Actress Shari Rigby's Story Behind Her Performance in October Baby

Shari Rigby plays the birth mother in the new movie, October Baby. This is her story about healing and forgiveness. It explains why she gave such a powerful performance in her role as a post-abortive mother.

October Baby

My wife Janet won tickets for us to view a special screening of October Baby this week. It was one of the most powerful movies I've ever seen.

October Baby tells the story of a young woman who discovers a secret that her parents had kept from her since her birth. After she collapses onstage during a play, Hannah learns that the medical problems with which she has struggled for her entire life are connected to her traumatic birth. In the process, she finds out that she was adopted.

Soon, she embarks on a coming-of-age road trip with a few friends in order to find her birth mother. Through a number of ups and downs (and a few shocks), she comes to a point where she must make a choice about how she will live her life.

This is a powerful story of sin, love, and forgiveness. You will be profoundly affected by this movie. If you have adopted a child, been adopted, or experienced an abortion, October Baby will affect you even more deeply. Please see it when it opens in theaters on March 23.

What Is the Most Courageous Thing You've Ever Done?

While attending FamilyLife's Weekend to Remember marriage conference in Tulsa this past weekend, one of the speakers asked the men to talk to each other about the most courageous thing they had ever done.

That was a tough question for most of us. The man with whom I was talking said that he could not think of anything really courageous that he had done. With a little prodding, he finally told me that he had started his own overhead door company. He didn't think of it as a big deal, but it seemed courageous to me. After all, he had risked his financial future and his family's financial future on starting his own company. He had faced and overcome a few significant fears in doing it.

I had a little difficulty answering the question, too. Most of the things I had done in my life that could be considered courageous were actually simply acts of naivete. I was simply too ignorant of my situation to consider the risks. However, when it came down to a time when I faced my fears in a significant way, I could only remember going through the adoption process. I knew that I was risking our finances. I knew that I was risking rejection from potential birth mothers. I knew that I was risking the criticism of people who might not understand our decisions. I knew that I was taking a risk by pouring my heart into the life of a child. But I also knew that it was worth the risk of failure. I knew that I had to overcome my insecurities and fears in order to adopt a child.

What is the most courageous thing you've ever done?

"Be strong and courageous..." (Joshua 1:6).

http://mensteppingupblog.com/2013/01/21/definingcourage/

What Can Salt Do?

We live in a deteriorating society.

It has become obvious to me in recent weeks as I've observed a few trends regarding the value of vulnerable children in America.

First, a few weeks ago, the cancer-fighting Susan G. Komen Foundation announced that it would no longer fund Planned Parenthood, the largest organization providing abortions in the United States. This was great news. An organization committed to saving the lives of people with breast cancer should never have been in any kind of partnership with an organization committed to eliminating the lives of pre-born children. It made sense to sever ties.

However, in a discouraging turn of events, within two days, the Komen foundation reversed its policy due to public outrage that it would not support the abortion industry. Public reaction in favor of funding the nation's largest abortion provider was so strong that the cancer-fighting charity felt compelled to reverse its decision.

Then, President Obama's administration came up with a regulation requiring all businesses and organizations (except churches) to provide contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs in their health care plans. Ignoring concerns from Roman Catholics who cannot support contraception, Christians in general who oppose abortion, and the president's promise from a couple of years ago to exclude abortion coverage in his health care plan, the Senate recently voted in favor of the president's decision. All health insurance plans in America will now pay for drugs to kill pre-born children.

Finally, the Journal of Medical Ethics has published an article by two medical ethicists promoting "after birth abortions" (infanticide) in all cases in which abortions are currently legal (in other words, in all cases). When people objected to this idea, the editors rejected those who protested as ignorant racists. Those who shape the philosophy of the age are preparing us to accept the legalization of infanticide. It may take a few years or a couple of decades, but it's the direction in which ethicists are going; and the law will eventually follow.

So what can Christians do? Can we save this society? Possibly not. But that may not be God's expectations of us anyway.

Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot" (Matthew 5:13, New International Version).

Salt can preserve meat, but it cannot reverse the rotting process. We can speak out against the atrocities of our society. We can lobby and vote to restrict the inhumanity. We can care for the vulnerable children, disabled, ill, and elderly. We can pray for our enemies. And we can let people know about the forgiveness offered through Christ. We may not be able to reverse the course of society, but we can still make a positive difference.