I read about the persistent widow today, (Luke 18:1-8), and couldn't help drawing comparisons between Christ's parable of squeaking wheels getting the grease to the persistent mother who has staked out President Bush's Crawford Ranch in order to protest the war in Iraq and to seek an audience with the leader of the free world.

Cindy Sheehan's 24-year-old son, Casey, died in Iraq. Will Bush eventually cave, like the judge in the parable who feared the widow would wear him out otherwise? Actually, he has already met with Sheehan and other families who lost relatives in the war. So odds are he won't meet with her again.

According to an Associated Press report, White House spokesperson Dana Perino said Bush won't change his vacation plans. What if more than the 100 or so people now encamped in the Texas prairie show up to protest?

National Council of Churches Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar joined the group, according to Religion News Service. And a nationwide prayer vigil has been organized with the help of Faithful America, an electronic advocacy group of the NCC. This is not big news since Edgar, the NCC and Faithful America have been opposed to the war since before it began. But what has always been a smoldering anti-war movement dominated by the political and religious left has sparked to flame by a seemingly middle-of-the-road American mom whose grief led her to join up with the paltry protests.

"It's still not clear whether Cindy Sheehan's effort was the start of a lasting anti-war movement or a fleeting summertime story fueled by media-savvy liberal interest groups," reports AP political writer Ron Fournier in Wired News.

Whatever it was, it may be over, a Friday, Aug. 19 noon prayer service not withstanding. Sheehan's mother suffered a stroke and Sheehan left the Texas ranch Thursday, Aug. 18, to return to California to be with her.

Other grieving mothers and families around the country who support the war and the Bush administration have raised concerns that their fallen are being used to promote another agenda. Debbie Argel Bastian's son, Derek Argel, 28, died over Memorial Day in Iraq. In contrast to Sheehan, Bastian told CNN that she requested her son's cross be removed from all anti-war protests and pointed out that he signed up for military duty as have all the other men and women now engaged in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It seems both mothers, and both sides of the political battle are crying out for justice, or perhaps proof that their loved ones' deaths were just, or exacted for a just cause.

Isn't that what we all want—proof that our lives mean something?