I said I might post these later… then I thought, well, why not! I’m sure they are great. And, if you are a voracious reader, then you’ll be done with all of these and ready for more before I finish the next one! So why wait! Here they are:

• Living in the Relational Church – Part I
• Living in the Relational Church – Part II
• The Spirit Of Family – (Part III)
• Giving and Generosity in the Relational Church – (Part IV)
• Reasons to Run – (Part V)
• Why I Don’t Go To Church Anymore – (Part VI)
• Questions About Body Life
• Why House Church Isn’t the Relational Church – (Part VII)
• We Already Have a Shepherd – (Part VII)
• Shared Dependency – (Part IX)
• The Church That Jesus Builds – (Part X)

And, if you really would like more… this is a great story…

“So, after 2,000 years, how do you think he’s doing?”

That was a question posed in an article I read recently about living in the relational church. It was referring to the time where Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” The question was posed by the author of the article to various individuals and groups of church leaders across the country.

You can imagine their initial response. 🙂

We can look a few hundred feet up the road and see four, large, stone examples of how he’s doing. Jesus is apparently good at building a completely splintered, divided, church that likes to erect cold, lifeless buildings in his honor. That’s not to mention all of the gossip, back-biting, positioning and other games we play inside those edifices.

No, if that’s your idea of what his church is, you’d have to start making up some excuses for his work. It’s not looking so good here.

But that is just evidence that those structures, both physical and organizational, have nothing to do with the church Jesus said he was going to build! Yes, there are members of his church living and even thriving within the confines of those systems, but they are not the source of the Life. The structures are only doomed to fail. Good can come from them, but Jesus did not say I am going to commission a few people to build my church based on their gifts and talents and leadership skills. He said, “I will build my church. He will. That’s not up to us.

I really like the article. We have mentioned this author before. Wayne Jacobsen really seems to be able to say what I have been thinking for a long time. Some things he says remind me of discussions I had with my fellow church staff mates when I first left Bible college and was working full time with a healthy, growing church. Even though we were doing it so well, there were just major flaws I could see in the system. Our hearts were great, but the focus of our implementation just seemed to be slightly (or greatly) askew.

I would encourage you to read, if you are so inclined, the articles he has posted on this subject. He says it well, and perhaps will give you some food for thought. Life with God is so much more than attending meetings or trying to woo our friends into joining us at them. The church is so much more.

Yes, his church is alive and well. We were privileged to meet another part of his body here just last night. I am praying that God would continue to connect us to the people he wants to connect us with. That he would build his church, and that we would follow his lead and be the part of his body he designed us to be.

It really is his church.

If you’d like to read the article, click the link below. Perhaps I will post links to his other articles in this series as well. I have read the first two so far, and both have been excellent.

Living in the Relational Church – BodyLife July 99

I just wanted to remind everyone that it’s FOOTBALL SEASON AGAIN!!!!!

buffalobills.com

The other day I was shaving with my electric razor, battling the persistent facial hair that never seems to tire of growing, and I really thought nothing of it. It was all quite ordinary. Once I had finished, I thought perhaps it was time for a recharge (I don’t often remember to do that…) so, I plugged it in. Just for kicks, I turned it on to see how low I had let the battery get. Sure enough, the blades whirred at least twice as fast as before, maybe more!

All I could think is how I had for so long been settling for less than the best. The plugged in razor represents what I could have on a full charge, had I conscientiously plugged in my razor each night. But, as that is not really all that important to me, I end up settling for less than the best.

OK, by now you’re thinking, “Greg… it’s just a razor. It’s just shaving! Aren’t you going a little overboard???” To which I will agree. It is only a razor. But, it is representative of much more that is ingrained in us as a culture and as individuals. We often will settle for less.

In every aspect of life, there is some amount of settling for less. We settle for less in our relationships, not striving to maintain clear and healthy lines of communication at all times. We settle for walls to exist, masks to be worn. We also settle for less in our jobs, selling our time and our souls for work that is not what we love simply to earn a paycheck to spend on things that make us need to spend more time at the job which we don’t love. We settle for less in our relationship with God, allowing others to live it for us, relying on the pastor to dig through scriptures and to hear from God for us. In so many areas, we settle.

And here is the battle that currently rages in my brain.

