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The First Lady Oluremi Tinubu said Wednesday that the federal government was committed to rebuilding the country’s healthcare system. Speaking at an event to mark the 25th anniversary of the National Hospital Abuja, the First Lady said the hospital remains pivotal and critical to the development of the sector. “Every Nigerian deserves quality health care, regardless of their background or circumstances. The Federal Government, under the able leadership of President Tinubu is committed to rebuilding the healthcare system in Nigeria. “Therefore, the NHA plays a vital role in ensuring that all Nigerians have access to quality and affordable healthcare. “As we look to the future, I urge the members of staff and management of this great hospital to remain resilient and strive for excellence so that you can continue to positively impact the lives of many that seek qualitative medical care,” she said. The First Lady stressed the need for investment in the health of Nigerians, and called on stakeholders to deliver positively to the course. “The establishment of this facility would not have been possible without the foresight of the former First Lady, Hajia Maryam Abacha, whose vision under her National Programme, the Family Support Programme (FSP) birthed the idea that led to the establishment of a national hospital for Women and Children. “The mandate of the Hospital was later changed in 1999 to serve as an apex referral Hospital in Nigeria, to cater for all and was renamed the National Hospital, Abuja”. “In the spirit of the anniversary, therefore, the Radiotherapy Centre will be named Mariam Abacha Radiotherapy Centre,” she said. The First Lady commended the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Ali Pate, the Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital, Professor Muhammad Raji, and all the staff of the hospital for their commitment to improving the health and well-being of citizenship. Also speaking, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Professor Ali Pate said the health sector was undergoing major overhauling that would make it come out stronger and better. The Medical Director of the National Hospital said the hospital was on the threshold of becoming the referral hub for Africa. The First Lady also commissioned the radiotherapy centre and also plated trees to mark her visit to the medical facility.Patrick Fishburn leads at Sea Island as Joel Dahmen keeps alive hopes of keeping his job

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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Agora, Inc. (NASDAQ: API) (the “Company”), a pioneer and leader in real-time engagement technology, today announced its unaudited financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024. “Recently, we launched our Conversational AI SDK in collaboration with OpenAI’s Realtime API to allow developers to bring voice-driven AI experiences to any app. We believe multimodal AI agents that can interact with human through natural voice will gain widespread adoption across many use cases such as customer support, education and wellness, and Agora is well positioned to become a key infrastructure provider for real-time conversational AI,” said Tony Zhao, founder, chairman and CEO of Agora. “To support this vision, we recently made some structural changes, aligning our organization to fully leverage the accelerating conversational AI opportunities, and operate in a faster, leaner, and more responsive fashion. These changes will help us build the next generation real-time engagement technology for the Generative AI era and strengthen our position as the leader in real-time engagement space.” Third Quarter 2024 Highlights Total revenues for the quarter were $31.6 million, a decrease of 9.8% from $35.0 million in the third quarter of 2023, which included decreased revenue from certain end-of-sale products of $2.4 million. Agora : $15.7 million for the quarter, an increase of 2.6% from $15.3 million in the third quarter of 2023. Shengwang : RMB112.9 million ($15.9 million) for the quarter, a decrease of 20.0% from RMB141.2 million ($19.7 million) in the third quarter of 2023, which included decreased revenue from certain end-of-sale products of RMB17.5 million ($2.4 million). Active Customers Agora : 1,762 as of September 30, 2024, an increase of 5.9% from 1,664 as of September 30, 2023. Shengwang : 3,641 as of September 30, 2024, a decrease of 9.7% from 4,034 as of September 30, 2023. Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate Agora : 94% for the trailing 12-month period ended September 30, 2024. Shengwang : 78% for the trailing 12-month period ended September 30, 2024. Net loss for the quarter was $24.2 million, which included expenses of $11.4 million in relation to the cancellation of certain employees’ equity awards, severance expenses of $4.8 million, and losses from equity in affiliates of $4.2 million, compared to net loss of $22.5 million in the third quarter of 2023. After excluding share-based compensation expenses, acquisition related expenses, amortization expenses of acquired intangible assets and income tax related to acquired intangible assets, non-GAAP net loss for the quarter was $10.4 million, compared to the non-GAAP net loss of $15.6 million in the third quarter of 2023. Total cash, cash equivalents, bank deposits and financial products issued by banks as of September 30, 2024 was $362.6 million. Net cash used in operating activities for the quarter was $4.6 million, compared to $3.0 million in the third quarter of 2023. Free cash flow for the quarter was negative $6.0 million, compared to negative $3.2 million in the third quarter of 2023. Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results Revenues Total revenues were $31.6 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 9.8% from $35.0 million in the same period last year. Revenues of Agora were $15.7 million in the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 2.6% from $15.3 million in the same period last year, primarily due to our business expansion and usage growth in sectors such as live shopping. Revenues of Shengwang were RMB112.9 million ($15.9 million) in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 20.0% from RMB141.2 million ($19.7 million) in the same period last year, primarily due to a decrease in revenues of RMB 17.5 million ($2.4 million) due to the end-of-sale of certain products and reduced usage from customers in certain sectors such as social and entertainment as a result of challenging macroeconomic and regulatory environment. Cost of Revenues Cost of revenues was $10.5 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 16.4% from $12.6 million in the same period last year, primarily due to the end-of-sale of certain products and the decrease in bandwidth usage and costs, which was offset partially by severance expenses for customer support teams of $0.3 million. Gross Profit and Gross Margin Gross profit was $21.0 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 6.1% from $22.4 million in the same period last year. Gross margin was 66.7% in the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 2.7% from 64.0% in the same period last year, mainly due to the end-of-sale of certain low-margin products, which was offset partially by higher severance expenses in the third quarter of 2024. Operating Expenses Operating expenses were $45.9 million in the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 24.3% from $36.9 million in the same period last year, primarily due to the increase in restructuring and severance expenses in the third quarter of 2024, which included share-based compensation of $11.4 million as a result of the cancellation of certain employees’ equity awards and immediate recognition of relevant remaining unrecognized compensation expenses, as well as severance expenses of $4.4 million. Research and development expenses were $29.3 million in the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 46.1% from $20.0 million in the same period last year, primarily due to restructuring and severance expenses in the third quarter of 2024, including share-based compensation of $9.0 million due to equity award cancellation and severance expenses of $3.6 million. Sales and marketing expenses were $6.9 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 11.9% from $7.8 million in the same period last year, primarily due to a decrease in personnel costs as the Company optimized its global workforce, which was offset partially by severance expenses of $0.7 million in the third quarter of 2024. General and administrative expenses were $9.7 million in the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 7.4% from $9.1 million in the same period last year, primarily due to restructuring and severance expenses in the third quarter of 2024, including share-based compensation of $2.4 million as a result of the equity award cancellation, which was offset partially by a decrease in personnel costs as the Company optimized its global workforce. Loss from Operations Loss from operations was $24.7 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $13.9 million in the same period last year. Interest Income Interest income was $3.9 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $4.9 million in the same period last year, primarily due to the decrease in the average balance of cash, cash equivalents, bank deposits and financial products issued by banks and the decrease in average interest rate realized. Losses from equity in affiliates Losses from equity in affiliates were $4.2 million in the third quarter of 2024, primarily due to an impairment loss on an investment in certain private company of $4.1 million. Net Loss Net loss was $24.2 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $22.5 million in the same period last year. Net Loss per American Depositary Share attributable to ordinary shareholders Net loss per American Depositary Share (“ADS”) 1 attributable to ordinary shareholders was $0.26 in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $0.23 in the same period last year. _____________ 1 One ADS represents four Class A ordinary shares. Share Repurchase Program During the three months ended September 30, 2024, the Company repurchased approximately 6.8 million of its Class A ordinary shares (equivalent to approximately 1.7 million ADSs) for approximately US$3.9 million under its share repurchase program, representing 1.9% of its US$200 million share repurchase program. As of September 30, 2024, the Company had repurchased approximately 129.4 million of its Class A ordinary shares (equivalent to approximately 