Warrior for Life - PART 2

PART 1 can be found here.

On Friday, March 21, 2014, as I was standing outside Planned Parenthood praying, I was led to pray that the Spirit would give Caleb a passion to use his warrior spirit to fight for the lives of the unborn. I don’t know quite why but I wasn’t expecting an answer to that prayer quite as soon as it came.

The following week, I was scheduled to pray on a Tuesday instead of a Friday. This meant Caleb would be coming along with me. I figured he could just hang out in the car entertaining himself with my phone or a book or the travel DVD player.

The night before when I was tucking him into bed, it was the usual routine of going over the plans for the following day. When I told him I was going to be praying with 40 Days for Life, he asked what he would be doing. I told him he would sit in the car and could look at books (I didn’t want to immediately offer the video entertainment).

Much to my surprise, he asked if he could stand with me. With slight hesitation, I said, “sure.” The hesitation came from having watched other moms helping their children respect the property of Planned Parenthood. But I decided that would be less of a challenge if Caleb was voluntarily there than just because I had not given him a choice in the matter.

When he found out that I usually hold a sign with a Bible verse on one side, he said he wanted to hold a sign and he knew what verse he wanted on it:

Be strong and courageous…

for the Lord your God will be with you.

–Joshua 1:9

It’s one of his memory verses from Awana. I couldn’t have picked a more fitting one. So the next morning, we made our sign. We also added these words:

“I AM ALIVE

BECAUSE MY BIRTH MOTHER

CHOSE LIFE.”

It was chilly, windy and drizzly but he was not deterred. Whenever anyone drove in or out of the parking lot, he held his sign out a little more defiantly. He was quickly discouraged that it didn’t keep anyone away. But I assured him that he has no idea how Jesus will use this in their life, even years from now. He stayed out there with us for a half an hour! Oh, and did I mention he wears flip flops year round?

Lest you think this kid is brain washed, let me assure you: he will not take my word for anything. Now, if Papa’s TV says it, on the other hand… ;) Seriously, though, I have to have a source list a page long for any point I am trying to make. Most seven year olds I have been around (and I have spent my share of time around kids), are by and large still pretty trusting of their parents. Caleb is an independent thinker and has been for years.

Whatever his convictions are and ultimately will be, are and will be his own.

That said, his Mama will continue to pray that that warrior spirit always fights to preserve life!

Warrior for Life - PART 1

Looking for Part 2? Here it is.

Caleb is passionate about weapons. Am I stating the obvious? We believe he was born with a warrior spirit. It is an inherent part of how who he was created to be.

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

A year or so ago, I asked Jesus what it would look like if that fascination with weapons were redeemed for His purposes. The answer I heard was that Caleb would fight to preserve life. Naturally, I began to pray that the Spirit would ignite this passion in his heart.

A little glimpse into an average dinner conversation in the Zerfoss home: I will often encourage Caleb to tell Joseph about his day. “Caleb, can you tell Dad something new you learned about penguins that you didn’t already know?” “I don’t remember.” Or, on Fridays, when he has spent the day away from both of us (with Grandma and his cousins), we’ll ask him about what they did, where they went. If we went by what he tells us, we would have to conclude it must be the most boring day of the week. His anticipation of Fridays tells us otherwise.

Enter, Friday, March 7, 2014. At dinner, I said, “Since you don’t really like to talk about your day, I thought maybe tonight I could tell you and Dad about what I did while you were with Grandma and the girls.”

Joseph, knowing I had spent my first of what would be six weekly, hour long peaceful prayer vigils outside our local Planned Parenthood with 40 Days for Life, interjected that he wasn’t sure Caleb was quite old enough to tackle that subject.

Unbeknownst not only to Caleb but to me as well, Joseph was hoping to pique Caleb’s curiosity. It worked. Especially because I respectfully voiced a differing opinion about Caleb’s readiness.

The timing was also providential. We were just around the corner from the SEVEN year anniversary of the first phone call we had gotten about a birth mom who wanted to interview us as potential adoptive parents for the son she was 38 weeks pregnant with.

We love to retell Caleb the story of how God brought him into our family. This time, we highlighted how his “tummy mommy,” Katrina, made the choice of life for him, rather than choosing abortion. And from there I went on to explain why I am passionate about praying for an end to abortion and would give some of my Friday time to that.

This has gotten rather long, so I’ll tell the part about Caleb joining me to pray in PART 2.