Children—John Bilisoly
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Morning Want to welcome the adults to the children's meeting and I bet if we start singing we'll get some more children in here, so if someone has a number from the hymn sheet that would be nice.
Thank you #40.
Jesus loves me.
But he is strong, yes. He is not love me. Yes. James Hunt lungs me.
Nsnoise.
Alright, very nice. You know I see 3 little Erlinson kids here that would just love to have some company.
So if any of you kids would like to come up front where you can see better and even participate, that would be very nice. So any of you children that would like to come up front, there's lots of seats here in front of Lemoyne and, uh, some more over here. All right. Anybody else, one of your kids? Do you have a song that you'd like to sing?
22 all right.
#22 Let's sing the 1St and the last of this one.
Somebody could start it please.
Can I understand different radiation and you're on the line on Skype on the computer. I haven't any written North Carolina for some Pride cruise line.
OK, I'd like to give out one if that's OK. Let's just sing the last verse, verse #3 of #17 in the chorus. So #17 just verse 3.
OK, umm, we're looking for children to come up front. We've got a few up here already and so if you'd like to come up front, there's lots of seats here. Don't be shy, just come on up front and uh, you'll be able to see better and hear better. OK, And while you're coming, we'll sing the third verse of #17.
00:05:55
OK. I think we have time for one or two more. So let's see, how about do you have one over here?
There's some on the back that you might know a little bit better. Clear on the back. You see one there.
How about this one? Do you know this one? Glad TI oops.
Glad TIDINGS. Do you know that one? The spelling one? Let's sing that 1 #46.
Gladys.
I'm still doing well, I'm quite fun. You're doing good and you've finished.
And you've called and you call the call here. I'm our dollar. I have been on all the big Hawaiian us too.
OK, there's still room up front, children, we'd be glad to have you up front. And while you're coming, we'll have another one here, maybe from a girl up here who would like to give out one. OK, do you have one?
15 OK 45 sorry you know what mine says that the song is not been included in this one. Does anyone know what 45 was?
Brother Don.
Two little eyes. OK, some of our hem sheets may not have it, but I think we know it. So let's, uh, go ahead and sing that one.
OK.
Is that in here? OK, well, let's sing it. I'm so happy.
To start my birthday and all the way.
I'm so glad to meet you at the moment and in the face of the Mother can give me peace, but I have been.
Laughing at the end of the day. And that's the reason. The reason why I am the reason why.
Jesus took my burden all the way. Thank you for giving that one out. That's a nice one. OK, I think we'll sing one more and then we're going to have a little word of prayer. And then if any of you kids would like to share a verse with us, might have been from the Sunday school paper or something, just enjoy or have learned before, that'd be nice if you'd like to share it with us. So let's go ahead and sing one more. How about down here, one of you boys have one?
OK.
The wise man. All right, Not sure that's in here either.
Well, let's go ahead and sing that one, the wise man.
590 S upon the rocks, the wise guys go there, pounced upon the rock and the rain day, and come pulling down.
Nsnoise.
I remember many years ago when one of the first times we had come from the mainland to Newfoundland, where my parents lived for many years, my mother still living there. In the little town of I, uh, Portabass, there's a house and actually many houses and Jim could.
Attest to this too. There's many houses that are built on a rock but I remember visiting someone in this one house and it just struck me that the house was built on a rock and they had taken the sighting of the house and probably the foundation and they had built it. It was all jagged and curved and to form to the shape of the rock and it was built right there on a big rock and I thought that was so neat it kind of made that hit little him come to life for me to build on the rock which we know is.
The Lord Jesus Christ, he could say that he is well, we know that he was that rock that that followed the children of Israel through the wilderness. It says in in Corinthians that that rock was Christ. Well, let's just go ahead and pray boys and girls, OK, who would like to share a verse with us?
Alright.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only God Son.
That whosoever, whosoever shall call on the believeth in him, believeth in him, shall be saved, shall not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3. John 316. Good. Thank you. Would you like to share one? OK.
Call name large shall be saved. Room is 10/13. Thank you.
