Close But No Cigar (Part I)

I learned how to take a punch considerably early in my life. And, in a weird way, for that I am thankful. Not because I knew that I could fight or defend myself; if I never have to take or throw a punch ever again I'll be eternally grateful. But more so for the fact that it taught me that pain, for the most part, is temporary. And it taught me that something that could be so loving could, in an instant, knock you down. This past year has been one haymaker of a punch after another. Thankfully not in the literal form, however that, more than likely, would be an easier occurrence to deal with.

One of my best friends, Jesse, has this tradition for New Year's. It's not anything he can control, and it's not something he does, but it's an overwhelming feeling that washes over him. Every year, either on New Year's Eve or the week leading up to it he gets some sort of sign of a name or title for the year to come. You could say it's more of a theme of how the year will be laid out. In the past he had a year named, "The Year of Flight." Subsequently, that year he flew all over the country, traveling a lot in order to visit a ton of family and friends he hadn't seen in quite some time. Another year the year was named "The year of Unexpected Surprises." This year his whole life changed when he got offered an amazing job 2,000 miles away from home. So knowing this about him, and how the years almost always played out the way he would prophesy, I decided I would open myself up to a name for the upcoming year. Now these years are not always good obviously, because who's life is actually like that? So almost half and half Jesse has had both optimistic and ominous year monickers. For instance, "The Year of Sickness and Loneliness," was a year in which he battled many illnesses, physical and mental, all while being miles and miles away from anyone he grew up with or was intimately close to.

With that knowledge in hand I still sought after a banner to live under for the next year. Usually these names come to you as signs, in our case, passed down from God. I know some of you reading this might not believe in a God or a christian God or whatnot, but just pretend its the universe passing down these signs, or however you choose to interpret these supernatural occurrences. But it's after long periods of prayer with God in which you are talking with him about the last year of your life and discussing the impending uncertainty of the year lying before you. I prayed to God earnestly. I tried to be optimistic and turn His influence of the new year's title to something good for me. I had a very intense prayer session the night before New Year's Eve in an attempt to open up my eyes to whatever signs were going to come my way. My friend received his sign for the year of flight after he was driving and praying for the name of the new year and witnessed a hawk fly across the front of his car and almost hit his windshield and new that was his sign. I left the next morning after my night of prayer to run some errands before the festivities of the day got underway. And, I kid you not, right when I turned onto the main street near the house me and Jesse shared I saw this hawk swoop down over my car. It flew across the street hovering not much higher than the vehicles on the street and turned and headed the same direction as my car. It flew inches off the grass of the front lawns of the houses lining the road. It was keeping right in time with me and, as responsibly as I could while driving, I just watched him intently. Then all of the sudden if reached down and snagged a mouse right out of the grass and began to fly off with it.

At this point I was considerably pleased with what this meant for my year. God had used the same sign he used with my friend but this time in an even more forceful manner. The band I was in was beginning to take off and we had tours already scheduled all over the world for 2014. I knew God was showing me that my year was going to be full of flying all over the place and grabbing life by its meat and not letting go. Then, in the split second that my human brain could process all this, in the middle of all my elation, the hawk dropped the mouse. It must've not had a firm grip on it and it just fell right from it's claws. My heart sank a little. However, life was looking good, and there was still a hawk flying with my car, a sign that made for a positive looking year. I just felt sad for the hawk and said to myself, "Close but no cigar." Man if I just knew I was naming my year.

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Part II of this blog will be coming later tonight.

Thank you and God bless.

POZ Road Blog: Beartooth (Update IV)

I did a series of Road Blogs for Property Of Zack on our tour with August Burns Red, Bless The Fall, and Defeater. Here's the fourth installment:

I know what you’re thinking, where was week four’s update?? Or, who is Beartooth?? Or, why am I reading something written by the bassist?? I’ll address the first of these because the other two hurt too much. Now, I turn these tour journals in on Thursdays. As many of you may know, for the majority of readers of Property Of Zack, and for all of its staff, last Thursday was our Thanksgiving Day. A day in which society shuts down to embark on a certain path of uncomfortable feasting with family and friends. Which eventually ends in a tryptophan endured coma. And there’s not much Americans enjoy more than a good excuse to not work and to, instead, indulge. S0 I have a lot to catch you up on. But don’t fret short attention spans; I’ll keep it brief… maybe.

