Balancing Life's Demands - The Peace And Power Of A Prioritized Life, Part 2

I don't know about you, but as the world seems to be going crazy, there are two things, I mean two things, I desperately want and I desperately need. Number one, I want and need God's peace. I mean the peace of God that everything's going to be okay. And number two is I need God's power. I don't know how I'm going to make it through some of the things I'm facing and I know a lot of people have exactly that same feeling. If you need God's peace and God's power, we're going to talk about how to get it today. Stay with me. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.

I'm Dave Drewy. Chip's our Bible teacher for this international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. In this program, Chip picks up where he left off last time in his series Balancing Life's Demands by giving us two tools to help us get our lives organized around what matters most. And if you're looking for some more practical guidance on this topic, stick around after this message for some additional thoughts from Chip. If you have a Bible handy, turn now to Matthew chapter six for part two of Chip's message, The Peace and Power of a Prioritized Life. Let me give you two tools. There's two things we have to do to get a hold of our priorities.

Two ways. They hold the key to enjoying the peace and power of a prioritized life. And by the way, I think that's when your priorities in line, those are the two big characteristics. Personal peace and you experience God's power.

Number one, in order to get a hold of your priorities, you must start with your time. P-I-M-E. I'll give you an Old and New Testament passage. First, it's the only Psalm that Moses wrote. Toward the end, he says, the length of days is 70 years or 80 if we have the strength. Yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass and we fly away.

Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. Application teaches us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. If we were doing some quick Bible study, verse 10, he says basically, life's brevity.

It's going to be short. Verse 11, there's coming judgment. You're going to give an account for what you do in this life. Verse 12, therefore pray. God, give me wisdom.

Show me how to live this life. I mean, this is written by Moses who did maybe, I'm not sure how it all worked out, but he probably did about a million or a million and a half funerals. That's sobering.

You get a little perspective on what matters, right? I don't know when the last time, I've done a lot of funerals. I've never done one to date that I didn't just get a gut check about my own mortality.

I have a friend I was doing a little mentoring with and he's a very zealous guy and his boss couldn't do something so he got this project and his project was to interview people that were 100 years old or older. I saw him later and I said, well, hey, how'd it go? He said, it's really amazing. They all had one thing in common.

They said universally two things. Number one, we way overemphasized our accomplishments and all the things that we thought were such big accomplishments after four or five or six decades, we realized they weren't such a big deal and we underestimated the value of our families and relationships. I mean, you're talking, now, former workaholic, driven, focused, disciplined, why? Because I got an impact. I got to make a difference. I got to prove to me probably and maybe to God or to someone that I'm worthwhile, that I'm significant and you ought to like me and my life matters and I'm going to make a difference and God wants us to make a difference. But he wants us to make a difference according to his calling. He wants us to use our time wisely. He wants us to discern and to number our days and you know, Moses is a guy too that at about 40 with a lot of zeal said, you know what, I think I know God's will. He wants me to deliver and Moses in his great strength and his flesh killed one Egyptian and didn't have the wherewithal to even bury him well.

Really? And so he went on, you know, sometimes we think, well, life's passing by. I'll never accomplish what God wants me to. Forty years of training about learning how to trust God and discover who he was and then out of trust, God says, Moses, watch this.

I can bury them all, the entire army and no one comes up afterwards. And a lot of us have to discover, are you going to live your life and seek to do, and by the way, with people like us, it's not like we're usually out doing all these bad things. It's all these good things that are killing you, that you're doing good things for the wrong reason that aren't God's unique calling for you. And so you're multitasking and you're overloaded and you're overextended and all those meals and those carbs and going to all those practices and doing all that stuff and attending stuff you don't even like, that you just feel you ought should, ought should, ought should, expectation, visible where it's come from, I don't know.

You just do it, just do it, just do it, just do it, you know. And then you crash and you're tired and so you put on the TV and you know, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. My wife watched me watch TV one time, she goes, you make me dizzy. I said, you know, this is before they had letters behind your names and talked about what you were like. I said, you know honey, what I realize is when I get tired, when I lose focus and when I don't want to think, when a commercial comes on board, so I'll watch part of this, part of this, part of this, part of this, you know what, it drains me. One of the disciplines I'm going into right now is realizing, one, I have to limit even really good media and I have to realize, quit trying to, I'm trying to control everything. Part of quarter one of this, part of one of this, part of an old movie, and in my brain, hey, I'm kind of watching, I wonder how that one's coming over here. Now the reason you're laughing is there's other people that are as wacko as me.

