Let me just say that my mission trip to New Zealand has definitely changed my life and I am beyond grateful for everyone who has supported me throughout this entire journey. I have a different perspective on life and on working for the Lord’s church.
Because of the new perspective I have recently gained, I started reflecting back on my life today. Memories from high school and conversations I’ve had with people in the past flooded my mind. I began to recall all of the opportunities that I had to talk to my friends about Christ, all of the conversations I’ve had that could have turned into me studying the Bible with them. I knew that my friends had been lead astray by false teachers and what did I do? I did nothing. Even when the door was wide open. Looking back at the missed opportunities hurts. I regret not talking to my friends about their eternal destiny. I regret it because now it seems as though the times of ample opportunity has passed; we’ve all gone our separate ways, off to college. In the midst of the reflection, I began to wonder why. Why had I not seized those opportunities? Why didn't I show concern for my friends’ souls? I’ve determined that it was because of fear. I was afraid to lose my friends. I was afraid of saying the wrong thing. I was afraid of what people might think of me. I. Was. Afraid. But I can’t live a life full of fear, especially when souls are at stake. The Bible says a lot about fear: “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fear.” -Psalm 34:4 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” -Joshua 1:9 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, you people in whose heart is My law: do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults.” -Isaiah 51:7 “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” -John 14:27 “And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. ‘And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.’” -1 Peter 3:13-14 In all of Jesus' ministries that we read about in the Bible not once do we see Him shy away from teaching others. Not once did He show that He was worried about what others might think. Even the apostles were this way. In Acts, we constantly read about the apostles going back to cities that threatened to kill them if they continued to preach about Jesus. Not once did they show fear because God was with them. They knew that their reward was in heaven. They knew that being physically killed on earth for righteousness' sake could never cause spiritual death. "For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). As long as I have God with me, I shouldn’t be afraid. I can’t let past fear hold me back from spreading God’s word. There has been a lot of missed opportunities in the past but I can't let fear hold me back from seizing the new opportunities that I have each and every day. I choose to live a life that is fearless, a life that is full of spreading God’s love and light on everyone around me, a life modeled after Christ.
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It has only been a day since I’ve gotten back from a trip to New Zealand and I’m still in awe of everything. The trip itself was definitely good for me. What really made an impact on my life was all of the training that we did to prepare us for spreading God’s word. The following quote from Don Humphrey was brought to our attention while training:
“The average member of the church of Christ has heard 4,000 sermons, sung 20,000 songs, participated in 8,000 public prayers…and converted zero sinners.” Let that sink in for a moment. I don’t know about you, but that hit me hard. I was doing everything in my power to ensure that I go to heaven when I die but I was overlooking God’s command to spread the gospel so that others will go to heaven also (Matthew 28:18-20). There are so many lost souls in the world and I wasn’t doing my part to help them. I was guilty of making excuses. “I don’t know how to share the gospel with others,” “I don’t know the Bible well enough,” “I’m too busy” (if Satan can't make you bad, he’ll make you busy), “it’s not my talent,” “that’s what the preacher is for,” etc. It’s time to quit making excuses. It’s time to break the status quo of “the preacher does the elders’ work; the elders do the deacons’ work; the deacons don’t know what to do, and the members simply warm the pew.” In Matthew 28:18-20, everyone is called to reach the lost; not just the preacher, elders, or the deacons. Every. single. member. of Christ’s church is supposed to be making an effort to evangelize, to make disciples. In the city where I was in New Zealand, the congregation size is about 60 members and the population of the city is about 500,000 people. It would hardly make a difference if I made one disciple every year for the next 15 years there; it would be a drop in the bucket. However, in theory, if each disciple won a single person to the Lord each year, it would only take 14-15 years for the congregation to win the entire city to Jesus. We can’t expect one person to do all of the evangelizing for a congregation; they wouldn’t be very effective. It is up to the congregation to work together diligently in order to make an impact on the lost souls of the world. Even though my mission trip has ended, I’m still on a mission to reach the lost. Are you willing to make that your mission too? Fact about humans: none of us are perfect. We can strive for perfection but we will never be able to be perfect. We make mistakes. We mess up. We sin. We fail God far too often. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
Thankfully, we have a God who gives multiple chances. Take the story of Jonah for instance. In Jonah 1:1-2, Jonah was charged with a task from God to go tell the people of Nineveh about Him. Now, Nineveh was not a very righteous city; in fact, I’ve heard it referred as being the “Sin-City of that day and age”. In verse 3 of Jonah chapter 1, we read that “Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” Jonah ran in the complete opposite direction of where he was supposed to go and tried to run away from God. Jonah messed up. Afterwards, he was thrown overboard a ship and swallowed by a great fish. In Jonah 3:1-3, we read that God charged Jonah with the exact same command, to go to Nineveh and preach Him to the people there. God didn’t tell Jonah that he is a failure, He didn't tell him that he would never amount to anything, that he messed up big time. God was telling him to try again. Even though he messed up, God loved Jonah enough to give him a second chance. In Luke 15 we read of the parable of the Prodigal Son. The son messed up, but the father welcomed him home with open arms full of love. The book of Judges is a continuous cycle of the Israelites messing up and God saying “try again." God isn't a father who puts down His children for messing up. He doesn’t hate us. He doesn’t tell us that we are a failure. It pains Him seeing us doing wrong, as it would any father who sees his children doing wrong; but He loves us enough to discipline us when we do wrong and gives us unending love and forgiveness. “Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:9-11). “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Time and time again, God shows us His love and tells us to try again. College is hard.