Would you like to share first, OK.
How about you?
All are sinned and come short of the glorious God. Romans 323. Thank you. OK.
I have for.
I have forgiven their inequities and I will remember their sins no more.
OK.
I don't remember exactly where that is either.
All right, how about you?
Have forgiven.
My iniquities, you remember my things no more.
Someone know where it's found?
3134 All right, How about you? Do you want to share a purse?
You know you can't think of one right now, OK?
How about you?
No. All right. Well, thank you very much, kids. So nice to commit these verses of Scripture to memory so that we can share them. We might be able to share them with others too. The Lord might give us an opportunity to share them with a friend, a school friend, or wherever you might be. And it's nice to have them stored up in our hearts. Well, you know, I've been thinking a little bit about a long kind of along the same lines of what we've been having in these.
00:15:04
These meetings that we had yesterday and that is that, umm, we were created for a purpose. God has put you and I in this world for a purpose, you know, and I was thinking a little bit about that because we know that God created other things. He created angels and angels are, uh, very interesting creatures to, uh, talk about and think about. And, uh, we think of them as, as creatures that are very powerful.
And very intelligent. But you know, umm, God wasn't, umm, God's heart of love wanted to go out further than just creating angels. And so I was thinking of what we have early on in the word of God in Genesis and Genesis chapter 2 and verse 26. God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. And umm, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fall of the air and over the cattle and over the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he, Him male and female created he them.
And so on. Well, I was just thinking of this expression that God said, the Godhead said, let us make man in our image and in our likeness. Now image here, the way it's used is a little different than what we typically think of. Sometimes we look at a picture of a little boy or something and we say, you know, he's the spitting image of his father. But that's not really so much the thought of image here. It's more a representation. God put you and I in this world to represent him.
And, you know, I was thinking about that and the responsibility of that. And that's, that's, uh, something to think about. But it does say that he also made us in his likeness. And likeness is more the thought of what we think about, umm, and that is resemblances or, uh, we might say characteristics that are similar. And so God has given man, for example, I'll give you a little example. God has given you a heart that can love, you know, you love your daddy and your mommy.
And your sisters and God has given you the capacity to love each of you, boys and girls, When God created you in His image and in His likeness, He gave you a heart that can love others. And He gave you a heart of compassion. He gave you the ability to care about someone else. Umm, those are things that God gave us. And so God wanted creatures that would be like Him.
And so he made them in his image and in his likeness. Well, if you just turn a few chapters over in Genesis, not very long after something awful happened. Uh, Adam and Eve were created and umm, God had communion with them and he, he enjoyed fellowship with them. We talked a little about yesterday about fellowship and how God wants to have fellowship with us. And so he created them for that purpose to have.
A creature that he could have fellowship with.
And sin came in, Satan caused Eve to sin and Adam sinned to and it spoiled that. And so when we get to the fifth chapter, it says in verse three that Adam lived in 130 years and begat a son in his own likeness after his image and called his name Seth. Isn't that interesting that now it doesn't say so much that Seth is in the image and likeness of God, but Adam says in his own likeness or it says of Adam that self was created in his own likeness after his image that is.
Seth became a Sinner just like Adam was or Seth was born. You might say he was born a Sinner. He was born with the same characteristics and likeness that Adam had. Adam had sinned and now when his offspring were sinners because he had sinned and so how quickly what God had intended that man would not only be a representative for him, but would also be, umm, have.
Display his characters, his heart of love and so on. Well, so we know that, uh, God introduced a law to umm, to man for man to live under. And the very first commandment that he gave them is this. And uh, Exodus chapter 20, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the 3rd and 4th generation of them that hate me. I thought it was instructive here that God's very first commandment to his creature when he introduced this law for man to live under. He says, I don't want you to make anything that has the image and likeness of anything that would take displace me in your heart.
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That's what God was saying. He's saying I'm a jealous guy. That means, umm, he loves us and he wants us for himself and he didn't want something else to come between US and him. And so he said, don't make anything that's in the likeness of something else other than me. And uh, we know that, umm, the man did that right away. He began to make idols and so on. And, and this whole, our, our whole testament is full of example after example of how man.
