September 18 2017 – Click here to listen
This weekend I returned home from a trip overseas followed by a visit to the Whitehouse and Capitol Hill. To those of you who have inquired, we suffered minimal damage from Hurricane Irma both in Sarasota and Honey Lake. Thanks for the prayers and well wishes in that regard. I am very grateful to Al Cuneo and his son George for sending out reruns of WFTD for all but one day that I was gone.
My visit to the Whitehouse and Capitol Hill was really an eye opener. Fifty of us attended meetings at the Whitehouse to discuss right to life legislative strategy with senior Whitehouse officials on behalf of the Susan B. Anthony organization. Specifically, we were interested in trying to get the Heartbeat and Pain legislation passed which prohibits abortion after 20 weeks. After our Whitehouse meeting we went on Capitol Hill and met with several politicians including House Speaker Paul Ryan.
The real eye opener for me on this trip was to learn how a few of the people whom I would never have thought of as allies, vigorously supported the right to life movement. One example is a guy named Marc Short. I knew a little about him including that he has been a political operative for some time and is the current White House Director of Legislative Affairs for President Donald Trump. Short was previously President of Freedom Partners, a political donor network affiliated with the secular multi-billionaires Koch family. In fact, it was Marc Short who led the Never Trump movement inside the pro-mass immigration Koch brothers’ organizations. In addition to being portrayed as a globalist and before meeting him I had a rather low opinion of him.
I was pleasantly surprised however, to hear him speak eloquently on behalf of our effort to ban 20 weeks+ abortions and to hear first-hand of the administration’s efforts to get this legislation through congress.
Before leaving we heard from a myriad of other Whitehouse officials from Mike Pence on down and then we went up on Capitol Hill and met with legislators. Another surprise awaited me there. Lindsey Graham, Senator from South Carolina, is another person I have held in low esteem for some time. He just always seemed to me to be part of the swamp and I did not like many of the policies that he espoused or his constant seeking of cameras. I was amazed when I discovered that as far as finding a friend who champions the rights of the preborn, he ranks right up there at the top, and in fact is co-sponsoring the aforementioned, Heartbeat and Pain legislation.
Hmmm . . . What intrigues me about each of these men is how wrong it was of me to completely discount them, because I happen to disagree with “a portion” of their ideology or actions. Marc Short spoke eloquently as an advocate for the unborn and Lindsey Graham gave a stirring talk that was as good as any I’ve heard, and yet in my mind each of these guys were just another part of the problem in Washington.
I specifically learned that automatically condemning someone because we happen to disagree on some things; instead of disagreeing where we differ, and joining together where we agree, is what is missing in Washington D.C. and for that matter the world. If someone identifies with something we don’t like we automatically brand them as an enemy. It is not very smart to take this course of action and taking a deeper look and keeping an open mind is good advice.
God ordained that we love one another as we love Him. I’ve found that impossible to do in many cases. Some people are so reprehensible to me that I cannot imagine loving them. God is perfect and can do such a thing, but I’m mere flesh and a work in progress in that regard; however, this experience did open my eyes to the need to look deeper and not be too quick to discount everything someone might say, because we happen to disagree on some things. I urge you to work on this along with me. If it is not your problem, then please pray for those of us who suffer from it.
Hebrews 10:24
“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.”