Last week was luckily spent amongst many family and friends seeing as how we spent the majority of it in the good ole Midwest. We had the immense privilege to play House of Blues Chicago two nights in a row and they were some of the most enjoyable shows of this tour so far. Plus it didn’t hurt that we all had a lot of friends and family that just so happened to be in the city at that time so it made it feel that much more comfortable. But it paled in comparison to actually going back to our home state, which we did right after Chicago. 

It’s always great playing back at home on tour and we were able to play there twice in the same week. We happened to be scheduled to play Toronto, ON, CA on actual Thanksgiving Day. And it turned out that we had an off day between Cincinnati and Cleveland. So we coordinated with our vocalist, Caleb’s, parents and set up a big Thanksgiving feast back in our hometown of Columbus. The whole Defeater camp and a few stragglers from August Burns Red and Bless The Fall’s groups were able to make the trip up with us and joined in on the good time. It was two nights and a day filled with gluttony and ping-pong.

Be careful not to blind yourselves from the glare off my Father’s dome piece on the left there. Immediately after the Feast we had a show in Cleveland that was a good end-cap to our three days home. It was a little difficult to leave after sleeping in my own bed again but we had/have the rest of tour to finish up. Plus it made it easier that the day after our Cleveland show just so happened to be in Michigan on the Wednesday before the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. If you don’t like sports, football, or aren’t American I can understand you not having any idea what I’m talking about. However, to us Ohio and Michigan residents that tiny little football game means a great deal of pride. So our guitarist, and my stage right companion, Kamron, Elliot from Bless The Fall, and myself decided to have a little fun with Michigan and put our sporting dominance on display.

(It was Movember, don’t judge me by my moustache.) Luckily people that are really into music usually aren’t that into sports so I don’t think we alienated too many people with our brazen Ohio State “patriotism” behind enemy lines.

This was the last of our American shows before we headed up to Canada for two shows, in Toronto and Montreal. These shows were some of the biggest and most insane of this whole tour. We were very much taken aback by the response we received up there seeing as how we’ve only been up there once before and played in front of maybe 90 kids in each of those areas. It was a crazy experience to say the least and incredibly humbling to be able to play a different country and be able to have a family already set up there. This is an extra thanks to you Canada, we appreciate you.

Next up was our descent down the eastern coast and the beginning of our final stretch of shows to finish up this tour. Dates included playing in Defeater’s home area in Worcester, MA and that place did not disappoint in the least bit. I wouldn’t have been angry if it would’ve been a bit warmer, but it’s winter, what do I know. Next we played at Best Buy Theater in Times Square in NYC. Saying that is still a little surreal and knowing that our bands’ names were plastered on a marquee shooting across all of times square is something I never thought I’d see. As much of a headache as New York can be for a touring band, this was actually one of the easiest trips I’ve ever experienced in my years of touring. And turned out to be a lot of fun.

This capped off the cold shows of this tour as we began to head south where we played Asheville, NC, Atlanta, GA and last nights show in Jacksonville, FL. Asheville was a lot of fun I don’t think I’ve ever been to that town and it was really calm and inviting. A nice reprieve from the craziness that was NYC. And what would one of my journals be without me talking about food (Yeah, I know I talked about Thanksgiving earlier but that’s different. Leave me alone). Asheville also provided us with the food heaven that is the glorious Cook Out. If you’ve never been I suggest you drive to southeastern United States and get you some. It’s a place riddled with deep fried glory accompanied by a large slate of different types of milkshakes and other goodness.

We were tired but there is sheer jubilation in our hearts at that very moment as we emptied our wallets and filled our hearts (stomachs). Atlanta followed suit with the past two weeks and compounded on top of them. I can really only speak for myself on this issue but Atlanta was one of the most emotional and intense shows I’ve ever played and definitely the most on this tour for me. Maybe it was the spirit of The Chariot roaming around the halls of The Masquerade (the venue we played). I don’t know exactly why, I can’t pinpoint it, but something more than a band playing and some kids watching was happening in that room and I felt it with every ounce of me. To go off a little from my normal talking points, that’s the reason we love to do this. We as a band get up there to let it all out. And to know that the crowd of people in front of you, who are just like you or me, are letting it all out on the same level you are, is just the most unreal experience. Emotion and passion is what drives us.

