Transformed

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
-Paul, Romans 12:2



As time goes on and this journey of renewal He has me on continues, I am drawn more and more into Him. Away from other things. Some have heard me talk about my past before; all the booze, the partying, the women. What a waste of time it all was, how empty it all turned out to be!

All those years of drowning out the voice of God, His whisper in my heart left me cold, broken and empty. How much time I wasted! Some have said to me, “Well, you learned a lot about yourself.”

Yes, I did. I learned that my heart is dark away from Him. I learned that sin is very alluring. I learned that Satan is much more real than many people want to think or believe. What is truly shocking to me is how many of those who claim to be “Christians” don’t seem to understand what’s really going on. They don’t seem to want to accept the fact that evil is very real and is coming for us all. Satan hates you and there is a real hell; both now and later.

Hell is real to the junkie on the corner tormented by the demon of heroin. Hell is real to the drunk taking one last drink for the night, hoping this is the one that will finally drown the pain. Hell is real to the porn addict whose lust is never satisfied. Hell is real for me and was real for me. I lived there for awhile. And I hated myself for every single second I spent there. And Satan was happy. He had taken me out.

Then, something happened. I met a man named Jesus, who is the Son of God. He showed up one day and spoke love into my heart. Whispered freedom into my shattered soul. The sun began to shine again. He helped me crawl out of that bottle and showed me that I didn’t need booze and sex to prop myself up. He showed me that He had forgiven me and I didn’t have to hate myself anymore. He pushed into my heart and said He didn’t hate me either and I was forgiven, free.

Then, He showed me a book He had written for me. His word, spoken through the ages to shout truth from the mountaintops, whisper love into the dark hearts of men, beat back the king of liars.

And my heart began to change.

Then, He brought others around me to lift me up, to challenge me, help me grow and walk with me. Oh, I still fall down sometimes. But when I’m lying face down in the dirt, He lifts me up with a smile on His face and together we embrace the road ahead.

I look back now and I don’t even know the man back there. That lost, lonely, bitter boy crying out for love is a shadow. He has changed me by showing me truth in His word, obedience in my life and a love I cannot possibly fathom or repay.

Know this, fellow travelers and broken people. He will transform you into a new person, give you a new heart. Then you will look back on that darkness and know: that is not you anymore!! He has made you new and is making you new by His power in your heart!!

Glory

“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.”

- Jesus, John 17:22-23


I meet with a group of men every Tuesday night. We call it “Man Church”. I love these men. We’re all just trying to walk the path, travel the journey that God has us on. So, last night, one of the guys (Brad) points out these verses. The more I read this, the more it blows my mind and stretches my heart.

These are the words of Jesus in a prayer to His Father, in the presence of His disciples. Let me say that again; these are the words of Jesus. So, read that again. Now read it one more time. Let this soak into you really good here. Seriously, stop reading and just think about this, meditate on it for however long it takes.

Jesus says that God loves you as much as He loves his own son. Do you feel that? God loves you as much as He loves Jesus!! Wow. Let’s just break this down a bit here.

Ok, first of all, Jesus says that He has given us the same glory that God gave Him. Did you hear that?! If we have a relationship with Christ, if we are living with Him, we have the same glory that He has! We are living with the glory of Jesus in our lives!

Why? According to this passage, so that we can be one with the Father. Think about this for a minute. The God who created all that is, has been or ever will be, the God of all galaxies, the God who existed before time itself wants to give you the glory of Jesus so that you can be one with Him!! Stop again and just dwell on that for a minute or ten minutes or however long it takes.

So what is the glory of Jesus? Well, in my opinion, the glory of Jesus was that He lived a life of complete surrender and unity with God. Jesus could not live apart from the Father. His very life, breath and sustenance were to be one with the Father, to do the will of the Father. The glory of Jesus was that He who is God came down to us as the ultimate sacrifice for us and for sin because that’s what God said had to happen. Jesus lived a perfect life of perfect unity with the Father to show us how to live. And we, according to Jesus, have that glory in us if we know the Father, if we know Jesus!!

