Being a Contender

I'm starting a re-read through Dinesh D'Souza's "What's So Great About Christianity?" this week. As I read each chapter, I'm going to be posting my thoughts on it here. D'Souza is a remarkable writer. He tackles the issues facing America today head-on, and he doesn't rely "merely" on faith to demonstrate the amazing power and evidence of God and Christianity. I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE everyone who reads this blog to read with me in this book. You can find a free online copy compliment of Google here.

Why should you read this book, you ask? Well, I'm about to tell you.

The Preface to the book is a challenge to both believers and unbelievers. Simply put, we as Christians are called to be contenders for our faith. To "contend" means to strive against another, to dispute earnestly; the call of the Bible to be a "contender" for the faith means every Christian a) should be able and ready to stand up for his or her beliefs, and b) will face opposition. The Christian is told in 1 Peter 3:15, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." We must know what we believe, and why we believe it, and be ready to stand up to the inevitable opposition, whether it is a curious unbeliever or a hostile atheist.

This isn't just a suggestion. Jesus said to take up our crosses and follow Him, to go out into the world and spread the gospel to every creature, not just those who won't argue back. Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to express the love you feel from and for God, but couldn't find the right words or get your heart across? Have you ever faced someone who was violently opposed to Christianity due to a misconception or some hurt they've endured at the hands of the "church," and felt helpless to show them the light? That is what this book is about. It is about understanding why Christianity is so great, why anyone should care about it, why, above all, it is true and can be believed as such based on more than simple blind faith.

I said the book starts with a challenge to unbelievers alongside believers, and so I will put that challenge here, too. If you are reading this and you don't fully follow or agree, I challenge you to pick up this book with me and put Christianity to your most stern test. If Christianity is false, then you have a duty to point out where it falls short! This book doesn't look at issues just from a Christian point of view, but rather as a skeptic, testing the Word of God with the way things are in the world today, with the knowledge of science we have today and with logical processions of thought. All sides of the argument are presented.

If you earnestly desire truth, read with me. Christians, you'll come to know more about the Lover of your soul and how He makes Himself known in our world. Non-Christians, you'll know where we come from and why we believe what we believe.

So pick it up, and read through Chapter One, "The Twilight of Atheism: The Global Triumph of Christianity." That's what I'll be posting on next.

Desperate Desires, Part II

Remember how I asked you to make a list of your desires, and that I'd follow up on that list? Here is the follow-up, and it comes to your courtesy of my reading of Mario Murillo (thank him for any wisdom therein).

(This is a long one, I've been throwing it around in my head for a few days now and its all coming out in a torrent!)

Many of us, myself included, carry around the misconception that giving our life to God means giving up everything we want from it. We even tend to misconstrue the tales of the Biblical heroes to see them as "victims" of the call of God; their enjoyment of life seems crushed under the weight of God's sacrificial calling. Those heroes were holy, and they DID sacrifice much and continually deny themselves. But they also tended to live very fulfilling lives, and they received surprised blessings often along the way. For a few examples: Abraham received a son, Isaac found a loving wife in Rebekah, Joshua ruled a nation, Moses saw God, David became a mighty king, Solomon was wealthy and wise, Daniel was pampered in a palace, and so on.

Here is my point: because our heart's longings are a big part of how God made us, He blends their fulfillment into our calling. This is one way in which the Lord evokes total commitment, a labor of joy from His servants. Read the story of David again (or just this excerpt, if you prefer) and ask if David was being selfish by making this statement:

"What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" (1 Samuel 17:26)

We can see David's zeal for God's honor in this verse. He wanted to kill Goliath for all the right reasons, but he was also thinking about his own goals and aspirations for the future. David asked, "I can see that God needs this action to take place, yet what am I going to get out it?"

Once again, that seems a little selfish, but David understood God. He was a man after God's own heart, after all. He understood that God was a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. We are made to want to be rewarded for our efforts, and God likes to hand out those rewards.

We've all seen the opposite type of spiritual leaders, those who are always somber, even morbid. They continually recite to you all that they have lost for the sake of the gospel. They describe "God's dealings" with them as if they were showing off scars. But in all their joyless labor they rarely fulfill a great vision or reach lost people.

God doesn't ask your everything and offer nothing in return; likewise, if you offer everything, He gives back with MORE abundance.

Look again at Hannah. When she entered God's presence, she did not pray for revival in Israel. She did not come to promote the cause of righteousness. She was in fact reduced to one unending cry for motherhood. All she wanted was children.