We have one more week left of this tour now. As much as my body and mind are both worn out, I can surely say I’ll miss this tour. It has brought out some of the best of people and I thank you for that. But we can wait for my heartfelt and touching goodbye for next week’s installment, assuming that I’ll write another one. But for now stay street.

I call this photo “Snot Rocket.” Shot by Brad Heaton www.BradHeaton.Net

POZ Road Blog: Beartooth (Update III)

I did a series of Road Blogs for Property Of Zack on our tour with August Burns Red, Bless The Fall, and Defeater. Here's the third installment:

Welcome back to the third installment of my weekly tour journal for Beartooth’s tour with August Burns Red, Blessthefall and Defeater. This week has been a tiring one for us all. I hope you like hearing about long, late night drives because this week was chocked full of them. We’ve managed to start the week in warm and sunny Los Angeles, CA to today in freezing and snowy Minneapolis, MN.

So this week started with two shows in the LA area. One in Santa Ana and one in the heart of Los Angeles itself. As a band we had only been to that area once before and it proved to be just as crazy as the last time. It’s nice to feel at home 2,300 miles away from your bed and LA is becoming that for us. So to you guys down there mad props, thanks! The coolest part about the LA shows for me was the one we played right across from the Staples Center. There was a Lakers game that night also so the area was insane. There was a whole ESPN broadcast set up and everything. Kobe said he was gonna come out to the show but who knows man, I guess he was busy. So our merch guy, Vassar, just hung out with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar all night. 

Next was San Francisco which is always a rad city to hang out in, and I have the added bonus of being a 49ers fan to make my visits there all that much cooler. After that started our trek across the majority of the United States. We went from San Fran all the way to SLC (granted we had an off day in between to drive some of the way). The drive was totally worth it too. It’s hard to say this to the fans in Pittsburgh on the second day of this tour but you guys were beat out for most insane show of the tour by the friends in Salt Lake. It was the first show of this tour without a barricade, which just made it so much fun for all of us. I know I can speak for all the guys in the band and say we had the times of our lives. Also sorry to whomever I hit in the head with the butt of my bass. Stage diving with an instrument can be rather difficult. We had ourselves a hell of a drive from there to Denver over night but it was totally worth it for views like these:

And if that drive wasn’t enough we then trucked through an 11 hour one to Des Moines, IA and ended up getting there about an hour before doors. Loaded-in, busted out a sound check and were done in time to actually relax for a second. Des Moines has been one of my favorite days of tour so far. Beyond the stress of trying to make it to the show on time, the city is really awesome and the kids that came to the show were even better. We did get our fat on again at a place around the corner from the venue called Zombie Burger. Three words: Chicken Fried Bacon. All these food places are going to make me 10 times poorer than I already am. 

Remember when I said I would pepper in a pic of Caleb’s toenail that fell off? No? First time reading one of these? Well if you were getting hungry from me talking about food I’m sure I’ve quelled that urging now.

But anyways Des Moines was a lot of fun and now we’re in Minneapolis waiting for tonight’s show. It feels mighty good to be back in the Midwest, snow and all. Until next week!

POZ Road Blog: Beartooth (Update II)

I did a series of Road Blogs for Property Of Zack on our tour with August Burns Red, Bless The Fall, and Defeater. Here's the second installment:

Hey guys back again with another rambling update from our tour with August Burns Red, Blessthefall, and Defeater!

This week has been a weird one for sure. From big to small shows, and birthdays and injured toes. I’m a damn lyricist and you guys had no idea. A lot happened so this might be a lengthy one. But there will be a bunch of photos so you won’t get bored. Or you can just look at those and make up your own story for our past week.

But on the real this week has been insane. We played our first House of Blues date of the tour in Dallas and it was…. well, weird. It was insanely fun don’t get me wrong. The show was incredible and the crowd was gnarly, it was a blast. It was just the most surreal experience for me. Going from playing my first live show ever in January this year, and doing a house show tour to playing at a House of Blues 1,000 miles away from home. And people actually going to watch us specifically. Like I said, surreal.