Then Jesus says something incredible, mind boggling; I’m running out of adjectives to describe what it is. “…you love them as much as you love me.” Stop what you’re doing and read that again…dwell on that, meditate on it. Let it soak into your bones, your very soul.

See, Jesus is God, is a part of God that you and I can never be. Jesus is the Son. Jesus is the reason this whole thing is happening. Jesus is God’s answer for all the ugliness, all the sin that entered the world at the Garden of Eden. Jesus is the answer, the only answer for salvation. God loves us so much that He sacrificed His own Son, a very piece of Himself, to save us. And He loves us just as much as He loves His own Son, as much as He loves Himself.

I’m not even sure if we can even believe this, if we can even begin to grasp this. The implications of this kind of love is staggering; it tears at your heart and soul until you are brought to your knees in humility and worship for the Creator of all that has been, all that is and all that will be.

When your world seems dark and the daily bothers and pain of your life seem overwhelming, think on this. When you are having a ‘bad day’ or you decided you don’t want to serve or be grateful or your family makes you nuts or whatever, think on this.

God loves you as much as He loves His own Son!! His love for you will never die because He is eternal. His love for you will never die because His very existence, His person is love. How can we not throw ourselves weeping with joy and surrender into His arms, kneel at the feet of the God of all, the God who loves us without expectations or condition?!

Judas

I often wonder how Judas felt. I mean, we’ve all hated on the guy for two thousand years and I recently began to wonder how he might have felt. I have sort of an active imagination and so I wondered what might have been bouncing around in his head. I meet on a regular basis with a group of men and right now, we are discussing the book of John. We were talking recently about what we now refer to as The Last Supper. During that meal, that time with the disciples, Jesus is obviously troubled by what is about to happen. I began to wonder how Judas must have felt…

Why are we sitting here in this room? What is he doing with the water and towel thing here? What?! Why is he washing Peter’s feet? This is not the man I came to follow!! He’s too soft, too kind, too real. He’s looking at me...what’s he saying? Jesus tells Peter that if he doesn’t wash his feet then none of him belongs to him. That’s ridiculous, what is he talking about? Why would it matter if I belong to you or you wash my feet or whatever? I want a LEADER, a RULER, a KING!! You are not a king! You are acting like a servant! Why are you washing my feet now? Please, please don’t look at me!! I can see the pain in your eyes, it rushes right through me; shreds my heart and I feel…I feel…You. Inside my head, like you are in my soul, your voice in my heart. I can see it. Oh God of my fathers, he knows! I can see it in his eyes, he knows! He will tell the others and they will kill me. Don’t they understand, doesn’t he? I need a KING, not this lover of children, this healer of lepers, this man who will not fight!! He knows, he knows!! His eyes follow me, tearing into my mind. I have to get out of here, I have to do this, I have to stop this. Why is he hiding who he is?! If he is the Messiah, I have to do something, make him act! We need a king who will burn the Romans from among us, kill these godless traitors to our land!!

Jesus breaks the bread and says, “Take this and eat. This is my body, which is given for you. Every time you do this, remember me.”

Sacrilege! Heresy! What is he talking about? Eat his body?! I don’t want to eat, I want to have our own kingdom! What does that mean, remember me? Is he leaving us then to find our own way after we have left everything to follow him? Will he abandon us before he takes the throne? He’s trying to get rid of us, to replace us!! I can’t let that happen, I won’t!

Jesus pours the wine and tells them, “Take this cup and drink. This is my blood, which I shed freely for all mankind to forgive sins. Every time you do this, remember me.”

I can see his eyes so full of pain…is he crying? Why is he crying? Leaders don’t cry, kings don’t CRY!! God of my fathers, if you sent this man, change him! Help him to be who we need him to be. Not this weak, weeping pitiful man. Sins of the world, what does that mean? Does he really think he can forgive the sins of the world? Oh no, he’s talking about someone betraying him. He knows, he must know!! He’s looking at me, why is he looking at me like that? Does he know?

