creationfallredemptionconsummation.

Creation.
Fall.
Redemption.
Consummation.

Creation: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness. And God said, 'Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.' And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.' And it was so. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.' And it was so. And God saw that it was good. And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.' And it was so. And God saw that it was good. And God said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.' And God saw that it was good. And God said, 'Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to their kind.' And it was so. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, 'Let us make man in our own image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. So the Lord God cause the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up teh place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man and the woman were both naked and they felt no shame." (Genesis 1:1, 3-4, 6, 7b, 9, 10b, 11, 12b, 14-15, 18b, 20, 24, 25b, 26-27, 31; 2:7, 18, 21-22, 25)

Fall: "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did god really say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden"?' The woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, "You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die."' 'You will not surely die,' the serpent said to the woman. 'For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me and I ate.' To the woman he said, 'I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.' To Adam he said, 'Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, "You must not eat of it," Cursed is the ground because of you; through the painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. But the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.' And the Lord God said, 'The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and life forever.' So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden." (Genesis 3:1-7, 13, 16-19, 22-23a)

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world god's invisible qualities-his eternal power and diving nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Althought they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Threfore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen." (Romans 1:18-24a, 25)

Redemption: "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born." (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful men, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. The word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you wil be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.' For there is not difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" (Romans 8:1-4; 10:4, 8b-13)

Consummation (to come): "When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4)

"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?'" (1 Corinthians 15:51-55)

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth has passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.' He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!' Then he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'" (Revelation 21:1-5)




This, brothers and sisters, is the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is Truth. This is the message the world needs. I love Psalm 71:15 which says, "My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long, thought I know not its measure." We cannot ever mature beyond the gospel. We only grow in our understanding and love of it's richness and mystery. David said that he would tell of God's salvation, though he knew not its measure. If we understand, trust, and believe in everything above this, then we know enough to proclaim. Just because we do not know its full measure doesn't mean we should refrain from telling of it. Sometimes we feel like we need to know all the details that are very useful but not central for salvation, and then we forget the gospel itself. So let us tell of His salvation all day long, though we know not it's measure.

prone to wander, Lord I feel it.

this is my most recent song. feel free to leave thoughts.

O Holy One, though I ought not,

I know your truth I have forgot

So I will ask again in prayer

That you would come and meet me there

Where Satan tempts and threatens me

Where my cold heart would turn from Thee

So let your power and strength abide-

Gifts from that blessed, crimson tide

O Risen Lamb, whom I have shamed-

Teach me now to bless your name

Reveal your Word; to me impart

The grace I need to bless your heart

For you have loved and purchased me

Now I stand by blood redeemed

So hold me fast and comfort me

As I'm tossed by life's raging sea

O Father God, though I have strayed

Your grace has saved me from the grave

And though I'm prone to wander still

Your strong right hand will guide me till

You come for me and those you've called

Unto your glorious rest above

So let your Spirit work in me

Until I'm blameless at your feet

the "L" word.

If you're a Christian, you've probably heard the "L" word more times than you can count. The world I'm talking about is lust. Now, if you're a Christian female like me, when you've heard it, you've probably mentally checked out and thought something like, "Well when I see guys, I don't undress them with my eyes and imagine having sex with them, so I don't need to worry about this." I can't even count the times I've thought that exact thing. But what about when we go on Facebook and see an attractive guy and proceed to look through ALL of his pictures, as well as the one's he's been tagged in? What do we call that? Granted, we probably don't imagine having sex with these guys, but aren't we still allowing our minds to wander? What's the point of looking at atrractive guys? Is our goal to honor God or to satisfy the physical cravings we have? I'd say it's the latter. Just because we're not "sexually wired" like guys are does not mean that we are not wired sexually. We have been made by God to be sexual beings, but the Fall has us playing with fire. Although we are females, we still have sexual temptation, even if it's something like staring at guys on Facebook. We also need to guard ourselves from letting our eyes and minds wander.

Another thing I'd like to bring up is that lust is not just a sexual thing. Yes, lust can be an "intense sexual desire or appetite", but it can also be a "passionate or overmastering desire or craving" (dictionary.com). The second definition could be used to talk about money or power, etc. Now, if you read the second definition, it probably reminds you of how the Bible says we should seek God, but I don't think we'd refer to it as a lust. Lust usually has bad connotations. Girls: Perhaps you don't struggle with letting your eyes wander when you see attractive guys, but may you let your hearts go astray. It is SO easy to get wrapped up in wanting a boyfriend, that you may not even realize that your relationship with God is simultaneously getting bumped down on your list of priorities. This is a form of lust. Every single movie you see has some kind of a romantic story in it, even if it's a movie about transformers taking over the world. Why is that? Because that's what people want in the core of their being- a lover. Well guess what? The Lover of our souls seems to have been drawn into this petty competition with the world. There shouldn't even have to be a competition! Nothing on earth could possibly compete with the majesty and love of God! And yet we've allowed things to come to that. Let us ask the Lord to renew our minds and reestablish His place in our lives. God wants to woo your soul, but are you letting yourself fall in love with him? Or are you too busy looking for love elsewhere? God promises to give us the desires of our heart if we seek him, but we must remember that he is the one who created those desires. Let's trust him to work it all out.

restless feet.

