after all?

But, one thing I do know is that when we pray…when we fall to our knees crying, “Please God” or when we demand an answer or join with a whole community in praying or when we simply sit beside someone silently praying for some unnamed something… we have moved from the place where we control our destiny to a different place. When we realize we just might not be able to figure this one out on our own… when we realize that our physical lives are finite and that the people we care about will not be around forever…when we arrive at that place…the place of crying out… of falling down…of screaming kinds of prayers…no matter what the answer or lack of answer… we’ve arrived. “Please God, please God, please” is just another way of saying “Suddenly, I realize I am not going to be able to handle this alone. I am not going to be able to control it, fix it, outsmart it or micromanage it. My life, O God, is in your hands I am in your hands.”

When we get there, to that soul-laid-out before-God-place, we’ve arrived. When we stand or kneel or lay ourselves out before God, vividly aware that this life is not all about us…or our requests…then we have arrived at the incredible place of trusting in the mystery and the love which gave us life in the first place. It is the place where we know without a doubt that we are not our own, we are God’s. At that place, it is not the answers that matter so much as to Whom we belong.

I’ve seen people who have lived through horrendous losses and tragedies, and yet somehow have peace. Clearly, their most fervent prayers went unanswered. Peace and comfort and inner joy probably don’t come from specific prayers answered or not answered…those gifts must come from finding oneself face to face with God and enfolded in something bigger than even the stumbling words of our very best prayers. To finally understand that we are utterly and completely God’s, and to, in that same moment, be wrapped in the transforming light of God’s presence, is to have arrived.

“Please God; please God, please, please, please.” Maybe it’s not so much the answer that brings the power to our prayers, it’s simply the place.

Learning To Listen – Listening To Learn

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August 29, 2005 saw one of the most deadly storms of recent U.S. history hit the shores of New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina unleashed 100+ mph winds and torrential rains across the city. The storm, over 400 miles in diameter, didn’t just leave wind and rain in its wake, it also led to the failure of the city’s aging levee system which caused massive destruction and even death across the city. For anyone who remembers seeing those images, you also saw the chaos and helplessness that followed as people were being rescued off rooftops by boat. Many took shelter in the Superdome which was also a scene of chaos and violence itself. It was a shocking and horrific scene, one which we are not accustomed to seeing in the U.S., and the recovery is still ongoing.

In the days that followed, many of those evacuated from New Orleans came to cities in Texas who rose to the challenge in an honorable and compassionate way by providing shelter, food and other necessary services. One of those places of refuge was the (now dismantled) Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas. It is in that setting this story takes place.

I had been called as part of a team of volunteer chaplains to go in to Reunion and provide pastoral care to one of the first groups that arrived. I don’t mind confessing my anxiety as I entered the arena. I had no idea what to expect and I was fearful considering all I had seen at the Superdome. It was full of people of all ages, some milling about the concourse and some sitting on the rows and rows of green army cots that had been set up on the floor. However, it was quiet and orderly and I was encouraged to see so much help available to the evacuees.

I stood for a moment at the chaplains’ table where we were headquartered and prayed for “holy radar” – that God would lead me to the people who needed my help. As I walked along the rows of cots, mostly empty with a few adults and children scattered about, I noticed in particular one frail woman sitting very properly, knees together and hands folded resting on her lap. I sat down on the cot next to hers, our knees facing, and asked if she would like to talk. She readily accepted my offer.

And then, in a very quiet, measured voice, she began to tell me her story. She and her husband lived in one of the many homes that had flooded and had to be rescued from their rooftop. Not only that, but they were also caretakers to her disabled mother who had been a stroke patient. The mother was totally bed-ridden. As they were deposited from the boat onto dry land, they somehow made their way, with the mother, to the Superdome. Soon after they got there her husband realized it was not a good place to be and insisted they leave. He didn’t know how, but he knew they couldn’t stay in a place so volatile and desperate. So again, all three of them made their way down the highway. They walked for miles, each carrying the disabled mother, until the mother couldn’t take the stress any longer. She died along the way. Another victim of Hurricane Katrina.