Here comes the secret part: God was the One growing that heart cry in her. First He closed her womb, and then He allowed her rival to harass her. She could not eat but only wept until finally she collapsed at the door of the tabernacle. Eli, the priest, assumed she was drunk, because now her cry transcended words—it was total heart language.

Hannah explained, "No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord" (1 Samuel 1:15). There it is! She was honest with God about her desires. She poured out her soul to the Lord, and like a bucket of water poured into a pump to prime it, so it was that God began pouring out His soul to Hannah.

This is the timeless discovery of spiritual giants since the garden: "Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls" (Psalms 42:7). Her deep cry touched the depth of God.

Our profound longings bring us into a position in which God and His child can create a miracle. This is God's purpose for our longings—to bring Him glory, to do His will on earth. It is as though our overwhelming desire tunes our spirits to the frequency of God's own grief and desire for the world.

Back to Hannah. God had no prophet in Israel; Hanna found empathy with God. He had no prophet; she had no son. Their mutual yearnings, which by the rules of math add up to a double zero, instead resulted in double provision.

Then she made a vow and said, "O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall upon his head (1 Samuel 1:11).

This is nothing short of a model prayer to make a fresh impact for God! In the process of asking for your heart's desires you discover the grief God bears. But not just any grief; it is that sorrow which you are uniquely equipped to heal—your personal calling and impact for the world!

The Bible says in Isaiah 53:3 that Jesus was a "Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Paul referred to the "fellowship of His sufferings" in Philippians 3:10. Though we cannot heal God's grief, we can, by sensing His grief, be changed as Isaiah wrote, "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5).

After that, God called Isaiah to serve Him, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Isaiah responded: "Here am I! Send me!"

Once God begins to awaken that grief in you, starts leading you to the problem you are uniquely designed to heal, the grief for your own desires will become less and less important to you. You no longer need to ask for your heart's desires. You will lend them to the Lord. Because of Hannah, the prophet Samuel was born.

And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile the child Samuel grew before the Lord (1 Samuel 2:21).

(See that? She went home with the knowledge that she was doing God's will and that God would provide. What did God do? He not only opened her womb to give her a male son; He gave her three sons and two daughters! He went above and beyond once she heard His grief/desire and then gave her own to Him!)

I tell you this from personal experience. There are many things I desire, some of which I desire so badly that they consume me at times. But I'm beginning to see how my desires coincide with God's desires. I desire a strong and loving relationship with a wife and family; the state of marriage in America is dismal and in need of healing; my preoccupation with relationships has led me to become knowledgeable on healthy relationships/marriages and pursue a position where I can counsel and heal. I desire a strong education and a position of influence in academia; our universities are filled with atheistic and anti-Christian moral values and instruction, not to mention confusion over what Jesus really said; my thirst for knowledge and eloquence is moving me into a position to combat these forces. I also have a desire for foreign language and travel; I have no idea how God will use this to further His kingdom, but I know it will happen because I'm uniquely designed to serve Him!

With all this talk about grief, I don't want you to be side-tracked into thinking this will be a miserable experience. Quite the contrary! Alongside the verses about being full of grief, Jesus also described Himself as joyful, and desiring His joy to be in us. "If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father's commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:10-11). And again:

I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. I tell you the truth, My Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete! (John 16:20-24)"

God-given desires turn to God-felt grief and direction. Grief and direction turn into purpose and the will of God acted on earth as it is in Heaven. God's will on earth means joy and fulfillment of your desires.

"Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will restore double to you" (Zechariah 9:12). God calls us prisoners of hope. We are never to give up on the promise that God will restore everything we offer to Him! He urges us to return to the stronghold, to return to Him, and let Him restore us.

What are you waiting for? Pour out your soul to God! The marriage of your heart to God's heart will create the miracle, and you will discover what your personally designed impact for this world is! Start that labor of love for Jesus today! He is a rewarder of those who seek His will!

Be Perfect

Someone I love very much recently said this: "Perfection is something greatly lacking in the world, and sadly, something I greatly crave. The conclusion? I am often disappointed by those close to me, and myself, for our inability to achieve what I only wish was possible." Another beloved person replied: "Perhaps you should lower your expectation from Perfection to Near Perfection so you are not disappointed as often..."

