Quick Thought:  Not What It Seems

For reasons which are probably obvious given this history-making undertaking the Lord has laid on and in my heart (i.e., my schedule is pretty much booked for the next several years since I’d like to finish memorizing the ENTIRE Bible before, you know, rigor mortis sets in =) I don’t have much time at all to play games but I find that some of them are actually a big POSITIVE in terms not only of fun but time management, i.e., some of them can help keep the human mind sharp and therefore result in increased  productivity, i.e., five minutes of playing that type of game and 55 minutes of work usually results in getting MORE done than just working for all 60 minutes.  I don’t apply that principle to every  hour of the day, but I try to do so every three or four anyway and find that works really well.

I just spent the past few minutes playing one of my favorite such games:  FreeCell.  I don’t know if it’s still the case (haven’t bought a new laptop in nearly two decades) but that game used to come preloaded on virtually all computers so you’re probably very familiar with it but basically you have eight columns of cards (or one can just use numbers of four different colors) and to win you have to move the cards/numbers around so as to “free” up the lowest and up to the highest until there are no more on the board.  The key – and main benefit, main mind-sharpening aspect – is to THINK AHEAD and indeed several  moves ahead, making it very much like Chess in that regard except you’re only playing the board/yourself, not an actual opponent.

Here’s the thing:  it can often LOOK LIKE a move is good but when someone goes to actually make it they unfortunately learn that the move instead ended in getting stuck and thus losing the game.

And that’s EXACTLY how it is in life!

A situation presents itself that seems like a home run.  So you gladly and gleefully swing.

But unfortunately, it often results in a strikeout instead.

I’ve found that this is one reason that the Bible is so important in our day-to-day lives.  It literally “makes wise” and “enlightens the eyes” (Psalm 19:7-8) and thus lights the way and reveals those opportunities which truly are home runs and which ones are strikeouts, pitfalls, just waiting for us to fall in headfirst.

Like my mom used to always say when I was growing up, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  So true (and/because it’s straight from the Bible, more on this in a future post).  And the Bible does BOTH, prevents and cures as a given situation calls for.  Like the Bible testifies of itself in Psalm 119:105, it is indeed “a lamp to [our] feet and a light to [our] path.”

Thank You, Lord, for being so gracious and generous in giving us such an amazing and effective tool in successfully navigating life:  Your Word, the Bible.  Thank you that, like you – indeed, because it’s from You and by You and of You – it is absolutely perfect and flawless and infallible, so just by “reading and heeding” it we can know in advance which opportunities in life will be strikeouts and which ones will be home runs – a help we desperately need since so often a path which presents itself SEEMS right but is actually wrong, SEEMS good but is actually bad, SEEMS beneficial but is actually detrimental.

  • “There is a way which SEEMS right to a man, but its end [i.e., result] is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12 & 16:25)

May we AVAIL OURSELVES of that tremendous tool, the Bible, every day, every hour, every minute, every second.
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“Just as”

While that phrase does kick off one of my (and clearly Billy Graham’s) favorite hymns, that’s not what this  post is about.  Rather, as I continue the rest-of-my-life calling to memorize the ENTIRE Bible (and then recite it back to Him as a very unique love/thank-You gift and then help others do likewise in a way that’s actually easy and FUN) I find myself coming across it more than once.  I’m sure there will be others in the future as I work my way through this historic goal but will highlight two for now since I came across both just this morning.

Just as David is “the man after God’s own heart”, I view the beloved Apostle Paul as “the man after Jesus’s own heart” in that I can’t think of anyone in the A.D./post-Christ’s-earthly-life era who more fully resembles Him, so much so that the Holy Spirit superintended his commanding the early Christians and all since to “imitate ME”!  WOW!  And he could say that because of the fact that he imitated the Lord:  “Be imitators of me, JUST AS I also am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1)

The second location of that phrase I came across this morning is far more immediately attainable but just as (no pun intended =) mind-blowing.

Because “just as” Paul imitated the Lord Jesus in general, we are to do so in a very specific way, in the matter of FORGIVING OTHERS.

I think that perhaps the two most difficult things for human nature to swallow are submitting (voluntarily giving up control) and forgiving.  Forgiving those who wrong or mistreat us.  No, human nature’s default position is revenge.  Yet, as ever, the Christian is called to do the EXACT OPPOSITE of what comes naturally to us, the exact opposite of the flesh (faith’s filthy but ultimately feckless foe).  But praise the Lord, He gives us very clear MOTIVATION in the Bible to help us do that, to forgive others.

