Tag Archives: Jesus

January 9, 2014 · 7:27 AM

Planning For Greatness

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I once had a friend that lived according to her Franklin Covey planner. She scheduled everything in that binder. If it wasn’t in there, she didn’t do it. I, being young, made fun of her. I asked her if she was ever spontaneous. She responded that she had time on Thursday evening to be spontaneous and wrote it in. Her life was mapped out and she was going places. I lived by no schedule and was going no where. She went where she wanted in life and I went where life took me. It’s not hard to see how important it is to make a plan and to work that plan.

I talk to a lot of people who are going to do great things for God. They tell me what God wants them to do with their lives. I ask, “What are you doing today to prepare for that calling?” Usually I get the religious answer, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. He’ll prepare me in time.” I ask them what they are doing to today in the form of that calling. I usually hear crickets chirping. They, like so many of us, expect God to give us honorary doctorates in whatever field He’s called them to with no work on their part. They believe it will just happen.

I believe things don’t just happen. God expects us to plan, prepare and practice before it’s time to perform. We have to schedule time with Him, start out small and invest in our calling. When Jesus gave the Parable of the Talents, He said, “You have been faithful over a little; I will put you in charge of much.” So many Christians shun the little things because we want to do big things for God. We forget that God won’t give us the big things until we show we can be faithful over the small things. If you can’t spend time alone with God when your life isn’t hectic, how will you do it when it is?

I remember hearing Andy Stanley speak at Catalyst two years ago. He said that none of the speakers at Catalyst had an easy road to that stage. They paid high prices in the little things before God would trust them with the big things. Greatness in life only comes from being faithful when you aren’t great. All giants in the faith started out small. Major churches, giant Christian organizations and well known preachers started somewhere small. They had God’s call on their life to do something great and they started small. They scheduled time with God and began doing things that wouldn’t be noticed by most.

Do you feel like God has called you to do something big for Him? What are you doing today to prepare for that? What is a little thing that you can put on your schedule to do this week to move you closer to greatness? I heard someone once say, “If you were going to do it, you’d already be doing it.” If something is important to us and will pay out greater dividends, we wouldn’t wait until later to do something. We’d already be doing things to make that happen. We’d already have it on our schedule. Be faithful now when no one is looking so God can trust you when people are.

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January 8, 2014 · 7:09 AM

The Best New Year’s Resolution

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I had a Bible teacher in high school who had us write something in the front cover of our Bibles so we would never forget it. I’m glad he had us do it because I haven’t ever forgotten it. He had us write, “This book will keep you from sin. Sin will keep you from this book.” It strikes a chord with me as much now as it did then. In order to lead a successful Christian life, I’ve got to spend time in God’s Word. I’ve got to consume it it like I would food for my physical body.

The more I know God’s Word and what it says, the more I’m aware of what He wants from me. The more aware I am of what He wants from me, the less likely I am to stray from its commands. The less I’m in it, the less I know what God wants from me. The less I know what God wants from me, the more likely I’ll stray from His commands. Psalm 119:11 says it best, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” The only way to hide it in your heart is to read it and study it.

Since it’s the start of a new year, it’s a great time to start investing in your spiritual life. There are many resources to help you read through the Bible in a year. The Bible app offers multiple types of plans to help you read through the Bible. I don’t think you can make a better resolution than to put more of God’s Word into your heart and mind. It’s an investment in the quality of your spiritual life, eternal life and relationship with God. It’s a tough habit to get into and requires sacrifice of your time, but the dividends paid are out of this world.

I once read that it takes doing something 21 days to make something a habit. I also recently read that January 17th is “Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day”. That’s the day most people quit doing their new year’s resolution. So sad that they were 4 days away from making it a permanent habit in their lives. We should all be able to go 21 days straight of reading God’s Word. You can find time by getting up 15 minutes earlier, listening to it in the car on the way to or from work, on your lunch break or 15 minutes before going to sleep.

If you want to live a life with a minimal amount of sin in it, start consuming the Bible. We have a guarantee from God that if we will hide it in our hearts, it will keep us from sinning. We also have a guarantee in verse 105 of Psalm 119 that His Word will be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. So, not only will it keep you from sinning, it will give you direction in your life. I believe we could all use help with that. My challenge for you is to start reading God’s Word daily. If you’re already doing it, stretch yourself to read more than you were before.