This is true in this room. He says, our time. Notice what the apostle Paul would say. He says, therefore, he's talked about who we are in Christ, he's talked about being different from the world. Verse 15 of Ephesians five, therefore be careful how you walk, it's that metaphor for the way you live your whole life. Negatively, not as an unwise man, but as wise. You get that idea, wisdom, discerning God's will and doing it God's way. Making the most of your time, circle the word time in your notes.

Why? Because the days are evil, and he thought it was evil then, what do you think about now? So then, do not be foolish when you have misplaced priorities and you're spending your life instead of investing it, it's foolish. Don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And that word time, in the New Testament there's a couple different words for it. One is we get our word chronology, chronos, you know it's time like 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 11 minutes.

The other is a different word called kairos, and it has the idea of a window of opportunity. It's like during this window of opportunity, you know what, there's a window of opportunity when your kids are between about two and six or seven of unique spirituality of training. I kind of text my boys, they all have little kids, and I try not to be too pushy, but it's like hey guys, I just want you to know, whatever you do, keep reading those Bible stories at night. Tuck your kids in, don't let your wife have all the fun.

Tell them stories about you. And then there's a window of time in pre-teens and teens, there's a window of time in early adulthood, there's a window in time in your life and you're in it. There's certain things that happen in this season, some that are in the 20s, some in the 30s, some in the 40s, some in the 50s, some in the 60s, some in the 70s and beyond. But there's a window. There's a window for activity, there's a window for mentoring, there's a window for risk, there's a window of time. Buy up the opportunity. And what we tend to do is have some success in the last window and hang on to it and God is always asking us, take risk, trust me. So you've got to get your time under control. I spoke on a title called Good to Great in God's Eyes and we were talking about, it was a group of people that had been kind of successful in their endeavors and I was encouraging them that the temptation when you have done some things that have come out pretty well is to rest on your laurels instead of look, you know, that your best days are out of your windshield instead of your rear view mirror. When you find yourself always talking about what you did, what you did, what you did, what you did, you know, pinch yourself. That ain't now. Faith is always futuristic. What are you trusting God for?

You're here. What can you do today so that? And, you know, so I didn't mean it to be all that challenging but it was really fun. They were really warm and I love it. This couple came up and said, you know, man, God really spoke to me. And I said, well, great, you know, and we talked a little bit, 5, 10 minutes and then the guy just looked at me and he goes, well, how? So what do you mean? He said, well, how? He said, I mean, you know, I own my own business.

She's doing this. We got so much stuff, so many people, so many commitments, so many committees, so many stuffs, you know, I mean, they're just kind of pillar people. You know, they're on this committee and they're doing this in the church, doing this, doing this. I said, you got to hear from God. Well, I don't have time to hear from God.

I said, did you hear yourself? I want to give you a very brief, and this may be elementary, the greatest single gift God gave me as an early Christian was a bricklayer with a high school education. More than anything I've learned in seminary, more than any travel I've had, any book that I've ever read, any mentor I've ever known, the single greatest gift God has ever given me was a bricklayer who came on Tuesday morning after I was a Christian for three months. I did not usually want to meet with him early on, and he knocked on my door and he taught me how to have what he called a quiet time. It sounded kind of weird to me, but nobody else was up at seven in my dorms.

