I didn't know how many people would be coming to the planned activities, but my hope was that Christ would be among us. Indeed, he went before us, and shut the doors. When we arrived early to protest in front of the largest abortion clinic in the state, we discovered that they had made the unprecedented move of closing down completely- on a day that they would usually have been busy.

We stood on the streets, displayed our graphic signs, and talked among ourselves. Some people were preaching at the building, and Paul Smith even took to writing a little song. I had a discussion with a man from South Carolina about Christian Exodus.

After a couple hours, we marched though downtown Portland to the busy street market, and spoke with some people there. One young man confessed that he was at a crossroads with his pregnant girlfriend, whose mom was pressuring her to have an abortion. We encouraged him to step up and take responsibility for his child.

The next activity was the overpass protest against the war. This is a much less hostile environment, as most Oregonians are also against the war, though they support abortion. By protesting both at once, we tried to force them into cognitive dissonance, that they might realize the error of their ways.

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We had an enjoyable time out at the campground. The Mt. Hood National Forrest is beautiful land, and the weather was ideal. After a good dinner, different people shared their ideas of God's will for our lives in America. Most of us felt that the degrading social climate would lead to the persecution of true believers in our lifetime, and that we would need to come together and support each other. We stayed up late into the night talking.

The next morning, we took a refreshing swim in the Clackamas river, and then held a little worship service under the trees. We sang some hymns, and some people shared a message. In the midst of our little community of hardcore Christian activists, it really felt like Christ was present among us. I thought it was much more meaningful than if it had been a large group.