What do I know of holy?

Lately, I have been more and more convinced that I know nothing of God and His ways.  I want to catch a glimpse of who God is. As I look around at the families in my city, I want them to understand too.

They have a God who saves. He does not merely save our soul. He saves us from a life of destitution. He saves us from ourselves. Left to our own devices we would always just make things worse. "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." John 17:3

May we know Him. Truly know Him. Make Him our best friend. I believe the city would be different if the people there understand the truth about hope. May we understand that in Christ we carry around His power, His glory. We do not carry around an interpretation of the truth, but THE TRUTH.  How do I help others understand?  How do I really show them when I am so small?

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." Jesus praying for us in John 17

Scattered Thoughts

So as I re-enter the real world I am boiling over with thoughts and wonders from the last couple of weeks away. I would like to share all of my craziness with you in no particular order:

1. For the first time in my life I saw several Maine Loons (see right) up close and personal. They make this very eerie wailing sound in this night that sounds like the deepest cry of our hearts. I also was able to see hummingbirds in the wild. So small and flitting about everywhere with such purpose. They move quickly and it matters. This is who I want it to be, focused and moving in order. I stood and breathed in the deep mist of the ocean rain on cliffs while I remembered my sister. While standing on places that she could never go in this life my eight year old declared, "I'll bet Aunt Courtney goes rock climbing with Jesus everyday. I hope we can do that together one day." I stood on a mountain in the fog where I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I had to trust that there was perspective that I could not see.  The next day I stood on the same mountain and peered out for miles. Coming home I saw my first moray eel face to face while snorkeling. I never thought that a creature that freaks me out so much at the aquarium could stand so gorgeous in its natural environment.  In short, I stood in the shadow of the Creator's creation and all I could do is worship the Creator. Anyone, who would put this much together, ordered so that I could breath it in at such a time as this, has to only be one thing, GOD.  How big is my God and how small am I?

2.  I watched my husband in the pool in the city where we live only to see a familiar site. Within five minutes he was surrounded by children.  He nodded at me with the familiar, "We are never really on a "day off" look, as I began to cry. Looking around at the pool, it was filled on a Saturday with Moms and their kids.  There was only one other family (Mom and Dad and kids) there.  All of the Dads were missing.  On a day when it should be family day, there were no families.  One eight year old wanted to show my husband over and again how high  she could jump,  or how well she could swim.  She wanted for a moment in time for my kids Dad to be hers.  She needed to adopt him. My heart broke. I stood in a public pool praying for every boy who walked by. "Lord may they grow into your men."  Lord please heal the city, I am tired of being so broken.  I long for it to be whole.

3. I learned that Mount Monadnok (20 minutes north of my hometown) is the second most hiked mountain in the world next to Mt. Fiji.  I have hiked it four times so far. I also learned that Fitchburg, MA (the town 3 towns over from my hometown) was in a book and voted as the worst city to live in, in Mass. The only people who want to live there according to the book are "Gangs, drug dealers, greasy people and prostitutes."  Interesting.

4. I read two books and am in the process of reading two more books that have all pointed me back to some important truths.  I need to be in love with my Savior.  I am in awe of what He has done for me, but I need to be in love with HIM not just what He has done. My greatest sin is always my need for independence. This propels my need for control. Our greatest sin from the start of sin has been to try and go it alone. To try and tell God how to make it better.  He cares diligently about relationship to the extreme that He is three in one.  To the point that I was created in His image so that I could be in relationship with Him.  I want to decrease so that He might increase. I want to understand how to glorify Him when I am eating and drinking (1 Cor. 10:31) In everything I do to lift up and bring others to seek His face.  I want it to be His words I speak. I want it to be His reflection that all see. I want to love because He loved me first.

5.  I got to sit and talk doing life with and for Jesus with some friends.  I was reminded how much I love these conversations. I love to have vision and dream.  I love to glimpse for a moment together with all the saints how wide and deep is the love of my Savior for me.  I love to be part of  a body who wants to minister side by side.  This is how I was taught to do ministry. To sit around the kitchen table and pray and talk and laugh and dream.  I miss those days with those friends.  I don't want to be about the business of ministry.  I want to be about the body doing what we were called to do,  lift up the orphans and widows and broken and hurting.

6. It is hard to admit that you are broken and crumpled up when you have felt that way for a long time. Honestly, most of us don't want to hear when someone has been struggling for a long time. We don't know how to fix it. It hurts us.  We run out of  platitudes.  We don't know how to sit with a friend when they are hurting and just let them hurt.  We would rather just tell each other it will be OK.  Of course it will be OK,  we have a God who conquered death for us. That doesn't mean that living as a human trying to live in the light of eternity isn't exhausting work that can crush us if we lose perspective.