My heart cried out when I read both of these statements. This is what it said:

It isn't so much that you need to lower your expectations, but rather change your perspective. You -should- desire perfection in yourself and others. Jesus wasn't speaking idealistic gas when He said, "Be perfect;" His hopes for the world and yours align there. But striving for that will drive you mad, because you can't do it.

Jesus asks for your whole life, every aspect of you, not just a piece here or a portion of time there. You can't reach perfection on your own, or piece-meal in perfecting this part then moving on to the next; in His hands alone perfection will form. Your personality, your desires, your despairs and frustrations, even those things you see as vices now - everything that makes you uniquely you - will be given back with 10x the strength and perfect beauty. He makes ALL things new.

Jesus didn't come to prune a branch here or there; He wants to chop the whole tree down. He didn't come to cut out the failing organ and replace it with a healthy one; He intends a full-body transplant, even the pieces that seem to be working fine. He asks you to hand over the whole natural self, all the parts you deem good and innocent as well as the ones you think wicked, And then, you'll begin to find perfection rising up within you without your trying. The hard part is the surrender, but its also the easiest (and only) way to do it.

C. S. Lewis explains it much better than I could. He writes:

"[Christ] says, 'Take up your Cross and follow Me' - in other words, it is like going to be beaten to death in a concentration camp. Next minute He says, 'My yoke is easy and my burden light.' He means both. And one can just see why both are true.

...In a battle, or in mountain climbing, there is often one thing which it takes a lot of pluck to do; bit it is also, in the long run, the safest thing to do. If you funk it, you will find yourself, hours later, in far worse danger. The cowardly thing is also the most dangerous thing.

It is like that here. The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self—all your wishes and precautions—to Christ. But is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is remain what we call 'ourselves', to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time to be 'good'. We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way—centered on money or pleasure or ambition—and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do. As He said, a thistle cannot produce figs. If I am a field that contains nothing but grass-seed, I cannot produce wheat. Cutting the grass may keep it short [and maybe even reduce the weeds]: but I shall still produce grass and no wheat. If I want to produce wheat, the change must go deeper than the surface. I must be ploughed up and re-sown."

The grass-seed is the good in you. The wheat is the perfection Jesus demands. Even if you managed the impossible task of removing all the weeds on your own and keeping your grass trim, your grass will never become wheat. That requires Jesus not only putting it there, but growing it, too. God wants to make you a miniature copy of Jesus Christ, while KEEPING what makes you YOU intact. All the good things within you were put there by God, and they are not the same good things He gave to your neighbor or your brother or your friend. You have a uniqueness to you that God wants to expand and perfect, but He needs to work with ALL of you to do so. He can't make the good perfect if you don't give it to Him, and you can't make it perfect by trying to turn grass into wheat on your own. Give that up. "I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. (Philippians 3:9).

So Jesus calls us to be brave, to actually give it ALL to Him, to be perfect. That sounds great. How do we do it? Where's the easy part, Craig? C. S. Lewis had an answer for that, too, which I will end this post with:

"That is why the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.

We can only do it for moments at first. But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our system: because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us. It is the difference between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through. When He said, ‘Be perfect,’ He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder – in fact, it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

... This is the whole of Christianity. There is nothing else."

The beloved individual who started this conversation said not only does she crave perfection, but she is often disappointed. My advice to her is to go in for the long haul. I have given word-sentiment to this for years and only recently begun to allow God to chop down the whole tree, to take on the full surgery. But frankly, I'm tired of disappointment. I'm tired of despair. And I'm already experiencing the Joy amidst the pain, and I guarantee you, its worth it. It's the only way.

“God cannot give us a happiness and peace [and perfection] apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.... If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth, only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair."

Desperate Desires

As Christians, most all of us want to make an impact in the world for Jesus. That's part of the calling - "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature!" If we have Jesus inside of us, changing us, our desires will become His desires, right?

"Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4)

Though these words are familiar to us, their real power is lost on many of us. Your heart's desires are very important to Jesus. In actuality, He put those desires in your heart.

So what does that have to do with making an impact in the world for Jesus? Surely ministry is something I do for God and others, and it cannot happen until I die to all of my heart's desires....

That is probably the greatest spiritual misunderstanding of all time.

God doesn't want you to abandon your heart's desires; He wants you to tell Him what they are. Here me very carefully. We have been created to seek award for achievement. Not only that, but seeing God as a rewarder is a PREREQUISITE to entering His presence.