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January 7, 2014 · 7:22 AM

How To Value Grace

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Several years ago the cell phone industry gave out free phones if you’d sign a contract with them. They also offered buy one get one free offers all the time. For the most part, they have abandoned that practice of selling phones for one simple reason: customers didn’t value the devices. Even though that device was worth several hundred dollars, because it was free to the customer, they treated it poorly thinking, “It’s a free phone. If anything happens to it, I’ll just go get another one.” Now customers are charged hundreds of dollars for the devices and they take better care of them.

I wonder if we’ve done the same thing with God’s grace. Do we treated it poorly because it is given to us freely? While it really doesn’t cost us anything to accept it, it did cost God His only son. When we face temptation, we think, “God will forgive me. I’ll just ask for forgiveness later.” We get an “it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission” attitude with God. Because grace is free to us, we don’t value it like we should. We know that the more we sin or fail God, the more abundant God’s grace is. There is enough to cover our sins, no matter how bad they are.

Paul must have been experiencing the same lack of appreciation for God’s grace with the Roman believers. In Romans 6:1-2 he wrote, “Should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace? Of course not!” He knew how valuable God’s grace was and it upset him that people just treated it as commonplace. It bothered Him that people used the free gift of grace to live their lives in sin apart from the way God wanted them to live. He saw that they placed no value on what grace really cost.

It’s easy to devalue something that is free to us. It’s in our nature to treat it poorly. Unlike the cell phone companies, God is not going to start charging you more for His grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God; Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself] (AMP).”

We can’t earn God’s grace or salvation by doing things. Since the price was paid by the death of Jesus on the cross, it has been made free to us. It’s paid for. We simply need to find a way to value it in our lives and to learn to not treat it like it didn’t cost anything. If we consider what grace cost Christ each time we’re faced with temptation and ask ourselves, “Is doing this worth a nail in the hands of Jesus,” we’ll learn to value it more and follow through with temptation less. We’ll find that we will live like He asked us to and place a higher value on something that cost Him so much.

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January 6, 2014 · 7:41 AM

You Don’t Have To Be Lonely

Some coworkers and I were talking about all the online dating sites. There are ones dedicated to Christians, black people, those looking to get married, those who are already married and even one for farmers. The last one mentioned has most people thinking it’s a joke. The commercials are very low budget and goofy, but their jingle is catchy. It says, “You don’t have to be lonely at farmers only dot com.” While their commercials are notoriously bad, their slogan resonates with so many. “You don’t have to be lonely.”

In today’s world, we are connected more than ever, but somehow feel alone. Whether you’re single, dating, engaged or married, you’re still susceptible to feeling lonely. Since creation, God has been calling out to us telling us we are not alone. He has tried to grab our attention in each sunset and sunrise. He has called to us in the beauty of nature. He paints us a picture each night with the stars. He calls to us with each wave that crashes on the shore, “I’m here. You are not alone.” He has tried to let us know since we were born that we are loved, but we ignore His signs.

We try to fill that loneliness with imperfect relationships, sports, exercise, addictions, online gaming and the Internet. None of it really satisfies us, but we keep trying to fill that void. There is something in each one of us that desires companionship. God placed it in us. His desire is that He would fill that void in each of our lives. When humanity ignored Him long enough, He became one of us so that we would listen to Him. On His mission here, He told us how much He loved us and that we weren’t alone. In fact, one of the very last things He told us was that He would be with us always.

In the last verse in Matthew 28, Jesus’ last words were, “And you can be sure of this: I am with you always.” He knew that we would feel lonely and wanted to encourage us that we would never be alone. He wanted us to know that even though He was taking His place back in Heaven, He would still be here to guide us and to comfort us. He has no desire that any of us would ever feel alone. Hebrews 13:5 reiterates what God told Joshua in the Old Testament. He said, “I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake you nor let you down or relax my hold on you (AMP).” He was emphatic that He will not leave you so that you would know you are not alone.

What things have you put into your life to try to keep from feeling lonely? In what ways are you ignoring God’s voice calling out to you that you aren’t alone? What can you do today to start recognizing His presence in your life? The jingle to that commercial is right: you don’t have to be lonely. You have a God who desperately loves you and wants you to know that He is with you in whatever stage of life you’re in. When He is in His place in your life, everything else will fall into its place. He has not left you alone. He is with you all the days of your life. Will you recognize Him and let Him fill that void?

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January 3, 2014 · 7:38 AM

Free From Dark Clouds

It’s Free Friday! What are you going to let go of today? What’s holding you down that you need to be free of? Today’s the day you can make that choice to let go. To celebrate Free Friday, I’m giving away “Epic Grace: Chronicles of a Recovering Idiot” By Kurt Bubna. Keep reading to find out how you can be entered to win it.

