Last week we wrapped up our James study by Beth Moore. There were so many good parts to the study, but the one that keeps standing out to me is her question, "What good is your faith?"
If you are familiar with James then you know that he drills in the point that faith without deeds is dead. Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness. Oh to have that faith. Just when I think that my faith has grown, the wave of doubt sweeps me. The wave of questions (that I am all too good at asking) takes control. And I am left in the wake. Wondering.....what good is my faith? Funny how the devil would love to play off that. Not so funny how we crater and let him sometimes.
I was overwhelmed again tonight by returning symptoms, bad labs, and the frustration that I should be over and done with this. I do finally have a new referral after too long....but I am thankful that Monday I get a second opinion. Excited and nervous.
So I will tell you what good my faith is. I know that there are critics and skeptics and the cynical. Sadly I could be any one of those. We probably all could at times. But what wins. Hope. Love. Faith. Yes that is not following the 1 Corinthians order but after the James study I am inclined to say Faith yanks you off your tail, reminds you that there is hope in a Savior, and Love drives you to care. Drives us to remember that though doubt may enter, it will not reside. Doubt and fear are funny cousins. They couple and arrive almost in the same moment. But that is "what good my faith is". When they sweep and leave us overwhelmed. Leave us defeated and afraid to make a move. They tell us that there is no point or whatever lies we have all heard at some point. Interesting. I pictured myself on a beach, waves beating over me and then relenting back. Over and over again. The next part is the best. When I first pictured this I was sitting on the beach in sand, the waves coming again and again for a time, never letting up. But when the water finally retreated, I was left sitting on a rock. The rock of Jesus. That is our Faith. A faith that pulls me up, telling me the point is God's love, God's purpose. A faith that never fails because it is built on the Rock. It reminds me that there is a great cloud of witnesses and I have no excuse to feel alone. My situation is small in comparison. The great have gone before us and are cheering us on. Encouraging us. Counting on us to continue the legacy of great faith. Faith that can be counted as righteousness. Faith that brings hope and expects God to do more than our ability and our circumstances. Expects HIM to show up. What a beautiful thing, this Faith. Faith is the doing it, not talking about it. What good? ALL THE GOOD I say because in those moments God makes me practice it and I know He is growing it!! Oh to have the faith in Hebrews 11. We are so very loved!
This one is for you Crystal.......... God is good, all the time. All the time God is good!!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Teaching and Passing It On
Ugh! Probably the hardest one for me to write yet! I love helpful information. I recently stumbled across another great blog that has me hooked for this reason. As a physical therapist and heavily influenced by IPA, I love information about staying healthy and avoiding foods that feed inflammation. This is what I am saying to each of my patients most of the time....what you are eating could be feeding your pain process. Omega 3's versus omega 6's. Drinking things like concentrated cherry juice or aloe vera can also help reduce these processes. The average american diet is destroying the body slowly and giving pain, cancer and chronic fatigue a place to breed and spread like wildfire. Pain is a complex animal but the first mode of attack starts by watching what YOU allow in your body. Check this blog out it is great!! cucumbersandcocoa.blogspot.com
That's just one of the many topics that FIRE ME UP! (In a good way!) I can single handedly dump information on someone if they are only willing to listen and be taught. And for me likewise.....I love to keep on learning. Through the CFMT process, God made me realize just how much of a passion I have for sharing all this information. Whether it is teaching about God and the bible, physical therapy, IPA, or how to move better, these are my passions. With women's health, He gave me a few opportunities to give small presentations that I quickly fell in love with distributing information in an organized and semi-entertaining way.
The area that hits closest is home. Teaching the kids those little day-to-day tasks, manners, & how to's are fun and challenging. That's where the significance of all of this struck me the most with the importance of teaching. We are all teachers in a sense. I am one patient at a time. My husband is for his classes at school. Moms' are every minute of every day. No matter what you do whether you like it or not, you are a teacher of something. My realization of how much I love sharing information and trying to be as helpful as possible came during isolation time. We can't expect the next generation to understand or know something if we haven't taken the time to share with them. I had special people invest countless hours into me growing up and they still do. It does not happen by accident. It takes planning, time, applying what we know to the people around us. As Malcom Gladwell would say, people gifted in sharing information are called mavens. So here's to being the best maven and teacher I can be. Only with His help of course!