Got away from God in His own likeness and image, in the way He was created. Well, I have a question for you children, OK?
I talked about God giving you the capacity to love, to love your parents, to love one another. And I was just thinking, if you were to give something to your parents, what would be something that you could give them? What would you give your parents that they would like? Let's say you're going to give your dad or your mom something for their birthday. What would you give them? What do you think they would like?
You're not sure?
OK, how about you? My mom would like a dishwasher. A dishwasher, OK.
What would you give your mom or your dad?
Kinda hard, huh?
You know, it's, it's a lot easier for them to give us something. We look forward to that, but it's sometimes harder to think of something to give to them. How about you, you think of something, a card, a card. OK, you write something in the card. All right, good. Well, there's lots of things. I'm sure if you weren't, uh, nervous that you could probably think of that you would give your dad and your mom. Now, let me ask you another question.
Remember we talked about how God wanted to have fellowship with us. So what is something, what is, let's, let's put it this way, what is the most precious thing, the most valuable thing that you could give to God? If you're going to give something to God that he would really want and desire, what do you think that might be from you?
What would you give?
Play.
What was that?
OK, I'm not sure anybody else. What would you give to God that He would value, that He would like that you think would make him happy?
Doing what you're told.
What was that?
OK. OK. Anybody else?
You know what I think God would like the most? What would you give him? Be kind to others. Very good. Yeah. That he, that would make him happy, too. I'm going to read you a verse that I think answers that question, and we'll talk just a little bit about it here. It's in Proverbs chapter 23. And we read this verse as we are traveling to Pella on Friday.
And verse 26 my son, give me thine.
What does it say, my son? Give me thine.
Heart very good, unless thine eyes observe all my ways. My son, give me thine heart. You know boys and girls.
God wants to have fellowship with you and I. We heard about that yesterday. And for that to take place, for that to happen, the first thing that we need to do is to give him our heart. Now maybe that sounds a little bit hard to understand, but I'll just read you a verse in Romans chapter 10 which will help us. So in Romans chapter 10, it says.
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. So God wants us first of all to give him his heart. My son, give me thine heart. He wants us to accept the gift that he has given, which is the Lord Jesus. For God so loved the world. One of you gave that verse to us. You did, uh. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So God.
00:25:06
Gave us His Son, and He wants us to accept that. And in that way we are giving him our hearts. My son, give me thine heart, but all thy eyes observe my ways. And so it's with the heart, with the mouth confessions made unto salvation, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. I hope you boys and girls have done that. I hope each of you have done that. Now we talked about what God wants. That's what He really wants, because that's what's necessary to have fellowship with us.
And if that doesn't take place, then as we heard, we can't really have fellowship with God. You know, a man that is still in his sins is at a distance from God and he doesn't even like to be in God's presence, you might say. Because to be in the presence of God with sin on our conscience and upon our hearts, that that's not comfortable. Umm, if you were guilty of a crime, you wouldn't want to have lunch with the judge.
Would you, you wouldn't feel comfortable with any judge, uh, if you were guilty of a crime and no one knew about it and you carry that on your conscience and you, you knew someone that was a judge and he wanted to have lunch with you. I think you would be a little uncomfortable in his presence. Maybe very uncomfortable because you've got this on your conscience. Well, God is very holy and righteous, much, much more than any judge on this earth and God.
Cannot it says he is of two pure eyes and to behold iniquity. God cannot, umm does not look lightly on sin, boys and girls, and he wants us to have those sins washed away in the precious bloods of Christ so that he can have communion with us. You know what happened with his people is even though he gave them this law and all this is what they were doing. We have a a little picture to us in the book of Malachi.
And it says here in Malachi chapter one.
It says in verse six, and the Lord was using this prophet Malachi to bring this word to his people to try and umm, exercise them about what they were going on with because God wanted fellowship with them. He wanted to be able to communicate with them freely and enjoy fellowship together. And it says here a son on earth, his father, and a servant his master.
