What is grace?

Grace is “the power to live out God’s plan.” Without grace, we are dead. Without grace, we have no power. Without grace, we are unable to live the life we were created to live. We obviously don’t deserve it, and we certainly can’t earn it by our own efforts.

Unfortunately, when we think of grace, we usually limit it to what happened in the past, on the cross, 2000 years ago. We think of it only as a PAST event. However, the cross is the means by which God has made grace available. We believe in what God did in the past, but do we believe in what God wants to do with us in the future?

We need grace every single day of our lives. We are nothing without God’s power… God’s grace.

God has a plan for us… a radical plan… a plan for us to be intimate with Him… a plan for us to influence the world to follow Him (AKA “Be disciples. Make disciples.”) God’s plan is that we would become even more intimate with Him today than we were yesterday. His plan is that we would make more disciples tomorrow than we did today.

However, we will NOT experience God’s plan for our lives without faith… faith in future grace. It’s not enough to have faith in what happened in the past. We must have faith in what God wants to do next.

In Exodus 14 we read about the miracle of God parting the Red Sea, delivering the Jewish people from the Egyptians. In Exodus 15, the people sing a new song about this event. The first 2/3rds of this song focus on what God just did, “in the past.” However, it’s the final 1/3rd of the song that is the most powerful. I invite you to read Exodus 15:13-18 and notice how many times the people use the word, “will.”

Their focus has shifted, from past grace to future grace. It’s their experience with past grace (the Red Sea), that gives them faith in future grace (that God will do even greater things to accomplish His plan in their lives).

Probably all of us have had dramatic experiences in the past where we knew, “Wow, that was God!” Unfortunately, when we don’t experience those things, we start to lose our faith… However, when our faith decreases, so does God’s power in our lives.

Let us remember our past encounters with grace (our Red Sea victories), and may our experiences with past grace give us greater faith in future grace… increased faith that God has even greater things in store for us!

In the book of Exodus, we learn that the Jewish people eventually became the slaves of the Egyptians. They were abused, tortured, and forced into harsh labor. Surprisingly, they didn’t cry out to God for help until many decades later. However, as soon as they did, God raised up a man named Moses to deliver them from their bondage and lead them into their destiny.

You remember the burning bush right? The radical encounter Moses had with God? Well, in chapters 3 and 4, God and Moses talk back and forth, and everything seems to make sense. It’s clear that God wants to deliver the Jews from Egypt. However, in Exodus 4:21, God says something that just doesn’t seem to fit. God tells Moses that He is going to “harden Pharaoh’s heart so that Pharaoh will NOT let the people go.”

When you read chapter 5, you learn that the conditions of slavery reach unimaginable levels of inhumanity. Things get far worse before they get better. Not only that, but God sends plague after plague after plague. Ten in all. This doesn’t happen in ten days either. It could’ve been months, or even more than a year…

Here’s a question that may be on your mind. “If God could’ve delivered the Jewish people from their suffering right away, why didn’t He?” Keep this in mind: Eventually, God killed every firstborn Egyptian male and the Egyptian army. Why didn’t He just do that right away? Why did He prolong this chaos?

The answer is this: God uses opposition for His purposes.

In Exodus 7:3-5 and Exodus 8:19 we learn that God is prolonging His people’s deliverance, because He loves not only the Jews, but also the Egyptians. Yahweh wants the Egyptians to discover who the real God is, so that they will give their hearts to Him.

In Exodus 9:13-16 we learn that God is doing this because He loves not only the Jews and Egyptians, but also the entire world. Keep in mind that people considered Egypt to be the most successful nation on the planet. Because of these prolonged plagues, the world would take notice of what was happening and learn that the hope for humanity does not rest in human technological advancements, educational achievements, or religious teachings about false gods. The hope of the world is in the hands of the one true God, Yahweh.

In Exodus 10:1-2, we learn that God is doing something in Egypt that the Jewish people will never, ever forget. Oh how easily we pawn off spiritual experiences as mere coincidences. We get passionate for a day, a week, a month… then we forget that the experience was real, and we forget what life is really about. If God would’ve delivered the Jewish people immediately, they would’ve forgotten the One who made it all happen.

God uses opposition for His purposes.