Jesus looks at Judas and says, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”

My heart just stopped beating, I cannot breathe!! He knows, he knows, he knows!! I have to do this…for us all, for you Jesus. You have to take control, you have to cast out the invaders in this land, you have to be KING!!! I have to do this…

I didn’t really think I had a point in all this until I just went back through and read this again and I’ve been dealt with on some things in my own life recently. So, I guess here’s my biggest point here. This is not about us, no matter how much we might want it to be. We keep making this faith, this journey, our worship, our lives about us. It’s not about us.

It’s about Jesus. It always has been.

He is the point. He created us for love…for His love. God sent his son, his only Son because He loves us. Jesus is the point here, people. Not our rules, our formulas, our denominations. We cannot bring enough to Him, we cannot be what He calls us to be without Him. We have nothing to offer Him.

I really believe that one of the reasons Judas betrayed Jesus was because Judas was like everybody else back then. Judas was like we are sometimes today. We are trying to fit Jesus into what we think He should do, into our little box of religion, our list of do’s and don’ts. If we have made our lives, our faith about anything other than Jesus, we are flat out wrong and missing the point. I really think this is one of the reasons Jesus got so frustrated with the disciples so much. Seriously, they spent three years with Him every day and they missed the point of the whole thing.

They just didn’t get it. Neither did Judas. Neither do we.

It’s about the love of Jesus for us. It always has been and it always will be. Until we get that right, we are going to be in the dark just as much as Judas was. We have the benefit of two thousand years of hindsight.

May we all make today the day that we change our focus; away from ourselves and our selfish desires and agendas, away from the labels of religion and denomination. May we all make today the day it becomes about the Son who came here to live and die because He loves us!

The way of you

Something in the way
of you
with me…
The radiance of the smile
in your voice!
I see it
in the dark, alone at night
when my dreams
are haunted by the beauty
of love.
It burns into my soul,
the brush of your fingers
on my skin.
I am overcome with the vision
of the love and hope I see;
in my dreams,
you bless me.
The taste! The fire
in the embrace of your lips
leaves me shattered,
trembling,
new.
Something in the way
you move in my heart
renders me gasping,
spent…
Complete.

Africa

I have had a lot of people ask me what it was like to grow up in Africa, to spend my formative years in Africa. I’m not sure I can completely explain it. I think, to explain it, you have to be able to feel it, smell it, hear it, taste it, experience it.

I remember arriving in Zambia in the fall of 1985. Well, it was fall in the northern hemisphere. It was spring in the southern hemisphere. I had just celebrated my twelfth birthday. I remember getting off the plane, getting our luggage and walking outside the airport.

I felt like I had just stepped on the moon.

I cannot really describe in words that first feeling. It was exciting, terrifying, new and yet the very air felt old, ancient, deep. I knew in that moment that my life would never be the same. Never would I be able to view life through a narrow lens, a small focus. Little did I know how true this would come to be in my life and heart. See, Africa isn’t something that you experience, somewhere you live. Africa is something that gets inside you, into your mind, your heart. It pushes on your soul and stretches you to become; something new, something old, something more.

I remember my first night in the bush. The silence that descended at sundown was tactile. You could actually seem to feel the silence settling over the earth like a blanket. Not to say it was completely quiet at night but sundown was different. It was as though the entire world was holding its breath for that moment. Like drifting into a dream of silence. It was beautiful.

And the stars! I really believe that there are more stars in the southern hemisphere than there are here in the northern hemisphere. That may not be true but it feels true. I remember the first night I was outside. It was impossible not to notice the stars. Immense and immediate they seemed. I felt that I could just reach my hand up, brush the sky and the stars would cling to me. The sky was immense, epic. I cannot describe the feeling that eclipsed me when I would lie on the ground and look into the sky of Africa. I felt miniscule, insignificant, humbled. The majesty and glory of the night sky were moving to the core.

Sunrise was another experience entirely. There would be a deep silence like the breath before the plunge. Then, the sun would peek over the horizon and the world would explode! A cacophony, a symphony of sound and life erupted from the trees, the bush. Birds, monkeys, who knows what else would burst into song as though they were welcoming the world back! It felt like someone had opened a sound box of life to bring in the day!

