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| Colorado State Children's Home, 1950's |
My birth-parents were not married (at least to one another),
so my mother’s pregnancy was anything but a happy event. They conceived me in
Ohio, but she traveled all the way to Denver to deliver me. I spent my first
weeks of life at the Colorado State Children’s Home.
From there my parents adopted me when I was only a few
months old. Dad was in his late 40’s and mom was 36. We lived on a farm in Western Colorado, and I had a wonderful childhood. I became a Christian in my teens, and have always been
grateful for the life and the eternal life God gave me.
Even in the 1950’s abortion was available and would have been
a “live option” (ironic play on words intended). I had the opportunity some
years back to meet my birth-mother, and I made sure to thank her for giving me
life.
If I could have voted in the womb, I would have voted to
live. Tragically 56 million babies since 1973 did not get a chance to choose
life.
Now, all these years later, I've had the privilege of
studying God’s word and trying to look at life and death, time and eternity,
from His point of view. Here are three conclusions I've reached.
1. A baby is a miracle. A lot of people might accept that
statement, but they might just mean that God established the reproductive
biology that yields a baby. But the Scripture says a whole lot more than that.
The most illuminating passage in all God’s word on this subject
describes what happens in the womb. It turns out that God is intimately
involved in the miracle of life.
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:13-16)
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| Mom, Dad, and me (age 1) |
2. A baby is the answer to someone’s prayers. Today in church
we studied the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, who had prayed for years for a
baby. Now in “advanced years,” God dispatched the angel Gabriel to tell them he
had heard their prayers. Their son was John the Baptist. (See Luke 1:5-25,57-62.)
In my story I’m pretty sure my birth-parents didn't pray for
a baby. They probably were ashamed and dismayed that their affair resulted in
an unplanned pregnancy. But my real parents (“real parents” are the ones who
raise you) had prayed for a baby. After 16 years of marriage and multiple miscarriages,
God sent me.
3. A baby is God’s plan in human flesh. God has a plan for
each life, whether He gives a person 100 years on this planet, or only a few
hours. The Lord said of Jeremiah,
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. (Jeremiah 1:5)
Here is part of God’s plan for me, and a bunch of reasons I’m
glad I got to live.
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| Another baby has been born to our family since this was taken. |