One side of me has either been trained to, or was born with a drive to not settle for anything less than the best. I will spend hours on a project that others might finish in under one hour. I will give way over and above what’s expected just for the sake of doing something the best it can be done. I am somewhat of a perfectionist. I work hard to do the right thing, and the best thing.

Then on the other side we have the part that is desperately trying to understand the concept of giving up control. Not trying so hard to manipulate the world around me into my image of what’s best. Trying to step back, relax, and wait for God – or even just another Image Bearer – to make his move. Not at all laziness, or in-action… just a pause to reflect, and to allow for God to lead, or others the freedom to be themselves.

Where does the drive to do and be the best end (not competitive, just a desire to not settle for less) and a grace-filled, gentle approach to life with God and others begin? Can they co-exist? Are we able to do or be both?

Welcome to my slightly confused world. 🙂

This carries over to some thinking I have been doing about all of the stuff in Scripture about how God says life will work best. Some call them commands, I think that portrays God in a different light than he lived as a man here on earth. He was not standing as an army general over the troops barking out commands to be obeyed immediately. He spoke wisdom and truth in the most amazingly humble and gentle manner. People wanted to follow. They almost couldn’t help themselves. Jesus did not water down the truth, or say some things were OK not to do. He said what was true, and somehow loved all of us, knowing we could never adhere to such a strict moral code.

So why should we strive for the best? We know we will fail, so why try? I maintain that I can’t do any differently. Sometimes I try, and it just kills me. I may have been trained this way by my parents, or teachers, or other influences as I was growing up, but I don’t think it’s wrong. I love to do and be the best I can. Life seems better when I do. I just need to figure out the balance between trying so hard and understanding I will fail. And others will too.

So, my razor is charged. My housework is nearly done for the day. I am learning more everyday about life in Jesus and how to follow him. Life is good.

The part I think that God is teaching me right now, and perhaps you would like to ponder as well, is that the world would not end if those things weren’t done. All good things are from him, and most anything I can accomplish will just fade away. So, I can and should strive for the best, but when the mark is missed, or attempts fail, my heart is at peace in my Father who loves me.

Never settle for less than the best, but rest in the knowledge of His love.

We just finished watching an episode of Quantum Leap tonight. (We can’t get away from Scott Bakula… we’re also watching the second season of Star Trek Enterprise right now…) 🙂 Quantum Leap was about a scientist who found a way to travel through time within his own lifetime. Something went wrong though, and he ended up leaping into someone else’s life. He was able to leap out again by “fixing” something that happened in that person’s life (or someone near them). There are many flaws within this line of thinking, but ignoring those, it’s a pretty cool show.

This particular episode was where Sam (the main character) gets to leap into a person who was on his brother’s navy seals squad in Vietnam. Originally, his brother dies there, so Sam hopes to save him. Through the episode, the dilemma is who should Sam really save. It’s war, there are lots of people he can save. So, several times, Sam makes the choice to save someone else, even though he might not be able to then save his brother. And at the very end, we see his friend and holographic guide, Al, also making an amazingly selfless choice to save someone else instead of himself or someone close to him. The shows are filled with (even based on) the nobility of choosing the good of someone else – even a stranger – over the good of self.

It’s a fascinating look at something that I think is so much the heart of God.

He is selfless. Philippians chapter two talks about why Jesus did what he did. He emptied himself of all that he had claim to, because he loved us more than himself. He was obedient even to death, so that we could live. It was not martyrdom – that is far more self-interested. It was complete selfless love.

We love that. We need that. That is why shows like Quantum Leap are so compelling. To see someone just like us who would actually – though struggling to do so – willingly choose to put the good of others over their own good. Fascinating.

Look around you today. How much do you see this? Do you see other people motion for you to take the closer parking spot? Do people step aside so that you might get in line at the grocery store ahead of them? How many times does someone do something sacrificial for you without expecting any compensation of any sort?

Not very often. Probably never.

It is not like us to be selfless. But that’s why we make our heroes selfless. Sam is great. You see his struggles, and identify with them, but you cheer for him because he does the right thing. Even when it seems like he shouldn’t, for his own sake. We are drawn to such selflessness. It’s who our Father is. It’s how Jesus lived.

Take a look around, and check for examples of selfless love all around you. From the trivial giving up a parking spot to the ultra-heroic soldiers in Iraq. It does happen. And each time, it’s captivating.

