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An interesting thing happened last month here in Lancaster County. The day was September 11, and an apparently patriotic elderly gentleman went into Good’s Store looking to purchase a few new flags to adorn his lawn—as a kind of “9-11” memorial. When he couldn’t find any flags in the store, he asked one of the sales clerks why they didn’t have any flags. He didn’t like the answer! In a statement to the Lancaster newspaper, the man reported:

“After looking for some time, I inquired as to where they (US Flags) were kept. The clerk and then the manager’s answer astounded me. I was told, ‘… we don’t sell those here and we never will’. ‘You won’t find THOSE here ...’ the little girl at the register said as she wrinkled her nose. I was confused, so I pressed further and asked why. I was told firmly by the manager ... ‘We are a conservative Christian store and we don’t take sides; having American flags does that.’ He echoed what the female cashier said when I said ‘sides to what?’ and answered: ‘That would be patriotic, and we don’t get involved in the whole state and country thing.’ When I reminded him that he operates a business in America and relies on Americans to purchase his ‘Goods,’ and that Americans are in harm’s way NOW protecting his rights to worship freely and sell his ‘Goods’ in a capitalistic and free society, he said: ‘that may be, but we’re not part of that.’ ‘Oh, really?’ I said. When I asked who owned the operation he reluctantly told me a gentleman by the name of Burkholder and those are his policies/beliefs. I left the $66.00 worth of merchandise at Customer Service.” (Quoted from lancasteronline.com—bold print is from the original.)

This incident quickly caught the attention of local radio, newspaper, websites, and even the local television station as they all came to this little Mennonite-owned variety store to get “the story.” If this young sales clerk would just have said something like “they’re sold out” or “I’ll check on it,” the guy would have probably just gone away. Commendably however, she shared her convictions. Impressively, in spite of all the media attention, the store never backed down. When I heard about it, I sent an encouraging email to their manager. Through that, I had the opportunity to meet the owner, Ken Brubaker. As we talked, I discovered that there were actually several things that the store refused to sell—such as Santa Clauses, jack-o-lanterns, and even girl’s pants! It was a blessing to see a business with some integrity. A few days later, I had the opportunity to come to their management board meeting to address their management staff. Given the opportunity to speak to them, I blessed them for their stand, and encouraged them to keep it up.

America, like all countries, has many idols. The flag—to many—is certainly one of them. Paragraph (j) Section ( cool of the US Flag Code states: “The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing.” Sound scary? I think so. After continual attention and pointed questions, Good’s Store released their official position to the newspaper and to all that inquired. Here it is:

We do not sell the American flag because of our Anabaptist faith (Mennonite, Amish, etc.), which holds to the belief and interpretation of the New Testament teaching of love for our enemies, non-violence, and non-participation in war. (Matt. 5:38-39; James 5:5-6; I Peter 3:13-1 cool Because the flag often represents support for military action as the solution to world problems, both the prior and the present generation of owners have chosen not to sell the flag. We believe that the freedoms that we enjoy are a privilege and a blessing from God, and believe it is our duty to support our civil government in following its laws and paying taxes where not in conflict with our interpretation of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ. We also acknowledge that by choosing this as a principle of our faith and conviction, we may have to suffer for our faith if God chooses it to be so. We desire to live as faithful followers of Jesus Christ in our community according to our interpretation of the Bible. Finally, we want to affirm our respect for those who differ with us on this and other matters of faith.

Well said, Good’s Store! I hope that your stand encourages other businesses to let their convictions permeate even their business life. Oh, and just one more thing—I found it interesting to read the feedback from folks posting on the Lancaster paper website, concerning the article about Good’s Store not selling the flag. Some of the patriots seemed pretty upset that they were not able to purchase their flag at Good’s Store. One writer reassured them, however, “I’m sure Walmart will sell you a flag—made in China.” ~

I'm sorry, but the feminist in me is coming out. Not selling girl's pants makes a store have integrity? I mean I can see them not selling Jack-o-lanterns and Santas because of the pagan roots of those holidays. I'm not understanding this statement at all.

Oh so I bet your women keep quiet in church, keep their heads covered, and stay at home to cook and make babies then, too, right?

I'm glad I'm not at your church then. They'd hate me there. The ending was meant to be harsh.

What does appearance matter, anyways.

Where does it say that? There's a lot of stuff mentioned in the New Testament that no one does anymore. No one's getting negative consequences for those. I've never seen the men in my church greet each other with a Holy Kiss and nothing bad is happening to them.
There aren't any red letters after the Gospels that people should absolutely obey because Jesus said them Himself. I know that every word of the Bible is God breathed, but making women conform to a different era and different culture type is ridiculous.

Okay quoting stuff at me doesn't work. I read all that where it was posted the first time. Nice try, though.

Empty words don't mean anything. When you parrot like that without explaining to me why, I don't respect that. Anyone can parrot information. It takes true thought to explain why you follow those when some of them aren't even commandments. A man in leadership, especially, should be able to explain without referring the questioner elsewhere.

1 Cor. 6:9? if someone doesn't dress like a woman, that makes her sexually immoral? An idolater? An adulterer? Or does a woman dressing like a man make her a homosexual? I don't understand.

1 Cor 11:5? If I pray with my head uncovered - or in other words, with short hair - who am I dishonoring there? I dishonor myself. Why should dishonoring myself matter when I'm speaking to the Lord? That verse didn't say that I dishonor God when i communicate with Him with my head uncovered.

1 Timothy 2:9 - Why should appearance matter now, in this time, when we worship our God? What has been the biggest emphasis anyone has put on God? He wants you AS YOU ARE. If this is true, then He would change us to follow these. Why is it, then, that women who have extremely close relationships with God still wear pants and other articles of clothing that show off their figure without being corrected by God?

1 Peter 3:3 - Okay. We get it - beauty isn't from stuff, it's from the inside. Everyone knows that, just a very few people acknowledge. We live in a shallow world, dude, get over it.

1 John 2:16 - I'm not understanding this at all. Gospel simplicity is explained in this verse how?

Revelation 17:4 - You do realize that this entire book is just giving a more colorful example as to what the end times are going to be like, correct? Purple is the color of royalty. Any kind of red denotes power. Gold, precious stones and pearls are all more things to show what this shallow world is attracted to.

Romans 12:2 - The pattern of this world could mean anything. There is no context for clothing there. Yes, you could apply it to outward appearance and clothing, but that's not what that scripture is talking about.

1 Peter 1:14 - Wow, really? Evil desires being what? Appearing normal? Following the appearance of the world is bad? As long as we have Jesus and are in the light spiritually, what does appearance matter? Jesus looked like the world, but He didn't act like it.

You took a lot of those scriptures out of context. And I'm not saying "you" as in, "You, just you, Thistle". I'm saying "you" as in "All members of your church that follow that."