You never know when you might be called...

..to stand up for your beliefs. Today at work, I actually had a few encounters where I could share my faith and moral beliefs. The first one made the biggest impression on me.

Background on my job first: I'm the administrative assistant for a children's music school, so in addition to performing my secretarial duties, I also get to talk to parents and their children.

I was talking to a certain dad who has talked to me about my political views before. I guess I had mentioned to him that I was thinking about taking some "for fun" college classes, and he asked if I was, now that it's a new semester. I said, no I'm not (it costs money!), and so he asked me which classes I wanted to take. I replied "Government and public speaking."

"Oh, so you might run for public office?"

"Haha, no, I don't think so, I don't think I could do that. I am helping with some political campaigns in my area, though...calling people and stuff."

He then went on to ask, "So who do you support in the governor's race: Perry or Kay Bailey?"

I told him that I'm supporting Rick Perry, and then he asked why.

"Well, my big thing is that Perry is more pro-life than Kay. She has done some pro-life things, but she's not as solid as Perry. I trust his record more."

That explanation naturally led to a discussion about abortion. "So," he said, "how can you justify being against abortion...I mean, it's a religious conviction." (I think he's someone that I would label as "moderate.")

"No, not totally," I answered. "It partly is religious, but there's also scientific fact."

"Yeah, but the egg and the sperm [separately]...they aren't life."

"Yes, true. But if you look in any embryology text book, it will tell you that life begins at fertilization. I actually did that once...I got an embryology text book from the Johns Hopkins medical library, and there it was!"

"Okay, yes, it's potential life."

"No, it IS a life, because everything is there. All it needs is nourishment, development, and growth. But it's totally there."

"Hmm....I never thought of it that way....that everything is already there."

The fact that a light bulb turned on in this man's head is thrilling for me! "I never thought of it that way." How awesome! He actually understood! Whether he'll totally embrace it is another matter, but at least it made him think and understand the issue in a new way.

So that's a cool thing that happened today! I just hope that I don't get in trouble for talking about my political and pro-life views at work. Let's just say that there was an issue with my pro-life views even before I was officially hired...but hey, at least I haven't gotten called out for having the sticker "Abortion kills babies and wounds women" on my car! If it does get around that I'm supposedly"proselytizing", I can honestly say that I didn't start the subject...he asked, and I've gotta stand up and defend my beliefs. You never know when a seed might be planted or a heart touched!