I guess it was quiet. And I struggled and I couldn't get up, and finally my roommate set an alarm, and, you know, finally I got to where I could get up in the morning, and unlike many people, I like breakfast, and so I just made a rule, not legalistically, but just because I wanted to, but I was so undisciplined I just said, no Bible, no breakfast. And I developed the habit, it was only like 10, 15 minutes early on, and then like after a year or so it was like actual, you know, it was fun, and God was speaking to me, and all of a sudden I thought, he knows everything, and I could ask him about that test at one o'clock, and I could ask him about, you know, this relationship's not going so well, I think I'll check in with him on that, and pretty soon I started talking to him, and no one told me, but I went and got, you know, at the bookstore, like one of those little simple like spiral notebook things, like 89 cents, and then I started just writing stuff down, you know, like, you know, I'd never read the Bible for, hey God, this is Chip, what do you think about, and I would write these things down, and would you help me with this, and then I would go back and read, I started checking them off. I started doing that about 30 years ago, and not, and it was hard at first, and then probably 15, maybe 18 years ago or so, I just remember saying, God, I don't know how much time we need, I just love being with you now. It was, it was diligence, diligence, duty, duty, I'm gonna meet with you when I don't feel like it, I'll meet you when I do, and sometimes it's really good, and sometimes okay, but God, and I remember just going to bed a little early, you wake me up, and he woke me up pretty early, and I got up, made a pot of coffee, and I found a corner, and I just said, thank you, what, what, what would make you happy today, want me to sing to you, want me to thank you, you got something for me?

All I can tell you people is it just clears the junk away. It just, all those pressures, all those demands, all that dysfunction, all that expectation, all that list of got-tos, most of my got-tos literally in my journal, you know, I'll just think, you know, and sometimes I can't pray because there's all these things to do, and I'll just start writing them up, and I put a little box, and so instead of, I got to do, God, will you please help me with the following this day, and show me how-to, dot, dot, dot, and then I list the 11 things that come, at least that come to my mind, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and then I take those and I give them to God, and then I pray, and then instead of the to-dos, God will bring to my mind some of the to-be's. How's Teresa being in this area?

What about that guy that you met on that trip, how's he being? And here's all I want to say, if you will give the first portion of your time to God, he will clear a way and show you what to do and what not to do, where to go and where not to go, what to say yes to and what to say no to, and give you the courage to say no to it, and so I put in here actually a little simple, simple way, I don't believe you need to meet with God in the morning first, I know some of you are night owls and you just really turn it on at midnight when I'm, I've been in bed for a while, so I don't mean this legalistically, but I will say if you have a hard time and you're really inconsistent, my theory was do what matters most first, do what matters most first, no matter what happens in the day, if I meet with the God of the universe, I've had a pretty good day, get hit by a car later, okay, you know, I've had a good day. To me, when I stop, when I pray, when I discipline myself and say God, I'm going to be here and I want to be with you first, what I'm saying is I'm humble, I can't do it, I can't make the decisions, checking my email, checking the stock market, making sure this is done, making sure that is done, wait a second, what's that about, I don't control the world, all that stuff will be there an hour later or a half hour later, stop, cease striving, literally, my translation of that one is knock it off, I mean that's kind of, that's the chip Hebrew, knock it off, quit trying to make so much happen and orchestrate everything and know that I'm God, I'm in control and by the way, I'm not only in control, I love you and I'm good and I'm for you and I miss you and so there's a lot of ways to study the Bible but one of the early ways that gets you in the text because my fear in our day is we have everybody eating pre-digested sort of Gerber's spiritual food, that means someone else studied real hard and you read what they say and there's a little verse at the end and you say praise the Lord, amen and you know what, it's like, and not that it's bad, it's a great appetizer. Strength and convictions and power and courage to do the will of God is when your nose gets in the word for yourself and the Spirit of God takes it off that page and does something in your heart and gives you a strength to say yes, thus says the Lord for me. Not he said it through some other person and God bless all the great teachers and all the great ways, I love them all but there's no substitute and so this little too pro-apt, you know I kind of put it here, if you're a newer Christian I encourage you to start in the book of Mark and if you're an older Christian just because it's so application oriented James, so here, are you ready, I'll just go through it real quickly. You start and you pray, dear God will you speak to me today and then I don't want you to read a whole lot, maybe a couple paragraphs at the most and then you read it slowly and preferably out loud.