If then I be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear? Saith the Lord of hosts unto you?
O priests that despise my name, and ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar, And ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. Now this verse 2IN in particular. And if he offered the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if he offered the layman sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor, will he be pleased with thee, or except thy person, saith the Lord of hosts.
So here's boys and girls, here's what was happening. The Lord under their system, they would bring sacrifices to the Lord, and that was a little picture of a coming sacrifice, which was the Lord Jesus Christ. But until then, they would bring these sacrifices to umm, the priests, and the priests would offer them to Jehovah their God, and he would be pleased because the little animal would die. But there were certain requirements. They were to bring animals that weren't blind and weren't lame and didn't have blemishes on them.
They weren't to be bringing the, the ones that, well, you know, this one here. I'm probably gonna have to let it go anyway. So I'll take that to offer to the Lord. That's what they were doing. And that was offensive to the Lord. They were giving gifts that were blemished. They were giving these sacrifices, I should say, that were blemished. And the Lord was using Malachi to exercise their conscience about this. Well, I want to illustrate this this morning, so.
I'm going to just randomly pick a girl, maybe you and then, uh, maybe this young fellow over here and I want to give you both something, OK. And I want to try and illustrate what it is that was going on here in Israel. And then we're going to talk a little bit about what the Lord really wants. Now, remember, the very first and important thing is that we give him our heart because nothing else will be right. You know, umm, you might say, well, I'm going to do great things for the Lord.
Well, what the Lord really wants is communion. He wants fellowship with you. That's what's the most pleasing to him is fellowship. And he doesn't want just you to use your energies and talents that he might have given you for him that that could come later. He wants your fellowship. He wants your heart. You know, when we talk about our hearts, we're talking about that place where we love, where we have affection. Umm.
00:30:16
Affections can flow out, that flows out from our hearts. That's what God wants. Do we have affection for Him? Have you boys and girls accepted the Lord as their Savior? And if you have, I hope you have umm. Do you have affection for the Lord? Does He mean something to you? He wants fellowship with you. And that's what we're talking about this morning. And so I would like to give umm, this young lady a gift.
Here.
First of all, I should ask you, umm, do do you like flowers? Do you? OK, Do you like roses? All right. Have you ever had anyone give you roses? No. OK, well, I'm going to give you some roses.
So I got some for you.
Uh, excuse me. Sorry about the condition here. There. I'm gonna let you have those. Aren't they lovely?
So I don't know if everyone was able to see them, but I brought, whoops, I brought some, uh, some roses for this young lady here and uh, I'm not sure if she's pleased or not Umm, anyway.
And then, uh, let me ask this young man here, Do you, uh, do you by any chance, chance like balls?
Like footballs or anything like that. Do you like those?
Do you? OK, Good. I'm glad you do. Alright, I have to find another boy.
It's well, I can see where he, you know, if he's looking at those roses and he's thinking, you know, what am I going to get for a a ball here? Well, umm, here's a football I'd like to give you. I'm sorry, it's a little bit, uh, well, it's well used. Let's say I, I'm sorry I didn't have time to patch it all up and clean it up, but I'd sure like to give it to you.
So, you know, uh, I don't know if everyone is able to see this football here, but, uh, what was your name?
What?
L Ellie.
Elia OK, well, I I want you to have that football. And what was your name?
Hope, OK. And I'd like for Hope to have those nice roses there.
Well, boys and girls, I don't know if they're pleased or not. Do you think they're pleased with their their gifts?
Umm, you know, I can make lots of excuses. I could say, well, you know, I was busy trying to get to conference here and I, I wish I could have got some nicer roses for you, but uh, I saw those laying around and uh, you know, I grabbed them and stuff them in that jar. I'm sorry, it's not a very nice vase, but umm, I just didn't have very much time.
Umm, you know, umm, I didn't want to go out and spend a lot of money. We're going to take this trip and all I could think of more excuses, umm.