That's just one of the many topics that FIRE ME UP! (In a good way!) I can single handedly dump information on someone if they are only willing to listen and be taught. And for me likewise.....I love to keep on learning. Through the CFMT process, God made me realize just how much of a passion I have for sharing all this information. Whether it is teaching about God and the bible, physical therapy, IPA, or how to move better, these are my passions. With women's health, He gave me a few opportunities to give small presentations that I quickly fell in love with distributing information in an organized and semi-entertaining way.
The area that hits closest is home. Teaching the kids those little day-to-day tasks, manners, & how to's are fun and challenging. That's where the significance of all of this struck me the most with the importance of teaching. We are all teachers in a sense. I am one patient at a time. My husband is for his classes at school. Moms' are every minute of every day. No matter what you do whether you like it or not, you are a teacher of something. My realization of how much I love sharing information and trying to be as helpful as possible came during isolation time. We can't expect the next generation to understand or know something if we haven't taken the time to share with them. I had special people invest countless hours into me growing up and they still do. It does not happen by accident. It takes planning, time, applying what we know to the people around us. As Malcom Gladwell would say, people gifted in sharing information are called mavens. So here's to being the best maven and teacher I can be. Only with His help of course!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Family and the Next Generation
That chokes me up just writing that title. There was a point in time where Jody and I were not sure that would even be possible. Family. We knew that it would be us and that was enough. After a very bad car accident, doctors told him that he would never be able to. Now of course we have 2 beautiful kids that remind us that God FULLY HEALS and FULLY ANSWERS. He does the impossible. Reece and Cale are the light of our lives. Sunshine and joy in the morning. Family is a precious word that I am so thankful for. Family means I don't have to go through this life alone and I get to past fun traditions and stories on to my kids. I also get to teach them about Jesus.....the most important part of my life. A relationship so special that it is unmatched by any other. During my "isolation" time, God showed me how important it is to pass things on to them. To plan for them. Provide for them with His provision. To love and care for them. To detail "the little things" that make life sweeter and make them feel like no one is more important than them. It is a special gift to love your family and your kids with God's love. Unconditional. To teach them that life is beautiful and wonderful. But even more than you can imagine when HE is in your life and HE is your everything.
Beth Moore James study had a great tidbit this week. It talked about how life can sometimes get bitter because of people, situations, circumstances, or you fill in the blank. Jesus makes life sweeter. Exodus 15: 22-26, especially verse 25 says that the Lord showed Moses a piece of wood and he threw it in the water and made it sweet. Of course she draws you through the awesome parallel that the piece of wood that sweetened our life was the cross and what Christ has done for us. Truly awesome! I have chewed on that all day. What a great truth! I want to make their life sweeter because that what He has done for me and for them. I prayed that over my labs this morning that pure sweetness would take anything crazy out that my last set of test showed. Makes me sad that just when I thought I was done, another set commences. His blood can makes anything sweet and that is exactly what I am asking for.
Beth Moore James study had a great tidbit this week. It talked about how life can sometimes get bitter because of people, situations, circumstances, or you fill in the blank. Jesus makes life sweeter. Exodus 15: 22-26, especially verse 25 says that the Lord showed Moses a piece of wood and he threw it in the water and made it sweet. Of course she draws you through the awesome parallel that the piece of wood that sweetened our life was the cross and what Christ has done for us. Truly awesome! I have chewed on that all day. What a great truth! I want to make their life sweeter because that what He has done for me and for them. I prayed that over my labs this morning that pure sweetness would take anything crazy out that my last set of test showed. Makes me sad that just when I thought I was done, another set commences. His blood can makes anything sweet and that is exactly what I am asking for.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
James
The Beth Moore study of James...Mercy Triumphs is great! I must say that tonight kicked my tail. A very good kick I might add. Not one that I have not read several times because this is one of my favorite books. She just explained this verse in such a great way that made it hit the head and the heart at the same time. Yes I know the verse and thought I understood the meaning. But thinking about it, being taught more about it and having someone shed this kind of light is what I needed for it to really transfer. I love grasping a concept deeply. Really basking in the real meaning and not missing important words and messages.