It's an amazing what happens the second time and then the next, the O is for observation, you read it a third time, see you don't take so much, you slow it down and you dig into it and this time if there's a word that's repeated you underlined it or if something sticks out to you might circle it and so you've previewed it then you've read it slowly out loud and then you read it real slowly making some observations and then the A is for application and it's only a couple paragraphs but you say God speak to me and then just think well let's see this is a letter of encouragement, nothing really struck out but it was encouraging this guy, hold it, do I know anybody that needs encouragement, before I go I'm going to jot a note to Bob, I haven't seen him and do something. Spiritual growth is not about getting more Bible knowledge in your head, it's about responding to the truth and the light that he gives you, didn't that's what Jesus said at the parable of the seed and the sowers, here's how life works, you respond to the truth God gives you, he gives you more truth, you don't respond to the truth of the light that he gives you and even what you have will be taken away, we got a generation of people that know so much about God but don't have a epi ginosko, a intense personal relational knowledge of him because that doesn't come through the head, that comes through application in the heart, at the end of the day you want to hear God, you want to hear his voice, what's he going to say to you from the word and then the T is you tell somebody because there's just something, I mean you don't have to go hey everybody I want you to know I spent 15 minutes in God's word today, I did the two pro ep method but now I want you to know here's what I want to tell you, they'll just run you off the job but kind of in a casual way to people that you know and it might be there's some guy, guy lives in Texas, he's a good buddy, we speak a couple times a week and we'll just say hey what'd you read, where's God speaking to you and he'll share and I'll share or often in the car I'll say honey where'd you read this morning, she'll tell me and I'll tell her and it's not like I'm checking up on her, you kidding, she's way farther down the road than me but it's just I want to, when you tell it kind of seals it so that's a little method that's been very helpful for me so tool number one and this is just to get you started, tool number one if you're going to get a hold of your time I believe you've got to start by saying God I got all these pools, all these demands, I'm going to give the first block or the best block of my time whenever that is, for me it's the morning to you and I'm going to ask you to start sorting out my life and I will tell you it'll be dramatic. Second tool that will help you get a hold of your priorities is your money, Jesus spoke more about money than heaven and hell combined and I think he could actually care less about your money, he needs none of it but your money reflects your values, your money reflects your heart, wherever your money goes imagine just every time you put that credit card down, every time you write a check, every time you spend money, every time you invest money what you're saying is here's your heart, there's a little chain connected to it and wherever your money goes your treasure, that's where your heart goes, your heart always follows the money and that's why sometimes when I've wanted God to change my heart I've actually had like a problem with someone, you know, they kind of did something bad to me and didn't like them very well and having trouble forgiving them and they were involved in ministry, I started giving a little to their money, ministry, you know what I'll tell you what, your heart always has to follow your money and so what he wants is he wants your heart, honour the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops, then notice this isn't prohibitive, then your barns will be filled with overflowing and your vats will brim over with new wine, Proverbs 3, 9 and 10, I mean you all know probably many, many verses about you know and by the way the giving is not about just giving, God owns it all, correct?

The earth and all thereof is the Lord so he evaluates the 10 or 15 or 20 or 80% that I give away wherever you're at in your life and all that I keep, I'm a steward of it, it's not, I'm just the manager. Your money will tell you, I will tell you this, if we didn't know each other at all, you give me your PDA for a half hour or your calendar, your cancelled checks, however you work it, you let me see your time and see your money and I will give you a diagnosis of where you're at in your life that if you were honest you'd say, oh my lands, that is so true and that's why we're going to talk a little bit later about the need to have relationships where people, it's amazing to me, where people can really talk about this with one another. I mean I've done a couple of these big men movement things you know, now we're secure men, we're talking about accountability like never before, hey, hey Jim, let's all get around here and be a real man, let's hear it you know, so how's your sex life, you been on the net? No, I mean guys will talk about sex, struggles, all kind of things now but you look at a guy and say, you know, excuse me, we've been friends for quite a while, what percent of your income do you give and where do you give it? You know what, next year, you know what would be helpful in our Bible study, let's do this, let's all bring our tax statements and we'll pass them, I'm dead serious, I'm dead serious, let's pass them to the left and let the other person give an evaluation of how, you tell me why that is off limits, it's because it reveals the very heart and the very values of who we really are. One of the biggest steps for me is there's a guy in California that just, he kind of has this picture of how things might develop and so he says, Chip, this is what's going to happen to you, he says someday if that happens, some books are going to sell and you might get some money and he said, okay, I'm helping you start this radio ministry, he was the first guy and one other guy and I really believe in it but here's part of the deal, I want you to tell me, so what are you doing with your money? And he talks to me like this, so you're not thinking you're some big shot now, are you in all this jazz, right, right, I mean, you're not believing that press, okay, those chickens here, he said, so, so how much did you make last year, I mean, include if there's any book sales, now remember, you pre-decided to give away, you know, that big chunk of anything that ever comes in, are you still doing that?