There are going to be times when you have multiple projects, assignments, and tests due in the same week. There are going to be times when you have to be in five million different places at once. There are going to be times when all you want to do is go home but you can’t. There are going to be times when it seems like nothing is going your way. There are going to be times when you are overwhelmed with stress. You may feel like giving up, like you just want to run away from everything. You may feel alone at times. You may feel like you can’t do it anymore, that you aren’t ready for a life of being on your own. Although those things may happen, you cannot let them get to you. Don’t let it consume every fiber of your being. It is so important to keep your focus on God; especially during the rough times. The earthly things you may turn to are not going to help you for eternity. Chocolate can’t. Sleep can’t. Your roommate can’t. Ice cream can’t. Although those things may help, but their effect is only temporary. Only God can bring you eternal peace. Only God can bring you true joy that’s everlasting. Only God will always be there for you. Only God can truly comfort you. Only God can give us hope. “For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and joy are in His place.” (1 Chronicles 16:25-27) “I know, O Lord, that Your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. Let Your steadfast love comfort me according to Your promise to Your servant. Let Your mercy come to me, that I may live; for Your law is my delight.” (Psalm 119:75-77) “If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away and let not injustice dwell in your tents. Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and will not fear. You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away. And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning. And you will feel secure, because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in security. You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will court your favor. But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.” (Job 11:14-20) Focus on God. Don’t let earthly things turn your heart away from Him. God is there. Don’t just seek God’s help during the rough parts of life, look to Him during the good as well. “I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all of my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces will never be ashamed.” (Psalm 34:4-5) Life is filled with many wonderful adventures such as going to college, moving away from home, getting married, going on mission trips, etc. Even though life is so wonderful, rough times will come. There is no way to escape trials and tribulations, even as a child of God. Great men of faith suffered many things (i.e. Paul [2 Corinthians 11:24-28] and Job). When these rough times come, what do you do? To whom do you turn?
Psalm 23:4 says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” To “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” essentially means to go through the midst of dangers that are deep as a valley and dark as a shadow. David wasn’t exempt from tough times and he knew that. When those tough times came, David “fear[ed] no evil” because he knew that God is with him. We need to have the same mindset as David; we need to fear less because God is always with us. “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6). If you turn to Amos 5:8, it says “...He turns the shadow of death into morning...” God will never allow His children to suffer for eternity. “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:12). If we hold on and endure through the rough times, we will be rewarded spiritually. In heaven there will be no more death, sorrow, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4). You might not see better days on this earth but, as children of God, death has no sting, life will be considerably better in heaven (1 Corinthians 15:58). We need to endure and “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:14) Some things you can do when life gets rough:
Keep pressing forward, endure the things Satan throws at you, and look to God in every aspect of life. I was blessed to have spent this past week on Freed-Hardeman University’s campus at Horizons. Although I am sad that this was my 6th and final year as a camper and I have no idea if I will ever go back, I am joyful that Horizons exists. It makes my heart happy knowing that lives will be touched and the world will be changed with the existence of the camp I love. Everyone needs to come to Horizons at least once in their life, either as a camper or as a counselor.