My brother and I, my best friend and I would spend hours, days, months it seemed exploring. There was nothing out of bounds for us. Looking back now, it was very dangerous, our restless wandering urges. We would wander and hike for hours, many miles from home, from the safety of the known. We kept no track of time. Time had no meaning there in the wild. There was too much to see, too much to feel, so much to explore.

I have such sharp memories of those times spent out. Out away from everything except the staggering beauty and harsh wildness of God’s creation. It was completely wild, free and wonderful! We were child nomads, lost in the world of imagination and beauty.

Lake Naivasha, where the flamingos lived. So many that, from a distance, the lake looked pink until you got close and the birds began to fly, blanketing the sky with a pink rushing of wings, a slow rise on the wind. The rushing wind in the trees of the mountains where we lived in Kenya for school was an almost constant undertone of softness, a quiet song in our hearts. Sometimes a harsh wind, sometimes a breeze but constant it seemed. On the wind, a smell that cannot be forgotten. The smell of the forest, the dust on the air, the brush, the leopard cubs we discovered one day, the monkeys clambering in the trees overhead; the smell of home.

Africa.

A waterfall named Kundalila, translated the cry of the dove, was an aching place of peace. Its beauty and simplicity surrounded you, wrapped you, and embraced you with the breathtaking cold of the water, fresh and clear. Even now, I can close my eyes and feel the mist of a thousand waterfalls. The soft caress of the mist was the touch of angels, it seemed. Ah, my soul aches, weeps with the memory!

Kilimanjaro! Above the plains it rose, majesty personified. Aloof, serene, looking out over the children of the plains in quiet watchfulness, a waiting challenge. As though it were shouting to the world, ‘Will you come to me? Will you come to know yourself on these slopes, rocky crags?’ The week I spent on the slopes of Kilimanjaro forever changed me, sharpened me, shook me. My sister and I shared that moment in time, that week which forever linked us together in more than just a biological way.

When I reached the summit of Kilimanjaro, I looked out over what felt to be the entire world. Surrounded by a sea of snow and a layer of clouds below us, I was overwhelmed. The magnitude of God’s creation, in that moment, was stunning. Humbling. Wonderful. I felt it in my heart, pushing into my soul. An embrace that cannot be described in words. I was in tears at the allure of the moment. It took my breath away. In that moment, I was enveloped in the immensity of His creation.

It has been sixteen years since I left Africa. And yet, I was there last night in my dreams, in my heart, in my soul. There will never be a place on this earth that will be home like Africa to me. Even now, I miss it; the vacancy of the missing will be with me until the day the earth is made new and I can revisit there in a perfect world. The very word Africa pushes on my heart, squeezes my soul and brings tears to my eyes.

Africa isn’t something that you experience, somewhere you live. Africa is something that gets inside you, into your mind, your heart. It pushes on your soul and stretches you to become; something new, something old, something more.

Africa.

I want to go home.

Pain

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. – Isaiah 55:8-9


I’m learning something. This is not a fun lesson. It’s not easy and I don’t really want to hear what He is saying right now. But, I’m listening and learning. I used to run from pain, shut it all away deep down in some dark, cold place. Like so many bottles on shelves. I would put it away, seal it off and vow never to look at it, feel it, know it again.

That didn’t really work out for me very well. All the time I spent putting those things away, running from them, raging against them, I could have been seeking another direction, another path.

His way.

Instead, I chose seclusion, a temporary band-aid for my pain. Pain sucks, let’s just be honest. There are times when life just hurts and sometimes we’re angry about it and we don’t want to hear the well meaning types say stupid things like ‘Everything’s gonna be okay.’ It might not.

Jesus never told us life wouldn’t hurt. What He said was stay close to me. Walk in the light of my presence. Live a life of love and compassion for others. Love me with all you have. Sell out. Take up your cross and follow me.

What I’m learning isn’t to avoid pain, not to put life in bottles on dusty shelves. If you are going to really live a real life, you will feel pain. This will hurt a little. Sometimes a lot.

