Young Theodore Roosevelt's one constant yearning, from soon after he first saw her in 1878, was to marry Alice Hathaway Lee, then a perky 17-year-old with honey-colored hair and a golden smile. Roosevelt wrote of their first meeting, "As long as I live, I shall never forget how sweetly she looked, and how prettily she greeted me." At age 20 TR was a thorough romantic.

We have a lot in this issue about the drama in Washington. We know many people are sick of it. And we at WORLD are not DC-centric: What's going on in our churches, families, schools, and businesses is far more important than the standard political debates. But if you have listened to Henry Hyde or Lindsey Graham or Asa Hutchinson during the last several weeks, you know that the saga of Jefferson Smith vs. William Jefferson Clinton is no ordinary debate.

I learned many years ago that Jonah was only the co-star of the Old Testament book that goes by his name: The big fish (a/k/a "whale") was also a key player. God had not only placed the big fish's big mouth near Jonah, but had also willed all the movements of the big fish and his parents, so that spawning and swimming were all in His hands.

My wife and I have labored part-time in the pro-life vineyards for two decades now. Susan was a volunteer counselor in Delaware until I became a Texas professor 15 years ago, a move that I still believe God brought about largely so she could start the Austin Crisis Pregnancy Center. I've written two books on the history of abortion, and we've been involved in many other ways. Yet, as the 26th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade rolls around, it's hard to know what to say.