Getting ready for the upcoming oratory contest....this excellent weekly post puts things in perspective......
For the last few years the majority of the competitors in our annual High School Pro-life Oratory contest have come from the classroom of a teacher in one of our Christian schools. Late last year she retired, but I was not too concerned. After all more than 70 teachers, principals and youth pastors along with dozens of parents had received advance information about the contest, and this year, in particular, after the ramped up attacks against life by the new administration, I was certain we would have great support for this project.
As a mother of past competitors, as a teacher and as Ed Director I have found few experiences that compare with the power this contest has to focus and equip students to stand up for life. No matter how well they do in the contest itself, the lessons they learn as they prepare and deliver their speeches will impact their entire lives. So it really grieved me, as the deadline came and went this year, that only one student had signed up to participate. It was especially hard when he informed me that he struggled with a “stuttering problem.”
It seemed bitterly ironic to me that, in this strongly “pro-life” metropolitan area filled with fine Christian schools and churches, in the midst of the greatest holocaust of all time, we could only find one young man willing to be involved……………and he had a stuttering problem!
Last night he arrived all alone for the contest, no parents or teachers or encouraging classmates were there for him, never-the-less he was a confident and winsome young man and, when he got up to speak, he had a wonderful presence at the podium. He did “struggle” a little with stuttering, but he never got flustered and he did a fine job presenting his speech on infanticide. Because there were no other competitors, our two judges: a young teacher, who is a former army officer and Iraq war veteran, and a local pro-life radio talk show host, both had time to give him personal feedback and encouragement on his presentation.
I can't help but think of the contrast between our new President with his fine speaking skills and our young orator last night, who struggled to deliver his pro-life speech. And next month, when our ardently pro-abortion President with his fine oratorical skills, is honored at the University of Notre Dame, I and many other pro-life Catholics across this nation will feel nothing but humiliation, but when our young oratory winner goes off to Nashville for the state wide contest, we can all feel proud that such a courageous young man represents us…even if he does stutter. Please include in your prayer and fasting this week those graduating seniors and their families at Notre Dame as they discern how God would have them respond.
In Him for life,
Chris
“Not as man sees does God see”
I Samuel 16:7
For the last few years the majority of the competitors in our annual High School Pro-life Oratory contest have come from the classroom of a teacher in one of our Christian schools. Late last year she retired, but I was not too concerned. After all more than 70 teachers, principals and youth pastors along with dozens of parents had received advance information about the contest, and this year, in particular, after the ramped up attacks against life by the new administration, I was certain we would have great support for this project.
As a mother of past competitors, as a teacher and as Ed Director I have found few experiences that compare with the power this contest has to focus and equip students to stand up for life. No matter how well they do in the contest itself, the lessons they learn as they prepare and deliver their speeches will impact their entire lives. So it really grieved me, as the deadline came and went this year, that only one student had signed up to participate. It was especially hard when he informed me that he struggled with a “stuttering problem.”
It seemed bitterly ironic to me that, in this strongly “pro-life” metropolitan area filled with fine Christian schools and churches, in the midst of the greatest holocaust of all time, we could only find one young man willing to be involved……………and he had a stuttering problem!
Last night he arrived all alone for the contest, no parents or teachers or encouraging classmates were there for him, never-the-less he was a confident and winsome young man and, when he got up to speak, he had a wonderful presence at the podium. He did “struggle” a little with stuttering, but he never got flustered and he did a fine job presenting his speech on infanticide. Because there were no other competitors, our two judges: a young teacher, who is a former army officer and Iraq war veteran, and a local pro-life radio talk show host, both had time to give him personal feedback and encouragement on his presentation.
I can't help but think of the contrast between our new President with his fine speaking skills and our young orator last night, who struggled to deliver his pro-life speech. And next month, when our ardently pro-abortion President with his fine oratorical skills, is honored at the University of Notre Dame, I and many other pro-life Catholics across this nation will feel nothing but humiliation, but when our young oratory winner goes off to Nashville for the state wide contest, we can all feel proud that such a courageous young man represents us…even if he does stutter. Please include in your prayer and fasting this week those graduating seniors and their families at Notre Dame as they discern how God would have them respond.
In Him for life,
Chris
“Not as man sees does God see”
I Samuel 16:7
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