32.3 million ADSs) for approximately US$113.7 million under its share repurchase program, representing 57% of its US$200 million share repurchase program. As of September 30, 2024, the Company had 368.3 million ordinary shares (equivalent to approximately 92.1 million ADSs) outstanding, compared to 449.8 million ordinary shares (equivalent to approximately 112.5 million ADSs) outstanding as of January 31, 2022 before the share repurchase program commenced. The current share repurchase program will expire at the end of February 2025. Executive Leadership Update Today the Company announced that Chief Security Officer Roger Hale will be leaving the Company, effective immediately. Mr. Hale has served in this role for the past 2.5 years, during which he made significant contributions to enhancing the Company’s security, compliance, and data protection protocols. Mr. Hale will work closely with senior leadership to ensure a smooth transition of his responsibilities. Moving forward, Patrick Ferriter and Robbin Liu will assume responsibility for security and compliance, reflecting the Company’s commitment to maintaining a strong and effective security framework. Mr. Hale will continue to provide strategic advice as an advisor to the Company. “We are grateful for Roger’s dedication and expertise over the past two and a half years. His leadership has been invaluable in strengthening our security & compliance foundation,” said Tony Zhao, founder, chairman and CEO of Agora. “Security and compliance remain top priorities for Agora, and we will continue to uphold the highest standards to protect our customers and stakeholders.” Financial Outlook Based on currently available information, the Company expects total revenues for the fourth quarter of 2024 to be between $34 million and $36 million, compared to $31.6 million in the third quarter of 2024, and $33.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 if revenues from certain end-of-sale low-margin products were excluded. The Company also expects significant improvement in net income / (loss) in the fourth quarter. This outlook reflects the Company's current and preliminary views on the market and operational conditions, which are subject to change. Earnings Call The Company will host a conference call to discuss the financial results at 5 p.m. Pacific Time / 8 p.m. Eastern Time on November 25, 2024. Details for the conference call are as follows: Event title: Agora, Inc. 3Q 2024 Financial Results The call will be available at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/wie28zvr Investors who want to hear the call should log on at least 15 minutes prior to the broadcast. Participants may register for the call with the link below. https://register.vevent.com/register/BIf58a0b6f500c4362b1a8c64f9fa4cea8 Please visit the Company’s investor relations website at https://investor.agora.io on November 25, 2024 to view the earnings release and accompanying slides prior to the conference call. Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures The Company has provided in this press release financial information that has not been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”). The Company uses these non-GAAP financial measures internally in analyzing its financial results and believe that the use of these non-GAAP financial measures is useful to investors as an additional tool to evaluate ongoing operating results and trends and in comparing its financial results with other companies in its industry, many of which present similar non-GAAP financial measures. Besides free cash flow (as defined below), each of these non-GAAP financial measures represents the corresponding GAAP financial measure before share-based compensation expenses, acquisition related expenses, amortization expenses of acquired intangible assets, income tax related to acquired intangible assets and impairment of goodwill. The Company believes that such non-GAAP financial measures help identify underlying trends in its business that could otherwise be distorted by the effects of such share-based compensation expenses, acquisition related expenses, amortization expenses of acquired intangible assets, income tax related to acquired intangible assets and impairment of goodwill that it includes in its cost of revenues, total operating expenses and net income (loss). The Company believes that all such non-GAAP financial measures also provide useful information about its operating results, enhance the overall understanding of its past performance and future prospects and allow for greater visibility with respect to key metrics used by its management in its financial and operational decision-making. Non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for comparable GAAP financial measures and should be read only in conjunction with the Company’s consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of its historical non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures has been provided in the tables captioned “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures” included at the end of this press release, and investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation. Definitions of the Company’s non-GAAP financial measures included in this press release are presented below. Non-GAAP Net Income (Loss) Non-GAAP net income (loss) is defined as net income (loss) adjusted to exclude share-based compensation expenses, acquisition related expenses, amortization expenses of acquired intangible assets, income tax related to acquired intangible assets and impairment of goodwill. Free Cash Flow Free cash flow is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less purchases of property and equipment (excluding the acquisition of land use right and the payment for the headquarters project). The Company considers free cash flow to be a liquidity measure that provides useful information to management and investors regarding net cash provided by operating activities and cash used for investments in property and equipment required to maintain and grow the business. Operating Metrics The Company also uses other operating metrics included in this press release and defined below to assess the performance of its business. Active Customers An active customer at the end of any period is defined as an organization or individual developer from which the Company generated more than $100 of revenue during the preceding 12 months. Customers are counted based on unique customer account identifiers. Generally, one software application uses the same customer account identifier throughout its life cycle while one account may be used for multiple applications. Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate is calculated for a trailing 12-month period by first identifying all customers in the prior 12-month period, and then calculating the quotient from dividing the revenue generated from such customers in the trailing 12-month period by the revenue generated from the same group of customers in the prior 12-month period. As the vast majority of revenue generated from Agora’s customers is denominated in U.S. dollars, while the vast majority of revenue generated from Shengwang’s customers is denominated in Renminbi, Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate is calculated in U.S. dollars for Agora and in Renminbi for Shengwang, which has substantially removed the impact of foreign currency translations. Shengwang excluded the revenues from certain end-of-sale products, Easemob’s CEC business and K12 academic tutoring sector. The Company believes Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate facilitates operating performance comparisons on a period-to-period basis. Safe Harbor Statements This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical or current fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements regarding the Company’s financial outlook, beliefs and expectations. Forward-looking statements include statements containing words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “project,” “will” and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. Among other things, the Financial Outlook in this announcement contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company’s current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties. The Company’s actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of these risks and uncertainties, which include, without limitation, risks related to the growth of the RTE-PaaS market; the Company’s ability to manage its growth and expand its operations; the continued impact of COVID-19 on global markets and the Company’s business, operations and customers; the Company’s ability to attract new developers and convert them into customers; the Company’s ability to retain existing customers and expand their usage of its platform and products; the Company’s ability to drive popularity of existing use cases and enable new use cases, including through quality enhancements and introduction of new products, features and functionalities; the Company’s fluctuating operating results; competition; the effect of broader technological and market trends on the Company’s business and prospects; general economic conditions and their impact on customer and end-user demand; and other risks and uncertainties included elsewhere in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including, without limitation, the final prospectus related to the IPO filed with the SEC on June 26, 2020. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. About Agora, Inc. Agora, Inc. is the Cayman Islands holding company of two independent divisions, under Agora brand and Shengwang brand, respectively, whose businesses are conducted through separate entities. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Agora is a pioneer and global leader in Real-Time Engagement Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), providing developers with simple, flexible, and powerful application programming interfaces, or APIs, to embed real-time voice, video, interactive live-streaming, chat, whiteboard, and artificial intelligence capabilities into their applications. Headquartered in Shanghai, China, Shengwang is a pioneer and leading Real-Time Engagement PaaS provider in the China market. For more information on Agora, please visit: www.agora.io For more information on Shengwang, please visit: www.shengwang.cn Agora, Inc. Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited, in US$ thousands) Agora, Inc. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss (Unaudited, in US$ thousands, except share and per ADS amounts) Agora, Inc. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited, in US$ thousands) Agora, Inc. Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures (Unaudited, in US$ thousands, except share and per ADS amounts)