This was also the show where Caleb’s toenail fell off. Let me retrace a few steps here. I believe it was the first day of tour when Caleb encountered a freak accident where he slammed our trailer door on top of his big toe. After much picking and poking over the next week or so the nail had left this world and moved on to the next and it came off right before we played. I’ll save you the gut-wrenching photo because we do have them. Maybe I’ll pepper it into a later update. This was also the day that we met some nice people who came to the Houston show and brought us a lemur to kick it with before we played. You know like King Julien from Madagascar? Still nothing? Okay here:

Isn’t she adorable? It was a very welcomed pick-me-up for the whole tour package.

We also played in a small room in Austin, TX with our buds in Defeater. It was one of the “Nites” for Fun Fun Fun Fest happening that weekend; basically an after party show. We played after Slayer so you could say we’re just as important or something like that. The show was a blast and at midnight it became our drummer Brandon’s birthday so he pampered himself with this heart attack of a burger from a food truck called Gordough’s around the corner from the venue.

 

That’s a burger with bacon, egg, cheese, cilantro, and guacamole all on a bun made of two donuts. I was literal heaven in food form. But that didn’t end the birthday celebrations. We had an off-day the following day and we drove to El Paso and hit up the quality establishment known as Hometown Buffet. We made a new friend that I’ve come to know as Gary:

And the whole crazy week came to a climatic peak when we had the incredible privilege of catching the last of Blink-182’s string of 10^th Anniversary “Untitled” shows at the Wiltern in Los Angeles. We’re all little fan girls for that band; it playing such a huge part in all of our adolescent musical minds. I remember being nine years old and talking my mom into buying me Enema of the State and having my life changed. It was an epic night to say the least.

Now we start our string of California shows that should give me some more material for this next week but I’ll let you know all about that then. Until then, stay street.

POZ Road Blog: Beartooth (Update I)

I did a series of Road Blogs for Property Of Zack on our tour with August Burns Red, Bless The Fall, and Defeater. Here's the first installment: 

Most of you guys probably have no idea who I am, and have only heard a few things here and there about my band. I’m usually fine being the guy behind the scenes that just does his own thing. But when I was asked to write up a tour journal for POZ I was all over it because I see myself as a modern day Dav Pilkey (look it up you might get the joke). But enough about that, I’ll go into this week’s update.

For being a relatively new band playing out at shows we didn’t know what to fully expect before we started this full national tour with August Burns Red, Blessthefall, and Defeater. But what we ended up getting was the most high flying and intense shows I think I’ve ever even been to. And when I say high flying I really mean it. Since it’s a bigger tour we’ve been battling barricades the whole time. So instead of the normal crowd participation of stage diving we’ve taken it under our responsibility to learn how to fly. Whether it’s off of bars, kick drums, or even the PA speakers. And I think only one of us has hit the ground so far, so that’s a positive. 

Pittsburgh was insane:

Stole this from @bigprox_7’s instagram

Also check this video from our hometown friend @slaughterstatus:

http://instagram.com/p/gTyfdQksEh/

I feel like every band just showed up and were already best friends. Granted I think this is the 100^th or 101^st tour ABR and BTF have done together but that’s beside the point. We were all joking around and throwing stuff at the bands while they were playing on the second day. It’s rad to find the chemistry so quick.

As for day-to-day for the band it’s been pretty routine so far. Wake up get to the venue. I find myself coffee or some crappy diner to eat at, while the other guys sleep forever. I get back and then we’ve started playing soccer in the venues and/or parking lots. I put on a little clinic and show everyone how its done score a few bicycle kick goals. Crowd goes wild. The usual.

On a more sensitive note, we really are incredibly grateful to be able to be out here on this tour. We are entirely humbled to have even been asked to participate. It’s unbelievable that we’re able to travel around this whole nation (and hopefully soon globe) and do what we love. This first week of this tour has been so eye opening for us all. To be with bands that have been doing this for so long and have done it successfully we have picked up a bunch of different tips that might help us hold onto some longevity. I can only hope that it continues. 

