Jewels From James IV, When Life Seems Hard

Well, I want to say a couple of things while you're turning in your Bibles to the book of James and getting out your outlines. First of all, thank you for all the surveys we got back about the seating. Most of you like the seats. Some of you want a little more of them individually. So we've taken that into account. We're going to give a little more space in each seat and a little more space in between. And just for the record, just so you know, we're not making this up, only 10% of you wanted pews. I just think that's wonderful. I knew that was the law. It's been an interesting week. Did you enjoy spring and summer? That was Wednesday and Thursday, and now it's back to snow. It was an amazing week. And even on the building project, I don't know if you know this, but I'm going to share this, Jack. You can rebuke me later. But when I was a kid, my mom and dad would say, I loved to play with erector sets. I wasn't all that good at it. They helped me to steer out of that career path. But when I got something built and if it didn't fit when I got to the top, what did I used to do? Oh, it was easy. I just bent that thing over, and it just, and tied that. And it worked. That was kind of my style of things. And so, well, you know what? That worked with erector sets. But this, the end of last week, they found that when the beams got up there near the end, they weren't fitting exactly right. And folks, it's kind of hard to build, you know, to bend a two-foot thick beam. So in the most beautiful days of the spring, they're taking steel down. Last week, I'm thinking, I know who's behind this little plot, OK? Here's the good news. In two days, they corrected the problem and had the steel back up and passed where they were this week. Somebody got really busy out there. And it was, you know, who knows what caused the problem. But in a brand new project like that, it was an interesting thing. But I'm just going to invite you all to pray. Every time you drive by there, pray. Don't just say, oh, is that great? Pray, because the enemy doesn't want this thing to be done. And it will be done, by God's grace. We're going to be in there. September, for sure. I'm not sure exactly what date yet, but keep praying about that. All right, are you ready to turn to James? And we're just going to read one verse today. And if you've been here with us for the last, now this is our fourth week. We're doing a expositional study in the book of James, line by line, verse by verse. We skip verse 12, because I wanted to bring this message today on Palm Sunday. Let's read it together. Verse 12 of James 1. Blessed is the man, it's in your notes on the blue card if you don't have your Bible. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. During this past Winter Olympics, the greatest story behind this story wasn't Tanya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. How many of you noticed that Tanya's been a little quiet since 10 days ago? Her story's changed. The greatest story behind this story, in my estimation, was that of Dan Jansen, the speed skater who, in his last opportunity, the last race of his Olympic career, won the gold medal in the 1,000 meter speed skating competition. And if you know anything about the story, the reason why it was so emotional was that in previous Olympics, Dan had an opportunity to win. And each time something had gotten in the way, I think it was about six years ago or so, his sister died of leukemia the day before his big race. And he just didn't have the psychological edge to win the race. Then in, I think it was, 92, he was a shoo-in to win the 500 meters and fell down. Remember that? And I showed him slamming into the side and lost the medal. And then again, in the premier race, the 500 of this Olympics in 94, the abbreviated two-year version, the big race came. And again, Dan Jansen's the favorite to win. And he trips up again and loses the 500. All the commentators and everyone is saying, what is it going to take for this guy? Is there this monkey on his back? I mean, is it his destiny to lose the gold medal, which he should have, by all rights, won? And I'll never forget on that 1,000 meter race when he did it in world record time. And I remember the camera panning over to his wife and family all gathered and leaning over. And you remember what she said? If you read lips, you remember. She said, thank you, Lord. I mean, tears and just big explosion as this six- or eight-year weight of emotion was lifted off of her shoulder. I mean, that kind of thing. Even the media was kind of congenial and said, isn't this great? I mean, you really deserved it. I mean, people like that kind of inspire me. How about you? You remember 10 years ago in the 84 Olympics when Gabriella Anderson ran that marathon and the last lap, she couldn't stay on her feet. Remember that? It took her six minutes to do the last lap because she was exhausted. And while the commentators were up there in their air-conditioned booths, kind of, it's not real smart to be running when you're that tired. You know, it's true. But she's falling all over the track just to get to the finish line. What stamina and courage. I mean, those kind of people just inspire me. Or I think of Dr. Ben Carson. He's a now nationally recognized pediatric cardiologist. You try to say that. Pediatric cardiologist who grew up in the ghetto, the inner city ghetto of Detroit, Michigan. And as an African-American ghetto kid was told, you'll never amount to anything. You'll never get anywhere. And God blessed him with a great mind and great skill. And now he's recognized because he didn't listen to all the voices that told him, you might as well give up your dream. You might as well quit. You're not going to make it. Folks, I am drawn to people like that. They inspire all of us. Why? Because, you know, every single one of us know how easy it is to quit when life seems hard. It's easy. The world is full of people who quit. And so I get inspired when I hear those stories. I get charged up. I feel like that's the kind of person I want to be on the inside. How do you go on when life seems hard? I mean, what do you do to keep persevering through the difficult times? You see, in our culture, it's sort of second nature to quit. I mean, you don't like your job? Hey, give it