7.  I hate it when my friends are hurting and I can't fix it.  I want the right words. I want the right platitudes. I am thankful that the truth remains stable and I don't have to prove it to be the truth. Still, when my friends are hurting I hurt too.  A piece of my heart has been lost forever.

8.  I am really tired of dental work.  It hurts.  But am really thankful for a very good dentist who has put my mouth back together.

9. My life is something to be thankful for.  I love my kids.  They make me laugh and scream all at the same time.  I want to wrap them up and hold them close forever. They ask me questions I don't know how to answer.  My son prayed tonight that all the people of the world would ask Jesus to be in their hearts.  I love that we have an extra with us this summer. I love that she is part of our family.  I love her like one of my own.  I wish I knew how to shine Christ to her better than I do.  My husband is one of the most amazing, Godly men I know.  I would not chose another path. This is the one that God has chosen for me. It is hard. I get tired and weary lots. I love to mount up on wings like eagles and see the world in a fresh sort of way. I want to learn to walk with more joy than I do. We do not give out of our surplus, we give out of our poverty. I must remember where my hope lies.  Next week a friend of mine from the city will turn 21. He confided in me that before Christ found him he never thought that he would make it to see his 21st birthday.  With Jesus death is turned to life.  Thats the whole point....

Away for Now...

Well, I know it has been a few weeks since I wrote. I have been gearing up for another chapter of closure in my sister's passing. Today we are traveling to Maine where we will be having one final Memorial Service for my sister, Courtney. It has been a bumpy couple of months for everyone in the final loss of her passing. This will be the official chance for my children to say goodbye.  Maine is a place we have always visited as a family and a place where we are always happiest as a family. It will be a good trip.

The last couple of weeks have been spent gearing UYI up for summer. I wish beyond anything I could say it has been restful... not the case. But this week our kids got to see Sea Turtles and a Lighthouse and we were able to marvel at the true wonder of God's love for us as we studied his creation. It was amazing and these city kids were truly in awe. It is not relaxing but it is purposeful, it is full of relationship and that makes it fun....

I will check in with my very small crew who actually reads this when I get back in two weeks.....

Much love to all....

End of the Year....

Well, this past Friday I was able to take a deep, long  breath. Urban Youth Impact concluded its first year ofThe Leadership Academy.  It has taken me a couple of days to truly wrap my mind, spirit and emotions around what the conclusion of this first year really meant.  For the last year we have poured the love of Christ, minute by minute,  into over one hundred children. Many balked last year when we chose to "downsize" away from the over 300 children we had been reaching weekly.  Yet, what we felt was that while there were many lives being touched, transformation still eluded us.  So we embarked on this journey jumping into where we felt the Lord was already going. Christ himself poured into 12 with the belief that the ripple effect would change the world. It did.

So after two awards ceremonies and an end of the year program, here is what I saw.

First of all children were loved...

We had nothing to offer on our own...

They were loved with all the love that Christ offers, as well as broken vessels can offer. We came to be the hands and feet of Jesus and  we accomplished our goal with the power and strength of the Holy Spirit.

"For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." 2 Cor. 4:5-7  

 Then they were equipped.  They were taught how to be leaders. We call it the leadership academy, because we know that this is how the Lord sees them. It is who they are to become He has a purpose and a plan for each of them. Yet, they don't always know it. Many times they don't believe it.  Most of the time it is really that they have no idea how to get there. 

 We worked on homework.  Our goal was to help those who hang their heads low to learn how to be in love with learning. They are not stupid. Never. Many times there are just systems that have given up on them.   We taught them foundational Biblical truths. They were shown how to have a personal relationship with our Savior. We walked the path with them. We understood that it is a journey we are all on forever. Life skills. Sometimes this happened in the classroom as we explained what subjects like responsibility and obedience really mean. Other times I stood in the bathroom with young ladies embarking on  their first day of official "womanhood." (These were not my most "fun" moments of the year, but just as important). In it all there were academics, and choir, and art, and step, and life skills, and quilting, and writing, Bible study, and, and, and... in everything showing them how to take it beyond our four walls. The goal was weave Christ in it all and teach them how to walk it out.  

Each group that got up to perform, at the end of the year program, carried a common thread. They stood confidently, smiled and did just as they had practiced. In the past when we have perf

ormed and students are looking at their toes or even at the back walls.  Even when the cheer team  forgot part of their routine, they simply kept going and went back at the end and finished it correctly.  They didn't break down or not know what to do, they just kept going.