In the skit above, we discover a Gorilla who unknowingly consumes a poisonous substance. When the man in camouflage comes on the scene with a gun, the Gorilla mistakes him for a hunter who wishes to harm him. However, this “hunter” is merely trying to help. He shoots the Gorilla with a tranquilizer, so that the proper remedy may be administered. Things get worse before they get better, but this is all a necessary part of the plan.

I’m not saying God WANTS you to be sick… or to lose your job… or to go through whatever difficult situations you’re going through… but I am saying this… God uses opposition for His purposes.

Your suffering isn’t just random chaos that will amount to nothing. God can use your circumstances to bless you and to bless people who know you.

If you were here Sunday, you heard Josh’s incredible story. WOW! If not, you really missed out. We’ll try and post it later. Right now I’d like to invite you to share a story of how God used opposition in your life for His purposes. Thanks for reading!

If you are a follower of Jesus, He prayed for you even before He went to the cross. Jesus prayed for every single person who ever has and ever will put their faith in Him. In John 17:20-23, we read that He prayed this, “That we would show the world who we are… we are ONE!”

It doesn’t take long to look around and realize, we’re doing a terrible job. Some researchers say there are around 50,000 denominations of Christianity. I don’t know how many there really are, but I do know this: There are a lot of them.

Now, I’m not anti-denominations. Actually, I think it’s beautiful how so many different churches and denominations have different pieces of the puzzle. Here’s the problem though…. We humans… we are pretty messed up. In fact, we usually like to focus more on our differences than what we have in common. Usually, we are more concerned about being right than we are about improving relationships.

I do this sometimes when I argue with my wife. Notice I said sometimes….

Sometimes when I’m in an argument with Andrea, I find myself more passionate about proving my point, about being right, than I am about nurturing our relationship. I get convinced that the relationship will be better if she can just see how “right I am,” and come on over to “my side.” Sounds ridiculous right? Right? Of course it is! Sometimes my point is right, and sometimes it is wrong. Either way, maybe I’ll win the battle, but I’ll lose the war…

Notice how denominations often choose to name themselves by their distinctives: Baptists emphasize believers baptism by full-immersion, Pentecostals limelight the gift of tongues, Presbyterians point to their form of government (they are led by presbyters). Personally, I believe all three of these movements have incredible things to say.

This June, Ekklesia is joining with over 1,750 churches around the world in a movement that is trying to work toward being an answer to Jesus’ prayer. The movement is called “One Prayer.” Here is the website: 2009.oneprayer.com

Here’s how you can be involved:
1. Pray for unity in the Body of Christ.
2. Pray that you and I will focus more on what we have in common in Christ than where we differ.
3. Pray that we will be more concerned with our relationship than about “being right” in regards to non-essential/debatable matters.
4. Fast. We fast every Wednesday until 5PM. No food, only water. We would love for you to join us!
5. Get some good unity-building blog discussion going here.

Here are some discussion starters:
1. Tell us about a time when you messed this thing up. It’s always best to talk about that plank in our own eyes Whether the plank is there now, or it used to be there, we’d really appreciate you sharing a story… Your story can be about a religious argument you got in, a time when you disrespected another denomination, or just any time when you were more concerned about “being right” than the relationship at hand.
2. Talk about something you really admire in a denomination or church that you do not belong to.

Last Sunday we looked at a few lines from Proverbs 27. Two topics arose: Praise and Rebuke. Although they are quite opposite from one another, disciple’s of Jesus must use both, wisely. Here’s a little run-down of what we learned.

27:21 “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but people are revealed by their praise.”

This is probably one of those rare verses in the Bible that is actually meant to have multiple interpretations. The first part is easy. Crucibles and furnaces burn away impurities and show us the precious metals for what they really are. Here are a few interpretations of the second part:

1. …but people are revealed by who praises them. What do other say about us?
2. …but people are revealed by how they praise others. Does our praise far outweigh our rebuke? In most relationships, we ought to give 10 rounds of applause for every criticism we dish out.
3. …but people are revealed by how they receive praise. Do we feel uncomfortable when people praise us? Jesus says we will know who His disciples are by their fruit. It’s important for people to acknowledge the fruit in our lives, however, let us make sure we give the credit to God in our hearts.
4. …but people are revealed by their ultimate praise. God is to be our ultimate praise, however God doesn’t need our praise. In fact, it doesn’t benefit Him. It benefits us. When we praise God for his overwhelming forgiveness, we begin to forgive others… and so on and so forth.