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
This verse has always been a bit of a mystery to me. The words that helped me tonight were ACCEPTS and POLLUTED. Religion that God accepts. That is interesting. This may be what we have always known, grown up with, or been taught. We have lots of ideas about religion and what it looks like, how it should be practiced, what worship is and so on. Reading the above verse again, I have to say that I have been wrong. It is nothing about the things that we make it to be. It is simple so long as we don't let others opinions or the demands of our own lives dictate us actually following through with those things. She takes you through other verses that address: poor, oppressed, fatherless, widows again. It is not our idea of what God will accept but what HE accepts as pure and faultless.
For me the next word was the most powerful. POLLUTED. Setting the lesson down I picture oil spills, litter in parks, dirty streets, filthy environments from old buildings to smog like Beth would ask you to picture. Yuck! My lungs and eyes are burning just at the thought. I cringe and pull back knowing that if I could pick a different street to walk down I would. I picture the dirty, stinky streets in New York that could use a good washing. Pollution is disgusting but our lives are just as messy and hard to clean. In a book I am reading now called The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, he discusses how we are in a world of Information Overload. That could also be considered a pollution. Everything grabs for our attention, fighting to hold it. Issues that really aren't worth our time grab it and fog our thinking and distract us from accomplishing things that might actually have an impact. Pollution keeps us from doing what God called us to do.
Her punch line sentences are always so convicting:
"How do we serve in it without smelling like it? With serious discipline, determination, courage, and deep conviction. You live His religion on purpose. Religion pure and undefiled is GRIT WITHOUT THE GRIME."
I love it! The last sentence was what my heart often feels but I feel like I walk away from circumstances completely covered in grime. She ends the lesson with the best!! "When we sniff ourselves and smell the world, we run to the One who can wash us." How true! I am nothing without Him. It is a relationship that makes religion like that real. What a great translation to a verse that I needed some help with.
Now as James would say....go DO IT! (Lord I pray that I can and that you'll help me!)
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
This verse has always been a bit of a mystery to me. The words that helped me tonight were ACCEPTS and POLLUTED. Religion that God accepts. That is interesting. This may be what we have always known, grown up with, or been taught. We have lots of ideas about religion and what it looks like, how it should be practiced, what worship is and so on. Reading the above verse again, I have to say that I have been wrong. It is nothing about the things that we make it to be. It is simple so long as we don't let others opinions or the demands of our own lives dictate us actually following through with those things. She takes you through other verses that address: poor, oppressed, fatherless, widows again. It is not our idea of what God will accept but what HE accepts as pure and faultless.
For me the next word was the most powerful. POLLUTED. Setting the lesson down I picture oil spills, litter in parks, dirty streets, filthy environments from old buildings to smog like Beth would ask you to picture. Yuck! My lungs and eyes are burning just at the thought. I cringe and pull back knowing that if I could pick a different street to walk down I would. I picture the dirty, stinky streets in New York that could use a good washing. Pollution is disgusting but our lives are just as messy and hard to clean. In a book I am reading now called The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, he discusses how we are in a world of Information Overload. That could also be considered a pollution. Everything grabs for our attention, fighting to hold it. Issues that really aren't worth our time grab it and fog our thinking and distract us from accomplishing things that might actually have an impact. Pollution keeps us from doing what God called us to do.
Her punch line sentences are always so convicting:
"How do we serve in it without smelling like it? With serious discipline, determination, courage, and deep conviction. You live His religion on purpose. Religion pure and undefiled is GRIT WITHOUT THE GRIME."
I love it! The last sentence was what my heart often feels but I feel like I walk away from circumstances completely covered in grime. She ends the lesson with the best!! "When we sniff ourselves and smell the world, we run to the One who can wash us." How true! I am nothing without Him. It is a relationship that makes religion like that real. What a great translation to a verse that I needed some help with.
