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Steve Webb: But then he talks
about a better alternative.

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Well, hello there. This is the
Lifespring family Audio Bible

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coming to you from Riverside,
California, podcasting since

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2004. I'm your OG God cast her
Steve Webb. This is the daily

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show where we're reading through
the entire Bible in a year and

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today is poetry. Thursday, we'll
read Ecclesiastes three and

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four. I've gotten on this date
in church history. And I'm

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calling today's episode to our
better than one show notes page

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for today's episode is at
Lifespring media.com/s 12. E

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290. Would you like to send me
an email? Oh, good. Send it to

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Steve at Lifespring media.com.
Let's begin.

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Ecclesiastes chapter three.
There is a right time for

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everything. And everything on
earth will happen at the right

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time. There is a time to be born
at a time to die. There is a

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time to plant and a time to pull
up plants. There is a time to

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kill at a time to heal. There is
a time to destroy at a time to

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build, there is a time to cry,
and a time to laugh. There is a

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time to be sad, and a time to
dance with joy. There is a time

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to throw weapons down and it's
time to pick them up. There is a

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time to hug someone at a time to
stop holding so tightly. There

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is a time to look for something
and a time to consider it last.

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There's a time to keep things at
a time to throw things away.

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There is a time to tear cloth,
and it's time to sew it. There

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is a time to be silent, and a
time to speak. There is a time

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to love and a time to hate.
There is a time for war, and a

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time for peace. Do people really
gain anything from their hard

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work? I saw all the hard work
God gave us to do. God gave us

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the ability to think about his
world. But we can never

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completely understand everything
he does. And yet he does

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everything at just the right
time. I learned that the best

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thing for people to do is to be
happy and enjoy themselves as

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long as they live. God wants
everyone to eat, drink and enjoy

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their work. These are gifts from
God. I learned that anything God

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does will continue forever.
People cannot add anything to

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the work of God, and they cannot
take anything away from it. God

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did this so that people would
respect him. What happened in

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the past has happened, and what
will happen in the future will

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happen. But God wants to help
those who have been treated

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badly. I also saw these things
in this life. I saw that the

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courts should be filled with
goodness and fairness, but there

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is evil there now. So I said to
myself, God has planted time for

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everything. And he is planted
time to judge everything people

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do. He will judge good people
and bad people. I thought about

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what people do to each other.
And I said to myself, God wants

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people to see that they are like
animals, the same thing happens

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to animals and to people, they
die. People and animals have the

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same breath is a dead animal
different from a dead person. It

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is all so senseless. The bodies
of people and animals in the

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same way they came from the
earth and in the end, they will

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go back to the earth. Who knows
what happens to a person spirit.

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Who knows if a human spirit goes
up to God while an animal spirit

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goes down into the ground. So I
saw that the best thing people

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can do is to enjoy what they do,
because that is all they have.

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Besides, no one can help another
person see what will happen in

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the future.

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Ecclesiastes chapter four.
Again, I saw that many people

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are treated badly. I saw their
tears and I saw that there was

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no one to comfort them. I saw
that cruel people had all the

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power. And I saw that there was
no one to comfort the people

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they hurt. I decided that it is
better for those who have died

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than for those who are still
alive. And it is even better for

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those who died at birth because
they never saw the evil that is

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done in this world. Then I
thought Why do people work so

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hard? I saw people try to
succeed and be better than other

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people. They do this because
they're jealous. They don't want

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other people to have more than
they have. This is senseless. It

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is like trying to catch the
wind. Some people say it is

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foolish to fold your hands and
do nothing. If you don't work,

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you will starve to death. Maybe
that is true. But I say it is

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better to be satisfied with a
few things you have than to

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always be struggling to get
more. Again, I saw something

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else that didn't make sense. I
saw a man who has no family

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natesan or even a brother. But
he continues to work very hard.

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Well, beloved, these two
chapters, while not entirely

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He is never satisfied with what
he has. And he works so hard

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inspiring seem to be a little
less hopeless sounding than the

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first two, don't you think?
There's a lot to think about

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here. But in our limited time,
I'd like to focus for just a

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that he never stops and asks
himself, why am I working so

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moment on chapter four. Halfway
through that chapter, Solomon

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talked about the man who works
so hard, he has no family, no

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hard? Why don't I let myself
enjoy my life. This is also a

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son, or even a brother. And he
said that this is a bad and

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senseless thing to do. No
disagreement there, right. But

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very bad and senseless thing.
Two people are better than one.