27:5-6
Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. Often the test of a true friendship is rebuke. You know who your friends are, when they have what it takes to rebuke you, in love.

Bottom line, we all mess this up, pretty much daily, especially when we are in heated situations. When we are in an argument with our spouse. When our kids are having a bad day/week/month/year. When things aren’t going well at work. When someone hurts us. When we talk about an iFart video on a blog.

Thank God for the grace of Jesus Christ that covers all sin!

May Jesus Christ tune our hearts, by the power of the Holy Spirit… so that our ultimate praise will be God… so that we will receive praise and give it to God… so that we will lavishly praise others… so that the praise we give will far outweigh the rebuke we dish out… so that we will rebuke wisely…

Let us hold praise and rebuke in their necessary tension.

What makes a guitar sound good? When every string is tuned so that each one has the appropriate amount of tension.

Life is in tune, when the tension is right.

Thoughts… Comments…???

Did Jesus come to bring peace? Absolutely! He was called the “Prince of Peace.” He taught His followers, “blessed are those who make peace.”

However, in Luke 12:49-53, Jesus says “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division…” Then He goes on to say that He came to divide families!

In Luke 14:25-34, He says we need to HATE our moms and dads, even our wives and kids!!! Are you kidding me? What does this all mean?

If you wanna get ReJesus-ed, I hope you listen to the following sermon.

If you heard it live, or have listened to it online, I wanna invite you to respond to the following:

1) What are some of the costs of following Jesus?
2) How does making disciples cost you?
3) Tell us a story about how you or someone you’ve heard about has tried to reach nonChristians, and why their actions were controversial.

Jebus

One of my favorite Simpson’s episodes is called “Missionary Impossible.” Homer gets into a mess with PBS and runs to church to flee from hot pursuit. The pastor sneaks Homer away from the angry PBS mob, sticks him on a plane, and ships him off to be a missionary. Once Homer understands what is happening, he tries to get off the plane, but it’s too late. Out of desperation Homer runs to the cockpit and says, “Wait, I’m no missionary! I don’t even believe in Jebus! Let me out!” The captain says, “Sorry, no can do.” Homer screams “Ohhh save me Jebus!!!”

Of course you caught that… “Jebus.” Although Homer has attended church many times, he is so confused about the person of Jesus that he cannot even say His name right.

Once he arrives on the island in the South Pacific, he’s petrified, cause the people want him to teach them about God, but he doesn’t know how to be a missionary. However, it doesn’t take long before Homer comes up with a “brilliant” plan. He is going to give these people what he thinks is best for them. So, he has them build a casino, and he introduces them to beer. Soon after, the island begins to cave in on itself. The people start fighting, yelling, screaming, and trying to kill each other. Homer’s attempt to represent Jebus caused severe chaos.

Here’s the deal: there are lots of Jebus’ being proclaimed in America today, and they are causing serious havoc. In fact, one of the most misunderstood ideas in all of Christianity is “the meaning of Easter.”

Here’s the most commonly proclaimed Jebus presentation of the meaning of Easter:

“Do you want to go to heaven? Do you realize that you are a bad person? A sinner? Ok, well if you’ll believe these simple truths, you can guarantee you’ll go to heaven when you die? Are you ready? Good. Jesus is God. Jesus died on a cross for your sins. Jesus defeated your sins by rising from the dead. If you believe this, with faith, you’ll go to heaven.”

This my friends is Jebus. Now, some of you may be saying, “Whooaa, dude I totally don’t see anything wrong with this presentation.” This presentation of Jebus leaves out the importance of the teachings of Jesus, and makes them optional, as if they were the bonus questions on an exam. You can pass the test without them, but it sure would be nice to get some of them. You’ll get the cake without the teachings of Jesus, but the teachings are the icing. And who wouldn’t want the icing?

Jesus says, without becoming a disciple, which means passionately trying to follow ALL of His teachings, you don’t get no cake, and you sure don’t get no icing either (Matthew 7:21-29).