So how much total, how much, now where are you giving it? I mean, but he's direct with me and you know how safe it is to open up my finances to someone, you know what, it's a good thing, I want to have a good report but the heart is what, deceitful and that is where a lot of us, you have to get a hold of your time, you have to get a hold of your money and this is not a legalistic, I'm now giving X percent and now, no, I'm talking about your money as it relates to your heart, you know, it'd be interesting, some of you, you know, have your, you got your nice black American Express or your Platinum Express or your Gold Express, your Elite or your Mileage and then at the end of the year, they give you that list of, okay, here is your end of the year credit card statement unless you have sworn them off and are free and liberated and debt free and figured out other ways to do it, which is a good idea too but have you ever seen where they have the categories, so much in food, so much in travel, so much in, you know, if you just looked at that and said, yeah, wow, exactly right, can you eat that much in one year, I mean, you know, can you shop that much, I mean, how much, and I'm, all I'm saying is let's get off of being down on ourselves, let's try just getting real with ourselves, getting honest with God, he loves you so much that he wants you to learn to give so that he can give good measure, press down, shaking together, running over back into your lap. He wants you to learn to budget and say, this is yours and I want to be a good steward. He wants you not to fix your hope on the uncertainty of riches but are you ready? He wants you to richly enjoy every good thing he gives you. He wants you to take a great vacation and have a great steak and have some real fun and have your priorities in order, so instead of going, I feel guilty about this, where you enjoy it because, you know, it's the blessed hand of God upon your life and you're not making excuses, I'm just so tired of someone saying, oh, well, you know, I got it on sale or, you know, the only reason we got that swimming pool, that swimming pool is for baptisms, it's baptisms, you know, and, you know, that house in the mountains, our pastor, our pastor's really tired, the house in the mountain has nothing to do with, you know, it's a good real estate investment and I like to get away and God's blessed me, I'm giving a ton of money away and I love the mountains, my family's there and it's really wonderful and I just have a blast there, no, it's a, the pastoral staff, we felt that they needed a place to get away a couple of times a year. By the way, let him go there though, okay? I have benefited greatly from some of you doing that.

God loves you guys. He wants you to look at the six areas and be honest, how you doing? So how do you get your money under control? Four steps, number one, give the first portion of each paycheck to the Lord and for some of you, you got to have a really hard talk and you're going to say, oh, my, how can we do, it's a faith step, give the first portion to the Lord. Pay your bills next, don't take a vacation, don't spend your money, don't go to Costco, don't buy something on sale, okay? Money comes in, here's all your bills in one spot, give to God the first, pay all your bills next, novel idea, live on the rest, you don't have it, don't spend it, I mean, we can well afford it now but we have a blue folder that Teresa and I, we do the bills together because we both don't like it to do it and every two weeks, I get a paycheck. We open a blue folder, in one pocket is all the bills that have come in, we pull them out and put them in the middle, we have a wonderful cup of coffee to make it fun. I write out all the checks, she puts them in the envelope and she does the little ledger so that it's accurate because I sort of, not as accurate and then we give first, we pay all of our bills and then we talk how much is left and then I write a check that has our gas money, our recreation and two or three other things and she goes to the bank later and we put that money in an envelope that says budget and we put it under the duck so if you ever want to rob my house, it's under the duck, alright?

And you know what? When there's no money in the envelope, you don't go out to eat. Now can I still afford to go out to eat? Of course I can at this stage of my life but in this duck, do you understand that the average person in America is spending about 17% more than they bring in every month?