He often motivates us via carrot but particularly when a matter is SO crucial, indeed grave, He seems to also and even primarily use a “stick”.  And that’s certainly the case when it comes to forgiving others.  Just look at what He says in Matthew 18:21-35 about a certain slave whose master forgave him an unpayable debt but who then went out and demanded that a fellow slave repay him a far lesser sum and had the guy thrown in prison for nonpayment.  And when the master heard of it, he had these choice and very pertinent-to-us words:  “Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, JUST AS I had mercy on you?”  Then the master restored his (unpayable) debt and had him tortured then said this (here’s that “stick”!):  “So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”

“From your heart” is a very high bar, but the Bible goes EVEN FURTHER than that!  We are to forgive others to the same EXTENT that the Lord has forgiven US.  I.e., not just sincerely but completely, without reserve.

  • “bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever [a great parallel to the “each one of you” just mentioned above] has a complaint against anyone [no exceptions!]; JUST AS the Lord forgave you, so also should you.” (Colossians 3:13)
  • “And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, JUST AS God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

Talk about a HIGH BAR!  The highest.  The absolutely highest.  And yet that isn’t a suggestion, it’s a command.  A very clear command with very clear consequences.

Can you think of anyone in your life whom you haven’t  forgiven?  Fully and completely, without reserve or reservation or holding back?  Any hidden grudges beneath the surface in your life?  I strongly urge us all to take a very close – and frequent/regular – look at that, just to be sure, since the consequences of failing to do so could not be any bigger or graver.  Perhaps it’s a sibling or parent.  Maybe a co-worker or boss who is making or in the past made your life miserable.  Maybe an ex.  Maybe someone at church.

Remember when I said that God not only gives us that command but also the motivation?  Here’s what I mean.  If you can’t bring yourself to do it for them, for that person(s) who wronged you, and if you won’t do it for the Lord, DO IT FOR YOURSELF!  In other words, the perspective I’m about to tell you will make this MUCH EASIER and thus provide ample motivation:  forgiving others benefits YOU infinitely  more than it benefits them.

Give that perspective a try and I know that you, like me, will find freely forgiving anyone and everyone to be a ton of FUN!  You literally won’t be able to “get (give) enough of it.”  You’ll become ADDICTED to fully and immediately forgiving others, such that it will become your new “default position”, your “knee-jerk” reaction whenever some “jerk” wrongs you.  As long as you don’t forget who’s the biggest beneficiary by far:  YOU!
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If you sense that the Lord might be leading YOU to support the historic event unfolding in real-time here at BibleMemory.ORG and thus become my fellow worker and thus share in all of the fruit and blessings (3 John 8) and literally MAKE HISTORY together, here are the best ways to do so:

1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!

2. Encourage as many people as you can to support this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/support (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches to the green box and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!

3. Add your name to my Prayer List!

4. Encourage as many of our fellow Christians as you can to pray for this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/pray (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!

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Quick Thought:  The BEST Medicine

They say that “laughter is the best medicine.”

WRONG!

It’s very high on the list, probably number three in my view (with love/hugs/unity being number two), but there’s no contest  as to what is number one.

It’s the Bible.

The Bible in general and BIBLE MEMORY in specific.

I discussed this at length in one of this blog’s very first posts so this is just a reminder, a “memo to self” – and a very timely one given the ongoing pandemic.

  • “For they [i.e., the “my words” of verse 20, i.e., the Bible] are LIFE to those who FIND them, and HEALTH to ALL their WHOLE BODY.” (Proverbs 4:23, emphasis obviously mine)

Nuff said!  (But if desired you can click on the link above and get far more detail about this via that past post.)

Thank You, Lord, for the countless benefits and endless benefit of Your Word, the Bible.  Not just spiritually and emotionally and relationally but that its power extends even to the physical realm.  How great Thou art indeed.
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Quick Thought:  Homeward Bound

My parents used to love that song by Simon & Garfunkel.  Not really my musical cup of tea but I’m borrowing that as this post’s title because of something powerful and wonderful which occurs around once a week in my life.

As discussed in past posts, not too long ago the Lord laid the calling on and in my heart to memorize the entire Bible and then (a) recite it, His “love letter” to us, back  to Him as a unique and indeed historic love/thank-You gift for all He does and who He is, and (b) educate, encourage, and empower others to do likewise after the Bible completes its current, unfolding work of revealing to my mind’s eye a specific memory method to make all of that a reality.  When He did that, I committed the rest of my life and my life savings to that end.  And midway through this website’s being built, I sold my car – my only means of transportation – so this site could be finished so people all around the globe would be able to track each step of the way in this historic undertaking.

