Song about Abortion by a precious brother

This is a song about the abortion of unborn children. I wrote it partly protest against an entire industry, fueled by human fear, unbelief, and greed, that exists to cruelly destroy the most helpless members of our society. It's also my personal attempt to somehow express a great load of grief that I feel over the loss of each of these little ones. May the Lord remember them.

https://www.facebook.com/abortioncoun...
http://heartcrymissionary.com/the-gospel

This is by far the hardest song I've written; it's an attempt to capture so many thoughts and feelings that are hardly expressible. It was a weight that I couldn't get off of my chest until I finished it; I had a sense of urgency about it that pushed me through some very exhausting moments.

The tune comes from an old, old folk song called Geordie.

By:  Andrew Romanowitz

Lyrics:

If I could sing for you my song

Some angel's tongue to borrow,

I'd sing for you the whole night long,

Sweet baby of my sorrow

For you were just a mother's child,

As fair as any other;

A friend to me you might have been,

If only to your mother

But he who tore the threads of life

That God's own hand was weaving,

He took his pay and washed his knife,

Nor for his crime was grieving

Oh, life is sweet when love is kind,

But they did not revere it;

The ground in grief and anger cried,

But heav'n alone would hear it

Too small to run, too weak to fight,

Too young to know a warning,

Like thieves they caught you in the night,

And stole away the morning

Who could conceive this dark design?

My heart, it fails within me;

I wish to God you had been mine,

If one among so many

Then sleep in silence, little one,

The morn was nearly breaking;

But cruel hands put out the sun,

And never you'll be waking

I'm learning that faith first teaches us to be faithful in the things
for which we are truly responsible,

knowing that we shall give account to God for them;

and that it second teaches us to take no concern for the things
for which we are not responsible,

except to pray, knowing that God will control all the things
which we cannot or should not.
-- Andrew Romanowitz --

~Brittany

Thoughts worth reading on courtship from a dear brother

With permission I am sharing a letter that our dear friend, Andrew Romanowitz wrote to me today.  He expresses his thoughts so well.  We agree with everything that he wrote!!!  Since he articulates his thoughts so well I asked if he would mind if I shared his letter on our blog.  Andrew just turned 18 but his maturity is far beyond his years.  God has done a wonderful work in this young man.  I so look forward to seeing how God will use him for His glory in the future.  Thank you Andrew for your friendship and for sharing your thoughts with us!  We love and value you greatly!!!

Good afternoon!! Hope you all are having a great day so far.

What I've written here is not really so much questions as it is observations. I really like what Mr. Botkin says about courtship in that it is a wise convention which has been developed over time for the forming of Godly marriages. In the past couple of generations, we've created this cultural pattern or paradigm that is built for the most part on a great deal of biblical wisdom. There are a lot of good things to say about it. However, I think there's still some refining to be done. I'm sharing these observations with you because I'm curious to know if these are things you've also seen, or if you think I'm maybe a little off track in some of my assessments.

Lately (and in part because of some things I've been hearing about in my circles of friends) I've been thinking over some of the common expectations regarding courtship and trying to determine how realistic they are. I think there are a lot of great things about the courtship movement. The emphasis on parental counsel, a father's role in guarding the gate of his daughter's heart, and the importance of accountability, responsibility and intentionality on the part of young people is all fantastic. But I wonder sometimes if parents who haven't practiced courtship themselves, but are planning on the courtship model for their children, develop unrealistic expectations in some areas. So this is just a collection of some of my observations, as well as a few questions that are rolling around in my mind.

I think there are a lot of parents who grew up with that abject mess called dating, and who, as they are trying to spare their children all of the relational and emotional wreckage which that system produces, have developed some unrealistic expectations for what the courtship ritual can and cannot accomplish. My understanding is that whenever two people who were only friends and acquaintances begin to pursue coming together as husband and wife, there's going to be a great deal of emotional vulnerability. A system can help to prevent really awful things from happening, but it can't reduce that vulnerability to nothing. Relationships always involve vulnerability, and developing the closest kind of relationship there is will always involve a great deal of vulnerability. As a result, we need to be very, very careful with that process, hence courtship. Courtship tries to put the young man in the greater position of vulnerability, which is good and in keeping with biblical principles of chivalry. Men are more emotionally resilient and should therefore put themselves in the greater position of vulnerability where they can.
Still, I think some parents have this mistaken idea that somehow rigidly adhering to the rules and regulations of courtship can really protect young people from all emotional pain. It just doesn't work like that. Whenever you begin to think seriously about marrying someone, emotions begin to develop. I think we would gather from the Scriptures that it's good to try to hold those emotions back, and not intentionally stir them up, until the point of betrothal. But is it really realistic to say that those emotions won't develop at all when two people begin to seriously consider marrying each other? It seems to me that in some cases I've observed, the emotional connection that develops in a courtship before the point of engagement can be even more deep-seated than in a dating relationship because the young people in a courtship relationship are usually much more serious, open, and intentional about the pursuit of marriage.