Horizons provides opportunities to stretch the limits of our comfort zones. Horizons has definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone and I am thankful for that. I may still be really awkward when around people but I’m definitely more fearless. I am no longer afraid of things that once terrified me (e.g. public speaking). For guys, there are song leading and speaking classes, opportunities to lead singing, and to participate in the guy camper lead devo. For girls, you have the opportunity to give devos or lead stairwell singings in your dorm and participate in the girls only camper lead devo. Horizons provides a safe place for you to practice getting out of your comfort zone. You will definitely grow as a Christian if you embrace those opportunities. Horizons gives us support for our walk with Christ. One evening there was a baptism and people (who didn’t even know the girl who was being baptized) were holding hands in a circle, singing praises to God, and supporting the girl in the pouring rain. How beautiful is that?! People are willing to give encouragement and support to anyone because are all striving for the same goal, heaven! The counselors also provide a great system of support. I was super nervous about speaking at the girls only camper lead devo and my counselor had my back and supported me through it all. At Horizons, there are over 1,000 people there ready to offer support. Horizons teaches us to serve. We made hats, put together toiletry bags for a women’s shelter, made encouragement cards, did landscaping for a children’s home, went door-knocking for a local congregation, sang and visited with the residents at a rehab center, delivered cookies and cards to the local law enforcement, and we raised over 1,500 dollars to help a Horizons family with medical expenses. Horizons gives us the opportunity to serve and shine our light in the community. Go to Horizons, it will change your spiritual life for the better. But little did they know what God was about to do.
A phrase my dad used tonight in a lesson about Daniel and the lion’s den. A phrase that pricked my heart and overwhelmed me with joy. A phrase so simple yet so powerful. But little did they know what God was about to do. You see, the governors and the satraps were jealous of Daniel and could find no fault with him; so they tricked the king into making a new law; Daniel prayed to God, the governors caught him, and then he was thrown into the lion’s den (Daniel 6:1-17). The enemies of Daniel were probably pretty happy that night because Daniel was supposed to die. The governors thought that killing Daniel would solve their problems. But little did they know what God was about to do. God saved Daniel. The enemies of God’s children are always focused on the short term stuff, they never think about things in the long run. They think that death is the worst thing that could happen to a Christian. They are wrong. When a faithful and obedient child of God dies, he is off to spend eternity with a merciful and loving God. Enemies may persecute us or take away our physical life but they cannot take away our spiritual relationship with God. 1 Corinthians 15:55 states, “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” But little did they know what God was about to do. We don’t know what Daniel was praying about before he was taken away, but perhaps he was asking God to protect him. Through all of Daniel’s actions prior to Chapter 6, it is evident that Daniel trusts in God. When we pray to God, we must not be surprised when He answers (James 5:16). The answer might not be what we want but it is what we need. God has a plan for each and every one of us (Jeremiah 29:11) and it may not be our plan. If you’re in a relationship with a person or if there’s a potential for a relationship with a person and you pray to God asking Him to help you know if the person is right for you, don’t be surprised if the answer is no. I’ve known people who have been in a situation like that and they don’t know why the relationship ended when they were supposed to “live happily ever after together.” It's easier to let go of things knowing that God is in complete control and that He has something better in store. We don’t know what God is about to do with our lives but we need to “trust in the Lord with all [our] heart, and lean not on [our] own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). God is about to do some amazing things with you, just wait and trust God’s timing. But little do you know what God is about to do. This past weekend I attended Upward. For those of you who don’t know, Upward is a 3 day long youth event at the Jacksonville Church of Christ in Jacksonville, Alabama that is ran by the teens at Tomorrow’s Church, Today and is filled with sermons, singing, and fun. This year’s theme was “Lessons from the Lesser Known.” The sermons from brothers Cliff Goodwin, Eric Owens, David Shannon, and various other teen speakers taught us valuable life lessons for our Christian walk from the minor prophets in the Old Testament.
