For me, Labor Day until the week before Thanksgiving is travel season, as I head to fundraising dinners and events, spreading our message. It is the perfect time for random thoughts to turn into ideas. This one started with an acronym:
"P.I.C.N.I.C."
Talking with an airline check-in agent in Richmond, Va., I said something she appreciated and her response was, “Now I’ve learned two new things today!”
Which led me to ask what that first idea happened to be.
“P.I.C.N.I.C.,” she told me. "When someone has a technical issue, they want to blame it on the device," she said. "It means, 'Problem In Chair, Not In Computer. So, P.I.C.N.I.C.'"
As I settled into the plane later on, the thought hit me that the P.I.C.N.I.C. acronym has some application to all of us in the life community. I’m not talking in terms of problems, but in terms of how we face our challenges. One such challenge is those who oppose us. What do we do with them? How do we face them down?
[Click here to subscribe to Pregnancy Help News!]
Yet, our overall issue is not with Planned Parenthood or the abortion industry. Our challenge is ourselves.
In Biblical times, there were always enemies out there. The Amalekites kept popping up in Israel’s face. There were plenty of other “Ites,” I know. In the New Testament, Jesus had the Pharisees, the Sadducees and religious leaders.
The disciples too, had the same enemies and more. They hardly went a day without harassment, persecution or worse. They didn’t have any opportunity to defund anyone.
This isn’t to say we shouldn’t be wholehearted in attempting to convince our representatives and our culture that ending the terror reign of Planned Parenthood is important. It is and we should.
Yet the problem is not that Planned Parenthood has a boatload of cash and an endowment that would make many universities envious. Our problem is not that abortion is a lucrative industry, protected by our political class. Our problem is not that the Supreme Court turns a blind eye to justice for the most innocent among us.
No.
Tweet This: Our mission is to eclipse #PPAct and other #abortion businesses with life-saving care. @KirkWalden
Our mission—not a problem, but a mission—is to eclipse the Planned Parenthoods and other abortion-related entities in reaching not only those facing unplanned pregnancies, but all who are at risk today because of choices made. We must eclipse their influence, regardless of their funding or their political clout.
We accomplish this because of two undeniable truths:
• All lives are important in any society. Every. Single. One.
• People waiting for their initial birthday are people, too
We know the first truth from any objective study of culture. We know the second from any objective study of science.
Planned Parenthood’s influence or its bank account doesn’t change our mission. The abortion industry doesn’t change our mission. The Supreme Court doesn’t change our mission.
Our mission is one in which God is not only interested, he is absolutely invested in our success. We need to get that. We’re on the right side here. And we see in the Bible example after example of those who both knew they were on the side of God and were absolutely committed to seeing victory on behalf of the God they served.
This is how the Israelites finally entered The Promised Land. This is how Israel, under David’s leadership, not only conquered the Philistines but became the world’s leader. This is how Nehemiah built a wall of hope for his people.
In the New Testament, this is how Peter reached 3,000 with a new message of redemption. This is why the apostles were accused in Acts 17:6 of “turning the world upside down” with this same message.
Tweet This: "Let's never limit God's ability to work through us." @KirkWalden #DefundPP #prolife
Friends, when I think of the acronym “P.I.C.N.I.C.,” it is not to say we have a problem. But we do need to look in the mirror if we want to see the end of abortion in our society.
It is us who must make our pregnancy help organizations all they need to be in order to reach our culture. I’m not talking about being “relevant” in the sense that we need to take on all of the world’s ideas and engraft them into our work.
But we are responsible for understanding the thinking of those we want to see. We are responsible for responding to their needs with the best we have. And we are responsible for one more thing:
We must believe.
If any of us is thinking, “The opposition is just too overwhelming,” we must believe as David, who didn’t see a giant, but instead saw an opportunity for victory.
[Click here to subscribe to Pregnancy Help News!]
If any of us is thinking, “We don’t have the money” to initiate true change, we must believe as Nehemiah and be prepared to ask when we need to ask. We must have the strength to believe that God is bigger than the size of our town and stronger than the economic conditions we face.
And if any of us is thinking, “This tragedy is going to be with us always; things are only getting worse in our society and all we can do is slow it down,” may God forgive us.
Who are we to tell God he cannot bring a new awakening to our society? Are we modern-day Jonahs, convinced of Nineveh’s downfall? Or are we modern-day Pauls, Peters, Johns and James, determined to reach out and bring new life to the culture in which we live?
Let’s reach out. Let’s press on. Let’s never limit God’s ability to work through us.
Is this a P.I.C.N.I.C.? No, nothing like that. We are not the problem. But the abortion industry is not our major problem either.
Our organizations and centers are however, at a point of opportunity—a moment in time where we can influence a culture as we exercise our faith. Let’s seize this opportunity. Today.
Kirk Walden is a senior writer with Pregnancy Help News, an Advancement Specialist with Heartbeat International and author of The Wall. For banquet speaking engagements,