The couple had no choice but to continue to walk, in spite of their grief and shock and with the body in tow. Soon after, a truck came along the road, miraculously driven by an acquaintance of the husband. The bed of the truck was already full of people trying to leave the city. The lady went on to tell me how her husband begged the man to please give them a ride as he was their only hope. The driver finally agreed, under one condition, “You can’t bring that body,” he said.

So, with tears streaming down her face but still perfectly composed, the lady looked at me and said, “So I had to leave my mother on the side of the road. That’s the hardest thing I ever did.” And then she said one thing I will never forget as long as I live, “Thank you for letting me tell you my story.”

Thank me? Thank me? I sat in stunned silence as the magnitude of what I had just heard set in. I couldn’t have spoken if I had wanted to. Even today the story overwhelms me. But it taught me a valuable lesson – which is many times the most beneficial thing we can do for each other is to listen to one another’s stories. I am reminded of a quote, “Over and over again, I am struck by the transforming significance and profound simplicity of the ministry of listening.”

James 1:19 gives us a Scriptural example, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” (NKJV). Scripture itself encourages us to be quick to hear and slow to speak. Two perfect guidelines for practicing pastoral care skills to those in need of comfort or just affirmation. Be ready to listen, and slow to speak.

However, this skill does not come naturally to most of us, and to become a good listener requires focus and practice as does the acquisition of any worthwhile skill. Our minds are busy; we’re thinking of what we have to do that day, we’re distracted by our cell-phones, our iPads, our own thoughts, we’re thinking about what we’re going to say next, we glance at our watch, we fidget. In other words, we want our friend to hurry up and talk so we can get on with our lives. But is this helpful? Is it healing? Does this show respect? And most of all, is this how Jesus encountered others?

No. Jesus stopped. He listened. Jesus was fully present with all He encountered – He gave them His full attention. He called people by their name. He let them tell their story. He was never in a hurry. He mourned with them and was present in their pain.

As members of the body of Christ, and particularly women who have sought out this article to read, you WILL have the opportunity to do this. When people are in crisis, grief or pain, they need someone to share it with. Always remember, at times like this your presence and keen listening may be your greatest gift. Dietrich Bonheoffer said, “Christians so often think they must always contribute something when they are in the company of others – that is the one service they have to render. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking.”

And here’s another Bonheoffer quote of encouragement, “The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship is listening to them. Just as the love of God begins with listening to His word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is listening to them. It is God’s love for us that He not only gives us His word, but also lends us His ear.”

So how do we do this? What are the skills necessary to become a good listener? Below I will list 10 Tools for Effective Listening. Prayerfully and patiently begin to incorporate these into the next time you are in the position someone needs a sympathetic ear.

• Face the speaker – maintain eye contact
• Be attentive, yet relaxed
• Keep an open mind – do not judge
• Listen to the words and try to picture in your mind the event or thought being described
• Do not interrupt!
• Do not impose your solutions or try to fix
• Wait for the speaker to pause to ask limited clarifying questions. Ask questions for clarification only, not to probe for further details or to be intrusive.
• Try to feel what the speaker is feeling
• Give the speaker regular feedback; restate, summarize, reflect, validate, encourage
• Pay attention to what isn’t said – feelings, facial expressions, gestures, posture or other non-verbal cues

Please note that you should always hold everything your friend has said in the strictest of confidence, even if that has not been stated. People are sometimes unusually open and vulnerable in times of crisis and nothing they say needs to be repeated outside of the confidence in which they have spoken to you.

Perhaps another way to look at being a good listener is to look at the other side of the coin. How do you know when someone is NOT listening? My husband and I were at a Family Life conference once and the speaker shared the following. After the session, I quickly went to the front and asked if he would share this with me, which I copied from his notes (written by Dave Rober):

I’m Not Listening

When I’m thinking about an answer while others are talking, I’m not listening.

When I give unsolicited advice, I’m not listening.

When I suggest they shouldn’t feel the way they do, I’m not listening.

When I apply a quick fix, I’m not listening.

When I fail to acknowledge their feelings, I’m not listening.

When I fail to maintain eye contact, I’m not listening.

When I don’t ask follow-up questions, I’m not listening.

When I top their story with a bigger, better story of my own, I’m not listening.