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then he talks about a better
alternative. The next four

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verses explained that Two are
better than one and three are

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even better. And like Solomon
here in my older years, I've

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When two people work together,
they get more work done. If one

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learned that this is indeed
true. My dad was very much a

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loner, he was what we call a
self made man. And he worked

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person falls, the other person
can reach out to help. But those

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literally seven days a week
until he got too old to work. In

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all of my childhood years until
I moved out of the house at the

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who are alone, when they fall,
have no one to help them. If two

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age of 21. He probably took no
more than a total in all that

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time, have a month off work for
a very few short vacations. It's

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sad. He did pretty well for
himself financially, but he was

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people sleep together, they'll
be warm. But a person sleeping

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never rich. But for a guy who
barely finished the eighth

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grade, he did, okay. He had a
difficult childhood. And when I

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alone will not be warm. An enemy
might be able to defeat one

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was a boy, he taught me that
friends would always let you

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down, and that it's better to
keep people at arm's length.

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Don't let anybody in, do things
on your own. Don't ask for help

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person, but two people can stand
back to back to defend each

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figure things out yourself, be
your own man. Well, it wasn't

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until many, many years later
that I found out just how poor

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other. And three people are even
stronger. They are like a rope

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that makes you. Even if you do
have a lot of money. And when my

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dad died, he had no friends at
his funeral. Nobody there but my

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that has three parts wrapped
together. It is very hard to

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mom, my sister and her three
kids, my wife, my kids and me to

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mourn him. Now my father in law
was the exact opposite of my

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break. A young leader who is
poor but wise is better than a

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dad. He was a giving and warm
and caring, loving man. He

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worked almost until the day he
died, but not because he was

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trying to accumulate money, but
because he barely made enough to

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king who is old but foolish.
That old king does not listen to

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pay the bills. And he was an
integral part of our church and

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he was there whenever the doors
were open. Literally. I can't

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warnings. Maybe the young ruler
was born a poor man in the

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even tell you all the jobs he
had at the church over the

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years. Suffice it to say that if
he saw something that needed to

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kingdom. And maybe he came from
prison to rule the country. But

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be done, and it wasn't being
done, he jumped in and did it.

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And everyone loved and respected
rip Collins when he died, there

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I have watched people in this
life. And I know this, people

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was not an empty seat in the
church nor a dry eye in the

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house. Rip Collins died a rich
man, not financially, but in

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every other way. I have no doubt
that when he met Jesus, he heard

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will follow that young man, he
will become the new King. Many

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a hearty, well done good and
faithful servant. My father in

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law knew that it's better to be
with people than to go it alone.

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people will follow this young
man, but later those same people

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There's no virtue in being a
self made man if you close out

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the world in the process. Have
you known somebody like that?

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will not like him. This is also
senseless, it is like trying to

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Either way, let me know if
Lifespring media.com/s 12 e 290.

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Tomorrow is prophecy Friday.
We're in the Minor Prophets and

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Zephaniah is the next in line.
Here's your cue to boost.

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catch the wind.

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On this date in church history,
June 30 1315, Raymond Lola's

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banished mystic was martyred. He
devoted his life as a missionary

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to the Islamic people. He first
traveled to North Africa in

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1291. And on this date in church
history 1629 The settlers of

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Salem, Massachusetts appointed
Samuel Skelton as their pastor.

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Their church covenant composed
by him established Salem as the

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first non separating
congregation appeared in church

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in New England.

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Let's pray shall we? Our
heavenly Father, Lord, help us

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to keep a balance in our life
between work and friends and all

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the other things that clamor for
our attention. Of course, you

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should always have the
preeminent place but even then

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we sometimes get that messed up
to, Lord please forgive us when

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we do. But these days, so many
of us have trouble prioritizing

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things properly. We need your
help Lord, be with the

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Lifespring family today. Bless
them and meet their needs. I

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pray this in Jesus name, amen.
If you have a prayer request or

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a praise, go to prayer dot
Lifespring media.com and fill

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out that form there. I'll pray
for you in my private prayer

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time, and we'll pray together on
the show.

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Comment on the show at
Lifespring media.com/s 12 e 290.

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Send me an email at Stiva
Lifespring media.com. Thanks to

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those of you who faithfully
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Also thanks to those of you that
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I appreciate each and every one
of you and I pray that God will

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bless you. You truly are a
blessing to me. Thanks to Kirsty

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Sean of San Pedro and Denise and
thank you for inviting me into

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your life today. What a
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it for granted. Support the show
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Until tomorrow may God bless you

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richly My name is Steve Webb
spend time with your friend. Bye