As a result, I’ve done a lot more walking and bicycling in the months since, and as also mentioned in past posts, it has been during the subsequent bike rides and walks which many of the thoughts that became posts arose.  It has been a real blessing, those usually 3-to-4-hour treks and time spent just walking and talking with the Lord and reciting His Word… I LOVE it!

But that’s not to say that by the end of those three or four hours of nonstop exercise my body doesn’t start to feel it.  It does.  And you know the almost singular thought which occupies my mind in those final 15 or 30 minutes?  I just want to get back home so I can shower and rest.  (Preferably, though not always, in that order. =)

The pain produced by several straight hours of exercise makes me yearn for home.  And that’s exactly how it is in the Christian life!  Simply going through life will, by definition, entail pain, trials, tribulations, testings.

  • “… man is born for trouble.  As sparks fly upward.” (Job 5:7)
  • “… In this world you will have trouble.” (John 16:33)
  • “… the sufferings of this present time…” (Romans 8:18)
  • “… momentary, light affliction…” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

That last verse goes on to say that such “affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison” and that the purpose of such pain is to point our mind, our focus, away from the horizontal and onto the vertical, away from the temporal and onto the eternal, away from the earthly and onto the heavenly.  In other words, to remind us that we’re homeward bound.  To remind us that this is NOT our home, but rather, as stated so clearly in Philippians 3:20, “our citizenship is in heaven”… heaven is our true  home.

Back to those frequent walks I’ve become so fond of taking, I have three preferred routes.  If I need to run an errand during my walk I’ll take the route most conducive to that but otherwise it really just depends on whether I’m hankering for a city, water, or park setting.  (If I lived near a beach that would definitely be a fourth regular in the rotation. =)  The park setting usually takes the longest – four or five hours on average – and when I get back to within a mile of my humble abode I make this one left-hand 45-degree turn and, wah-lah, I can see my home for that final 20 minutes or so of my roughly 4-hour walk.  And it’s the most amazing thing:  just seeing home – less the brick structure itself but rather the forthcoming rest and cleanliness (shower) it promises – literally makes me forget about the physical pain or discomfort I had been feeling just ten seconds earlier.

Such is the power of home.  It not only makes me forget about that present pain but actually goes to the other end of the spectrum and imbues me with motivation and excitement and joy.

As I said, I take this particular walking route around once a week on average yet it never, ever gets old or boring.  Indeed, that fact, that process, that instant transformation of sorts amazes me anew each and every time.  The immense benefit and benefits when a Christian is reminded that he or she is homeward bound.
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Quick Thought:  Just Life

For genuine believers, there’s really no such thing as “the Christian life”, there’s just life.

It’s not what one DOES but what one IS, which dictates and determines  what one does.

What one is, i.e., who one is, i.e., whose  one is.

In other words, there should be no thin line, no distinction  between “the Christian life” and a Christian’s life.  His or her day-to-day, month-to-month, year-to-year life.  Since a genuine believer’s life will indeed be “taken over”, will be consumed with and by Christ.

  • “…Christ, who IS OUR LIFE…” (Colossians 3:4)
  • “…Christ LIVES IN ME…” (Galatians 2:20)

As those of you who’ve read many of my posts know, I use this phrase often since it’s so conducive to concise communication of that concept, but the purpose of this post is to make clear that there shouldn’t be any separation, any difference or distinction between “the Christian life” and the day-to-day life of a Christian.  As with the biblical picture of marriage, so in this case the two should be one.
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Quick Thought:  Serenading the Savior

I really need to start trying to find funding to get this history-making undertaking and website off the ground since the life savings I committed to it are set to run out pretty soon (ZERO regrets about that decision, since it has allowed me not only to build this website, obtain the so-perfect-it-could-ONLY-be-by-God domain name, etc., but also to devote several months FULL-TIME to the calling the Lord has laid on my heart and I have accepted (see the About page for full details) with six completed and videotaped so far (see the Videos page for all current and future videos of my reciting entire books of the Bible from memory en route to ALL 66 Lord-willing and I’m sure He is!), to make its completion a reality.  But during this ongoing pandemic, amid all of the shutdown/stay-at-home orders, I’ve instead been focusing on owning/mastering/reciting the six books of the Bible I’ve memorized so far per that prior post and I’ve found that the more I “cycle” the Bible through my mind, the more and more I feel like SINGING.