Now as James would say....go DO IT! (Lord I pray that I can and that you'll help me!)
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Living in Righteousness
These post are getting harder to write. Or perhaps this is the hardest. For obvious reasons. RIGHTEOUSNESS. Well I definitely am not on my own or by my own will or effort. Righteousness is unobtainable without Christ. Righteousness is the very qualities and being of Jesus. So if we are trying to "just try harder" or "commit more time to commit better effort" good luck. This is appropriately timed since so far I have procrastinated on the list I promised to post......but I have to say that even in my poor effort I think God will be glorified in this timing. Last night and today as so many, including myself, set NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS I think the best is this. Strive to hand your efforts, commitments, goals, and life over to Christ. Only He holds the future. Your goal should be Him.
James 4: 13-14 tells us that:
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
I set goals every year. Looking back over this last year I can say that I am truly blessed beyond words. I sit too humbled as I make my list of thankfulness: 1. blessed by 2 sweet health kids 2. even more blessed by a sweet, Godly husband who also demonstrates his understanding and helps me around the house even when he is tired and busy 3. blessed by a sweet friend and study partner with CFMT (Kaysi) 4. Passed CFMT 5. Applied for fellowship (don't care the results but GOD got me to the point where I could) 6. Found the small amount of cancer, successfully removed it, and is helping me find my new balance 7. blessed me with people that I've known forever that I am still blessed to have strong friendships or contact with. 8. Continue to be blessed by a 4 day week and a wonderful day to spend with my children. 9. Time to spend in the Word
These are just a few. I could go on and on but God knows them so well. I've already begun to make my list for this year. That's how I operate. I love the thrill of setting goals and meeting them. Not just for the sake of setting goals to say I did. Or to check them off when I meet them. It is the thrill of knowing that when I set a goal it is useless if I do not ask what the Lord would have first. James 4: 15 says: Instead, you ought to say, " If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." I know that I can set goals but it is truly up to Him and what He wants. What is truly amazing is that often He wants us to simply consult Him first. Before we set out and make decisions. Simply ASK. The results are unbelievable when He blesses us to see the results and brings them about. I'm thankful that He knows our greatest desires and grants those. I have also been equally grateful when I have wanted something so bad that it hurts and He doesn't give it to me. I love when He reminds me what I asked for and shows me how He answered that request to give me something greater than I thought to ask for. He's a gracious and giving God.
So how does that tie back to living in righteousness. Well, truthfully at this point God has taught me that if it is not from Him and if it is not what He wants for me, it is not worth having. I pray over my goals again that they may be avenues that bless others, bless my family, and glorify Him FULLY. I pray that these goals will be beyond myself so that His presence may be obvious to others. I pray that self, selfishness, pride, jealousy, hardness of heart, bitterness, or ambition do not enter into these goals today or throughout the year. I pray for His righteousness in my life and in my family. Thank God I know Him and am saved by Him and He covers my imperfections. He is my ultimate goal! He's the reason for setting them. I want them to be His fruit. I pray He teaches me what living in righteousness means & looks like and that I never look to the world to define that for me.
James 4: 13-14 tells us that:
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
I set goals every year. Looking back over this last year I can say that I am truly blessed beyond words. I sit too humbled as I make my list of thankfulness: 1. blessed by 2 sweet health kids 2. even more blessed by a sweet, Godly husband who also demonstrates his understanding and helps me around the house even when he is tired and busy 3. blessed by a sweet friend and study partner with CFMT (Kaysi) 4. Passed CFMT 5. Applied for fellowship (don't care the results but GOD got me to the point where I could) 6. Found the small amount of cancer, successfully removed it, and is helping me find my new balance 7. blessed me with people that I've known forever that I am still blessed to have strong friendships or contact with. 8. Continue to be blessed by a 4 day week and a wonderful day to spend with my children. 9. Time to spend in the Word
These are just a few. I could go on and on but God knows them so well. I've already begun to make my list for this year. That's how I operate. I love the thrill of setting goals and meeting them. Not just for the sake of setting goals to say I did. Or to check them off when I meet them. It is the thrill of knowing that when I set a goal it is useless if I do not ask what the Lord would have first. James 4: 15 says: Instead, you ought to say, " If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." I know that I can set goals but it is truly up to Him and what He wants. What is truly amazing is that often He wants us to simply consult Him first. Before we set out and make decisions. Simply ASK. The results are unbelievable when He blesses us to see the results and brings them about. I'm thankful that He knows our greatest desires and grants those. I have also been equally grateful when I have wanted something so bad that it hurts and He doesn't give it to me. I love when He reminds me what I asked for and shows me how He answered that request to give me something greater than I thought to ask for. He's a gracious and giving God.