When they share a difficult experience and I counter with one of my own, I’m not listening.

Really, all I have to do is listen. I don’t have to talk, just listen.

We are all guilty of some of these, and most of the time we mean well – we really do want to help and be a good friend, we just don’t have the tools. It has been the goal of this article to give you the ability and some concrete methods of being the good listener and friend we desire to be. Be patient with yourself. As stated earlier, proficiency requires practice, but you can do this. Not only will you succeed, with the power of the Holy Spirit, you can be an outstanding representative of Him.

You have sought this website and this article because you are in ministry or you are looking for Bible-based tools to help you in your journey. Hopefully, you see now the tool of being a good listener doesn’t just have value within the body of Christ – it has value in every area of your life. These skills transfer. You will be a better spouse, parent, employee, professional, staff member, or whatever. Ask God to help you do this – He will. And the more you employ the practice of being a good listener, the better you will become, showing His love to all through your compassion and presence.

“The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive.”

Proverbs 16:21

The best book I’ve ever read on health – Prescription for Life

Basically it says we need to do three things:

• Keep our weight close to ideal.

• Watch what we eat.

• Exercise property.

Correct weight and exercise do not totally compensate for eating badly.

Interview with my Grandmother before she passed at over 100 years of age

What is most important in raising kids?

The parents should teach them principles, like respecting other people.

Teach them to believe in God and take them to church (I know that some of my family members aren’t going to church, but that’s not my fault.).

Teach your children the meaning of marriage and commitment-the meaning of “For better or worse.”

Get married instead of living together.

Teach them about money-don’t live beyond your means-Don’t get into too much debt

What is the most important faith principle life has taught you?

My mom taught me to go to church and to believe in God

I attended Catholic School in Lansing Iowa and learned about God

Everybody should get baptized and go to church.

Grandpa and I made it a practice to go often

What were some of your favorite things to cook when you were raising a family?

We always used what we had.

We raised chickens and eggs, milked cows and sold cream.

We grew our own wheat and I ground my own flour.

I cooked a lot of meat and potatoes and made my own bread

One of my favorite things to make when the kids were young was deer steak and gravy for breakfast

I remember the first cake I made for Grandpa. I forgot to put the baking powder in. When I took it out of the oven it was flat.

What do you think good eating habits are?

Don’t drink too much coffee.

Drink milk and eat plenty of good vegetables (like broccoli and cabbage), roughage is important.

Eat fruit and drink at least 8 glasses of water a day.

What would you advise people about spending their money?

Watch for bargains.

Be frugal with your money.

We always watched what we spent so we had money left to retire on.

Give to other people.

Give to places like food banks, schools, the Red Cross, etc.

Learn to do things for yourselves like sewing, cooking, carpentry, etc. so you can save money.

If you could have done something different in your life, what would it have been?

I can’t think of doing anything differently.

Sometimes it was hard but it was good.

Do you miss Grandpa?

Yes, but grandpa couldn’t hear or see very well and he was ready to go.

What do we take for granted (i.e. did you have running water growing up)?

We take too much for granted.

We didn’t have running water so we had to pack water for cooking, baths, washing clothes, and doing dishes.

I think that we sometimes take good health for granted.

Grandpa had lost a lot of hearing and sight, he got so he couldn’t read the newspaper anymore.

We were fortunate that our health was so good for a lot of years because we didn’t have ready access to doctors.

We did some home remedy stuff instead of seeing a doctor.

What kind of books do you like to read?

I enjoy gardening books and recipe books, that’s why I had so many at the house.

I helped to write a book called “Echoing Footsteps.” It is a history book about Powder River County.

You have lived through the “Great Depression”. How did you manage your finances, budget the money that you made?

First of all, we went without a lot of things.

We exchanged goods with other people.

I sewed for others to make a little money.

When we would get a loan from the bank we tried not to borrow too much so we would be sure to pay it back.

Do you have any other words of wisdom that you would pass on to the rest of us?

Always treat others the way you would like to be treated.

Take time to pray everyday.

I read my daily “Missal,” it’s a daily devotional booklet, too.

Be thankful in everything, each new day is a blessing.

And remember that family is important.

I always enjoyed getting together with everyone.