As the Broncos’ offensive menu continues to expand, Devaughn Vele is becoming one of the foremost beneficiaries. The rookie wide receiver is lining up all over the field, playing different spots and making an impact in several different ways. The seventh-round draft pick already had three catches in the first half of when head coach Sean Payton put him alone on the backside of a unique, 4-by-1 formation. The Broncos had Courtland Sutton and Troy Franklin aligned into the boundary with running back Javonte Williams and jumbo tight end Matt Peart as an eligible receiver all to quarterback Bo Nix’s right. Vele pushed vertically up the field, gave a head-fake inside that kept cornerback Decamrion Richardson on his heels and then eventually snapped off his route to the inside. Nix pinned the ball on him for a 26-yard gain. Vele’s showed a knack for getting open and making plays since rookie minicamp in May. In recent weeks, though, his ascension has only accelerated. The 26-year-old has fortified himself as the No. 2 option at receiver behind Sutton and on Sunday he finished with six catches (nine targets) for 80 yards. Since he returned from being out four games — one due to a rib injury and three healthy scratches — Vele’s been on a 58-catch, 782-yard pace. In the three weeks since his playing time jumped to about two-thirds of Denver’s offensive snaps, he’s got 14 catches (18 targets) for 185 yards and a touchdown. Vele’s most recent game and his trajectory drew about as strong of praise as you’ll hear from Payton on Monday morning. “He’s been really good,” Payton said. “The strengths for him: Certainly, his hands. You guys saw it in camp — he’s got strong hands in traffic. He’s a guy that plays well over the middle. He reminds me a lot of Marques Colston, who I had in New Orleans for 10 or 11 years.” Colston, of course, was also a seventh-round pick in 2006, Payton’s first New Orleans draft class. He ended up catching 70 balls for 1,038 yards and eight touchdowns as a rookie, then going for 98 catches, 1,202 yards and 12 touchdowns in his second season. In his 10-year career, Colston racked up 711 catches, 9,759 yards and 72 touchdowns. Those are lofty marks, but Payton’s clearly been impressed with Vele. “Just in our staff meeting 20 minutes ago, I said, ‘We’ve got to continue to find touches for him,’” the coach said. They’ve already started putting him in more positions as the No. 1 target. The 26-yarder looked to be designed for him. So, too, was a late-game miss that came out of the same 4-by-1 set. Instead of breaking in, Vele went vertical — a wrinkle from the original look — and Nix just left the ball too far inside. Nix threw him two slants out of RPO looks and the Broncos put him in motion and used Lil’Jordan Humphrey to create a pick to get him open on third-and-short for a conversion. He caught a scramble-drill ball for 23 yards and went up to catch it even knowing he was going to get hit hard when he landed. He sat down in a soft spot in zone coverage. He caught a pass as the safety valve and got upfield for a first down. “Sometimes, as a coach, you feel like you’re stopping the progress by not getting him touches,” Payton said Monday, likening Vele earlier in the season to where running back Audric Estime is now. “And now — I don’t want to say we’re guilty as coaches, but oftentimes (you’re) afraid to play the rookies. And very quickly we’ve seen his growth.” Nik Bonitto . The Broncos’ third-year pass-rusher has racked up 10 sacks in his past 10 games. He’s turned into a high-end pass-rusher and gives Denver a pairing between him and Jonathon Cooper, , that’s easy to imagine building around long-term. Outside of the highlight-reel, game-sealing strip-sack on Sunday, though, Bonitto made plays against Las Vegas that he simply would not have made earlier in his career. Most impressively: Bonitto recognized two different screens — one to a running back and one to a receiver — in the first eight minutes of the game and ruined them by playing smart, alert football and hustling. On the first, Bonitto didn’t get fooled by Vegas’ motioning and stayed locked on Ameer Abdullah. Minshew had to throw the ball into the ground. On the second, he started roaring up the field but saw left tackle Kolton Miller and other Vegas linemen start to break out to block down the field. Bonitto swung around quickly and hit a dead sprint out toward receiver D.J. Turner. He took such a good line that he ended up directly in the throwing lane and forced Minshew to again throw it in the dirt. Bonitto’s first step and his bend are upper-echelon traits and will be what gets him paid. But playing smart, consistent football on top of that is what can make him a great all-around player. Payton put together a questionable play-calling sequence late in the fourth quarter. After Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson cut Denver’s lead to 26-19 with 3:38 to go, the Broncos took over at their 30. Payton’s inclination to dial up an explosive play to start the drive was understandable. Get in heavy personnel on first down — Peart checked in as a jumbo tight end — and then play-fake and throw the ball