This can only be contributed to the care and focus that was put into each student.  Students were looked in the eye daily and told just what it was that they could accomplish.  It was also the fact that they were taught HOW to do it.  It wasn't some wishy washy promise. No they were taught how to set goals and then how to get there.  Even in the simple every day. Especially, for the mundane, everyday. 

Finally, I saw that we empowered our students.  We allowed them to step forward and shine. We also knew that sometimes as we taught them to make the right choices, it meant they were their choices to make.  Sometimes, they fell.  That is why it is about walking out life with these and their families.   Empowerment can come when we know that we have shown them how, and then we allow them to step out and do.  That is why at the end of the year program their were awards. Some had stood up and stepped forward. While every student in our program received an award, there were some special presentations.  Some were for the students who improved the most. Those who learned we really can't change in our own strength.  Others were given the 

DREAM award, these were the students who shined the most in exemplifying our DREAM pledge (Dream Big, Respect and Honor, Encourage Others, Always Listen and Obey and Make Good Choices.)

Ironically, I guess when I look back on our year what I see is that we worked just as we should, we worked on our mission statement: We loved, equipped and empowered urban youth and their families to fulfill their God given purpose.. That's the whole point... I can't wait now for the summer and I am chomping at the bit for next year....

Of flip flops and frenzy...

I love writing when it just seems like I am standing in the middle of the tornado scratching my head and wondering, "What??"

It all begins with the latest pondering of my heart which is, "Why don't we truly share life together as believers?" I have been wondering a lot about when this will become a true reality. I am really tired of just floating down stream, flailing wildly and feeling like really the world is going on around me with no help at all. All the while, I am coming to see that everyone else is doing the same thing. So the question becomes, "How do we allow ourselves to be truly vulnerable with each other?"  How do we ask for help and at the same time receive it

I witnessed the greatest example of "Survivor" this weekend right in the Old Navy in my own back yard. Sure it was feeling a little crowded that day. Yes, the racks were slightly picked over. Old Navy has the best sales after all. But, then it began to erupt. We could hear chanting and yelling emanating from the back room. My kids wanted to know what was going on. Was there a fight among the employees in a break room? That is when a woman squealed "The FLIP FLOPS ARE COMING OUT!!" Oh- alright flip flops. Could they really be that exciting? My husband and I were on opposite sides of the store at this moment and so he had no clue what was going on. The rack of shoes emerged and they were nothing special. Just a variety of colors of plastic shoes. Except for this. Apparently, they were only a dollar a pair. That is when my husband and I both got caught in the mob. People from all corners of the store began to flock to the call of the flop. My husband was stuck in the path of the infamous rack. The woman pushing was screaming, "Don't touch them until they get to the front of the store!" Like a deer caught in the headlines my hubby was dumbfounded. Looking right at him, she screeched, "Move to the front of the store!!!" He merely stepped out of the way. I was spinning, literally as the crowds pushed me aside. Within seconds the locusts of summer had descended. We just stood in awe as the entire store population moved in. Flip flops were flying. Employees were screaming, "Only FIVE pairs per customer!" On the other side friends and family were screaming, "Get me green ones. A size 10!!!" Within five minutes or less the entire rack was empty. Satisfied, the masses moved back. They had hunted and conquered. My hubby turned to me and declared, "I have only ever seen that in movies."

It had been everyone for themselves. I deserve five pairs of flip flops after all. It doesn't matter if anyone gets in my way. I will get what I deserve. Can't you see that I need these shoes? There was no order. There was no one thinking of others. There was no caring about anyone else. It was a mass of people living in survival mode. That is the problem we all do it. We are protective of ourselves. We don't want to think of others first. I would also argue that we don't want anyone else to think about us. Instead, we want to control our own destiny. It is hard to give it away to the Lord and then to rely on broken people to perhaps help us out when we need help. It is much easier to run for the rack of flip flops.