Now come out and watch us hurt ourselves some more.

Grace

Just going to warn you at the start here that this one gets a little technical for a second but I promise it's worth it. At least I think so.

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I'm afraid of a lot of things. Wether it's confined spaces or dark alleyways. Or weirder ones like, swallowing a pill and having it go sideways and lodging itself in your throat and then you either die or have this obstruction in your windpipe for the rest of ever. You know something logical and not crazy sounding at all. But fear is a rational emotion that every single human being has to deal with in their lives. Even those people that puff up their chest and say, "I ain't scared of nothin'." First of all you seem to be afraid of proper grammar. Secondly we all know you have a tiny inner squeal every time you see a spider scurry across your garage floor. No one is gonna think less of you. Long fear rant aside that's not really what I'm getting at. (I know, that's poor writing composition, but who cares, I'm a rebel.) What I'm getting to is one of the things I'm afraid of the most, and that's God's grace. You might be thinking to yourself, "How can he be afraid of something that absolves you of your troubles? That seems like the opposite of fear." Well, that's why I'm writing this, to explain a different type of fear, an intense sensation of uncomfortableness.

Over the past few weeks The Lord has been making the subject of his grace a focal point of my everyday thoughts. And helping me to really understand something that I thought I had a grasp on. For those of you who may not know God's grace is pretty much the central ideology of Christianity. In the fact that, when entering a relationship with Jesus, he first gifts you with his Grace and forgives you of every past transgression. And that's what's frightening to me, why am I permitted this? I'm fearful of this because my worldly mind doesn't comprehend the idea that I am granted this with really no work on my side. It says in the bible, to receive this gift, to receive this relationship, all you have to do is come to Jesus with a sincere heart and ask to join him. It's that simple, why am I allowed that? I don't deserve that at all. Everything you gain in this life is earned in someway or another except this gift that trumps them all. In Old Testament times the wages of sin was death and separation from him for eternity. Because you had sinned and gone against God you were not worthy of his presence. However, The Lord sent himself to Earth in the form of His Son and died upon the cross to absolve each and everyone of us that comes into a relationship with him of our sins. His death now serves as our death to sin. One of my favorite books in the Bible, Romans, explains the impact perfectly. (This is kind of a long excerpt so good luck.) :

"20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 1What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?"
(Romans 5: 20 - Romans 6: 3 NASB)

So, we can see that the impact of this grace is an overall changing of mindset and heart path. You think and see things differently. If you make this decision with a pure heart, your mindset and relations with the things you fumbled with in this world will change. You have died to sin so your heart will no longer justify you living in the same sin. That's the heart of conviction to me. 

What I've been realizing recently over the past few weeks is that conviction and grace, though implicated into your life immediately, may not revolutionize the way you fully react in the world until you are fully humbled before The Lord. I've witnessed first hand very close friends of mine going through some of the roughest patches of their life recently. And others battling with issues that haven't surfaced in quite sometime. They've been brought to complete complete breakdowns emotionally and spiritually. It's given me pause and I've begun to reflect back on my darkest periods. And seeing no matter how much I would argue or shout at God he was there to extend his never-ending grace to me. And that brings me back to the fear within God's grace. In it's purest form it is a fear of the unknown. I have no earthly understanding of how, no matter how many times I go against God, he is there to accept me with open arms and pull me out of the pit I've put myself in. 

It breaks my heart that my friends are going through the things they are, but I know from experience that no matter how difficult it might seem it is for the best. I'm a large proponent that Satan will attack those who are going to impact the world for Christ. He sees the potential in you just as God does however he wants to stifle you way before you can influence anyone. A very close friend and mentor of mine said it best, that in the end grace is not something to be earned it's just something that is. Simply it just exists. The Lord's love for us is immeasurable and his grace just is.

"14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
(Hebrews 4: 14-16 NASB)

Thank you and God bless.

Short-Sightedness

Just as a preface to this blog I want to make it clear that I am in no way claiming to be some kind of expert on this topic or really on theology in general. All I can really vouch for is that this is just the way that I see things, as is the case with all of my blogs. 