So how does that tie back to living in righteousness. Well, truthfully at this point God has taught me that if it is not from Him and if it is not what He wants for me, it is not worth having. I pray over my goals again that they may be avenues that bless others, bless my family, and glorify Him FULLY. I pray that these goals will be beyond myself so that His presence may be obvious to others. I pray that self, selfishness, pride, jealousy, hardness of heart, bitterness, or ambition do not enter into these goals today or throughout the year. I pray for His righteousness in my life and in my family. Thank God I know Him and am saved by Him and He covers my imperfections. He is my ultimate goal! He's the reason for setting them. I want them to be His fruit. I pray He teaches me what living in righteousness means & looks like and that I never look to the world to define that for me.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Christmas
For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9: 6
What a wonderful season to enjoy in the Big Apple. All the decorations are enormous and everything is elaborate! I love being in the center of the decorations and the spirit of the season. People are singing, gathering around the Tree, shopping, and running here and there. Yes we all know that we are not always surrounded by the real reason for Christmas. For Jody and I we are doubly blessed to celebrate our 7th anniversary in a city where we are just big kids. Kids who ooooo and ahh at all the lights, shop windows, trees and season. We love it. It reminds us of the day that will always be precious to us. Thankfully it is so very close to the birthday of the King! Such a wonderful season to celebrate the reason for Christmas. It is all about Him, even in a world that makes it about money and stuff. I love walking in a store and walking out because the prices are completely absurd. Really....why would I pay that? What else could I do with the money. It is international missions month at church.....ummm maybe that would be better than a $600 dress. Ridiculous! I laugh and look at Jody and say....lets get out of here. The real reason of Christmas is celebrated daily in our hearts as we honor Him. Remember Him. Ponder His coming and celebrate that He finished what He came to do. For that we have hope and peace this season. Heaven's peace came down and filled our hearts.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Wait, Work, Watch
Yes, it has been a while again. Thankfully I have found that things are calming down. I am feeling better and with that energy return and balance I am becoming a crazed house cleaner and organizing everything I can get my hands on. It is about time. I'm completing projects that I have meant to do for months. So forgive me for being so slow to complete the list I promised. This one will be fun to write because I was reviewing my journal entries and the "What in the World is Going On" book that I read during my "isolation" time. Great book, awesome points, and I SOOO appreciate a well written and well researched book. I love statistics and comparisons, so the book won me quickly with facts like the US is the #1 consumer of gas but #11 in oil reserves. Ummmm....problem numero uno. That math doesn't work now does it?!
Read 2 Peter 1:5-8
Then 2 Peter 3:1-18
Woohoo!
There were all sorts of sobering facts through the What in the World book. The theme was one simply to keep "plugging along, faithfully fitting into the place where God put us as productive member of society." Reading this book and Revelations continue to be very eye opening but not in a scary sense. From there I read in reverse back to 2 Corinthians and was surprised at how many references verses made to persevere, be patient, continue doing good, the Lord is coming back. Yes He is! NO ONE knows when or where or how or dates or times. That has been made very clear. I now appreciate the theme more throughout the New Testament of the constant promises and hope we have. It reminds me that the daily tasks are not tasks at all. They are opportunities we are given. It is so vital that we take these tasks seriously and not slop our way through them but let the Lord transform the ordinary into extraordinary. Sometimes this requires, at times, patience to wait for God's timing, to just keep pressing into the task at hand as if working for the Lord and other times He lets of be a part of the "harvest". Times where goodness pours out. Whatever time you find yourself in....reflect on it. Be thankful for whatever stage of waiting, working, watching, or harvesting you are in. The Lord's timing is so perfect and worth waiting for.
