Here at Life Issues Institute, we’re all about protecting innocent human life from fertilization to natural death. It’s a mammoth task to effectively advocate for life while opposing, formidable forces like the Obama administration, a pro-abortion majority in the US Senate and the abortion industry try to thwart our every move.
Even so, we won’t be discouraged and we won’t give up. As this war over life and death rages on in American society, we learned long ago that there’d be ups and downs, victories and failures. What makes our job especially challenging is the ominous fact that failure often means death for preborn children or other vulnerable members of society who’re killed by euthanasia. Along the way, we’ve learned to “rejoice with those who rejoice; [and to] mourn with those who mourn.”
This week we’re rejoicing with a member of our own office family. Reverend Arnold Culbreath, director of our Urban Outreach department, welcomed his first grandchild into the breathing world! Ta’Mie (pronounced Tommie) Elyse Nichole Culbreath was born last Friday to his daughter, Elise.
The celebration was hard-fought in that a medical emergency resulted in an unscheduled cesarean-section, but now both mother and child are expected to do fine. We also celebrate that in spite of this being an unexpected pregnancy, accompanied by anticipated challenges of a pregnancy outside of marriage, Elise chose to give life to her baby even though societal pressures encouraged otherwise.
Due to Ta’Mie’s birth via cesarean, only one person was able to accompany Elise during surgery, and she requested that it be her father. This was especially meaningful to Arnold, who with his wife Barbara had experienced periods of a rollercoaster relationship with their daughter. But that was all in the past as he witnessed his granddaughter taking her first breath last Friday.
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Next to our faith, there’s no greater gift from our Creator than the gift of life. That’s why the staff of Life Issues Institute is dedicated to protecting innocent human life from a culture of death. Mark Twain once wrote, “a baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on,” so we celebrate every life, particularly the addition of one of our own.
Little Ta’Mie will confront challenges throughout her life, but everyone born since Adam and Eve, especially our Savior, has been forced to deal with challenges and had to strive to overcome them. The circumstances of a baby’s birth should never dictate whether or not that child should live or die. We should welcome all babies into the world while doing everything in our collective power to assist them over the rough spots.
So I welcome Ta’Mie into humanity with all its faults and blessings; and I welcome Arnold and Barbara into the elite club of “grandparents.” Little can compete with the joy of being a father, but being a grandfather comes delightfully close.
LifeNews.com Note: Bradley Mattes is the executive director of Life Issues Institute, a national pro-life educational group.