In contrast, we can feel so taken advantage of we think no one would want to walk out life with us. Just five minutes ago, if I am honest, I avoided the drunk guy who keeps pacing by me as I am sitting outside writing this. Yesterday, he approached me and asked for money. Actually, he approached me first, with no explanation (I was wearing a butterfly shirt and shorts. It must have been the computer?), and asked if I had a job for his 18 year old son. His wife had died two years ago. While I did not doubt his story, I knew that this was not the reason he approached. After five minutes of offering to buy him some food, but not giving him money, he conceded and let me go get him a drink. When I returned with the soda (someone else had bought him a sandwich) I also pulled out a bag of candy. "Oh, well I will give those to my son. I really like Snickers. Do you think you could go back in and get me a Snickers." I refused. I felt taken advantage of. But, if I was thinking about him first would I have gone in and gotten him the candy that he likes? I would have done that for a friend? But, couldn't this guy appreciate what I had done for him? Who had I done it for? Was it so I would feel good about myself? Yet, the feeling of being asked too much of is the same reason that I struggle with asking for help. When will I have asked one too many times? Will others think I am making up my sad story? Maybe I do finally ask for help, do I then feel indebted to them? Will the gift be truly a gift?

Galatians 6: 2-5 "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load."

This verse confuses me. Helping each others burden is loving others as ourselves, this is the law of Christ. So we should carry each others burdens. But we should each carry our own load? Is a load and burden really that much different from each other?

But then the NLT helps out a bit in this: "Share each other's troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ.If you think you are too important to help someone in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody.Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else.For we are each responsible for our own conduct."

Now it all makes sense. We are not supposed to live like a survivor in flip flop land or a survivor who scavenges for someone who we can take advantage of. However, we do what Jesus wants us to do when we help each other. If we lived like this we would be able to be vulnerable. If we lived helping others and knowing that other hands will come behind to hold us up. Yet, we are not to do it so that we can feel good about ourselves, or so we can brag at the way we are helpful.. Instead, we need to be doing it because of Christ.

Truly, the goal is aid others as they bring it all to Christ. We can not shoulder our load. We can not shoulder the load of others. But together we can bear the burden to lay it at the feet of the cross. We are ultimately called to lay our burdens down. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30 The only burden we should ever carry is the one that allows us to learn from our Savior. It all ends today with knowing that sharing life as a believer, means holding each other up the way that we are called to. "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.' john 15:13 &14

If I am a friend of God then I am not a survivor. I am not a rescuer. I am not the hero. I am a just that a friend.

Which is it??

When I embarked on my journey into the city almost 14 years ago I would have told you that all the kids needed was Jesus. Having been a youth pastor in rural New Hampshire for 2 years, worked at Christian camps for three years, and spent a year training in England as a youth person my context was that you bring Jesus in Bible studies and worship services. If the Holy Spirit could just "show up" then the basic needs of a person would and could be met.

In contrast my experience with the "social justice" world were people who didn't care about a person's soul at all. Having attended an extremely "liberal" college, there was a rally or an outcry on the Student Union steps almost daily. Rodney King happened when I was in college as did Desert Storm. We were a country poised against war and injustice. Yet, if I dared breath the name of Christ I was seen as narrow minded and prejudiced.

Well, now so many years later I have seen, felt and experienced so many things. I still believe that all we need is Jesus. However, the good news that is preached to the poor I have come to see is one of hope. Hope is not merely about our souls... Hope is that we know that we have a Savior that full takes care of us. From the inside out and back again. He cares that we have peace in the midst of everything. Yet, it also matters when we hurt, when we are hungry, when our basic daily needs are not met. He cares about social justice because he cares about our souls. When you walk in relationship with someone then you care about everything in their lives. You care about is all, the social justice and the soul.

"He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." 1 Thes 5:10 and 11.

Christ wants to be with us when we walk in the land of the living and when we go to heaven to live with him there. Eternal life offered starts the moment that we walk with our Savior. If this is true then, he cares about it all. He cares when we are oppressed and captured and blind and hungry and thirsty. While we must learn to be thankful in all of it and treat this world like it is not our home, the promises by God are not all figurative. He tells us not to worry about what we will eat or drink or what we will wear, because He will take care of it, not because He will ignore it.

""Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
26. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27. Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ?
28. "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
30. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31. So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32. For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. " Matthew 6

We should not be chasing after these things because we are seeking first the kingdom of God. For the heavenly Father knows waht we need. He uses earthly resources to take care of our earthly needs. He uses the body of believers. The churches that Paul wrote to took care of His physical needs. When the Apostles in Acts were overwhelmed with the needs of the widows and orphans they did not ignore their needs so that they could go out and preach more. Instead they prayed and anointed men who were focused so on the Lord that they were able to care for the physical needs of the people. These were people like Stephen and Philip who in the midst of waiting tables were speaking life into a hurting and dying world.