Do you understand last year, more college students, I heard this on the radio so don't ask me to quote it but I mean if it's on the radio, you know it's true, I mean it's almost as reliable as the internet, I mean if it's on the internet it's got to be true but seriously I mean you know, it was one of those Dave Ramsey programs, more college students went bankrupt than graduated from college last year. So give to the Lord first, pay your bills, live on the rest and then get out of debt. The very busiest day of Jesus' life is recorded in Mark 1-35 and he has healed and there's demands and there's pressures and you think you've got a tough life, he's pulled on from everyone and it says a great while before dawn, he went out and found a solitary place and there he prayed. I believe Jesus is modeling for us the demands to keep your life in focus and I believe I think I know what he prayed. I think he prayed, Lord I'm being pulled and everybody wants me to do everything, they want me to go to these towns and everyone is sick and they have these mans and they're pulling on me, they want me to heal them, they want me to feed them, they want me to do everything, will you please remind me while I'm here.

You know how I know that? Because the disciples came and said, Jesus you were hit last night, that was awesome, all those healings, it's going crazy, there's a big crowd, I mean they are, we are big time and we're glad to be on your team and remember what he said to him, I must, in the Greek it's a must of day, it's a divine necessity, I must preach the gospel and we must go to other villages for the son of man, Luke will tell us later, came to seek and to save that which is lost. Jesus prayed to remember why am I here, what am I supposed to do, I need to hear the Father's voice in the midst of all the noise, that's God's will for you and me and we're on a journey and a process, it's not going to happen all at once. Six symptoms, two tools, time, money, an open heart, let's go there together, okay. Chip will be right back with his application for this message, the peace and power of a prioritized life from his series, Balancing Life's Demands. Does it feel like life is pulling you in a thousand different directions? Are you exhausted trying to juggle your job, kids, marriage and everything else you're responsible for? Do you wish there was a way to relieve that stress and tension on your shoulders and live life with a little more joy? Well in this series, Chip reveals what a balanced life really looks like and how you can rearrange your priorities around what matters most.

Hear how you can experience the joy filled and satisfying life God desires for you to have. For more information about this series, go to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. Additionally all the resources for Balancing Life's Demands are discounted and the MP3s are always free.

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Well now here's Chip with a final thought from today's message. Today we talked about two specific tools, two things that have to happen if your priorities are going to get in order and number one is you have to get a hold of your time and number two you have to get a hold of your money. Now those two things can feel extraordinarily overwhelming and what I will tell you is here's where to start. Let's start with your time and I'm going to ask you to make a commitment with me today.

All right I mean right now just you and me I wish we were I wish you could sit in the room with me and I look you right in the eye and I've had people do this with me and it changed my life. I would look you dead in the eye and I would say will you for the next two weeks commit to set your alarm 20 minutes earlier and meet with God for 20 minutes before you do anything else and don't give me all that stuff about you know you're a night owl and it's hard to get up and hey we all have our issues. I'm asking you to start your day give God the first 20 minutes.

Now here's how you know you're going to be groggy and if you're a coffee drinker you better you know make it the night before so you can just push the button and take your little alarm clock and put it across the room so you have to get up out of bed. I'm telling you if you will give God the first 20 minutes you'll begin to see things happen. Now we went over how to do it the two pro apt and I walk you know pretty briefly through how exactly how to do it you can do it in 20 minutes where you you know you pray and then you do a preview of the passage and then you read it slowly and then you read it a third time where you make observations and then you apply something specific and and then you pray at the end and ask for God's help and strength and then you tell someone to pro app that little acronym that we gave you need to go to Living on the Edge website and then go to message notes and I want you to print out the notes and I want you to use that to pro app method for the next two weeks. Do this with me will you and you say well where do I begin if you're a new Christian or a newer Christian I want you to start with the book of Mark if you're an older Christian I want you to start with a book of James. Let's start the year by meeting with God first it'll be hard it'll be difficult it may not be really great the first three or four or five days I will tell you if you hang with me on this God will begin to order the rest of your life as you say to him Lord I need you I want to meet with you first will you do that I'm going to pray for you Lord give him grace give him courage give him discipline to meet with you first in Jesus name amen. Just before we close I want to thank those of you who faithfully pray for our team and support the ongoing ministry of Living on the Edge amazing things are happening and you're a part of that if you want to join the team there's never been a better time between now and tomorrow night at midnight every gift you give will be matched dollar for dollar to send a gift just go to livingontheedge.org or give us a call at 888-333-6003 app listeners just tap donate well that wraps up this program until next time this is Dave Drewy saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.