After talking with a good friend about her struggles at home along with potential colleges, I gave her a simple piece of advice. I said, "I'd encourage you to not run away from something, but to run towards something." See, I think that more often than not, we're so focused on running away from our problems that we neglect running towards the one thing that we need the most: Christ. My life--case and point.

Several of you may know this, but for those who don't, I'll give a brief overview. My mom died last April, and it wasn't even a week before my dad began a relationship with another woman. It wasn't that he cheated on my mom while she was deteriorating or anything; he and this woman had been friends since college. In fact, my parents and her and her ex-husband had all been friends since college. Because of the timing of all of this, I was naturally upset, hurt, and extremely angry. Last summer was filled with yelling, crying, and constant arguing. After my phase of rage passed, I moved into a phase of just simply being upset. My dad told me that they were planning on getting married...in the near future. I asked him to wait till the coming summer; that way, I'd be done with school and wouldn't have to worry about finishing my senior year with an awkward situation at home. My suggestion wasn't taken, however, and they got married this January. I wasn't ready to handle it just yet, so I ended up living with a good friend and her family for three months. By the end of April, I felt comfortable enough to move back into my house, so I came home on April 23rd.

Over the course of those three months, God not only changed my heart towards my family situation, but He totally transformed my view on college. Prior to this last semester, I was dead set against even looking into Covenant College. I had no reason except that it was only 45 minutes from my house. I was never someone to want to stay close to family for college, so there was now way I'd want to be less than an hour away. I had decided to go to Union University in Jackson, Tennessee back in December, and everything was pretty much set in stone for my enrollment there. Still, I didn't feel really draw to the college, and I reluctantly prayed that God would show me where He wanted me to go if it wasn't Union. Well, He placed Covenant on my heart, but I pushed it aside, convincing myself that it was just because it was normal to have doubts about your college decisions. There was no way I would go to Covenant, especially now that there was so much stuff going on with my dad getting remarried and all. But God didn't stop bugging me about it. Eventually, I gave in and talked with my dad about it. Obviously everything fell into place, because now I'm going there.

Now's when I tie everything into the first paragraph. There were other reasons why I originally decided on Union other than the fact that it was four hours away; however, the distance was very convenient for running away from my problems. I was so set on just getting away from it all, not wanting to have to deal with any of it, that I prevented myself from running towards God and what He wanted. God has really worked on my heart since January. He's shown me the importance of family and family relationships. I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't be honoring God if I was knowingly a part of a broken relationship, yet did nothing to fix it. This woman was now my stepmom; she was now a part of my family, and I wasn't capable of changing that. I knew that I needed to develop a relationship with her, but I also realized that it wouldn't happen overnight. This would take time, and I needed to allow for that time to be taken. Running away gave me no fulfillment. Not only did it accomplish absolutely nothing with my family, but it caused me to make a foolish choice of college. As soon as I threw up my hands and changed the direction I was going, I saw that in running towards God, I was actually running right through the things which had previously chased me away. I believe that sometimes God changes our circumstances, but I believe His greater intention is changing our hearts to respond to our circumstances in such a way that give Him the most glory.

Shortly before his death, Jesus prayed this for his disciples: "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." If we have believed by faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are no longer of this world; therefore, we should not handle our problems in the same way that those who are of this world do. We should be more set on running towards our Savior than running from the tough stuff.

When Jesus' friend Lazarus had died, he went to comfort the sisters. He said to them, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life; this means that he has conquered death, the greatest consequence of the Fall. If he has gained the victory over the greatest consequence, didn't he then also gain the victory over the other curses that sin brought upon us? Should we not then live and believe that in His arms we are in a much safer place than running away, constantly looking behind us to make sure our problems are getting farther and farther from our sight? For if we do this, we will never die. I ask you the same question that Jesus asked the sisters. Do you believe this?

three states of time.

Time can be such a hindrance, can it not? Rarely do I meet someone who has a proper hold on each of the three--past, present, and future. One thing I have noticed, however, is that no matter which one a person is too focused on, his or her present will always be negatively affected. I'd like to us Paul's take on things from Philippians 3:12-14 which says, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."