down the field. Nix, though, left a throw too far inside for Vele, who could not come down with a contested catch. Las Vegas had all of its timeouts, which meant Denver needed to get a first down to really go to work on the clock. Instead, two more incompletions led to a three-and-out. Total time run off the clock: 26 seconds. Payton defended the sequence without prompting Monday, saying, “We’re trying to win the game at the end of the game there. The last thing I was going to do was hand the ball off three times. They’ll use their timeouts. Then they’ll drive down the field.” The first-down throw was an aggressive and understandable decision. But missing it set the Raiders for one more chance. The Broncos defense, as it has often this year, rose to the occasion when Bonitto logged his 10th sack and forced a fumble to set Denver up in the red zone. Payton dialed up another pass above the two-minute warning on that series, too. By then, Denver had the game in full control. Still, going 0 of 4 plus two runs for 2 yards and rolling just 57 seconds off the clock over two late possessions is far from ideal. The Broncos’ offense hasn’t just shown signs of life recently. It’s revved into a gear that, while not elite, has not been seen in Denver since Peyton Manning retired. Denver’s scored 28 or more points in five of its last eight outings and in that span is averaging 25.3 points per game. The Broncos haven’t had more than four games of 28-plus points in a season since 2014 (10). In fact, they’ve only hit four twice (2015 and 2020). The rest: three once (2023), two each in 2016, 2021 and 2022, and one in each 2017-19. The Broncos still have some volatility. Their other three totals in the recent eight-game set were 10 against Baltimore, 14 against Kansas City and 16 against the Los Angeles Chargers. For the first time in a long time, though, the Broncos have an offense capable of putting a big number on the scoreboard.

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I know you miss those campaign commercials on TV. They always said such nice things about their opponents. I know you miss getting those political flyers in the mail every day. They, too, always said such nice things about their opponents. Okay, I don’t miss it. And I don’t miss the all the predictions of doom and gloom over the outcome of the presidential election. You know, what if Donald Trump wins? Can our country stand four more years of his presidency? But what if Kamala Harris wins? Will we be a complete socialist country by the end of her term? Well, President Trump won, so we’ll find out if our country will survive four more years with him being in the White House. I don’t it will be the total disaster that many in the opposition are predicting. But I also don’t think, despite what many would like to believe, that all of the many problems our country is facing will be solved by Donald Trump relocating back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Donald Trump won, so now that “what if” is now going to be a reality. There is one thing true about all things that are “what if.” Simply, they haven’t happened yet, and they might not happen at all. But we don’t know, and that often scares us. “What if’s” are fueled by fear, and fear loves to fill in the gaps when we don’t know. So, the “what if” might not happen. But it could. What do we do then? Maybe our response should be like that of three young Hebrew men many years ago. You probably heard their story back in Sunday School as a child. The three young men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, would not bow and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. They would only worship their God. The king was furious and demanded that they be thrown into the fiery furnace. But the three Hebrew men’s response to the king showed their faith in a real “what if” situation. They responded, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18) And they were thrown into the blazing furnace. But they didn’t get cremated. They didn’t get burned at all. Even their clothes didn’t smell like smoke. God had delivered them, and even the king recognized it, and gave honor to God. Back to their response to the king. The young Hebrews believed God would deliver them. But what if God chose not to do so? Their response was that they would still honor God no matter what. Their “what if” had become an “even if.” What if some of the fears now being promoted in some of the media actually come to pass over the next months and years? The truth is that there will be some difficult days ahead, no matter who is the president. How will you and I respond? But more importantly, how will we respond to the “what ifs” that we may face in our personal lives? What if we face sickness and bad health? What if our finances take a hit? What if a family crisis happens? Will we respond in fear, or will we respond in faith? Like the three young men in Babylon, our response can honor God. Even in the midst of uncertain times, our “what if” fears can become “even if” faith. Mac McPhail, raised in Sampson County, lives in Clinton. McPhail’s book, “Wandering Thoughts from a Wondering Mind,” a collection of his favorite columns, is available for purchase online on Amazon, or by contacting McPhail at rvlfm@intrstar.net.

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