Be as it may, the girls are quite a wonderful bunch...ORU Opinions R Us... All the opinions you'd ever want to hear and many, many more.
We were gathered at Lake Forest Country Club in a farewell to Teresa, centered in the front row. She has the nerve to leave us so that she and her husband can take up residency in Florida. She is not the first one of us to move away, but she has been with us for so very long that it is a struggle to say good-bye. We are letting them go with promises of visits and expecting them to visit us as well. Thank God for the internet where we can continue to brainstorm.
We will be praying their move is uneventful and smooth.
We are now in Day 24 of our 40 days of prayer for the election. Related to the election is some of the problems we are facing now, which would be solved if the election goes well.
One concern needing prayer at this time is the persecution of Christian's with businesses. Read below and pray for the Green family and others who are undergoing similar plights.
We
must support and encourage these people and businesses that are attempting to
stand fast to their beliefs!!! First it was Chick fil a, now Hobby
Lobby. This is just the beginning!!!
Column: Christian companies can't
bow to sinful mandate
By David Green
When my family and I started our company 40 years ago,
we were working out of a garage on a $600 bank loan, assembling miniature
picture frames. Our first retail store wasn't much bigger than most people's
living rooms, but we had faith that we would succeed if we lived and worked
according to God's word. From there, Hobby Lobby has
become one of the nation's largest arts and crafts retailers, with more
than 500 locations in
41 states. Our children grew up into fine business leaders, and
today we run Hobby Lobby together, as a family.
We're Christians, and we run our business on Christian
principles. I've always said that the first two goals of our business are (1)
to run our business in harmony with God's laws, and (2) to focus on people more
than money. And that's what we've tried to do. We close early so
our employees can see their families at night. We keep our stores closed on
Sundays, one of the week's biggest shopping
days, so that our workers and their families can enjoy a day of
rest. We believe that it is by God's grace that Hobby Lobby has endured, and he
has blessed us and our employees. We've not only added jobs in
a weak economy, we've raised wages for
the past four years in
a row. Our full-time employees start at 80% above
minimum wage.
But now, our government threatens to change all of that.
A new government healthcare mandate says that our family business must provide
what I believe are abortion-causing
drugs as part of our health insurance. Being Christians, we
don't pay for drugs that might cause abortions. Which means that we don't cover
emergency contraception, the morning-after pill or the week-after pill. We
believe doing so might end a life after the moment of conception, something
that is contrary to our most important beliefs. It goes against the Biblical
principles on which we have run this company since day one. If we refuse to
comply, we could face $1.3 million per day in government fines.
Our government threatens to fine job creators in a bad
economy. Our government threatens to fine a company that's raised wages four
years running. Our government threatens to fine a family for running its
business according to its beliefs. It's not right.
I know people will say we ought to follow the rules;
that it's the same for everybody. But that's not true. The government hasexempted
thousands of companies from this mandate, for reasons of
convenience or cost. But it won't exempt them for reasons of religious belief.
So, Hobby Lobby — and my family — are forced to make a choice. With great
reluctance, we filed a lawsuit today, represented by the Becket Fund for
Religious Liberty, asking a federal court to stop this mandate before it hurts
our business. We don't like to go running into court, but we no longer have a
choice. We believe people are more important than the bottom line and that
honoring God is more important than turning a profit.
My family has lived the American dream. We want to
continue growing our company and providing great jobs for thousands of
employees, but the government is going to make that much more difficult. The
government is forcing us to choose between following our faith and following
the law. I say that's a choice no American — and no American business — should
have to make.
David Green is the CEO and
founder of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.
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