All of this to say that I do not understand that why as a body of believers we have come to a place of it being either the gospel or the needs of the people. I have been there. I thought well other people will teach kids to read, but no one is offering them the truth. However, then I realized, if the point is to shine my light at all times in all things- why would I send the kids to someone else to learn to read while I only get time with them for Bible study? Maybe I could bring the Gospel while I teach them to read? In contrast there are those who say they are doing it for Jesus but are petrified that it is not loving enough to tell someone that you are afraid that they can not do it in their own strength. They need some help. Christ when he ascended sent us a helper in the Godhead. He is the Holy Spirit. It is not just about providing systems or fixing laws. The Good News is that we have a Savior who cares for it all. Why can't we come together and be about the full power of Christ?? It is not either or, It is and...

Poverty

I so distinctly remember the same panic. I came home from school one day and my Mom didn't tell me that she wasn't going to be home. I had to be around 10 ish. After the anxiety washed away I remembered the back up plan. I was supposed to go to Mrs. Cromack;s house down the street, if ever I couldn't get into my house for any reason. Now when you grow up in the woods, "next door," or "down the street" is a little bit of a walk. Bravely, I walked the path until I got there. Knocking on her door it was obvious that this loving elderly woman was not expecting me. However, she smiled wide and invited me in. She tried to call me Mom (before cell phones or answering machines may I add) and we sat at her little kitchen table and ate graham crackers and milk and talked about my day at school. It wasn't until years later when they boarded up her little house and turned it into a shed that I realized that Mrs. Cromack was poor. She was my neighbor. She made me feel safe on a day when I was afraid. I often went to her house when my sister was in the hospital. She made us these special danish squares on our birthdays. We always got to pick the fruit flavor we liked best. Finally, that day when my Mom called to find me, I was happy sitting in her old rocking chair watching the one channel that her TV captured. (My Mom had fallen asleep for a nap and didn't hear me knocking to get in.)

When, I found little Paulina pounding on her door with a tear stained face the other day I knew that feeling she wore. I recalled being 10 all over again. Her Mom had called after the bus had left our after school program. Mom had gotten caught on a late bus and was still a half an hour away. When we dropped her off in the public housing projects it was not uncommon for Mom to not meet us at the bus but for this little five year old to walk herself in and Mom would meet her inside. I could not get ahold of our bus driver to tell him to bring her back. Hopping in my car, I drove down the street to gather her up and let her spend some time with me until me until Mom got home. I ran down to her door, because I could see this small figure frantically pounding on the door. What was worse was that her neighbors were ignoring her. Calling her name, I comforted her and told her what was going on. Immediately, she calmed.

Mom called a few minutes later to tell me that she was closer than anticipated and tried to convince me to "just leave her," until she got home. What was worse was that she informed me that Paulina knew she was supposed to go to the neighbors in events like this. Here is the memory that caught me by surprise. I walked a long way to Mrs. Cromack's house, knocked on the door and she gladly took me in to care for me. In contrast, these neighbors door is less than 50 feet away. Actually, one of the adults was standing outside just staring at Paulina when I walked up. No one was inviting her in. No one was attempting to comfort her. There were no graham crackers and milk. Upon further discussion with Mom she informed me that normally Paulina (who is 5) has her own key and can let herself in.

So many emotions flooded me after I let Paulina off at home and talked about back up plans with Mom if this was ever to happen again. I think the greatest was that this five year old has already begun to learn how to "survive." We wonder why the crust begins to thicken at such an early age. Why I have to stop and talk to a six year old who strings a wonder of curses together every time I see him. Mom has no other choice as a single Mom some days with no help but to give her five year old a key and tell her to wait until she gets home.

Mrs. Cromack was poor financially, but I never knew she was poor. She never lived a life only focused on herself. Being "poor" has nothing to do with socio economic status. It is the homeless man near our house who holds up a sign that says, "I only want money for booze." Any time we offer him food or something to drink he shakes his head and walks away. He is poor. It is the neighbor who will not help a panicked five year old. It is when we become so self focused we genuinely come to believe that we have nothing to give away.

"The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them." Isaiah 41:17

We get focused on our thirst and our own lack of water and we forget that the Lord will not forget. It is supposed to be that the two greatest "laws" of the Bible are:

Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

So it is that we need to be loving our neighbors as ourselves. "Do to others what you would like them to do to you." Matt. 7:12 This is the basic, moral, "Golden Rule," even if you take Christ out of the equation. I know I am not supposed to be shocked when the world acts like the world. However, if we could be overcome with the love of Christ then we would need to give it away. We wouldn't have to worry about needing to survive, because our poverty would be in his hands. Hands that are big enough to take care of everything. Well, I guess that confirms it once again we are still a people in need of a Savior.