The Campus Blog: Gianna Jessen speaks as part of Health Care Ethics Conference
By Emily Severance
Sep
`10
Cedarville University is one of the only Christ-centered universities in the United States to require its students to attend chapel five days a week. Fortunately for students, the administration brings in speakers from around the world to speak and share their stories, making chapel interesting, challenging and often times inspirational. Some chapel speakers exposit the Word of God, while others choose to share testimonies of what God is doing around the world.
Wednesday’s chapel speaker, Gianna Jessen, received huge accolades from the student body after sharing her incredible story and powerful message.
Jessen miraculously survived a late-term abortion and as a result lives with what she calls “the gift of cerebral palsy.” Doctors told her adopted parents that she would never be able to hold her own head up, let alone walk, but by the grace of God, Jessen is not only able to walk, but was able to complete two marathons.
This coming from a woman who, according to her Web site, survived “being burned alive for approximately 18 hours in the womb from the saline solution” and “was delivered alive in a Los Angeles County abortion clinic.”
After a passionate address about her life journey and the things God had taught her from it, Jessen had something important to share with the students.
Jessen addressed the men in the room and apologized that the women of her generation had emasculated them and talked down to them. She called on them to step up as men, take on responsibilities and recognize that they were made for greatness.
To the women, Jessen gave some advice. She told them that if they had a bad relationship with their father, they should be using this time in their lives to heal and forgive instead of looking for another man to fill the place that their father never had. The second part of her advice was to avoid “weasels,” a weasel being defined as a man that they would have to make excuses for.
At the end of the message, Jessen had students standing in their pews shouting, “I was made for greatness” and “no weasels.”
Jessen’s comments hit home with the student body, and more than 30 people lined up to give her a hug after the service. Many others were buzzing about the message as they made their way to their next classes.
This chapel was part of the Health Care Ethics Conference, which continues tonight at 7 p.m. when Dr. Nigel M. de S. Cameron will speak, and tomorrow at 10 a.m. when Dr. Kathy McReynolds speaks. Both of these events will be held in the Jeremiah Chapel.
To listen to Gianna Jessen’s chapel message:
Gianna Jessen’s website:
http://www.giannajessen.com/EPK/bio.html
For more information on the Health Care Ethics Conference:
http://www.cedarville.edu/Event/Healthcare-Ethics-Conference.aspx