You know, I'm sorry, I didn't have time to clean this football up and patch it up and see if it would hold some air and be a little nicer gift. Umm, you know, and I got to thinking about that and I thought, whoa, I wonder if I ever, uh, treat my savior that way. I say, you know.
I've got a lot to do today. I don't know if I have time to have fellowship with him. I better get going on all these things I got to get done today.
Umm, maybe tomorrow I'll have a little more time.
Comes evening time and I say, you know, boy, I'm really tired. I sure wish I didn't feel so tired. I, I know I need to read a few verses. I I should kneel and pray. I feel really tired tonight, you know, I'll do it in the morning, first thing in the morning, you know, boys and girls.
That's what happens when we think like that is we end up, as it were, presenting to the Lord.
Something like this? Kind of like umm.
What they were doing in Malachi's day, they were bringing the six sheep and the lame sheep and the blind, and they were saying, well, this is good enough for Jehovah.
00:35:00
And umm, you know, as I thought about that, I thought, that's sad. That's sad that we treat the Lord that way and when He wants so much to have fellowship with us and umm, we deny him and we deny ourselves the blessing that would result from spending a little more time with him.
He's not asking a lot from us.
He just wants, uh, whatever we can give in sincerity. And I would just encourage you boys and girls that I know you're young, some of you maybe are just learning to read and all, but I think all of you know how to pray. I would encourage you to start early on in your lives to have a little bit of time with the Lord, Umm, if you can in the morning and in the evening. Doesn't have to be a long time just to kneel and talk to him. Oh, he loves to hear our voice.
You know, we have that little phrase in the Song of Solomon. Let me hear thy voice. That's the bridegroom there talking to the bride and saying, let me hear thy voice. Well, you know, you might feel like I'm kind of directing this at you, but I'm really directing it right back at myself and perhaps to each of us here. We get so busy. We get careless, don't we? We get like they were here in Malachi's day, where we forget.
Who it is that has wants to have fellowship and communion with us and wants our company. You know, there's umm, some other verses that I want to read in Matthew's Gospel Chapter 7.
And it says, umm, verse seven, ask and it shall be given to you, seek, and ye shall find knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth in him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you whom if his son asked bread, will he give him a stone? You know, uh, here the Lord is talking about things that they would understand in their day. You know, when they bake their bread in that day, they umm, use kind of like umm, pancake shaped.
Piece of dough and then when they baked it and it rose a little bit, it would be maybe Oval shaped around or might be irregular, not quite round and it would look a lot like some of the stones did. So that's why the Lord says umm.
Umm what man? Is there a view if if his son asked spread will give him a stone? Do you think umm do you think if you ask for a piece of bread your mom would give you a stone?
Would that be nice? No, that's not what you want. No. And, and, and the Lord goes on to say, uh, or if you ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? You know, if they ate a lot of fish, they live near the sea and they, they ate fish. And do you think that a father or a mother that love their children would if they ask for a fish for dinner or whatever, they would give them a serpent, something that could harm them. No, that's not the heart of a, a father or a mother. And then the Lord goes on to say to them, if he being evil.
Know how to give good gifts unto your children. How much more shall your father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? You know, a human father. The Lord is saying like as as much as saying, you know a human father, he wouldn't give these gifts to his children, even though he has a sinful nature. That's what the Lord means. Even though this father or mother has a sinful nature, they wouldn't give those kind of gifts because they've been given the capacity from God, some of his likeness to be kind, to be loving to their children.
And they would give good gifts to their children, but what were they were the way they were treating the Lord. They were treating the Lord like this. And sometimes I feel like boys and girls that we can be guilty of that. We can treat the Lord like they were treating him and not really caring about his needs, not really caring about him. He was there in person and they were too blind to see that they were dealing with the very Son of God who in love.
Had come and he had come with the purpose of providing a way so that they could have communion and fellowship with him. You know your boys and girls, your parents love you and they wouldn't do things like this if we love the Lord Jesus.
How are we treating him?
How are we treating him? You know, we talked a little bit about our talents and all these things that we think that we might be, might be able to do for the Lord. It's interesting. I'm going to read a verse to you in First Corinthians chapter 13.