The past has the potential to be such a snare. Our past experiences, heartbreaks, and successes all contribute to where we are now, but they can easily engulf our purpose for the present and prevent us from making progress. Broken relationships, family abuse, abandonment, devastating news, death, and many other painful things that have marked our pasts not only prove to cripple our present, but determine our future. Patterns are often seen among men who, as boys, were abandoned or abused by their fathers. Sadly, those fearful, wounded boys, many times grow up to abuse or abandon their own families. Their hearts have already been stolen by a fear that determines their future actoins. And those men are just one example. Good things can also have a potentially bad affect. Many parents attempt to relive their high school glory days through the lives of their children. The once captain of the cheerleading squad, now mother, can wrongly push her daughter to embrace the world's love of status and popularity because she doesn't want to see her success fading away.

Paul says that he is forgetting what is behind. So what does that mean? Should we erase our past from our memories? Okay, well obviously no, because that's impossible save the aftermath of brain damage. Perhaps Paul is talking about his individual past, filled with murder, rage, and rebellion from God. But Hebrews 12:1 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." If Paul held on to the sins that he had committed , they would have entangled him and prevented him for fully living for Christ in the present. When he talks about forgetting the past, I think he's talking more about an unloading process. Not only have we all committed sins, but sins have been committed against us, and those are sometimes the hardest to get by. Christ's sacrifice on the cross 2000 years ago forever released us from our pasts, yet sometimes we still try to drag our burdens to heaven with us. We need to lay our crowns at the foot of the cross. Some crowns may be made of thorns that have left scars on our hearts, and some may be adorned with the jewels of our achievements. Whatever they may be contrusted from, they all belong to Jesus.

Planning for the future is something that we should all be doing, but we must not neglect our present statuses and responsibilities. Being a seventeen-year-old girl, I can say that I think about the future, particularly marriage, quite often. I envision what it will be like, and before I know it, I'm in a virtual Home Depot picking out lighting fixtures for our living room. Now, I don't think it's wrong to envision things for the future, but I believe that it can quickly become something that we stake our lives on. If I was set on marriage, and thoughts of a husband filled my mind all the time, what good would I be as a single high school senior? Right now, God has given me a single friend, student, sister, and daughter. I have four jobs. While I can think ahead, I cannot ignore my present responsibilities. God knows the plans he has for me, and he knows what I need and want even better than I think I do. I must obey his Word in the present while I wait for him to reveal what my future holds.

Paul says he is straining toward what is ahead. He has his sights set on his heavenly home and the glorious fullness that he will experience there. But he is currently living so as to attain all of that. He knows that God is deeply concerned with how he lives in the present, so he strains for the future, yet his focus remains steady.

So many people live in the moment, they don't want to think about their past and they don't want to have to plan for or worry about the future. You can't escape the inevitable: the past will shape you. Denying it will only increase the length of the process you'll have to go through in dealing with it. Sometimes we're just too scared, too hurt to dig up things that we've buried in the deepest places inside of us. We don't want to relive and remember things. Or maybe we've had a pretty good life thus far, but we just want something new. In casting aside the blessings we've received, we fail to recognize the goodness which God has lavished upon us. With no concern for the future, there is no regard for the consequences of present actions. An example that pertains to our nation now is our economy's current state. There are those who disregard the instability of finances and live as though there is nothing wrong. They will wish they had planned and used their money more wisely when a bank, stock market, or employing company takes a turn for the worse.

Paul says, "but I press on." Yes, we have had painful wounds and heartbreaking devastation. But I press on. We want the future to come all too soon. But I press on. We must live in the present, acknowledging our past but free from its chains, looking ahead towards the future but fully completely our duties now. Christ's past sacrifice secured my future. With eyes fixed both on the cross and the glory of heaven, I should live well for Christ in the present.

other than.

One of the first things we need to establish before diving into talking about a relationship with God is that he is other than us. I, along with many other people I know, used to think that God was merely a bigger, smarter, stronger, better version of me. But God is so much more than that. We cannot fathom anything that has no limit; therefore, it is impossible for us to fully understand God in the fullness of who he is. I think that he purposely created our minds to be finite not only for the purpose of him being exponentially greater, but so that there would never be an end to the awe we should have of him. So much of the tension created in the relationships that others have with God is their failure to realize their inability to comprehend everything. Our definitions of things are tainted by the sinful world that we live in, and if we encounter something that fits God's definition and not ours, we immediately assume that God is wrong, unjust, unfaithful, cruel, etc. For example, good is often meant to be something that makes us feel satisfied, happy, wanted, complete. While what God sees as good can very well be something that we see as equally good, it can also be something that does not make us feel so warm and fuzzy. We are like the children who complain about having to receive insulin several times a day, claiming that it's pointless and it hurts; only farther down the road do we begin to have a clearer vision, the bigger picture. Diabetes, like sin, is not something that just goes away--it needs constant maintenance and control. When we have a better understanding of the problem at hand, the steps required to deal with that problem are also better understood, and even valued. The Fall is our massive problem at hand; it has been the main problem since it happened. I believe that seemingly bad things, which we seldom understand, are necessary steps in the process of transforming us into people who are progressively farther and farther from where they started.