While you’re looking around, see if there might be some choice you can make today for the good of someone else instead of yourself. I think you’ll find out that it will be for your good too.

Being like Dad has it’s rewards. You may just understand a bit more what it means to gain your life by losing it. (Mark 8:35)

I am still smiling from all that transpired tonight.

We did a concert at Chill and Grill tonight – a local eatery with the best ice cream deal in town. The slogan is, “That’s a SMALL?” 🙂 It’s a great place, owned by a great guy, and we were happy to be playing there tonight. There were several reasons that it was slightly inconvenient to be doing it tonight, but I went up to set up (it’s less than a mile from our house) while Jen stayed with the kids about an hour before we were to start.

As I am setting up, several people are curious about all the sound gear that I continued to load into the area in front of the restaurant. Some ask, but most just inquisitively stare. I spot a bunch of younger guys as I am setting up one section of the gear, and say hello. The young fellow looked at me sorta puzzled, but said hello. It’s always kinda funny as we set up for these unexpected events. 🙂

(It was scheduled, just most people there at that moment don’t read the posters, so they were taken by surprise by my rapid construction of a sound system.)

As I continue to set up, the young man I saw walk into the restaurant walks out with a phone, and hands it to me saying, “It’s Jeff.” Jeff is the owner I mentioned before. Now, first it was kind of an odd thing to say… just, “It’s Jeff.” But, besides that, it was even more odd that Jeff was calling his own restaurant for me… so, I figured something was up.

“Hello?” I answered, quite curious as to what this call might be about, “Hey Jeff! What’s up?” Jeff proceeds to apologetically explain that he booked two bands for the night!!! When we had spoken earlier, he told me the other band was coming in later August, so I said we’d happily take the first weekend. And, just for kicks, we’d do Saturday instead of Friday. So, there was never any issue, because we had worked all of the scheduling details out already.

Until the other band showed up to me setting up sound gear where they were supposed to be playing.

So, I assure Jeff that it is completely fine! In fact, I was ready to pack up and go home… we could use a night off! But I remembered that I had heard from several people that they wanted to come hear us play, so I agreed with Jeff’s idea that we split the time somehow. It was all working out great, as a shorter set was definitely beneficial to us.

So, I hang up and introduce myself to the other band, and we shared a laugh about the miscommunication. They were very gracious and had no problem sharing the evening with us. It turns out that they were three brothers who had come with their father. We worked out some details, and then I kept setting stuff up as we talked.

After some introductions, the father asked me, “So, where do you guys fellowship?” Obviously he had realized that we were Christians, and I gathered from his question that they were as well. The question is a rather tricky one to answer these days, though. I don’t want to just tell him, “I don’t go to church.” That would at least involve lots more explanation, and at some point I might crush his whole reality with my crazy ideas. That’s never pretty. Nor do I want to avoid the question. I love to talk about the stuff God is revealing to me, what he is doing in and through us, and how my understanding of “church” continues to grow and change… it’s all really cool… but, not a short answer to a short question.

I came up with, “Well, a little bit of everywhere.” An honest answer, albeit a bit ambiguous.

“Oh! Us too,” was his reply. “Us too?” There was something about the way he said it. It was not like, yeah, we go to lots of churches too, cause we like churches. Something inside me rang a big bell. Something connected.

I perked up a bit and said, “Oh yeah?” And after a bit more discussion I found out that their family is not part of anything most people would call a “church” and that they transitioned out of such structures within the last two years or so. I was fascinated, but it was so completely unexpected I forgot how amazing these moments were.

You see, for some time now, both Jen & I have been asking God to connect us with people who are on a similar journey. People who have a deep hunger for God and his Kingdom and his Righteousness, but are bothered by the religious structures that we have labeled “churches”. We have lots of great friends who are believers, but on some level they are all connected to some organization and spend lots of their life and energy in that arena. So, often we feel a bit alone in our current journey. We have friends who live far away with whom we discuss the things we are discovering and learning, but we have been longing for someone who is here in this town whom God is working in similarly.

And tonight, going to a routine concert, on a regular day, not even expecting nothing… he answered.

