This week, I’d like to share with you my thoughts on the people of Gates County. I hope you will read and understand the depth of my commitment to this newspaper and its readers.

Now, when I first came here 10 years ago in September, I knew no one except my then &uot;friend,&uot; Joseph &uot;Joe&uot; Allen and his Mom, who is also Barbara (Whitehurst Allen). It didn’t take long to find out that there are some really &uot;nice&uot; people in this county and in the time I’ve been here, I’ve grown extremely fond of the people, their &uot;country&uot; ways and the surrounding countryside.

However, I did not know the great number of people who are truly nice and welcoming until I became the editor of your newspaper. I began working for you with some great qualms about how I would be accepted as a writer of your news and events. I managed to get through the first week and I don’t mind telling you – I was so nervous when that first paper hit the streets on July 14th. I didn’t know what you would think of my &uot;stories,&uot; and worse yet, I was concerned over what you would think of the &uot;Forum&uot; column that I presented to you that week.

Was I extremely pleased when I got the first phone call telling me, &uot;You go girl!&uot; You’d just better believe it was the first time since I took this position that I allowed myself a deep breath. What a relief to know that at least one of Gates County’s population agreed with my thoughts on the morals of this nation, or really the lack thereof.

Then, within a couple of days it was as if someone had snapped a switch and phone calls, emails, faxes, and letters by snail mail began coming to our Post Office Box 146. I cannot tell you what it meant to me to know that you, our readers and subscribers, are enjoying the Index content. I am truly humbled and grateful to each one of you who took time from your life to let me know of your feelings.

Well, here’s a little something I learned Wednesday evening about our wandering through the moral quagmire we currently enjoy on this un-Godly earth.

Did you know that before a honeybee can go out looking for food for the first time, it needs at least one training flight? Some clever researchers attached tiny wires to bees to keep track of the bees’ flight paths. They used radar tracking to make maps of the honeybees’ flight paths. They found that after the trainee hovers in front of the hive, it makes a straight line away from the hive for a short distance, then returns. As training progresses, the trainee flies faster and further, demonstrating progressive learning.

Now, if you remember from your Bible and the book of Exodus, the Israelites had to endure 40 years wandering about in the wilderness because they did not faithfully trust God to do what He said. Could it be that those bees have better instincts that we humans? Just a little food for thought there…

Here’s another question for you? Have you expressed your opinion on the same-sex marriage issue?

Listening to the electronic media, it would be easy to believe that the battle is over. It seems that every day we hear of another &uot;gay&uot; couple marrying, but at least some states are coming to grips and overturning the ruling that made such abominations legal. The battle is not over and you can still make a difference.

This is not the time to give up the fight to preserve marriage as a union between one man and one woman … not when the House of Representatives is about to consider the Federal Marriage Amendment – and the Defense of Marriage Act is under attack!

Right now, in Washington, D.C., lawyers are working harder than ever to preserve the sanctity of marriage, an institution established by God, himself.

In just a few more weeks, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment and like our Senators in a previous vote, these Representatives are under enormous pressure from anti-family advocates who are pushing same-sex marriage.

At a time when traditional marriage is under attack and facing mounting pressure to undergo change, we must contact our legislators to let them know that you support a federal marriage amendment – one that will safeguard an institution that has served as the foundation for the American family.

Further evidence of how skewed our morals have become was presented Wednesday when an eight year old Catholic girl was told that her First Communion ceremony was invalid because she did not take a communion wafer made of wheat. The little girl was heart broken. She took the wafer made of rice instead so that she would not have an allergic reaction to the wheat in the communion wafers. The child’s mother, however, is a pretty smart cookie in that she’s fighting the Catholic Church on this issue, saying that her daughter took the wafer in Faith and with love for Jesus in her heart.

The acceptance of the wafer represents the Body of Christ in Catholicism as well as many Christian religions. We are informed in Matthew 26:26; While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, &uot;Take, eat; this is My body.&uot;

Jesus did not say it had to be wheat bread, rice bread, or tofu bread. It was simply that he wanted His disciples to become one with Him as stated in 1 Corinthians 10:7, &uot;Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.&uot;

Now I ask you… what difference does it make whether the wafer was wheat or rice as long as that precious child, all dressed in her frilly white little gown and tiny white flowers wreathed about her head, believed that she was accepting Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior? I don’t know about you, but that just makes me mad!

As for Gates County – we need to rally ’round our churches to stand as Christians to support the morals and precepts of this nation. There is such a great need now to stand unwavering as Christians of all denominations and races to keep our county strong and faithful. With 55 churches in this county, there is no reason you should not attend this Sunday. By the way, take your family – don’t send them.