What I am learning is to run to Jesus. When it seems like all is lost. When we can’t do this, when we’re afraid, when it hurts. Run to Him.

I told Him recently how afraid I am to surrender to Him, how intimidated I am by what He says to me. I told Him how much some of this hurts. And I can just see Him, in my mind, sitting there looking at me while I say this to Him. Pouring my heart and soul out, crying and telling Him how this feels. He smiles at me with tears in His eyes and says, “I know. I feel your pain and fear with you. I am here.” Then, His hand reaches out and touches my shoulder and I can feel the warmth of His embrace, His passion for me.

Whatever pain you feel, however dark it seems at times, take it to Him. He might not bail you out right now. He might make you wait like He’s making me wait. You may find He has something to teach you that you cannot learn if you rush in, abandon the process.

But know this: His heart for you is good, His will is sovereign and His love undying. Wherever this leads, whatever path you travel in life, seek His face, ask for His heart. Run to Jesus. You will find, as I am, the journey is not always easy but it is worthwhile.

Nature buff

"At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of the morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see." - C.S. Lewis

I'm a nature buff. Not a fanatic, like one of those crazy PETA people nuts that wanna blow up the meat eaters or anything. But I love the beauty and power of nature.

The quiet breathing of a soft sunrise, the crimson and orange sky bleeding its life into the sunset, the sighing of the wind in the trees, the solid strength and mystery of the mountains, the roaring damp of the waterfalls.

Spending a large portion of my formative years in Africa was such a blessing. The raw power of the bush is something that, even now, takes my breath away. To see the lions hunt, watch the monkeys clambering from tree to tree, hear the absolute silence of a moonless night was so wonderful for me. I was wild and free to explore nature and I loved it, thrived on it! My junior year, I was honored to climb and successfully summit Mt. Kilimanjaro. And to make it really cool, my sister Katrina and I climbed together. What a blessing that was! What breathtaking, aching beauty I saw on that mountain. My senior year, I climbed Mt. Kenya. More beauty, more power. I think that is when my real love for God's creation came to fruition.

See, God created nature to be perfect, to reflect His beauty. When we neglect that beauty, when we neglect to take care of it or notice it, I think we are spitting in the face of the Creator. Like I said before, I'm not gonna go out and bomb chicken farms or something but I believe we have a responsibility to care for the earth. It is, after all, our home for now. God entrusted Adam with caring for what was created. We bear that same responsibility.

I also believe that, one day, nature will be perfected. The Bible says that all the world groans for the time when it will be made new. That includes us, me and you. And nature. There will be a day when we will know the world as it was meant to be known, as it was in the Garden before sin entered the world. Not sure about you but I can't wait to walk among the lions without fear, to summit the highest mountains, to swim freely in the ocean of His love and His creation.

A toast!!

To the Creator of the world who will one day make all things new!!

Storm

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement, they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
- Luke 8:22-25 (NIV)


I will never forget my sister’s death and the immediate aftermath. I know I talk about it a lot but I have to. It was a defining moment in my life. I will never forget the emotions of that time. The gulf of sadness that opened up in the middle of my soul, the searing rage at God, the sheer agony of the tears that I shed. It felt like my heart would explode at times with all the raw emotion I experienced.

We all have those moments. Times when the world makes no sense, when it just sucks to even get out of bed. Life has beat us down, friends have let us down, those closest to us have attacked us. It seems like a never ending battle during these times; wave after wave after wave.

I love this story about Jesus. You gotta wonder what the disciples were thinking, right? They get into this boat to cross the Galilean Sea. It’s dark and they are in the middle of this ocean it seems. Then, the storm. Out of nowhere, it just smacks them. Waves, wind, water, chaos. They are freaking out! So, they run to the other side of the boat to see what Jesus has to say about this. I mean, the Son of God is on their boat. Surely God wouldn’t allow them to drown, right? But, it is officially freak out time so let’s run to Jesus.

He’s asleep.