Look at Jesus’ final words in Matthew (Matthew 28:16-20). He makes it very clear what His death/resurrection was all about. In verse 18, He says that the death/resurrection gave Him all authority. In verse 19, He gives the meaning of that authority, the meaning of Easter.

In case you missed it, here it is: “Jesus died to make disciples.”

The cross is the power to be a disciple and make disciples, NOT get one of those “Get out of hell free cards if you just believe a few truths.” Jesus’ brother, James addresses this. He basically says, if you believe in the Trinity, that awesome, but Satan does too. If you believe Jesus died on a cross and rose for your sins, good… so do the demons. But faith without works is DEAD. (James 2:14-26)

Ephesians 2:8-10 makes it clear that following Jesus is possible only through grace, not works, AND real grace produces real discipleship.

Jesus died to make disciples… people who will be like Him in almost every way. Read Matthew 5-7. These teachings aren’t optional.

What do you say?

Growing up, I had this cat named “Ed.” Well, he was my sister’s cat. I was never a big cat-fan, until I met Ed… He was as large as a raccoon and had quite an entertaining personality, but like most cats, Ed was stubborn. Quite picky too!

We fed Ed tiny, crunchy cat-food pellet thingies. Usually he eat ‘em right up, but sometimes he’d go on strike. Especially when he decided he would only settle for “people food.” One day in particular, Ed rebelled against his master (me), and decided that he would not eat, unless he received the food from my plate. Usually I’d toss him a scrap or two, but this night was different. This meal was too delicious to depart with even the most minute morsel.

However, I devised a scandalous plot that would seduce Ed into believing he had achieved feline nirvana. For you animal rights freaks, I apologize for my appalling actions… No, not really. I enjoyed every minute of it, and I would do it again if given the opportunity!

So, here it is. I took some of Ed’s pellet-thingies in my hand, then sat down at the table. Next, I acted like I was taking food from my plate, but it was actually Ed’s food. Ed eagerly snatched the bait from my fingers. He then proceeded to rapidly eat one bite after another out of my hand. Each time I acted like I took the food from my dish. Ed was a cat with no shortage of expression, and let me say that you could tell Ed was experiencing extreme ecstasy!

At least for a few minutes anyway, until he discovered that he was setup. Once he ascertained the smell of this so-called “people food” he was quite upset, and immediately walked away. This food was not what Ed thought it was.

Yesterday was Palm Sunday. A day where we recall the events that transpired, whereby Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the crowds went ballistic. They were filled with radical emotion. Their adrenaline charts would be immeasurable. They were worshiping!
Who were they worshiping? “Jesus” you say? That’s usually the best “Sunday School” answer, but you’d be wrong in regards to my question. No, they weren’t worshiping Jesus. They worshiped their “idea” of Jesus.

Although many of the people in Jerusalem would’ve had the entire Old Testament memorized, they had their own ideas of “Messiah”, what he was going to accomplish and how he would do it. When the crowds saw Jesus standing before the powers that be, “weak”, and seemingly reaction-less, they thought, this is NOT Messiah!?!?! In short, they liked their own ideas of Messiah better than the real Messiah.

If we are real with ourselves, we are often guilty of this too. Whether we want to admit it or not, many times, we like our own ideas of Jesus better than the real Jesus.

We like the Jesus who will freely get us into heaven, but not the Jesus who says we must follow every single one of His teachings (Matthew 28:18-20 and John 8:31).
If you don’t think this concept of liking false ideas of Jesus applies to you, then you must think you are Jesus. Now, I’m probably not the first one to break the news to you, but you’re not… You’re totally human, just like me! You and I need to be ReJesus-ed. Daily. I hope you join us on this journey!

The workers are few

Last week we laid down some serious Biblical foundation for this vision we’re sensing from God. If you’re curious about the foundation, read the previous blog on Acts 17.

In Matthew 9:37, Jesus said “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few,” meaning the potential for people becoming followers of Christ is colossal. A few years ago, there was an apple orchard out west that had to let about 15 million pounds of apples rot on the ground, simply because there weren’t enough workers to pick them! Jesus is saying that there is massive potential for multitudes of people becoming disciples. The problem is, we need workers who will follow Christ’s methodology. Today, most people in America don’t want to “go to church.” I don’t think it’s because they all hate the message. I think our methods often times do not relate well with them. We say, “You gotta come to this church building, and we will make you a disciple here.” Jesus and Paul are saying, “We gotta go to them, and meet them on their levels.” For many years, churches in the US had prominent places in society, and could expect floods of people to come to their buildings, sing their songs, and listen to their sermons. Things have changed. Therefore our methods need to adapt.