Although it is important to know that we can never fully comprehend God, I believe we must long to understand all that he allows. Fortunately for us, God does not just leave us hanging; he has given his children the Holy Spirit, who works in hearts and minds, transforming them to be more able to understand. God reveals himself through his word, creation, and many other things. There is much that exists to be understood, and we are free to desire it. God did not make us to be lazy human beings who just sit around waiting for things to happen. I believe that God wants us to be eager in pursuing him, getting to know his character, his heart, his desires.

I believe that prayer is a crucial part of a relationship with God, though it is one of the elements with which I struggle the most. When I think about it, it's so foolishly ridiculous for me to not take advantage of any moment I have to talk to God. The Creator of this entire universe is free to spend time with me anytime, but it's up to me to take hold of that. Too often, I am convinced that I am created for this world. We are not created for this world, however, but for eternal things. As C.S. Lewis said, "We are souls; we have bodies." When we live with that earthly mindset, our first instinct will always be to run to other people instead of God, to eat a pint of ice cream instead of casting our cares on the Lord, to post unnecessary Facebook statuses about our anger instead of telling God about it. If we believe we have been created for this world, that we are home on this earth, we will do all we can to gather up all that it has to offer; that includes talking to people in place of God.

can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

After 17 years and 9 months of experience and some studying of the Bible, I've come to conclude that family relationships were designed by God to be the most significant interpersonal relationships. I read over the sentence that I just typed and I can't believe I'm saying it. Coming from someone who was never close with her family and never really enjoyed time spent with family, it seems almost absurd.

I'm not really sure why my family was never as close-knit as others. My parents have never been my best friends; I've never gone to them with my darkest secrets or deepest problems. I've rarely shown my appreciation for what they have done, or for their mere existence for that matter. My brother and I spent the majority of my seventeen years as barely something more than people who see each other while they're eating breakfast. The thing is, my mom was so passionate about our family. She always planned things for us to do, brought up things to talk about at the dinner table, wrote little notes of encouragement to each of us. My dad attempted to conduct family devotions several times, but my brother and I just cast it aside with the attitude that we could better spend our time doing something else. I can sit here today and tell you that the reason for our distance was the spiritual immaturity of me and my brother. When we each reached the point in our lives when we realized there was "more to life" than family, we were eager to leave. Other relationships with friends (and for my brother, girlfriends) became the priority. Why? Because were were spiritually immature.

I used to hold to the belief that it was perfectly fine for a child (usually a teenager) to pull away from their family and treat their friends as the most important people. Why did I do that? Because I did pulled away, and I replaced my family with friends. I carried that view with me as justification for what I was doing. It wasn't until God took my mother from my life in the April of 2009 that I realized how twisted I was.

If you read the Bible at all, you'll probably notice that there are two main relationships to which God compares himself to us: father-child and groom-bride. I don't think it's chance that those two relationships exist within the family. The father-son relationship exists within the perfect relationship, that is the Trinity. Why was it so heartbreaking for God to sacrifice his Son? Because the cords that bind families together are the most painful to untie. I believe that God created us to be effected most deeply by what goes on in our families because He wanted us to see the gospel so clearly. Unfortunately, sin has tainted those relationships here on earth, and families are not how they were intended to be. But the fact remains: whether good or bad, present or nonexsitant, family relationships have the most impact in the life of an individual. Why do orphanages exist? Why aren't there homes for people whose friends have died or left them? Why don't ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends all have a place to live when their hearts have been broken? Because the family is the most important relational institution. It's been created that way, and we don't even notice it because it's just the natural way of life. Think about it. If a child is being mistreated by a parent, they are removed from the situation. When a child is betrayed by a friend, nothing happens. It's ingrained in who we are: our families, or lack therof, shape us.

I was very surprised to experience what it was like to lose my mom, since I had never been extremely close with her. It's true. When family relationships change, so do you. Thankfully, God used my mom's death to reveal the importance of family. About a year and a half prior, he had already begun to work on me when my brother recommited his life to Christ. When we found out we were moving in 2006, God used that huge transition to bring Matthew back to Himself. That, in turn, brought him back to our family, and he became my brother again. Your family is more a part of who you are than you may realize. I believe it is God's desire that earthly families seek to emulate the heavenly family relationship. What does that mean? It means we're supposed to sacrifice for others, love them unconditionally, discipline them in love, serve them, encourage them, teach them obedience, etc. As a Christian, I don't think that you can toss aside the importance of family and still consider yourself to be honoring the Lord. It took me 16 years and 8 months to learn that. I hope you don't wait that long.