"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)

Few people in history were as in touch with their heart's desire as Hannah was. She longed to be a mother. We've already established that God put that desire there, as He does for all of us. But here is a seemingly strange twist: He closed her womb!

"But to Hannah he would give a double portion, because he loved Hannah, although the Lord has closed her womb." (1 Samuel 1:5)

On top of that, Hannah was subjected to ridicule because of her desire.

"And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb." (1 Samuel 1:6)

Why would God do such a thing?! It sounds so cruel! Look deeper: her time with a closed womb intensified her heart's desire. God creates and then intensifies desires of the heart! Some of the greatest frustrations in your life have been orchestrated to deepen a craving in your heart. These heartfelt wishes are a very essential part of you, and they have the power to produce a cry from your soul to God. In the words of Firefly, "God, You've got me desperate!" This is a mighty gift! Your cry can impact God in a way that few things can.

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:11)

Hannah's profound desire for a child provided her with a focused prayer. Hannah did not go to pray for revival. She was not asking for a mighty move of God - she just wanted children. You want joy. You want success. You want love at home and a special someone with whom to share your life. Your Heavenly father is intimately acquainted with all of your desires. They are important to Him, and they are an important part of His design for you!

Are you starting to see yet? God uses your desires - the desires He put there - to move you to the place He wants you to be. He uses them to empower you, to energize you to seek His will in your life. You see, God wants us to have our desires, but He wants us to know without a doubt that they came from Him, that is wasn't our strivings that earned them but rather they are the blessings of a loving Father. If He simply granted them as soon as you felt the first tugging of your heart, you would be happy, but the impact of receiving them would be so much less! God would be essentially working for you - coming to your bidding, when you wanted something from Him - rather than you working for Him and being rewarded for it.

You will find your miracle in a marriage of pleading for your heart's desires and making a shocking discovery about God in the process.

What is that discovery? It's coming up next. I encourage you to write down the desires of your heart and prepare to come to Jesus with them soon. Just do it. Trust me.

McPrayer with a side of Frustration

Prayer is a slow cooker. Because it is a relationship. The preliminary to effective, relational prayer is the decluttering of the heart. This is true of all relationships.

Currently, I live alone. Back when I lived with roommates, or with my parents and sister, I would come home from a day of work with all of the busyness and baggage of the day still occupying my mind. I would go sit down in the living room with whoever else was there, and we may or may not begin to chat, but either way, I wasn't really with them. Physically, I was close to them in space, but mentally, I was going over a part of my studies that was particularly difficult, or wishing I had told that annoying customer at the bank off (or that I hadn't done so), or wondering how such-and-such difficult decision in my future was going to play out, etc. All such things, at the time, burden me. The result of a burdened heart is inattentiveness. The same is true of God. Even living alone, I tend to allow my daily burdens to get in the way of my relationship with God. This is but one reason "McPrayer" is ineffective, because such "drive-thru prayers" do not allow for the requisite de-burdening.

Joyce Huggett writes: "When we enter our prayer place, we need to give ourselves time to relax in God's presence. One of the best ways of doing this is to recognize some of the reasons why we are tense: worry, pressure of things to be done, the quarrel we just had with our spouse or a colleague. It will be impossible to contemplate until these pressures have been handed over to God. When we transfer them to him, we find ourselves gloriously free with an uncluttered expanse of time in which to be met afresh by him. Perhaps that is one reason why Peter invites us to 'Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.' (1 Peter 5:7)."

It takes a considerable amount of time to de-burden. You may have to actually set aside a full hour or more in simply giving your worries to God. Yes, that's right, an hour or more praying BEFORE you can really start to hear from God. We don't do that sort of thing today; at least, I don't typically. Or ever, if I'm honest. But without consistent de-burdening these anxieties accrue and collect interest, and have a toxic effect on the soul.

For this reason, I'm trying to stop what I'm doing at some point in the night, perhaps turn on some worship music, and just have quiet-time with God. And do this until I'm not concerned about anything, and can really free myself up to hear from Him. David records that he brought his concerns to God every morning and night, knowing God heard and took care of them, and then delighted in His presence. I want my cares and desires to be heard and took care of, and I want to delight myself in His presence every day.

Don't go for drive-thru praying. Make time to devote to prayer and just casting your cares on God. Do this even if you have to sacrifice something, be it as trivial as a television show or as important as homework. Trust me, spending time in contemplation and conversation with God is like making an investment; you spend an hour or two with God, and you'll suddenly find yourself with five hours of time freed up to do what you need to do. I'm already finding this out first-hand. And you'll be far more joyful day to day.

