To pastors and leaders who serve faithfully, who work to teach and shepherd those who are in your church or religious institution: thank you for all you do.

We have had a chance to travel to all 56 counties in this state, and I have had the chance to sit around with cups of coffee and having conversations about what matters to Montanans.

Of the five rights listed in the First Amendment. - religion, speech, press, assembly, petition - the very first right protected is freely exercising our religion.

My great-great grandmother who came from Norway to America came for economic freedom, but importantly she also came for religious freedom. It is part of my family history, why they came to America: for the freedom to practice their own religion without the government interfering with it.

I ran for Congress not because I was having a mid-life crisis. I left the private sector because I saw a looming financial crisis that was coming to this country. It's unsustainable.

One of the thoughtful questions we could be asking is, Have you ever gone to Google and typed in 20 week baby or 20 week fetus? Try it and click on the images. Suddenly your friend will see what a 20-week-old baby looks like in the womb. That image is clearly a unique life.

I was a big fan of Ronald Reagan. He was the first president I got to vote for.

Im very proud that our country still produces people like my son, who choose the path less traveled that knowingly step up to serve, even though our country is tearing itself apart with things like political machinations.

In the government, we have a very important responsibility to protect the rights of our pastors and religious leaders. They have the freedom to speak out about what they believe, without fear of repercussions from their very own government.

I am grateful for the men and women who pastor, who lead in churches across our country. Ultimately, their role of loving people and seeing hearts changed is probably the greatest calling.