Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Pastor Stephen has asked me to share a recent experience with you in this week’s enote.

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking at the website of a Christian publishing company, one I have ordered numerous materials and books from in the past.  I’ve always found their products to be of excellent quality and very helpful in my ministry with teaching adults and children.

Looking through some of their children’s study items, I saw a series of teaching materials for elementary age girls, but was quite surprised at the product description.  It included the phrase “be the awesome gal God created you to be.”

My Mom taught me “g–” is not a nice word (it has racial implications), and to never refer to any girl or woman that way.  If you’re not originally from the South, or are younger than me (I’m 61) you may not have been taught that.  But I was.  I wondered if that was just my personal experience, or if others felt the same way, and did a Google search for the history of the word.  My Mom’s teaching was confirmed.

Now what to do?  The publishing company is located in California, and I realized they probably used this word without understanding its true meaning.  I could accept that, but I couldn’t leave it there.  So I sent an email to the company, explaining my concern, and giving them some websites that would confirm what I was saying.

In a few minutes I received the standard “Thank you for contacting us.  We will get back to you …”  But the next day, I received an email from the Director of Marketing, giving his apology for the word usage, and stating that the product description would be changed.  About three days later, I went back to their website, to the same teaching material, and it read “be the awesome girl God created you to be.”

Yes!

It was just one company, one word, and just my reaction.  But I felt obligated to speak out.  I felt like I made a difference.  And I will continue to speak the truth in love and to speak out for what is right.

“Set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”  1 Timothy 4:12

Blessings,
Ruth Baggett