Following Paul’s example in Athens, our goal is to engage non-Christians on their level first, then teach them the Word, all the while “reaching out without selling out.” In order to do that, here are some ideas. We don’t know when God will make them happen. He may add, delete, or modify any of them as He so chooses!

1). Relocate into retail space: preferably in Westland.

2). Operate 7-days a week, offering people entertaining activities. Like what? Something like this: pool tables, ping pong tables, pinball machines, arcade games, Euchre and Texas Hold ‘em tournaments (no gambling of course!), open mic nights, and concerts. We want to create a community of creativity, so we could offer art lessons (painting, sculpting, etc), guitar, piano, and drum lessons, and a film editing studio (Final Cut on a Mac or two). Tutoring for Jr High and High School kids could be provided.

3). Where do Ekklesia people come in? Obviously we need workers. There will be plenty of opportunities to get involved, even for as little as 1 hour a week. We also need people to just hang out. Whether our people are working or hanging out, we always need to be intentional about making disciples. We won’t just shoot a game of pool to shoot a game of pool, but we’ll do it to intentionally develop disciple-making relationships. Think about it. Rather than going door to door, ringing doorbells and asking people if they want to come to church, you get to know people by engaging them in the kinds of activities they enjoy. And we would offer as many of these things as we could for FREE.

4). We would hold our Sunday services in the same location. Instead of asking people to go to a “church” building, we would meet in the same building they enjoy throughout the week.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS? We REALLY want to hear from you!

This whole month we’re gonna be listening to God, praying, and talking about a new direction we believe He’s leading us in.

Sunday we laid down some serious Biblical foundation… a foundation that has guided us thus far, and will direct us until Jesus comes back to get us.

Acts 17:1-34. Read it. Understand it. Become lifelong friends with it.

Here’s how it is. In verses 1-9, Paul goes to Thessalonica, and his strategy is to enter the synagogue (important Jewish religious building), start with the Scriptures (Old Testament) and then engage their culture.

In verses 10-15, Paul goes to Berea, and carries out the same strategy. Synagogue, Scriptures, culture.

In the remaining verses, 16-34, we witness a quite different approach when Paul goes to Athens, Greece. Athens was known for big time idol-worship (not one of God’s favorite activities). When Paul sees this chaos, he becomes outraged. Usually, when a man is outraged, he goes on a rampage. What does Paul do?

He enters the synagogue, yes, but every single day he engages the marketplace (lots of wicked things happenin’ here). His teachings about Jesus and the resurrection stir up controversy and curiosity. They take him before the city’s top dog decision-making council, the Areopagus. It’s his time to speak, before a highly influential audience. What will this outraged man do? Go on a rampage?

He begins his speech with a compliment to their culture (v 22). Then he tells them how he’d been walking around and carefully studying their idols. The modern reader can scarcely grasp the significance of this event. For most of us, idols are considered art, or artifacts if they’re nice and old. For the Jesus-centered man or woman, locking eyes on an idol is of greater vulgarity than a hard-core porn flick. Don’t get me wrong, Paul would not have studied porn, but here he engages is something even more nauseating. Notice I said he studied the idols. He didn’t enjoy them. In our setting, this would be like studying a crude film or song that captivates the minds and hearts of the American people.

He quotes from an inscription on an idol, then from there, points the people to the Scriptures. In Athens, Paul starts first with the culture, then goes to the Bible (verses 23-27).

Realizing the Bible is so new for them, he quickly returns back to their culture, quoting two famous false-god-worshiping poets (verse 28). Many Jews would’ve been furious that Paul was repeating these blasphemous words. Today, this would be like quoting from Tupac or Kurt Cobain. Religious people would’ve said, “You may be reaching out, but you’re selling out!” How do you even know such things? Darkness can have no fellowship with light!

There’s a woman that attends a large church here in metro Detroit. One day at work, she told her co-workers how much she loved her church. She went on and on about their programs and events and what not. She then said, “And the best part is, they rarely use the J word!” (Meaning “Jesus”) This is a church that reaches out, at the expense of selling out.

