After we had participated in the Siege, and walked around, we saw the police getting the feeder ready for the march, and we decided to walk back over to the CCC and watch from there. It was about an 8th of a mile, and perfect weather. About halfway back to the march start, we saw a second group of people standing in silent prayer. There must have been several hundred people there, and I started getting choked up again, realizing that we had stretched out the borders, and filled them.

Throughout the day, as we saw people, I kept finding myself wanting to raise my fist and shout, in excitement and solidarity for what was happening. Then I would remember that they all had their mouths taped...

We kept walking and as we approached the underpass, we saw a big group of people walking toward us. It took a second for my eyes to adjust and realize the line reached all the way back to the horizon. They were a quiet group, 1 of 3 groups of 3000, marching with Life tape on their mouths, some with hands raised. Few people were talking, and you could feel the heaviness and the solemnity of the moment. It's not enough, some would say. It's just walking. Well, I was there and I can tell you that Heaven heard us. There is so, so much work to do. But for this day, we raised our silent cries to God.


I watched them coming. I stood on the sidewalk and cried as they walked past, every one person carrying this burden of the heart of God. Thousands of them, marching past. A half-mile away, Matt Gilman was leading worship at the CCC, and his voice rang out over the city, "Holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty." I took it to heart that God is holy, that He is above it all and that He sees. This evil WILL be overturned. Maybe this specific clinic, maybe not. But abortion, abortion will be outlawed in our lifetime.

I wrote this yesterday for my poetry blog.

Blush

Just the sound of walking
Shoes scraping against asphalt
Strollers whisking past, full of life
Overhead, behind and before us, angels sing Holy.

We are silent, because we can hear children screaming
We are silent, because their voice is denied
We are silent, because broken hearts make no sound
Hear our silent screams, you kings.
You will answer for every drop of blood.

Around us, trucks and helicopters and why, why, why, blaring from screens
“You should be ashamed” they say.
No, you should be ashamed.
Your hands are stained, and you have forgotten how to blush.

God, end abortion and send revival to America.

Monday morning we all woke up at the hotel and had some Texas shaped waffles and talked to a guy for a while in the breakfast room, and then cheerily walked out to our cars. Richy's voice was still gone, so we weren't planning to lead worship at the Catholic Charismatic Center (meeting place), but we were still trying to be there a little early.

And that is where fate, or the devil, bit us in the butt. We were sitting in various cars charging phones and sending texts here and there when Matt told Richy his truck had been broken in to. It took a second for me to realize what that meant.

I went and spread the word to the other cars and we all came and stood around kinda helplessly, making lists and trying to remember what had not been in the Tahoe. After a minute, the nausea hit us all as we realized how bad this was.

We all gathered in a circle to try to pray and make a plan. Richy led in prayer as we all stood behind the Tahoe with all its doors open. I had the hilarious thought of some guy sneaking up to the open door and stealing the remaining stands and boxes as we stood with our eyes closed. I started laughing, because I'm so spiritual like that, and then everybody wanted to know why, and then we all laughed and laughed. It's just like that, sometimes, you know? Everything is so, so dark and confusing and then this little ray of mischief hope peeks through and you realize you're going to make it.

We notified the hotel and the police, and then the public ASAP via our mobile devices. Then it was off to the march.

First we went to the CCC. There were thousands of people there, milling around, worshipping, waiting in line for Life tape. We were pretty late to that, so we hitched a ride in the back of Daniel's truck over to the proposed clinic site, where 950 were standing in a silent siege at that moment. (By the end of the day, they would count 4200 at the siege, making it the largest silent siege in history). Now, if you follow the history of Bound4Life, you might be shocked to know that this was my first real siege, i.e., the first time I have put Life tape on my mouth and stood in prayer. Every time our team has participated in one, I was elsewhere. So it was very meaningful for me to have my first stand in Houston.

We stood single file on the sidewalk surrounding the building, 3/4 of the way around... we weren't allowed to touch the grass, and that was as far as the sidewalk went. There were "spotters" from Planned Parenthood placed around the grounds to watch us, and the official word was if even one of our water bottles touched the grass, they would call the police. The police were there, anyway, so the worst I heard happening was someone getting a whistle blown at them. Ah, America.

I stood, with my back to the freeway, facing this 6-story building. Behind me, Houston roared with life and activity, but my eyes were open. I stared at the 3rd floor, which is being outfitted to be an international late-term abortion hub, and I thought about my children, the children that I gave birth to, at 24 weeks. The only words in me, the only cry in my heart, was the 22 word Life Prayer. "Jesus, I plead Your blood, over my sins, and the sins of my nation. God, end abortion and send revival to America." Then, "End abortion, end abortion. Oh, God. End abortion." There is no eloquence, there are no words, there is no inpsired speech to combat this horror. Just, "Oh, God. Oh, God. End this thing."