See, sometimes I confess… I go to a concert expecting nothing. I know not many will show up, even fewer will listen, and no one will buy a thing, nor will the venue pay us. Those can be discouraging nights, especially when money is as tight as it is. And other times I will go talking to God the whole way to the event, asking him to make great connections and do great things through all that transpires that night. But tonight… nothing! I wasn’t expecting anything, good or bad.

And God knocked my socks off!

I wasn’t even wearing socks!

I really can not explain how amazed I was. I had to go grab a music stand from some friends around the corner and as left, I was literally giddy with excitement at what God had done! You know that he answers prayer, but you almost expect him to answer when you are asking… not at a time you are not even thinking about it!!! Wow. Simply incredible.

So tonight I was blindsided a couple times. Once by poor scheduling, and then by a Father who loves me more still than I think I understand. We plan to connect with this family soon, and share as much of the journey as God has for us to share. He is so good to us. I am just astounded as I write this.

Oh, one more fun part. Pat, the father, said that he was debating whether or not to come (he just came for moral support) since his wife was going to stay home with the two younger kids, but she told him he should go as “God will have something for you there.” Now, I don’t know that is was prophecy, but it was still cool. I told Pat that I really believe he and his family are an answer to our prayer.

Simply amazing. I am still blown away.

Will I ever actually not be, because I am so used to God working in my life that it is no longer a surprise? Not sure.

But for now, I am enjoying the surprise.

If I really take the time today, I could write a lot of stuff. I have not taken time this week at all to post thoughts or happenings to this fun e-version of my head. I might just take the morning to do that. 🙂 It’s a beautiful day here! No humidity, no heat, just about perfect actually. I’m sitting in a mostly comfortable chair on my porch with my awesome wireless internet connection… what better way to spend a morning? 🙂

I’ll start off with the crazy week that was…

It really started last Friday, when we left for a weekend with my parents, and singing at their church. The trip was long and arduous as all of our trips have been with our cantankerous daughter, Kirsten. She is still on a two, two-hour nap schedule, but in the van all day long, she will only sleep 45 minutes, and then complain a good part of the rest of the 10-hour PLUS trip. Oh my. So… that was not so pleasant, but it was made even better by the 1 hour traffic jam delay about an hour from our destination. Crazy day.

We spent Saturday getting ready for the evening concert, and hanging out with my parents. We were fairly exhausted from the trip (oh yeah! and I was up till 3:30 in the morning the night before we left! ha! uh… that can make you tired…) So we caught up on some sleep as well. It was a nice day. The concert went well. Two guys from their church played with us. That was fun. We had a full band sound. Seemed well received, and it was an occasion for a bunch of my family to come as well, so that was great. There were 16 members of my extended family there! Cool!

They had a dinner for us afterwards, so we got to spend a little more time with them, but again, we were bushed, so we went home fairly soon after that was over. Life on the road with three kiddos can definitely drain you.

Sunday morning came early as we were singing a song or two in their two morning services. It was great. See the next blog for a funny story about Alex. 🙂 We sold a few things, which is always nice. That helps pay for the trip down. It’s always nice when we can sell enough to pay for our trip AND to have some to pay bills when we get home. 🙂 I think we did that this time.

Another bonus from Sunday morning was meeting a guy and his Mom from Venezuela! They are part of my parents’ church. Well, he is. His mom speaks no English, so that was really nice getting to have a conversation with her. I don’t get to practice my spanish very often. AND, the strangest part was that of all the Spanish speakers I have heard recently, she (and he) was the most easy to understand! I thought about it afterwards, and I guess it is easiest for me to understand the Venezuelan accent or something. Fun!

Sunday night we headed down to Cincinnati – about 1 hour away – and spent the evening at a fair with my sister and her family. That was great. They have 3 small kids (as do we) and so they had a blast riding kiddie rides and just being at a fair. Fun stuff. My parents came too, but I don’t think the fair scene is for them. 🙂 Not only were there rides and fun food and vendors and stuff, and even some live music… there were fireworks. These must have cost upwards of $300K. Seriously. They were amazing. Long show, big explosions, and plentiful. The finale was like none I have ever seen in person. They must have a lot of money there…

Well, it was another late night – arriving back to my parents’ house (and our own private hotel) around midnight. So, we slept in a bit in the morning and headed for home around 11am. We drove, Kirsten didn’t sleep, and mostly there was misery in our van. (Well, perhaps not mostly but… it seemed like it at times…) We got caught in a heavy downpour a little over an hour from our home, so I pulled off for a pit stop to let the storm pass. It did, but we decided to drop in for a visit with Jen’s parents who didn’t live too far from there. 🙂 Good thing too, as the storm only intensified. It’s no fun to drive 65-mph in sheets of rain, an inch of standing water and penny size hail. So we hung out at their place for a little over an hour and then headed home, arriving just after midnight. (That seems to be a common occurence for us…) After unpacking and unwinding, it was 1:30 before we were asleep!!!

