October 20, 2003

It’s Sunday afternoon and I am not feeling well, am on the couch, my little 5 year-old is trying to make me comfortable as best he can. First I get books, then Legos, then Bionicle books, then toys, finally he looks up at me and says, “I guess I just have too much love for you Mommy.” Needless to say, it melted my heart.

Yet as I reflect on this later, I realize that is just how God is—He keeps giving us blessings, and love, and more blessings—I guess He just has too much love for us!

Likewise you are a blessing to us. Thanks for the letters, article submissions, and financial support. ninetyandnine.com can’t be a ministry without you.

I appreciate Ms. McConnell’s article on being a witness at work. Recently, I started working for a company with several hundred employees, never knowing that I’d meet someone who I would become really good friends with and who I’d come to care for very much, so much so that I really want to see this person saved. Although we’d become friends over the past few months, I’d never shared my faith with this person until just a couple of weeks ago. I guess I struggled with the same insecurities and wondered how this individual would respond. However, I let go of those inhibitions when I became overwhelmed with a burden to see this person saved and I started to witness to them in little ways. I’ve encouraged this person with my faith and I found ways to share my convictions without trying to come across as self-righteous or judgmental. I’ve received a response like I’d never expected from this person and I’ve found that it’s best just to love the unsaved before trying to “force” my beliefs on them. Forming a friendship makes sharing your faith so much easier. It also places a stronger burden in your heart for reaching the lost.

As I said before, I never expected that I would meet such a person when I started working for this company, let alone develop a friendship with them. We are as different from each other as they come. But I believe the Lord opened the door for me to have this job, if for nothing else, to be a witness to this person. The story behind that is a long one but this job came when I was seeking a new one and was desperate when all other opportunities and options were exhausted. Now, I know that God had a plan unlike any I had ever imagined. It’ll take a little effort but I’m confident that God will use me to reach this person and lead them to salvation.

Thank you, Sis. McConnell for your testimony. It’s good to know that I’m not the only one who struggles with being a light at the work place because it isn’t easy when you look different from everyone else. It also isn’t easy when you develop a friendship with a person and they ask you to participate in activities that you generally shun. I’ve run into this with this person and as much as I’d like to spend time with them, I’m not comfortable with those activities, however harmless they may seem to people in the world. This opened the door to share my convictions about certain things and my friend has been completely understanding, not once prohibiting me from sharing my convictions, and oftentimes encouraging it. Thanks again, Sis. McConnell, for the encouragement to just “be myself” in being a witness!

Robin M. Parfait, Tennessee

Re: Favorite sayings...

“To the world you might be one person, but to one person...you just might be the world.”

Amber Meadows, Mississippi

I have a feeling that if Cara Baker and I ever met, we would be friends. I just read her Single: A Self-Portrait series and thought it was excellent. Thank you Cara, for presenting an honest Christian attitude on such a controversial subject.

Wendy Scoggins, Texas

Dear Gabby,

I just wanted to drop you a note and let you know, I’m taking your advice to heart! I’m planting all my kids as Stanley trees! Just plant the little beggars and let ‘em fight it out, I say. It only makes ‘em stronger! That’s what my parents did, and look at me—I’m serving the Lord today. Not that my parents are happy about it, but I am, just the same! Oughtta work for my kids too! If public school was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for my young’uns.

Putting the poor things in some steer-ile overclean environment’s bound to be bad for ‘em! Try to teach ‘em classical academics and Christian character—Hogwash I say! How’re they going to learn about man’s Self Determination, about the abominable exploitation of the environment, about all the trouble the rich cause in this world if not in public school? How will they know which Government agency to turn to when they have needs? Yes sir, if you’re gonna plant your little tykes unprotected out in the elements, you want it to be in soil you trust. And who better to trust to give your little ankle biters the Straight Truth™ than the NEA? The Lord His Self knows public education was a Positive Experience™ for me, and from what I hear, it’s gotten Even Better™ since I was there. Sure, they may not do much book-learnin’ these days, but they learn about how vital to America diversity is, and how to properly accept alternative lifestyles. That’s more important anyways.

Thanks for the great advice.

Bob Neumann, Arkansas

I am vitally interested in the subject addressed by Abigail Rhoades in this article. The Theory of Evolution flunks the Rule of Scientific Evidence big time. Almost nothing of the theory of evolution can be demonstrated, proven by experiment, or observed as fact. The probability that simple single-celled organisms could evolve into complex ones requiring (for example) pollination of flowers, symbiotic relationships between specific bees and flowers, or the instinct to fly thousands of miles to specific destinations in seasonal migrations are all so totally impossible for the sort of evolution that the Theory of Evolution claims as fact. Human and, indeed, most organic reproduction requiring male and female involvement are also totally impossible to have evolved. Which came first—the chicken or the egg? Easy! It had to be the chicken created by a creator-designer, because who would have sat on the egg and kept it the right temperature and turned it just often enough for it to hatch without the hen?

So in fact, Creationists and the Bible are on the real scientific high ground and we should go active on the offensive to combat the anti-Creator, anti-God Theory of Evolution. Enough real scientific fact is established today to reverse the results of the “Scopes” trial and return scientific sanity to our schools and universities. If modern aeronautical scientists used the same basis of fact that evolutionists do, we would still be transporting our worldly goods on pole sleds behind pack animals instead of flying! Truly, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1).

Samuel M. Smith, Hawaii

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