I put myself in the disciples’ sandals here and I have to admit, I’d be having some issues with Jesus right about now. Ok, we’re gonna die in the middle of this friggin’ ocean of waves and wind and despair…and you’re asleep?!? You got jokes, right? I would probably have just like slapped Him or something. “Wake up! You’re gonna get us killed,” I’d be screaming!

Asleep!

Then, Jesus wakes up cranky, right? I get that cause I’m not great at getting woke up either. Of course, Jesus is cranky for a totally separate reason than I would be. Very cool, calm and collected, He simply tells the wind to cut it out and it’s done, gone, over. Then, He gets cranky with the disciples. In my version, He looks at them and says, “What is your deal? Relax guys. Don’t you know who I am? Am I not in control?”

How many times are we in the middle of the ocean of whatever we’re going through? There is no shore in sight and it’s dark. We’re in a boat with no oars and it’s raining, blowing and our boat is sinking. Waves are crashing in and we run to where we think He is, freaking out, screaming, and panicking! “Help me, I’m going to die,” we yell at Him. And He’s kicked back chillin’, asleep at the wheel it seems to us.

It’s hard not to be angry at Him at a time like that. We don’t understand. Why won’t He rescue us before the boat goes down? And whose idea was the storm anyway? I mean, He’s in the boat, right?

There are times when we simply have to be in the storm. We have to because that’s where He has us. The good news is, He is with us. He’s in the boat and we just gotta relax and let Him do His thing. It’s not easy for me either but it has to be done. There are lessons we learn in the boat on the sea of our lives. We have to be there because He takes us there to teach us what we cannot learn by languishing on a sunny shore.

Life

I can remember so much of my life, even as an adult, I’ve been walking around like I was asleep. You ever walk around in the woods when it’s foggy out? How seemingly calm and quiet that is, how dark and kinda scary it can be as well, how sleepy it makes you feel?

At some point in time, I woke up.

I think I can actually point to the exact time it was. Well, actually, I think it was a series of events. The first was my sister’s death. That shattered my world and shook me to my core. The second was a men’s retreat I attended in April of 2009. It was an event called ‘Boot Camp’. That is when I met this man named Jesus. He spoke into my heart, my mind, my soul and I was and am forever changed.

Until then, I was asleep at the wheel, I think. It sorta felt like shoving your head in a bowl of jello, ya know? That bleh feeling of feeling nothing. Despair, anger, depression…just blah, nothing. There would be flashes of something. It’s like that feeling of ‘wait, did you see that….nah, it was nothing’.

Then, I met Jesus.

He began to wake me up and tell me that He came to set me free. To show me a way of life that was the answer to all those questions I had, all that nothingness, all that blah. He told me that He had not come to restrict me to lists and stuff but to give me life abundantly. Here. Now. It was a revelation that I was not at all ready for.

Don’t get me wrong, I had experienced emotion before then. But, it changed dramatically after that. I used to try to deny my passions because I thought all that passion was wrong somehow. I mean, so many of the churchy people I had been around were so dry, crusty and quite frankly boring. It was like feeling anything was against the rules. Then, I began to realize that those passions and emotions that He created me with were who I was, how He made me. He didn’t want to turn those off; He wanted to purify them, to harness them. I was free, free to be who I was, to be unashamed to cry, laugh, sigh when I saw a full moon, a great sunset, read a great poem! I can’t even tell you how freeing this was for me and can be for you.

Jesus didn’t come to “tell” you how to live. He came to set you free to really live. I’ll prove it, it’s in the Bible. Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.”

Prisoners freed! You are free, free to be who you are, who He has made you to be! How cool is that? This is the first verse of Scripture Jesus quoted in the synagogue when He began His public ministry. Then later, He said that He came to give you abundant life. I’ll prove it. It’s in the Bible in John 10, verse 10. Jesus says, “The thief’s purpose it to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” I also love the way Eugene Peterson’s Message translation puts that last part, “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they can dream of.”

Notice He didn’t say He came to make us rich or popular or a super model. He came to give us life, more and better than we can dream of. It might not be an easy life but it will be more than we can possibly imagine. I don’t know about you but I can imagine a lot. I think it is way cool that He’s going to do more than that!