Singing a love song to my Lord and Savior, to my very best and faithful Friend.  Forever.  (BFFF =)

To the point that serenading the Savior is probably my favorite activity in all of life along with memorizing and reciting Scripture, and I’m finding that the two are inextricably linked.

  • “Let the word of Christ [i.e., the Bible] richly dwell within you… singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16)

Love song for a Savior… I couldn’t have said it (and definitely not sung  it =) better myself!

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If you sense that the Lord might be leading YOU to support the historic event unfolding in real-time here at BibleMemory.ORG and thus become my fellow worker and thus share in all of the fruit and blessings (3 John 8) and literally MAKE HISTORY together, here are the best ways to do so:

1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!

2. Encourage as many people as you can to support this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/support (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches to the green box and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!

3. Add your name to my Prayer List!

4. Encourage as many of our fellow Christians as you can to pray for this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/pray (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!

5. Share this poston your social media by clicking on one or more of these platforms:

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Quick Thought:  Above and Beyond (and Beyond, and Beyond)

What would you say is the best-known verse in all of the Bible?

I think Genesis 1:1 and Romans 3:23 and 6:23 and 8:38-39 would be near the top of that list which, no doubt, would be topped with John 3:16.

While not nearly so famous, another of my favorites is John 1:16.

We’re all very familiar with the phrase “going above and beyond”, but when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ I find that He is continually going above and beyond and beyond and beyond and beyond.

Or as John 1:16 puts it:  “For of His fulness we have all received, and GRACE UPON GRACE” (upon grace upon grace upon grace).

So true.  Thank You, Lord!  For being beyond so very good to us.  We don’t deserve that abundance of grace, and You don’t deserve the dearth  of gratitude with which we often reciprocate:  that should be as continual as Your goodness and grace toward us, toward me… “ALWAYS giving thanks for all things” (Ephesians 5:20).  Thanks for helping me become more aware of this and do much better than before, and grant that I would do far better still going forward.  You are worthy of nothing less than our everything, our all.
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Status Update

Per the day-one game plan discussed on the About page, I committed my entire life savings to this effort and website and future ministry.  Then as updated a few posts ago, after building this website and publishing several posts and especially the videos reciting books #5-6 of all 66 from memory, my focus has necessarily shifted to obtaining funding in an ongoing way since my life savings have largely been expended as expected.

But the Lord and the Bible keep bringing thoughts and insights to mind which I think many might find helpful and/or interesting so I intend to write mostly short and to-the-point posts for now.

Then, after the Lord provides the necessary ongoing funding, I’ll be able to focus a lot more time on going back to publishing longer, more in-depth posts. Along with, of course, Task Number One which is to remain faithful and on-track to memorize and recite on video all  66 books, the ENTIRE Bible.

I just wanted to update you about that and also to ask that you keep praying for me, that I would not only remain faithful to keep memorizing the entire Bible but also to OBEY it, day by day, hour by hour, and also that the Lord would be glorified and pleased and use  this entire venture in the lives of countless others however He may desire.
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Humble Helpers

The more of the Bible I memorize, the more righteous and holy I become in God’s eyes.

The more of the Bible I memorize, the more SINFUL and UNHOLY I become in MY eyes.

Because the Holy Bible reveals to my mind’s eye, opens my spiritual eyes more and more and more to how holy God is and how unholy and utterly sinful I am, in my flesh, in my humanity, in my self.  It has been a rather amazing and somewhat surprising, unexpected experience and process (ongoing).

And I’m very thankful for this aspect of the Bible’s self-proclaimed promise to “perform its work” in me and all who believe (1 Thessalonians 2:13), because I used to suffer significantly from the sin of pride.  I feel like spitting just thinking about that, about those haughty-minded days.  It disgusts me.  Even physically.  So sinful, yes.  So unwise, that too.  But also so inappropriate, since there is one – and ONLY One – who can rightly  be “proud”.  [I remember as a child hearing one of the world-class preachers who would regularly come to my church and have lunch at my family’s home saying that it’s actually impossible for God to be proud, since His very character makes what we view as pride TOTALLY RIGHT and acceptable and appropriate FOR HIM since He is, after all, pure perfection personified, so how could He ever be guilty of “pride”?  However high a view of Himself He may have, it’s RIGHT, i.e., He could never think TOO highly of Himself.  That’s the very essence and nature of perfection, there’s nothing higher or better, praise His name.]

