Like most of Eugene, and perhaps all of Oregon, I watched the Oregon Ducks play the Ohio Buckeyes for the Collegiate National Championship in January. I wanted to watch Marcus Mariota, a rare athletic role model these days:  clean cut, honorable, and well-loved by his teammates. He is a humble, modest quarterback and has led his team to an outstanding record of wins. His graciousness to both his opponents and his fellow teammates through all of these wins is admirable. The unexpected trouncing the Ducks experienced in the Championship game was a shock to all, including Mariota. As an insensitive TV reporter shoved a mic in Mariota’s face following the defeat, asking him “how he felt”, you could see dried tears on his face. He said a few good words about his teammates and then ”this just sucks.”

Yes, Marcus, losing “sucks”. But I can promise you that you will learn more through losing than winning. I know this, because as a pro-life leader, I have won some and lost many. But through it all, losing has taught me, as well as the entire pro-life movement, invaluable lessons. I am thankful for what we have learned as it has made us more compassionate and effective as we work in this life-saving ministry.

While I could write a book on what losing has taught me, I will just name a few valuable lessons I have learned in the twenty-five years I have been involved with the pro-life ministry:

• Saving babies, our original goal, is also about saving their mothers from predicaments they find themselves in, making them think they have no choice but abortion.
• Trying to stop these pressured mothers from choosing abortion needs to be done with sensitivity, compassion, and prayer. In spite of this, we still lose many.
• Millions of women surround us, many sitting in church pews next to us, who suffer silently every single day, the torture of a regretted abortion.  Sensitivity and prayer are needed to minister to them.
• The general public, as well as church attenders, fall prey to the euphemisms and outright lies spoken loudly and frequently by the pro-abortion defenders. Reaching them with the truth is a long, arduous process, done in the power of prayer
• There is NO ONE WAY to reach the public with the truth about abortion. Because people come from different backgrounds and prejudices, many ways of imparting the truth must be used, all encased in prayer.
• There is NO QUICK, EASY way to overturn legalized abortion. Roe v. Wade must come down first, which requires a majority of the Supreme Court justices to read the Constitution as it was written, not in a “new constructivism” liberal manner.
• There are still divides among pro-life groups, each thinking its own way is THE way to stop abortion. We must agree to stop attacking each other and instead seek unity as we go forward, agreeing to follow our individual paths while still respecting each other.
• This great battle we are in is a spiritual battle which pits God, the author of Life, against Satan, the lover of death and destruction.  Our work must be fueled by the power of prayer and empowered by the Hand of God.

We are learning well and are now transforming losing into winning.  Abortions in Oregon are at an all-time low since Roe v Wade. Babies are being saved because of the good work of pro-lifers across the state.  Keep up the good work!