Paul quotes their poets, finding the good in them, but doesn’t stop there, because their poets don’t draw the right conclusions. He then points the culture to Jesus and judgment, two very non-so-popular words (verses 29-31). Some mocked, some wanted to know more, some became disciples (verses 32-34).

This is the passion of Ekklesia, “to reach out without selling out.”

Last Sunday was national sanctity of life day. Hundreds and probably thousands of pastors across the US preached against abortion. I joined my brothers and sisters in this important Biblical agenda, however, I took an approach that was probably quite different than most pastors. Based on my experience, most Christians want to talk about the Biblical truths that life is created by God and begins at conception, abortion is wrong, and it is murder. Of course, all of these things are true, but the reality is that most people listening to these messages already believe this. Last Sunday we looked at a passage in the Bible that has the potential to empower churches to radically and dramatically decrease the amount of abortions happening in their local contexts.

Even though John 8:1-11 deals with a woman caught in the act of adultery, this text offers us Jesus’ strategy for stopping sin. In the story, you’ve got these hypocritical religious fanatics who bring an adulteress before Jesus to see if He agrees that she should be killed. Like most religious people, they have a hidden agenda. They want to trap Jesus, in order to prove their point, that He isn’t God.

So, they basically say this: “God hates adultery and says this woman should be killed! We hate adultery and think this woman should be killed! What do YOU say Jesus!?!?! ” They throw the ball into Jesus’ court, which isn’t a very wise strategy if you ask me. Jesus takes the ball and whips it right back in their faces. He writes in the ground, which is incredibly significant. He is most likely symbolizing the prophecy of Jeremiah 17:13, whereby Jeremiah says that those who forsake God will have their names written in the ground. Without saying a word, Jesus is screaming at these religious knock-offs, “You THINK you are passionate about truth. You THINK you love righteousness!?! You don’t. You just love being right! You are not My people because You don’t love people. You just like surrounding yourselves with these little groups. You get together and feel super-righteous because you agree on certain issues. So what?!?! This woman here, who just committed adultery… she doesn’t want anything to do with you. The multitudes of people like her… they don’t want anything to do with you or Me either, and that’s LARGELY YOUR fault! You are not reaching my people! Your names are written in the ground, not the book of life… get out of My face!”

So, they leave the scene, and it’s just Jesus and the adulteress. The first Word out of Jesus’ mouth to her is this: “Woman.” Not “whore”… not “slut”… not “you prostitute”… not even “you adulteress”… but “woman.” “Woman”… the very same word Jesus uses for His own mother in John chapter 2. He speaks to her with dignity, respect, and in a tone of love. Then He forgives her, calling her to a new life. He doesn’t say, “Hey, I’ve been watching you humans for thousands of years now, and I’ve decided that adultery isn’t that big of deal.” No, He says “Don’t do it again.”

Jesus hated sin! Nobody hates adultery more than Jesus. Nobody hates abortion more than Jesus! If you took all the hatred in the world, it wouldn’t even be a drop in the bucket compared to Jesus’ hatred toward sin. He hates it! But He LOVES sinners.

Jesus was on a mission to deliver people from sin, to get people to stop sinning. He’s on a mission now to get adulterers to stop committing adultery… to get abortionists to stop committing abortion… and this is how He does it. He hates the sin, but He LOVES the sinner.

He speaks to the religious hypocrite very sternly… but to the woman who wants nothing to do with the church, He speaks with incredible tenderness.

When it comes to abortion, Christians have been fighting it for decades, and haven’t been very effective. We’ve thrown lots of stones and put the majority of our hope in the government, thinking they will solve the problem for us. What would happen if we followed Jesus’ strategy? I’m ready to find out! I hope you will join us, and our true brothers and sisters around the world, as we passionately live out the strategy of our Savior!

The next time some woman tells you she wants to have an abortion, don’t get all red in the face or wince or anything stupid like that. Hate the sin, but love that woman so much that her world gets turned right-side up! In fact, don’t wait for these women to come to you, go to them. Find them. Relate to them like Jesus did. Hang out with them like He hung out with prostitutes, drunks, corrupt politicians, and even people as messed up as you and me.

What are your thoughts on this?