Anyway, I’m so thankful for the grace of the Lord and work of the Word in winnowing my woefully weak mind of that foolish notion of pride.  I don’t “think I stand” in that regard (I know the second I do it’ll come back with a vengeance, that’s how it do, that’s how it be) but I can praisefully and thankfully say that in this area like others, in the words of 2 Corinthians 5:17, the Bible has indeed transformed me into a “new creature” altogether and I couldn’t be happier.  Way more.  All the time.  AS LONG AS I, by the Spirit’s and Word’s doing, CLING TO HUMILITY.

And the Lord/Word has graciously given me a few “helpers” in my deep desire to be humble (hence the title of this post) so I’d like to share them with you.

  • My 7-word “humble helper”:  “And WHOEVER exalts himself SHALL BE humbled” (Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11 & 18:14)
  • My 6-word “humble helper”:  “When PRIDE comes, then comes DISHONOR” (Proverbs 11:2)
  • My 5-word “humble helper”:  “CHRIST did not glorify HIMSELF” (Hebrews 5:5)

Those first two always yield a big “yikes!” in me, but it’s that third one which really gets me.  “Sharper than any two-edged sword” and “piercing” indeed! (Hebrews 4:12)

To the core.  (Rotten apple that I am in my flesh/self.)

Why?  Because if GOD INCARNATE, “God in flesh appearing” as the beloved and time-tested tinsel-time tune O Come All Ye Faithful puts it (taken from John 1:14; Matthew 1:23; 1 Timothy 3:16) didn’t glorify HIMSELF, well, how on earth could you or I?

NO THANKS!  I find it far happier to leave that to God and to eschew pride in whatever form it may appear in life and to heed the crystal clear command and equally emphatic promise of James 4:10 (“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and HE WILL exalt you”) and the second-half “carrot” of Matthew 23:12 (“and whoever humbles himself WILL BE exalted”).

Along with the earlier-alluded-to 1 Corinthians 10:12, I’m also very aware of 8:1, two chapters earlier:  “Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.”  So as I continue to memorize entire books of the Bible en route to ALL 66 (Lord-willing… and I’m sure He is!) and that immense and inscrutable and powerful knowledge is poured into my mind, please be praying that I would always opt for love and eschew pride, that it will result not in my (ever) being “PUFFED up” but Christ (always) being LIFTED up and others being BUILT up.
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Happy Easter!  Because He Lives

I just want to wish everyone a Happy Easter, which commemorates the day that Jesus rose again from the dead after having just died for the sins of humanity two days prior – on that very first Good Friday which seemed anything but  at the time but proved to be good indeed – so that ANYONE who believes in Him and that saving work on Calvary’s cross will receive eternal life – a message which has ALWAYS held crucial urgency but in a sense perhaps even more so in the middle of a fierce and deadly pandemic.

More on that in a forthcoming post but how strange it was for virtually all churches nationwide and a massive number around the globe to be closed, shuttered on any Sunday but especially Easter.  But thanks to what occurred on that very first one, our joy and hope and victory and character and constant conquering are NOT dependent on man but on God and that the body of Christ isn’t limited by the physical realm, it exceeds it such that believers worldwide were indeed able to celebrate His resurrection in full, even though it did feel strange – hopefully it’ll be that last time that happens but for those who might’ve missed it, Franklin Graham – president of Samaritan’s Purse and probably more well-known as the son of Billy, now with the Lord for two years, seems like yesterday – preached from New York’s famed Central Park where they are running a pop-up hospital and saving lives (physically and no doubt spiritually, too) and that was a big blessing as was Michael W. Smith’s musical service of worship, so here’s a video of that I found on YouTube.

If ANYONE reading this has not come to know the love, joy, and perpetual peace which can be yours as a result of that very first Easter weekend, please don’t hesitate to contact me or a Bible-loving church in your area (or anywhere, for that matter) and we will be thrilled to answer any questions you might have in this most crucial of matters in the universe.  Yep, even infinitely more important and consequential than a pandemic.

And because of that truth, we can still say…

Happy Easter!  Because He lives.

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If you sense that the Lord might be leading YOU to support the historic event unfolding in real-time here at BibleMemory.ORG and thus become my fellow worker and thus share in all of the fruit and blessings (3 John 8) and literally MAKE HISTORY together, here are the best ways to do so:

1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!

2. Encourage as many people as you can to support this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/support (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches to the green box and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!

3. Add your name to my Prayer List!

4. Encourage as many of our fellow Christians as you can to pray for this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/pray (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!

5. Share this poston your social media by clicking on one or more of these platforms:

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