And umm, the apostle Paul is speaking in this chapter and he's saying, and though I bestow all my goods to feed the full the poor, that sounds like a good thing to do. Take all your, umm, your resources and.
00:40:09
Go buy food and feed the poor. That sounds like a wonderful thing to do and then even goes to on to say and if I give my body to be burned if I suffer like a martyr and I die at the stake and I'm burned. Why that must be the the the thing that the Lord wants the most for me to give my life for him. And then he goes on to say and have not love it profiteth me nothing. You see what God wants.
Is He wants your heart to be drawn to His heart?
So that you and him can enjoy fellowship together just like we have in the the Book of Revelation where it says to the overcomer and to the Church of Laodicea, it says, if behold, I stand at the door and it should read him knocking.
This picture of the Lord standing at the door knocking, and it says, if any man hear my voice, I will come into him and will Sup with him, and he with me. And So what the Lord wants, boys and girls, what He really wants from our hearts is our love towards Him. He wants communion with him. Now I just jotted down a few things that came to mind as what kind of a God we have? What kind of a giving God do we have? Well, we know that He's a perfect giver.
And we have that verse in James that says, every good and every perfect gift cometh down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no variable enough, neither shadow of turning. So we have a God that is a perfect giver.
He's also an abundant giver. It says in John chapter 10 and verse 10, I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. We had that yesterday.
He wants to give you abundant life. He's an abundant giver. That means not just giving a little bit, not just giving, not giving roses like that, but giving something nice. God wants you to give your heart to Him. He wants your affection. That's what He really wants. He's also a cheerful giver. It says in Second Corinthians. I'm going to read this passage in 2nd Corinthians 9.
Umm, and starting at verse six, I just read this recently in the, the periodical called the Christian that God loves a cheerful giver. It says here because he is a cheerful giver himself. So 2nd Corinthians 9 and verse six, it says, umm, he which soweth sparingly shall also reap, reap also sparingly. You know what that means children, if you're stingy, if you say I'm going to just give him a little bit, I'm not going to give him very much. I'm going to just give this young lady these roses because I don't want to go out and buy a nice bouquet of roses. I'm just going to give him that old football that was.
Well, kind of worn out because I don't want to, you know, go out and get a nice one. Umm, he that so a sparingly shall reap also sparingly. And he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Umm, every man according as he purposeth in his heart. So let him give not grudgingly or of necessity. For God loveth a cheerful giver. Boys and girls, we have a God that is a, umm, perfect giver. He's an abundant giver.
He's a cheerful giver. I'm sure there's more that we could, could discover in his word as to God's giving. And all he wants from us is he wants a response from. If someone loves you, they just want a response from you. That's what God wants most of all. Well, you know, I feel really bad about leaving these kids with such awful looking gifts and I don't want them to go away feeling like, wow, that's all.
That I could, he could give me was this thing. So I'm going to offer, umm, hope something nicer. And I'm going to take that ugly bouquet of flowers and I'll tell you what I'm going to do with them. I'm going to throw them away. Does that sound like a good idea?
OK, Hope said that's so let me have them Hope and we'll just get rid of them. OK. All right, Because they're not very pretty anymore. And instead I, I was a my, my wife Carmen picked up this nice Lily for you, this Asian Lily. So I'm going to let you have that. So instead of that, umm, ugly. Is that a little better? All right, Yeah, That's, uh, that's, that's more like a gift that God would like from us. He wants a little bit.
From our hearts, something that maybe costs us a little something. He wants that from our hearts and, uh, over here on this side. Why don't I just take this from you? Should we just throw this away too, or do you think it's worth keeping? We'll just throw it away too and we'll give you another football that, uh, maybe will be more useful to you. All right.
00:45:22
I can tell by his smile that he agrees with me. So here's the bag to put it in and umm, I want to just tell you hope if that's going to be too much of a problem, you can talk to your parents to get home. If you want to give to someone else, that's fine. I I understand. We just brought it for an illustration. I'd love for you to have it if it works out, but I know you came from a long distance away so.