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Disney put out a movie recently called “Frozen”. My favorite character has to be a snowman named Olaf. He’s the world’s only snowman who loves summer. He’s always upbeat and looking at the bright side of things. Even when he’s melting, he’s saying positive things. In the end, he gets his wigs to live in summer. He’s given his own snow cloud that follows him around so he can live through the times that would normally wipe him out. We can learn a lot from that snowman.

Many of us walk around with a dark, rain cloud over us instead of having our ideal climate overhead. We see the world through lenses that are tainted by the things that have brought us pain. We see negativity in every situation because that’s all that we believe will happen. We’ve lost our ability to see good coming from anything. When something good happens to one of our friends, we aren’t genuinely happy for them. Instead, we’re either bitter or we believe that the floor is going to drop out from under them too.

For many of us, that dark cloud is caused by our past. We’ve never learned to forgive ourselves from the things that God has forgiven us of. We allow others to label us with a scarlet letter. We love under condemnation instead of freedom. Romans 8:1-2 says, “Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air (MSG).” Once you are forgiven from Christ, you are free from the black cloud of your past.

The first part of that scripture says that we no longer have to live under that cloud. That means that if it’s still there after you’ve been forgiven, it’s there by your choice not God’s. He wants to come in and clear the air over your head. He wants to create your ideal climate so that you can be who He called you to be. He knows you’re still going to mess up from time to time and He knows you aren’t perfect. His desire is that you understand He is a God of second (and third, and fourth,…) chances. He’s not there to hit you over the head and put a dark cloud over you every time you mess up. He’s there to clear the air and to forgive you.

If you’re living under that dark cloud today, let God’s Spirit come in and clear the air over your head. Get free from that cloud that affects you negatively. You simply do it by accepting His forgiveness is enough. Don’t condemn yourself or allow others to condemn you for the things you’ve been forgiven of. Let God use the dark things in your past to be a positive testimony of what He can do. The choice is yours. Will you let go and be free today?

In order to win “Epic Grace: Chronicles of a Recovering Idiot” by Kurt Bubna, go to my Facebook page for Devotions By Chris here and “like” it. I will choose a winner at random tomorrow, January 4, 2014 from the names of people who have liked the page and post it on my wall. If you win, private message me how you would like to receive it. If you know someone that needs to hear this message, please repost or share from your own wall.

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January 2, 2014 · 7:47 AM

The Recipe for Success

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I was raised on the tradition of eating cabbage and black eyed peas on New Year’s Day. My Facebook feed is filled every year with photos from all of my friends who also partake in this tradition. The black eyed peas are meant to bring you good luck and prosperity while the cabbage is supposed to bring you wealth. Everyone is looking for something to bring them a better year than the year before and more success. I can personally tell you it doesn’t come from following this tradition.

One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible actually talks about how to be prosperous and successful. The recipe is simple, but hard for us to follow for some reason. It’s found in Joshua 1:8. It says, “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do (NLT).” This was God speaking to Joshua as he was about to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. He was telling him all he needed to do to be prosperous and successful.

The first thing God said in this recipe was to study scripture continually. If you ever went to school, you know that studying is hard work. I remember reading the chapters over and over, looking over notes and writing things down on flash cards to help me remember things. If I wanted to be successful on the test, I had to put in the work ahead of time. If you want to be successful in life, you are going to have to put in some work on the front end. It will not just happen. It takes time and discipline. It also means you have to have an understanding of the material God provided to help you live.

The next part of this recipe is to meditate on scripture day and night. God doesn’t want us to check off a box each day by reading a chapter or two. He wants us to read it and then to think about it both day and night. He wants us to think through how we can apply His word to our lives and how we can out it into action. He wants us to know what He said so that when the time comes, we’ll obey what He says instead of what the world says. He doesn’t want us fooled by trick questions, so He encourages us to know the material inside and out.

Obedience is probably the hardest part of this recipe. It’s the secret ingredient to prosperity and success though. When you look at everything God requires of us, it all boils down to obedience. We have to choose our will or His. If we substitute our will into the recipe, it won’t come out right. Only through obedience does the recipe work. If we can learn how to be obedient to His will we will find success in all we do. The only way to be obedient is to follow the first two steps. We have to know what God says first and then understand it. Success comes from reading God’s word, meditating on it and obeying it not from eating cabbage or black eyed peas. I pray you find much success and prosperity this year.

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January 1, 2014 · 7:45 AM

2014 New Year Prayer

Today, I offer a prayer for you to pray to bring in the new year.