Anyways, now that that is out of the way, I had a small/moderate/huge (subjective really) revelation yesterday. And it was on the controversial topic of women in the church and their role in leadership. Now, I also want to preface that I am the furthest thing from the expert on women. I feel as though most men are students in the back of that class just trying their hardest to pass the course. But, I've heard this topic come up in a bunch of different venues as of late. People from all sides of the table weighing in whether or not women should be allowed to be leaders in a church setting. This is a fastly multi-sided table. You have many differing view points. Whether its a Christian who is firmly against a woman leading their church or a Christian in that same church whole heartedly behind a female at the pulpit. I've heard the argument from people outside of any distinct religion asking the question of why women would be apart of a religion that "obviously" doesn't respect their influence and strength.

I'm going to keep this somewhat surface level, otherwise it would lead to a long drawn out blog of me stumbling through explaining the many different passages that seem to deny the legitimacy of a woman having any kind of headship in the church. That exercise would ultimately lead to a "blind leading the blind" scenario.

So, the way I see it the core of the apparent "contradiction" that the written word of the Bible and many modern day churches have comes down to very different cultural settings. And trust me I know this point has been brought up many, many times and eloquently done so. All I'm trying to do is give, maybe, another avenue of understanding exactly what is at work here.

The ideology that The Lord does not value the role of women as highly as men is extremely bogus. And any man that claims that a woman is lesser than you is lying straight to his own face. As a man I feel I can speak on behalf of our whole knuckle-dragging gender in saying that without women we would be utterly lost in life. They are the leaders in a whole host of areas. But that is another completely different topic that someone else can get into. What I'm getting at is women are important and have way more influence on the world than what we tend to give credit. And Jesus/God knows this and knew this plain as day. Jesus encountered many women on his time on earth. Whether it was the woman that poured perfume on his head or the prostitute at the well, Jesus had many miraculous encounters with them that turned them around in life and made them lights in our dark world. 

I love the point Jim Henderson at Relevant Magazine brings up in his March 8, 2012 article entitled "Women: The Church's Most Wasted Resource":

"It’s a fact that Jesus did not choose a woman to be one of the Twelve, but it’s just as true that He did not choose a man to be the first person to witness and announce His resurrection. It’s also a fact that no women were included in the inner circle of three who were present with Him at Gethsemane and the Transfiguration, but it’s just as true that no women followers bear the shame of having denied Jesus publicly."

Now why would Jesus go through all this trouble to involve women on such a large and important scale in his work here on Earth but not have them lead in a church setting. Now, we encounter where the dilemma of cultural differences comes into play. In the era of the world in which Jesus blessed us with his presence women were very much seen as lesser than men in all walks of life. They were the caretakers of the home, seemingly servants under the "all-powerful" man. It's for this reason, I believe, that Jesus didn't call the women to stand at the pulpit and teach. He knew that if they had they wouldn't have been shown the slightest light of day by any passerby or patron of that meeting. That's just how the world was. It wasn't that the women weren't capable of leading it was that the men would not have let them. So He worked with women in a different mission. I almost see them in a modern spy thriller being sleeper agents under cover having a more subtle and unseen influence that keeps everything on track in a much larger scope. 

Fast forward to our modern day culture we see this role of women in the church hitting a conflict. This is because this seemingly barbaric view of women is just now becoming less and less common. Up until a few decades ago it was really no argument that the woman's place was back at home being the homemaker. All of this is not to say that it is wrong to be a homemaker, as C.S. Lewis said, 

“The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only - and that is to support the ultimate career. ” However, with a surge in civil rights for women their role has increasingly become more and more equal to men. Women are CEO's and presidents and owners at multi-billion dollar corporations. They are congresswomen, governors, mayors. Long gone are the days of them not having a public sense of influence. As it should be, women are becoming equal to men in all walks of life. This is why I think there is no problem with a women leading in a church in this day and age. I understand why it wasn't possible before, but now is a time when women have an equal voice in the world and I see no problem in them teaching me or anyone else about the bible. 

In one of the most controversial passages on this subject comes a great conclusion to my point:

"Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God."

1 Corinthians 11: 11-12

We're all human in the end. Let's just help each other and get past our own short-sidghtedness.

Thank you and God bless.