From Hosea, we learned to seek God. Hosea 5:15 says, “I will return again to My place till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; in their affliction, they will earnestly seek Me.” God intends for man to seek Him; there is a hunger and thirst for God that exists in all of us. Read Psalm 19. Verse 3 of that passage says, “There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.” If you take a look back at verse 1, you know that the voice in verse 3 is the same voice that declares the glory of God. The universe, God’s creation, is basically screaming for us to seek God (vs. 3); we all hear the same thing when we look at nature. Everyone realizes that we need something and in Psalm 19:7 we realize exactly what we need, the law of the Lord! We need to seek God seriously. Cliff Goodwin said, “Sin and rebellion are doing to the soul what malnutrition does to the body, we just can’t physically see the effects.” Don’t starve yourself spiritually, seek God. From Joel 3:9, we learn that we need to proclaim God’s word because people can’t believe in God if we don’t (Romans 10:14). From Amos 5:15, we learn to love good. When we look at the world around us, it may seem like that good does not exist in the world. Good does exist because there is a God; without God, there is nothing that is good (Mark 10:17,18). We must be able to identify the good. The world wants us to falsely think that we cannot judge anyone for any reason. Not only does Amos 5:15 tell us to love the good, it also tells us to hate the evil. We can’t hate evil if we don’t know the difference between the two. Love good, hate evil. From Obadiah 10, we learn about being cut off. We have to submit to God or we will be separated from Him. Submitting to God is accepting the fact that He is in authority and we listen to what He tells us. James 4:7 shows that to submit to God also means to resist the devil. If we don’t submit, we will be cut off from God. Hell is the only place where the omnipresent God is not. Don’t be separated from God, submit to Him. From Jonah 3:5, we learn to put on. The people of Nineveh put on sackcloth when they learned of their sin. The act of wearing sackcloth is a sign of remorse, repentance, or grief. They knew that something was sorely amiss, they are broken and are hurting. We have to understand that something is wrong when we sin; we need to put on a deep regret because of sin. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit” (Psalm 51:17). David was not trying to take the cheap way out; he knows that he cannot buy his salvation. We have to fully offer God our broken spirit. When we sin, we are guilty, but do we feel the sin? 2 Corinthians 7:9-10 states that “godly sorrow produces repentance” and “sorrow of the world produces death”. Godly sorrow is being truly sorry for your sins and worldly sorrow is being sorry that you got caught. Even before judgement, worldly sorrow leads to destruction. Put on godly sorrow when you sin. From Micah 6:8, we learn to walk humbly with God. Walking humbly is required. God actively opposes the proud (James 4:6,10). Walking with God is an invitation from God to walk with Him (the greatest invitation that man could ever know). Walking with Him is optional, He doesn’t force us to walk with Him. You have to understand God to walk with Him; to understand God, we need to read from His word and focus on His actions. This walk is intimate and is intended to be a long walk into eternity; start that walk today. From Nahum 3:14, we learn to draw water, to prepare. Sometimes preparation is worthless; such as preparing for an education without God (Psalm 14:1), taking care of our physical bodies without God (1 Timothy4:8; our souls lost for eternity, our physical bodies do not), wealth without God is useless (Luke 11), and friendships are useless without God (Proverbs 11:21; Romans 14:12). Prepare now for the trials that will come (Ecclesiastes 12:1). To prepare, study intentionally, identify potential problems and study; pray every day for a faithful Christian spouse with whom you will go to heaven with; form Christian friendships with those you can fall back on and keep you on the right path. From Habakkuk 2:7, we learn to rise up. War is a constant thing and we must rise up against the enemies of God. Faith will be our victory. It may appear that the world is winning but we must stay faithful (Hebrews 10:35-39)! From Zephaniah 1:7, we learn to be silent. Being silent means giving reverence to God’s name. We need to have reverence for God’s name (Psalm 33:8) because His name is reverend (Psalm 111:9) and He has created everything (Genesis 1:1). From Haggai 1:8, we learn to go up. We need to look up (Colossians 3:1) and glorify God because glorifying God will make others want to glorify Him as well. From Zechariah 14:3-5, we learn to go forth. God will make a way for us through everything that we might go through. From Malachi 2:1-2, we learn to give glory. We are to give God His credit. We have to submit to God to give Him glory. Understand why we obey God’s commands, do the right things for the right reasons, and give God the credit for what He has done. I encourage you to take these condensed notes and apply the major lessons from the minor prophets to your life. Seek God. Proclaim God’s word. Love good. Don’t be cut off. Put on. Walk humbly. Draw water. Rise up. Be silent. Go up. Go forth. Give glory. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe -- and tremble! It is impossible to go to heaven without a belief in God. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Contrary to popular beliefs, just believing that there is a God is not enough for one’s soul to be saved. James 2:19 says, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe -- and tremble!” Even those who are against God, even Satan himself believes that there is a God. If belief alone got us into heaven, Satan would be there too! In the Bible we read that Satan is in fact not in heaven. “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Matthew 25:41). The demons even tremble; from this we know that they believe God’s existence and they know how powerful He is. “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16).