Later, we walked the line and saw the hundreds, tape covering their mouths to symbolize the silence of the unborn, eyes closed, heart-prayers lifted. Black and Latino, white and Asian. I tried to take pictures to capture the enormity, the solemnity, but they can't communicate how it felt. It felt like hope, like this tangible hope hanging thickly overhead.

I'll stop here, before the march, because this is already looooong.

To be continued, again...

I am feeling quite revived currently, from eating Chinese food all ALONE and then going to the thrift store ALONE. I heart ALONE, on occasion.

Now, about Texas. Lemme explain. No, let me sum up… we arrived in Texas on January 2^nd and then we started playing and doing pre-call rallies at churches and showing the bound4life video and promoting the events on January 17^th and 18^th. Probably my favorite pre-call day was Saturday the 16^th, when we played at a men’s conference in the morning and then a citywide youth thing in the evening.

About the morning: the men’s conference was filled up- about 80% of the participants were guys involved in rehabilitation and recovery from drugs or alcohol. This is one of my very favorite crowds to work with because they have been forgiven much, and they love much. They worshipped from overflowing hearts and blessed us SO much. I hope we get to go back there someday and do more ministry.

Saturday night we played at the Core and we rocked the heck. It was one of those flying nights- the band was in sync after all those weeks of playing together, and we gave it our all. Literally. We woke up on Sunday with no voices, from a combo of sickness and overuse. J Worth it. (also, little did we know this would be the last time we would play our instruments. What a way to go)

Sunday was theCall and we were scheduled to play last, at 10:15 pm. Our assignment is usually breakthrough either before theCall or at the beginning, so this was a change of pace and we were looking forward to blasting some high praise.

Except… we had no voices. We babied our throats all day, Richy drinking honey straight from the bottle and both of us swigging gallons of hot tea. We thought maybe it would work, but by the time we got up there for soundcheck, it was clear. Richy’s voice was gone. He made the decision to give up our slot, and not try to make something work. And it was God, you know? I would have expected us to be crushed- all those weeks of work leading up to this moment of being able to play together, in our home city, in front of this crowd.

Instead, we were glad to hand it over to Eddie James and let him tear it up for an extra 40 minutes. I’m not saying that because we’re so humble and holy- just we had so much grace. It was fun to be in the audience during Eddie’s set, dancing like fools.

Participation in theCall was awesome. I don’t have an official number of attendees, but I’ve heard 10,000. We were so excited to be a part, and to ask God corporately to turn the tide in Houston.

To be continued…

Ooooh, so y'all are all snarky and stuff, all like, I'll comment when you BLOG and such... Shoot. If you knew the frustration of being largely internet-less, you would have some sympathy.

I have an internet signal right now, here at the ol' hotel. Who knows if it will last long enough for me to post this blog... only God. And He probably has more important stuff on his mind. So, if the interwebs holds up here, this post will actually be published.

Some event details: tonight Radiant leads worship at Fairmont Church in Pasadena, at 7. Tomorrow night we have a citywide youth concert/gathering at the Core at Willowbrook Assembly (Houston), and then Sunday night is theCall, we lead worship at 10:15(ish) pm, and Monday is the Justice March. THEN, I will talk about something else, probably. Well, after the recap, anyways.

More specifics about theCall and the march:

Sunday, January 17th Location @ 6:00PM We are calling for the pro-LIFE people of Houston, Texas, and America to gather Sunday night, January 17th, 2010 for four (4) hours of prayer for spiritual awakening and justice, from 6:00pm to 11:00pm at Grace Community Church.
Grace Community Church
South Campus
14505 Gulf Freeway
Houston, TX 77034
Parking on Sunday is limited. Please utilize carpools.

Monday, January 18th Location @ 9:30 AM
On January 18th, on Martin Luther King Jr.’s holiday, we will gather by the thousands to launch a silent prayer march through the streets to the abortion “super center” for the nationwide press conference and prayer stand.
Catholic Charismatic Center
1949 Cullen Blvd.
Houston, TX 77023
Parking on Monday is limited. Please utilize carpools.

We have achieved that mid-trip condition of continual toddler meltdown. Typically this occurs about a week in, and then we go home, so I don't know what the cyclical "end" might be. Now, we put it to the test and stay on the road an extra two weeks post apocalypse.

Today, we have our prayer/business meeting first, then lunch and practice for a couple hours before we head to 1960 for tonight's event. I might be able to stream it on ustream, if I can then I will put the link up here prior to the service.

If you live within a couple hours of Houston, and you go to a church, consider having Radiant Worship or a representative come to your church to talk about the Call Houston and the Prayer March on January 17th and 18th.

It's time to stand up for something. Go to thecall.com/crisis and bound4life.com for more info. Tell everyone you know, and then be there.