What I know I did not read anywhere was to relax. Yes, find ways to decrease stress and not take things so seriously that you forget how to laugh and not internalize everything. Stay focused on what the Lord has told you to do and how He wants you to go about it. Honor Him. Glorify Him. Focus on Him. Do not become distracted. But do not worry. Do not make yourself sick trying to control things, make things happen, or stress think everything. (I can write it because He has to teach me how to avoid these!) Of course we can only do this with the Lord's help because we are human. We need His help to focus our mind on what He cares about. Keep focused on the things that really matter, to make sure we are staying on track for what He wants. What a filter! What a challenge! I'm glad that it is not up to me. There is great comfort knowing how incapable I am and how much I have to depend on HIM to offer my best. To keep going when I want to quit, then to realize that He didn't so I can't either. Jesus is a perfect Savior and lived among us. Understands our pressure, our tasks, our conflicts, our struggles, our lives, our work, our impatience yet HE was completely PERFECT. He lived a perfect life. One we can model our life after and continue to offer hope to a hurting world. If He hasn't come back, that's our task. To continue to live for Him, seek Him, and share Him. What a great task and that gives me great hope and great JOY during this Christmas season! He has come for us as a sweet baby to grow up in a lost world. To set the ultimate example for us. To show us what LOVE really is. God's precious, perfect, HOLY SON.
Read 2 Peter 1:5-8
Then 2 Peter 3:1-18
Woohoo!
There were all sorts of sobering facts through the What in the World book. The theme was one simply to keep "plugging along, faithfully fitting into the place where God put us as productive member of society." Reading this book and Revelations continue to be very eye opening but not in a scary sense. From there I read in reverse back to 2 Corinthians and was surprised at how many references verses made to persevere, be patient, continue doing good, the Lord is coming back. Yes He is! NO ONE knows when or where or how or dates or times. That has been made very clear. I now appreciate the theme more throughout the New Testament of the constant promises and hope we have. It reminds me that the daily tasks are not tasks at all. They are opportunities we are given. It is so vital that we take these tasks seriously and not slop our way through them but let the Lord transform the ordinary into extraordinary. Sometimes this requires, at times, patience to wait for God's timing, to just keep pressing into the task at hand as if working for the Lord and other times He lets of be a part of the "harvest". Times where goodness pours out. Whatever time you find yourself in....reflect on it. Be thankful for whatever stage of waiting, working, watching, or harvesting you are in. The Lord's timing is so perfect and worth waiting for.
What I know I did not read anywhere was to relax. Yes, find ways to decrease stress and not take things so seriously that you forget how to laugh and not internalize everything. Stay focused on what the Lord has told you to do and how He wants you to go about it. Honor Him. Glorify Him. Focus on Him. Do not become distracted. But do not worry. Do not make yourself sick trying to control things, make things happen, or stress think everything. (I can write it because He has to teach me how to avoid these!) Of course we can only do this with the Lord's help because we are human. We need His help to focus our mind on what He cares about. Keep focused on the things that really matter, to make sure we are staying on track for what He wants. What a filter! What a challenge! I'm glad that it is not up to me. There is great comfort knowing how incapable I am and how much I have to depend on HIM to offer my best. To keep going when I want to quit, then to realize that He didn't so I can't either. Jesus is a perfect Savior and lived among us. Understands our pressure, our tasks, our conflicts, our struggles, our lives, our work, our impatience yet HE was completely PERFECT. He lived a perfect life. One we can model our life after and continue to offer hope to a hurting world. If He hasn't come back, that's our task. To continue to live for Him, seek Him, and share Him. What a great task and that gives me great hope and great JOY during this Christmas season! He has come for us as a sweet baby to grow up in a lost world. To set the ultimate example for us. To show us what LOVE really is. God's precious, perfect, HOLY SON.
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