By Dave Andrusko
Mark Pickup, a good friend, is a Canadian disability rights activist who has spoken at National Right to Life’s annual convention. One of his many terrific posts referencing a music video, “Choose Life”.
So, on to YouTube.
I watched it…and watched it again….and watched it again.
It turns out that “Choose Life” was recorded way back in 1999 by Big Tent Revival, a Christian music group, which over the years has been nominated for 5 Grammys.
The video which is 3:16 long (symbolism anyone?) is very simple yet very complex, leaving lots of room for us to fill in the blanks.
The opening shot is of a clearly distraught young woman. Although it is never said explicitly, clearly, we are to understand she is pregnant. The first thing we see is her looking at a photo we assume to be of her as a youngster with her dad. She drops the photo on the ground.
Later as she is walking home with her groceries, she sees the guys in the band getting out of their car. When she arrives at her apartment, down the hall a couple of doors from where the guys are practicing, she hears them singing… Choose Life.
She approaches the door…. but can’t work up the nerve to knock.
But when they leave their room, she sneaks a peek at the lead singer hand-written notes (over which he has been struggling). She sees “Choose Life” repeated over and over and over again.
The video ends with the band returning to their room and the lead singer looking down the hall at the young woman who has the pages in her hands. Her expression? For the first time there is hope in her face, but the video ends with the question left hanging…what happens next?
The first two stanzas are
A choice is set before you now
Living or dying, blessing or cursing
You know, the time has come around
To turn from your fighting and rest in his mercy
Choose life, that you might live
The life that He gives, He gives you forever
Choose life, the way that is true
From the One who chose you, your Father in heaven
Choose life
Two quick takeaways from watching “Choose Life.”
First, we often never know whom we influence, how, or why. We aren’t songwriters, but it can be incredibly powerful to live a life that sends the message that we care for women and girls facing unplanned pregnancies. Remember: many times they are under intense pressure to abort.
Second, at times like that, a woman or girl needs to know that she also has a Heavenly Father who cares for her and her baby. There is another stanza that I have listened to multiple times:
And the weight you’re under
Will be lifted away and the world will wonder
What happened here today?
Then you’ll stand right there and say
Choose life, that you might live
Take 3 minutes and 16 seconds out and watch “Choose Life”.