Well, four days away from home gives you plenty to do the next day, so Tuesday was a full day for us, including lots of catching up in the office for me, and some clean up around the house for the rest of the family. BECAUSE, on Monday evening, we got a call from some friends who were on their way to a concert in Vermont and needed a place to crash on Tuesday night! So, we readied our house for guests and eagerly anticipated their arrival. They thought they would be to our house by 10:30 or so… but no sign of them by about midnight, so… I went downstairs to leave a note and there they were! So we hung out for about a half hour or more and finally got to bed around 1 am!

I got up early the next morning to fix a nice breakfast, in case they happened to be early risers. (Now, remember… early for me is 8am…) 🙂 But there was no sign of them till about 10! 🙂 So we had a nice late breakfast and spent some time hanging out with them till they left at about 1:15pm. The boys were enjoying having house guests! 🙂 It was nice to see them and get to spend a little time and share some stories of life on the road together.

Oh, that morning I was also making bread for dinner that evening with some other friends, (one of whom loves my home made bread, and another who is quite pregnant, and what pregnant lady doesn’t love fresh bread?) 🙂 So, by the time our friends left, and I had finished making my 4th loaf of bread… I finally got into the office to try and get a little done before our friends arrived for dinner at 6pm!

Well, when they arrived shortly before six to go for a swim in our neighbors’ pool (which they never did, actually…) the party had begun and we had a great time hanging out and chatting about life and eating home made Skyline Chili! (And the home made bread, of course!) 🙂 I love hanging out with friends, and even more love to cook for and share meals and our home with them. It was great. 🙂

Well, our very pregnant friend and her two girls were planning to spend the night as her husband was out of town and that was a good time to let our kids enjoy a “sleep over”. So, after our other friends headed home, we all went out to the pool and Uncle Greg took on the challenge of watching five children 6 years old and under in a pool. Thankfully, Aunt Jen decided to join me. 🙂 It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, but I wouldn’t reccommend it…

We all got to bed around midnight (after everything settled down) and Jen & I even watched a Star Trek Enterprise episode till around 12:30! 🙂 It was yet another full day.

(Are you tired yet just from reading?) 🙂

I again awoke around 8am to get breakfast ready in the morning. Our very pregnant friend is also a fan of breakfast food, so we did it up big. We had waffles, and sausage, and eggs, and my own special home fries. We had cool fruit toppings, orange juice and even the home made bread from the night before. 🙂 It was quite a feast. After our late morning breakfast, we again went swimming briefly, and I was in the office for a few more hours after our friends left at about 1:00 or 1:30.

That night we resumed a parenting class we began earlier in the summer, so we were preparing to leave around 5pm or so (it turned out to be the “or so”…) and that took us to about 10:00pm that night (the class time is about 2.5 hours). Another late night.

So, yesterday was the first day in a full week with no real schedule. It was very nice. But the whole day I was somewhat less than productive, due to a bit of exhaustion. 🙂 🙂 🙂

We did get to go for a relaxing walk last night. That was nice. And then Ian and I got out the telescope and took a gander at Juptier (awesome!) and a few stars. I love that stuff. 🙂 Jen finally got to bed just before 11, and after I cleaned up the house, did some laundry and dishes, and ate a bit of ice cream… (and read a few blogs and news sites) it was about 3:30am or so. I have to unwind somehow, don’t I? 🙂

So… you might be able to tell from all of that detail of the past 8 days that we have been more busy than usual. It doesn’t completely end as we have a concert tonight here in town and then we have a party for a 4-yr-old friend tomorrow. 🙂 But it feels like the busiest is over. I am looking forward to a normal week. I hope. Perhaps.

🙂

Even though my body is a bit depleted, it was definitely worth it. It was so great hosting people at our house. I love to be with friends. It was a great weekend with my family in Ohio. It is always nice to be with family. And we did a bunch of fun stuff.

