At one of our social justice and charitable outreach commission meetings, a discussion was held about the "crosses for life" which are about to appear once again on the front lawn of the church. The crosses, for those who don't know, represent the lives of children who have been aborted from their mother's womb and have been denied the opportunity and "right" to come into this world and come to know, love and serve God! The allowance and even promotion of abortion in our life-times, is one of the most abhorrent of realities that we have lived through and led the late Pope (and now) Saint John Paul II to call our times a culture of death, rather than a culture of life. Add to this the senseless and ongoing killing of people that continues to happen through gun violence and other means and we have to say that the killing of people (especially those innocents inside and outside of the wombs) keeps us in a darkness that we must decry and combat through the light and life that is Jesus Christ! Getting back to the crosses for life, there was discussion about whether the crosses are necessary any more given the overturning of the Roe v Wade decision by our Supreme Court which was a huge legal step, but unfortunately did not speak of every human being's "right to life" which is so foundational for a society to be moral and obedient to a God who creates life and NOT death! While at this point, (and hopefully in the future) abortions are now illegal in Arkansas, given the efforts of our state legislature and governor to establish such laws, we are still facing the possibility that an amendment to our state constitution might still appear on the ballot this November which would, if passed, allow abortions to happen legally in our state for years to come. If anything, we should not only put up the crosses this year FOR SURE, but cooperate with efforts to defeat that amendment at the ballot box (if God-forbid it is on the ballot) and elect people on the state AND national level who are truly and fully pro-life, protecting and promoting human life from the womb to the tomb. The reality is that the pro-abortion supporters are strong on the national level and have been spurred on rather than deterred (or even converted) since the overturning of Roe v Wade. We have to be even stronger in speaking up for the God-given right to life, over those who would WRONGLY put the right to liberty first and give it free reign to decide which lives should be protected and which shouldn't. It goes without saying that prayers need to be prayed daily for strength and courage for those who are striving to protect and promote the gift of human life AND conversion especially in those who implicitly or explicitly are promoting its destruction!