If just believing that there is an all mighty and powerful God isn't enough for Satan to get to heaven then why would we think that it will work for us? Some people believe that they can just pick and choose what parts of the Bible they want to follow. The Bible isn't a buffet, you have to obey every command in the New Testament (James 2:10-11). We, as New Testament Christians, aren't bound by the Old Testament. We don't have to offer animal sacrifices for our sins (Hebrews 10:1-4), we don't have to circumcise eight day old baby boys, we don't have to avoid eating pork. We don't have to do these things for two reasons. One being that the Old Testament laws were written for the Israelites and we are Gentiles. The second is that the Old Testament was "nailed to the cross" when Jesus sacrificed His life for our sins. (Colossians 2:14-17). See also Galatians 4:21-31 and Hebrews 8:7-13. If belief alone can’t save our soul and get us into heaven, then what must we do to be saved? The Bible tells us exactly what we have to do. First we must hear the gospel preached, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). We must believe, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). We must repent, “Then Peter said to them,’Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:38). We must be baptized, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). We must live a faithful Christian life until death, “...Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10c). The Bible clearly states that we cannot be saved by belief alone. In order to be saved from an eternity in hell, we must obey the plan of salvation, including the other commands God has given us (i.e. partaking of the Lord’s supper and meeting as a congregation every first day of the week, showing love, being kind, spreading the gospel to others, etc.). We can’t add to or take away from God’s word and make our own way to save ourselves. “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19). We can only be saved if we follow the plan God has provided. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). By Jennifer Odom The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, ‘Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?’ In John 4, we find the account of the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus had been talking to the woman while His disciples went into a Samaritan city to buy food (vs. 1-26). At the close of their conversation the Samaritan woman tells Jesus, “I know that Messiah is coming. When He comes, He will tell us all things” (vs. 25); to which Jesus replies back, “I who speak to you am He” (vs. 26). At that point the woman left her waterpot and went into the city to tell others about Jesus Christ (vs. 28, 29).
The woman left what is possibly her only waterpot; she left her means for getting the water necessary to survive. She was in such a hurry to go tell others about what had just happened that she left something that she needs in a place where someone could come along and take it. The woman left, not knowing whether or not her waterpot would still be there when she returned. She left something that is considered valuable to go tell others about the Messiah. She sacrificed something for Christ’s cause. The woman at the well is not the only person that had to leave something to follow Christ. Peter and Andrew left their nets (Matthew 4:18-20). James and John left their boat and father (Matthew 4:21-22). Matthew left all that he had (Luke 5:27-28). They all left things immediately. In Luke 9:57-62 we read of one person saying that he will follow Jesus wherever He goes, another says that he will follow Jesus after he buries his father, and another says that he has to go tell the others at his house farewell before he will follow Him. God doesn’t want us to make excuses for delaying our commitment to Him, He wants us to follow Him immediately. We can take what the Samaritan woman did and apply it to our lives. There will come a time when we will have to sacrifice something in order to continue our walk with Christ. Maybe you’ll have to leave your family to spread God’s word a few hours away or maybe even in a different country. Maybe you’ll have to quit a really good job in order to attend worship services. Maybe you’ll have to endure being frowned upon by your family because you decided to follow the true gospel rather than upholding the false beliefs they may have. Maybe you’ll have to “miss out” on prom or homecoming because of the sinful atmosphere they tend to have. Some of the things that you will have to leave may be hard to let go of but Christ's cause is worth so much more than the most valuable thing on earth. Leaving the waterpot isn’t hard when we think about what Jesus gave for us, His life. What will you leave for Christ? By Jennifer Odom |
AuthorMy name is Jennifer Odom and I've been a Christian since October 2011. I'm a 20-year-old junior at Freed-Hardeman University. I hope to speak at several ladies days, become a music teacher, get involved with mission work, and bring as many people as I can with me to heaven. Stepping in Light is affiliated with the church of Christ. Archives
April 2020
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