But maybe tonight I’ll go to bed early…

I sang this song every school day from grades 4-6. Crazy.

CHORUS:
Gloria al bravo pueblo
Que el yugo lanzó,
La Ley respetando
La virtud y honor.

¡Abajo Cadenas!
¡Abajo Cadenas!
Gritaba el Señor;
Gritaba el Señor.
Y el pobre en su choza,
Libertad pidió.
A este santo nombre
Tembló de pavor,
El vil egoismo
Que otra vez triunfó;
A este santo nombre,
A este santo nombre
Tembló de pavor,
El vil egoismo
Que otra vez triunfó,
El vil egoismo
Que otra vez triunfó.

OK… so I have heard from several people on this idea of what we call “christianity” being contrived, and I figured I need to clarify what I am saying. (Perhaps that is not possible, but I thought I might try) 🙂

One thing I mentioned to a friend in the course of our e-mail conversation was that it seems to me that when issues arouse such strongly held opposing ideas, often that may indicate that there is no right or wrong answer. That perhaps God has left this issue open to individual choosing? Just a thought. I know it’s not universally true, but there may be some wisdom in it. God has definitely given us freedom to be different. 🙂 And perhaps on issues where there is such a clear divergence of opinion… it is the way he designed it to be.

That said, I wanted to clear up what I was trying to say, and answer at least one question that I received by email.

Contrived has been used as created and spontaneous as reactive. I wonder then if from God’s view His actions are contrived including His great plan of salvation and Christ’s teachings to become “Christlike”. If that premise has truth then when we want to be Christlike as a Christian and follow His way, are we truly being contrived in our actions or are they in God’s view a spontaneous reaction to His plan?

Now, while I understand where this sentiment may have come from, it is entirely not what I am talking about 🙂

The only thing I am calling contrived is where we deliberately plan some event to invoke a spiritual connection/response from all of those in attendance. All of the pieces are cleverly arranged to help people think or feel a certain way. It’s like a TV show, just with better content. (Perhaps a live theater presentation would better describe it, though not necessarily today… we were at a weekend event recently where a good portion of the teaching was done by way of a prepared video. It was kinda cool.) 🙂

So, please understand me again. I do not think that the contrived will produce evil. I do not think that it is evil. I (personally) think there may be a way that produces more freedom in individual lives, but that’s all I am saying.

(Remember, this started when I was talking about camp, and how it’s a whole week of make-believe… and how the camp planners and organizers and people who carry out the plans all say (even at the week of camp) that this feeling won’t last… when you go back to “the real world”… so you have to try harder, do something different. But really, that feeling is just contrived. It is a result of the direct efforts of an entire world created to achieve that one purpose (moving people’s hearts and minds toward a certain understanding of who God is.))

One more time. I don’t think that people who want to have a structured daily life with God are living contrived lives. I don’t think that if we put any planning into anything that it is by that effort now “contrived”. I am mainly speaking to the stuff that we do from the stage. Whether it be music, drama, or teaching. Or anything.

And, once more, the definitions:

• Deliberately created rather than arising naturally or spontaneously; giving a sense of artificiality.
• Create or bring about (an object or a situation) by deliberate use of skill and artifice.

So please don’t think that if you have a vibrant connection with God and you attend such gatherings once a week and/or once a year that I think in any way that your relationship with God is contrived. I think if that is all you do, it might be. But if you can describe your connection with God as a relationship, and especially a thriving, vibrant one… then all the rest of the stuff is bonus.

Just enjoy every day in him. You don’t have to perform for him, or for anyone else. He loves you because he made you and you are worth his own life. Simple words because we have heard them before, but they are profoundly true.

I still agree with everything that I have posted here, but I just wanted to (1) clarify and (2) remind everyone that this is simply my opinion, and where God is leading me at the moment, and if it rings true… let’s talk! If it does not, we can still talk, or, you can just ignore me! 🙂 But please do not be offended, or feel like if you feel differently than me that you are wrong or in any way less than me. You are not. If he wants you to see life similarly to me, God will work that in your heart. Not me. I am just happily following God on a journey to know him better, and equally happy to share my thoughts as I process them along this journey.

I am glad you’ve joined me. And looking forward to more.