Jesus,

Thank you for 2013 and all the things that you showed me through it. Thank you for the victories and answers to prayers that you gave. Help me to continue to learn from the defeats I faced and the changes that you made in my life. I may never fully understand why things happened this year that weren’t part of my plan, but were a part of yours. Even when I don’t understand, help me to trust you still. Bring healing to the pain I’ve endured and turn my mourning into joy. My life is in your hands and everything I have is yours.

In 2014, I ask that you guide me in everything I do. Help me to walk in your paths and to find the doors that you’ve opened for me. Give me the courage to walk through them even when I can’t see what’s on the other side. You’ve called me to live by faith and that means that I won’t always know what the next step is. I just have to trust you and your timing. I ask that in my weakness you will be my strength. In my blindness, you will be my sight. In my shortcomings, you will be my grace.

Teach me to show your love more proactively than I ever have in this new year. Help me to not respond in hate to the things the world throws at me that I don’t like. I want to be your light in this dark place. I want to build bridges that the lost can walk across rather than to dig ditches that keep them away. Help me to react out of love instead of hate or fear. Teach me to reach out to the lost the way you did. I want to honor you with my life this year more than in any other year of my life so far.

Open my eyes to see those whom you called “the least of these”. Let me be your hands and feet in their lives. Give me the strength to share your love through my actions whenever you bring them into my path. Provide the funds that it will take to travel to other parts of the world so I can share your love with those whom the world has abandoned. Give me a heart that loves the unlovable, hands that do your will, a heart that beats in tune with yours, feet that will carry the Gospel, eyes to see others the way you do and a mouth that speaks your words.

I commit 2014 to you. May this year bring new beginnings where previous years have looked like dead ends. Speak life into the dead areas of my life. Bring people into my life that will help me accomplish all that you want me to. Place me in people’s lives that need my help to accomplish the plans you have for them. Expand my territory so that I can influence more for your kingdom. Open up the windows of Heaven and pour out blessings in my life so I can be a blessing in the lives of others. Use me in whatever capacity you see fit so that your name is glorified.

Thank you for all you will do this year. In your name I pray. Amen.

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December 31, 2013 · 7:36 AM

Plan Your Next Chapter

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Can you believe this year is over? I like to think of each year as a chapter in my life closing. It gives me the opportunity to find closure for the things I want to put in my past and keep there. They’re still a part of my over all story and the development of my character, but I can choose to leave them behind. I remind myself that there’s not a great protagonist without an antagonist, and no one achieves greatness without being marred by failures and disappointments. It’s how we choose to see those things in our life, how we respond to them and whether or not we have the ability to move past them that makes us great.

How do you choose to see the roadblocks that came into your life this year? What are you going to do about the failures and disappointments that happened? How are you responding to life changes that came out of nowhere? Bitter. Angry. Hurt. Faithless. Defeated. Those are words I would have used for the times when I’ve faced years that didn’t go according to my plan. It’s not wrong that you feel those things. They’re normal human emotions that God placed in us. If we hold onto those emotions and allow them to steer our decisions and life, then we get into trouble.

God told us in Ephesians 4:26, “Be angry and sin not.” He was saying that’s ok to feel these emotions, but don’t let them control you. I know that’s easier said than done, but it’s a choice. One that only you can make. You can choose to leave those feelings behind in this chapter along with the reasons for those feelings. You can choose to pick out the good things in your life and to move forward with them instead. Begin your next chapter on a high note. Begin the next year free from the things that held you down this year.

Next year is full of blank pages waiting to be filled. You have to choose if you want this chapter to be a comedy, tragedy, drama or adventure. Just because this year was full of drama or tragedy it doesn’t mean that next year has to be. I’m reminded of those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books I read when I was a child. At the bottom of each page, you had the choice of what the character did next. If you thought they should do this, then you turned to page 38. If you thought they should do that, then you turned to page 64. Life is a lot like that. You choose your next steps.

I choose to let God order my next steps. I still have to take them, but I don’t have to take them alone. Before you do anything or begin to write your chapter for next year, stop and ask God what He wants to fill your pages with. Ask Him to help you close this chapter and to move on from it. Seek His wisdom in where you go from here. Spend time in prayer and planning instead of just letting life take you where it wants. Just like a budget tells your money where to go, a plan tells your life where to go. Get together with God and make a plan for an amazing new year.

