“Go home. You don’t belong here.”

The words penetrated the drone of the school bus as I peered through the condensation on the windows into the cold gray Chicago cityscape on January 11, 2020.

Only an hour before, we had been in the welcoming warmth of the Commons, arranging the March for Life hats, hand warmers, snacks, and bottles of water to be gathered by the 109 attendees before boarding the chartered buses and heading downtown. On tables in the large meeting room lay signs that had been painted at the Sanctity of Human Life Committee’s sign painting party the week before, waiting to be retrieved by their creators for display during the march. High school and college students, singles, couples, and families collected their hats and snacks, perused the signs, and talked quietly while waiting for the event overview to begin. Guidelines and procedures were reviewed, a prayer was said, and bus loading commenced. Once all were present and accounted for, the buses rolled out of the parking lot and headed downtown.

Bring Illinois back to life!

Having not been on a school bus in decades, I had forgotten how noisy they were. There were conversations taking place around us, and my daughter and I initially tried to hear and be heard, but we eventually lapsed into silence and looked out the window. We were about three quarters of the way to our destination when I heard the voice, clear as day, telling me that we were not welcome; reminding me that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)

Abortion: One heart stops, another heart breaks.

This was not the first sign of the opposition we faced surrounding this event. Already that morning the bus company had called to inquire if we still planned to go downtown that day. (Well, yes… why do you ask?) There was a situation, and they had to scramble to replace a driver for the fourth bus. Our driver was called in on his day off, and graciously agreed to drive us. We were thankful for the Lord’s provision, and for our driver’s positive attitude, despite the inconvenience.

A person’s a person, no matter how small

When we arrived downtown, the buses let us out across from the Congress Plaza Hotel, where the march was to end, and we began our mile-long walk to the Daley Plaza where the rally was held. Our group gathered for pictures and then blended in with the crowd to listen to the speakers, who united and encouraged us with their exhortations on the theme “Life Empowers: Pro Life is Pro Woman.” The last speaker got everyone psyched up to start the march, and the group of young people carrying the street-wide “Life is Beautiful” banner led the way down Washington Street toward Michigan Avenue.

Save the baby humans

Across the street, those who had come to protest our stand for the lives of the unborn held their signs aloft as we passed. The media who interviewed both sides for the news report declared them “pro-choice;” we were labelled “anti-abortion.”

Social justice begins in the womb.

We were absorbed into a sea of people of all ages in winter coats and hats and gloves, holding up signs and phones and cameras, following the drum cadence down the street. We walked and held our signs and phones and cameras, occasionally passing or being passed by someone in a white and light blue March for Life hat. Here, a father with his high school-aged daughter followed by three middle aged men. There, a couple, each with a child strapped to their chest, walking next to an older gentleman pushing his wife’s wheelchair. Interspersed throughout were groups of young people holding signs saying, “Love Life, Choose Life” and “I am the pro-life generation.” Onlookers watched from the sidewalk, and from the windows of the office buildings that lined the street. Police officers on foot and on horseback blocked the intersections and looked on with varying degrees of interest. We turned on Michigan Avenue and walked back to our point of origin, where the marchers collected and mingled, and we gathered and waited for our group to reassemble for the bus ride back to the church.

Every life is precious.

I am so thankful that we have the opportunity to participate in this annual event. The next March for Life event will be January 23, 2021. Information / registration can be found by clicking here.

This photo verse art is how I processed and summarized my experience of the day; the stark reality of abortion in Illinois standing rigid and bleak against the clear but barely audible voices of a few, and against the Most High God, the giver 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 139:14-16