• Cease McPraying.


• Slow-cook in God's presence.


• Let all anxieties be stripped away.


• Enter into the freedom of relationship with God, with all its take-and-give.

Equally Loved By God

Okay, I'm taking a new direction with this blog. The direct Bible promises may still surface from time to time, based on my reading, but my posts were too irregular with that. Now it will just be my thoughts as they come to me, ha ha.

C.S. Lewis writes: "It is idle to say that men are of equal value. If value is taken in a worldly sense - if we mean that all men are equally useful or beautiful or good or entertaining - then it is nonsense. If it means that all are of equal value as immortal souls, then I think it conceals a dangerous error. The infinite value of each human soul is not a Christian doctrine. God did not die for man because of some value He perceived in him. The value of each human soul considered simply in itself, out of relation to God, is zero. As St. Paul writes, to have died for valuable men would have been not divine but merely heroic; but God died for sinners. He loved us not because we were lovable, but because He is Love. It may be that He loves all equally - He certainly loved all to the death - and I am not certain what the expression means. If there is equality, it is in His love, not in us." (From "Membership," in The Weight of Glory)

God loves us all equally. "Then Peter began to speak: 'I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.'" (Acts 10:34-35) But we are not, in our humanity, equal. Some people are better at math than other people. I am not the swimmer that Michael Phelps is, but I feel confident I could outplay him on the saxophone. LeBron James is a better basketball player than I and will be no matter how much I practice; I am simply unequal to him physically.

This truth leads to the following conclusion: In the game of basketball, LeBron James is more valuable than I am. If LeBron and I were lined up in a pickup game, and you were choosing players, you would choose LeBron before me. Such is the reality of human inequality.

What does Lewis mean when he writes, "The value of each human soul considered simply in itself, out of relation to God, is zero." The following, I think:

• It is only in relation to God that our lives have value.


• Without being in relation to God, our tiny souls add nothing to the greatness of God. If our value is numerically '1' or '1 billion,' the result is still zero when placed against 'infinity.'

The equality lies in this: God loves me and you and Michael Phelps and LeBron James equally. God does not favor the more gifted over your own self. God did not only die for those who have the greater talent, but for all. Because in our shared sinfulness the infinite qualitative distinction between us and God is the same. "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), yet He also says ANY who call on His name will be saved: "He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

So why did God made us unequal in ability? Why do some receive great gifts of intelligence or beauty or physical prowess or charisma, while others must make do with much less? I can't pretend to know the final answer; His thoughts are far higher than my thoughts. I think I will save my take on it for another post.

Joseph - A Man of Confidence

Some people seem to know exactly what they will accomplish in life. In Joseph's case, God gave him a vivid set of dreams that cast him in the role of ruler over his father and eleven brothers. The brothers, of course, thought their younger brother was being arrogant, rude, and silly. They were already upset by the fact that their father treated Joseph with special attention. Their jealousy and anger escalated to the point where they considered killing him but decided to sell him into slavery, instead.

Little did the brothers know that they were working out God's plan. Still a teenager, Joseph found himself a slave in Egypt. His integrity, work ethic, and efforts earned him the trust of others. No matter where life landed him, Joseph immediately found a place to make choices that honored God. He practiced his considerable gifts and abilities. Unfairly enslaved, he made an impact in his master's home. Unfairly imprisoned, he made an impact in prison. Given an opportunity, he made decisions which impacted a nation. With God's help he set up a massive preparation for famine, which would save Egypt and her neighbors. Later, his dream came true when his entire family bowed before him, not recognizing him as a brother but appreciating his generosity as the manager of Egypt.

Joseph knew God's hand was on his life. He apparently never wavered in his confidence of that fact. He never let the immediate circumstances determine his view of God's power and ability to shape him into a man who knew how to handle the choices that life gave him.

Your vision of the future may not be as clear as Joseph's. That doesn't mean your confidence in God has to be less than his. The key is to remember that faith doesn't rest on a vision but on God. Your God must be big enough to work out His plans in your life, no matter what the obstacles. Trust in such a God, and He'll guide your choices. Who knows? You may save a nation someday.

Want to know more? Read about Joseph's amazing life that wavered between rags and riches in: Genesis 37-50, Hebrews 11:21, 22.