We are back on the road!  And thanks to Sarah Durling and Josh Cummings joining us at the last minute, we finally have a full team!

This week reminded me of just a few of the reasons that I love my job and my team.  Not only did we get to do outreach in two different states, and reach thousands of students with the pro-life message, but we are driving through some of the most beautiful landscape in the country.

Here's a story from day 3 on the road.  In Las Vegas, the team and I spent time with two former Operation Rescue leaders. They have traveled the country for years and years doing pro-life activism and evangelization.

They told us crazy stories, like how they left their jobs as police officers to join the Operation Rescue movement, and how they would share the Gospel with people in jail and convert all of the inmates they were with. They mentioned how when they stopped for gas during their travels, they would go in and ask if the stations sold pornography before they decided to fill up.  If the gas stations did sell pornography, the couple would explain the evil of pornography, and then leave to get gas at only stations that didn't sell it.  The next day, we drove to Utah, and when we stopped for gas, Emily asked, "Should we ask if they sell porn?"  Mary Rose and I didn't want to say yes and have to go through the trouble of doing this at every gas stop, possibly having to drive to another gas station . . . but we were so convicted!

Then, as Emily went in to ask, Mary Rose said, "That's the danger of exposing Emily to radical ideas..."  We chuckled at the irony of the statement.  Taking a stand for faith and morals really isn’t that radical -- we’re just lazy!  If only more young people were as radical as Emily, we could end evils like abortion and pornography easily!

I love having young activists on the team.  They are chomping at the bit to change the world, and they remind me not to become lazy or complacent.  We should all challenge ourselves to confront the Culture of Death, even when it’s uncomfortable, and even when it seems crazy or radical.  Actually, what Jesus asks of us daily is pretty radical:

He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?  What could one give in exchange for his life?  Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”  Mark 8:34-38

Emily reported that when she went into the gas station to ask if they sold pornography, she was nervous.  Her voice shook because she just wanted to get it over with.  The only attendant available was male, so the whole situation was a little embarrassing.  The attendant asked, “Can I help you...?”  Emily blurted, “Do you sell porn?”  He chuckled and said, “No...”  And she responded with a sigh of relief, “Oh good, now I can give you my business.”  In the end, she said he looked as relieved as she did.  He was glad she asked, and respected her for doing so.  You see, there really is no need to be ashamed of the Gospel.  I am grateful for Emily’s courageous example.

If you are also grateful for Emily’s courageous example, please help us get to our next campuses. If you would like to specifically help us with gas money, we will be sure to spend it at the right stations!

Fiat Vita,

Kristina