Another thing I've observed...some parents are very, very busy with this and that and the other thing, and so they sort of go on autopilot, neglecting the responsibility of walking closely with their children through the process of pursuing marriage, just thinking that so long as the courtship paradigm is rigidly adhered to, there will be no big problems. That's a very unrealistic outlook. There's a common saying that the course of true love never runs smooth...when it comes to Christian marriages, I think this is absolutely true. The Enemy knows that Godly homes are the Kingdom's greatest asset, so he's going to do everything he can to interfere. There will be problems.
And when those problems arise, some parents begin making heavy-handed decisions because they are out of touch with what's going on. They seem to think that any relationship that has strayed the least bit out of bounds must be cut off completely, because the young people obviously aren't responsible enough to be married if they can't perfectly follow the exact courtship pattern all by themselves. Which is usually not a fair judgment. This upsets the young people, who have up to that point been somewhat (although not entirely) left to themselves. I have personally witnessed this very thing on several occasions. Very often parents in this situation seem a lot more concerned about protecting the courtship situation than protecting their children from the pain of unnecessary relational demise. Which makes me wonder if somewhere along the way we've developed a wrong understanding of the purpose and value of courtship.

Courtship is not just about nice young people making happy dreams together. It's about warring for Christ's kingdom by seeking to establish Godly households. Does the devil really care about courtship--or is it households he wants to destroy. And if he can destroy them in the womb, so to speak, he will. Does anyone really think that they are going to try to form such a great weapon against the Enemy without opposition? There is tremendous kingdom potential in Godly marriages, and he knows it!! This isn't about playground games. This is about war. People get hurt in war. We have to think in battlefield terms. Instead of thinking, "What's the best way to handle this situation for the sake of courtship," we have to think, "What's the best way to handle this situation for the sake of Christ's kingdom."

Another thought is that while courtship is great as far as it goes, it is not a substitute for the providence of God in developing Godly marriages. God involves Himself in an exceptional way in the forming of Christian marriages (Proverbs 19:14), and He doesn't always work inside of our expectations and carefully crafted patterns. There is no substitute for laboring in prayer and earnestly seeking the will of the Lord. We cannot leave it to courtship to discern God's will in this area. We can use courtship as a protective, guiding tool. But that doesn't mean that every single Christian marriage is going to be formed through the exact courtship process. Yes, there are some non-negotiables, but we need to let the Scriptures dictate those. There are some biblical examples of the forming of Godly marriages that really don't fit with the details of typical courtship expectations; the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah is a classic example.

All of this is not to run down courtship, but simply to say that while much in the courtship paradigm is very praiseworthy, I think my generation will need to refine and reform some things.

Thoughts? Comments? :-) Let me know what you think!

 Andrew shares many stimulating thoughts on his blogs.  I encourage you to visit them.
http://sonsoftheremnant.blogspot.com/
http://warbard.blogspot.com/
http://semprefmusic.blogspot.com/

For the Guys :-)

Besides our posts that we hope are spiritually encouraging to all, we tend to post a lot specifically for ladies.  This post is for the guys who read our blog.

This is a Dockers pants add that was shared by Doug Phillips at the Sufficiency of Scripture Conference put on by the NCFIC a few years ago.  I thought it was neat and wrote it down after we got the CDs.  Definitely a call to manhood, which we are so blessed to be seeing in the upcoming generation of Christian young men.  Keep pressing on dear brothers!  We need you!

Dockers Pants Add

Once upon a time men wore pants, and they wore them well.  Women rarely had to open doors, and little old ladies never crossed the street alone.  Men took charge because that's what they did.  But somewhere along the way the world decided it no longer needed men.  Disco by disco, latte by foamy non-fat latte, men were stripped of their cockies, and left stranded on the road between boyhood and androgyny.  But today there are questions our genderless society has no answers for.  The world sits idly by as cities crumble.  Children misbehave, and those little old ladies remain on one side of the street.  For the first time since bad guys, we need heroes.  We need grownups.  We need men to put down the plastic fork, step away from the salad bar, and untie the world from the tracks of complacency.  It's time to get your hands dirty.  It's time to answer the call of manhood.  It's time to wear pants.

Following is a link to an excellent article that I had read about a year ago:
What Lifeboats and Grief Ships Can Teach Modern Americans by Geoffrey Botkin

Below is a link to another article written by a "internet friend" of ours:
The Immortal Nobility of Titanic by Andrew Romanowitz

"So I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.  Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law...: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.  This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.  Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."  -Joshua 1:5b,7-9

"Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong."  -1 Corinthians 16:13

Posted by Brittany