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December 30, 2013 · 7:56 AM

Bridges Of Love

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How can we be proactive with God’s love? I think that’s a question each of us should ask ourselves daily. In our fast paced world where we are inundated with news and information constantly, we have become very reactive. As soon as we see an event or headline, we’re quick to react and tell the world where we stand or how we feel about it. In our reaction, we are acting out of the heat of the moment and emotion. Being reactive usually builds walls that divide instead of bridges that show love. The only way I’ve seen to build bridges is to be proactive in sharing God’s love.

When you look at Jesus’ life, there were times when He was reactive and proactive. When He would go into the homes of notorious sinners and eat with them. He was bring proactive. He was building bridges of love instead of walls of hate. He knew the best way to win others was to spend time with them. He knew that listening to what they had to say built value in that person. You never hear Jesus blasting them. Usually He blasted the people who had a problem with Him building bridges. There’s security in building walls. There’s monotony in building walls. But there’s vulnerability in loving others and building bridges.

For some reason, we have lost our ability to be vulnerable to the world. We have decided to be known for all the rules and regulations instead of compassion. When that is what we’re known for, we are no better than the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. It drove them crazy that He spent time tearing down the walls of regulations meant to keep others out. It infuriated them that He built bridges over where they had dug ditches. His ability to see the person and not their sin flew in their faces and they killed Him for it. They had lost the over arching message God has always sent the world: Love.

When I look at my life, I ask, “Am I building walls of regulations to separate myself from those who need Jesus or am I building bridges of love to lead them to Him?” If I can quote every scripture that says what sin is, but can’t recall any that teach me how to show love, what have I gained? We quote I Corinthians 13 in weddings mainly these days, but it’s really about our message to the world. Verse 2 says, “If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, ‘Jump,’ and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing (MSG).” Without love our message and actions fall on deaf ears.

So, I ask again, how can we be proactive with God’s love today? What can you do to show others His love instead of His anger? Where can you build a bridge today instead of a wall? Who in your life needs you to listen to them instead of preach at them? Who in your path needs a hand that will lift them up instead of pushing them down? Each of us have the responsibility to love. Each of us have the capacity to do it. Jesus said the world would know us by our love. He didn’t say they’d know us by what we’re against. It’s time to be proactive with His love.

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December 27, 2013 · 7:55 AM

Returns And Exchanges

It’s Free Friday! What are you going to let go of today? What’s holding you down that you need to be free of? Today’s the day you can make that choice to let go. To celebrate the last Free Friday of 2013, I’m giving away the “Circle Maker” Bible Study DVD. Keep reading to find out how you can be entered to win it.

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The day after Christmas is one of the busiest days of the year in the retail world. Everyone is out returning what they got for Christmas. Either it didn’t fit or they didn’t like it, so they returned it. Today, you and I have the same opportunity in our lives. We have the choice to send back the things that we don’t like in our lives and exchange them for the things we want. It boils down to a choice that you make. You can hold onto the things you don’t want in your life and accumulate a bunch of junk that weighs you down or you can return it.

This is the last Friday of 2013. Each of us have picked up things in our lives this year that we don’t want. Each of us have had things happen that we didn’t see coming. Each of us have held onto something too long and it’s keeping us back. In order to make 2014 the year we want it to be, we have to let go of the things that are holding us down. You can’t pick up the good things that will come your way if your hands are full of the things you’d rather return. You can’t be free unless you let go of the things that are keeping you in a self imposed prison. You make the choice to stay locked up in the past or to be free to receive what the future holds.

I’ve got a closet full of things that I’ve never returned. I didn’t want to offend people by returning their gifts for what I really wanted. Every time I look in my closet, I see things that were given to me that I don’t like. They are hanging there taking up space and collecting dust. The same is true of the closets in our lives. It’s time to clean them out and make room for the new things God wants to give you. He doesn’t want us to look into the closets of our lives and see regrets. He doesn’t want us to be thinking of the things that could have been. He wants us to exchange them for what He has to offer.

Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast your burden on The Lord releasing the weight of it and He will sustain you (AMP).” He doesn’t mind you returning the things that weigh you down or hold you back. He wants you to release the weight of those things that are holding you back and He will strengthen and support you. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus tells us to go to Him when we’re weary from carrying the things that hold us back. Give them to Him and take His yoke. In The Message, Jesus says, “I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.” What He gives fits and is perfect for you. Get Free today by exchanging the things in your life that you don’t want for the things He wants you to have.

In order to win “The Circle Maker” Bible Study DVD, go to my Facebook page for Devotions By Chris here and “like” it. I will choose a winner at random December 28, 2013 from the names of people who have liked the page and post it on my wall. If you win, private message me how you would like to receive it. If you know someone that needs to hear this message, please repost or share from your own wall.

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