up. Find another one. Don't like your marriage anymore? Kind of tired of the same old spouse? Bail out. No one meant for you to just have one spouse anyhow. It's kind of called now serial monogamy. I'll be faithful while I'm with that person. Then I'll find another one. Kids aren't doing what you want them to do. Hey, kids are all like that. Don't worry about it. Just keep going on. They'll take care of themselves. Don't like your church? Kind of bored at church? Things kind of going slow for you? Shop around. Give up on it. There's other churches out there. Got a friend who just kind of seems to be ignoring you? Well, who needs him? Get rid of him. Make another friend. The Lord? Is it the Lord that's kind of disappointed you? Well, you're too serious about it anyhow. Back off a little bit. Lighten up. Move on. I know how many times I've thought some of those same thoughts. I know how many times when life's gotten really hard, I've thought, you know what? I don't know if this is worth it. And I think, you know, I'll still be myself and I'll still like me if I quit. But then something happens and I get inspired by somebody, by some of you sometimes. And I say, if they can make it, God, I've got to keep going on. And I get inspired on the inside because you know what? I don't want to be known as a quitter. I want to finish the race that's been set before me. And I believe that many of you do too. And I get charged up by the fire that burns in some of your lives. And I have to also say, I get discouraged when I see someone who bails out just because life got a little hard for them. And I know something about this crowd here today on Palm Sunday. I know if we went row by row and seat by seat, there's a whole lot of you tempted today to give up. Maybe a couple of hundred of you. Some of you are in a marriage and it's all you can do to stay in that marriage one more week. You've been wanting to give up for a year, two years, maybe longer. Some of you here today, and it's your sobriety that's on the line. More people than we'd like to acknowledge here in North Way have come up through drug and alcohol abuse situations. And if you were honest, you'd say, it's such a battle, I don't know if I can make it. Others of you are in a job situation where you just hate it and you don't know if you wanna get out of bed tomorrow to go into work. Some of you here today are in a battle for your own emotional equilibrium. You've heard some news this week that's been devastating and you don't know which end is up and you're struggling. Can I really go on? And you know, every once in a while, a couple of times a month, I get letters from some of you saying, I don't know if I wanna stay in life itself. I'm not sure it's worth it anymore. Some of you are here and your illness has been plaguing you. There's been pain in your body so long, you're thinking, I can't deal with another day, another week, another month of pain. Others of you, there's so much financial pressure in your life, you just wanna run away from it all. Just go to another state and start over again, change your identity, you wanna give up. I know that's true because I've talked to some of you. Some of you are dealing with loneliness that won't quit. Here's all these people, you know, you're bumping into them in the cafeteria, you can barely get through the halls and yet you feel totally alone. And when you leave this service today and walk out to your car, you'll say to yourself, there's another whole big gathering where nobody talked to me and I'm alone again. And some of you are hanging on by the fingernails just to your faith in Christ. You haven't had any prayers answered in so long, you think God has closed the door to heaven and you don't know what to do. And you're thinking, I'm just gonna get out of all this. All of us at one time or another, our temp is just to slide on down and out instead of standing in the stream against the tide of those who'd wanna quit. And I wanna say to all of you today with a heaviness of heart and a sagging spirit and a weariness of your will, I have a word from the Lord for you today. Actually two words. And the word from the Lord is, hang on. James said it in one word, persevere. Don't give up, stay in there. James says here in verse 12, if you persevere, you're blessed and God has a reward for you. And this is such an important topic, I didn't wanna miss it. But you know what I saw this week as I was preparing? I saw a linkage between this principle and Palm Sunday that I'd never seen before. Although today we declare the kingship of Jesus Christ as we should appropriately do on Palm Sunday, and although we lifted our palms in praise to him, some of us, and although we're aware that his prophetically promised reign will yet be established here on the earth. Do you know what I believe about Jesus and that week of Palm Sunday that it began? I believe that was the most difficult week of Jesus' life. And I believe furthermore, that Jesus was tempted every single day of that week to quit. I believe he was. Have you thought about that? Can you picture Jesus quitting? I'll tell you why I believe it. Three reasons, this is your overhead. Three reasons, number one, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter four, that the Lord was tempted in all things as we were. If I'm tempted to quit, he must have been tempted to quit too. Number two, he frequently said things like, how long am I gonna have to put up with you? I have to tell you, if I met Jesus on the street, I think he might say that to me. How long am I gonna have to put up with you? He said that, I think it was in Mark chapter nine. And finally, in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed to the father, father, don't let it happen this way. But if it's your will, I'll do it. He wanted God to change things. He was tempted to say, I don't wanna go to the cross. I don't wanna pay sin's price for all the world. I believe he was tempted. You know, if he were tempted and I'm tempted, what do you think most Americans feel like? They wanna give up in a minute. In America, the prevailing thought is, the world owes me a blessing. The world owes me victory and success. Think she'd come easily. How many of you heard the story this week about the lady who was suing the Pennsylvania lottery because she didn't win? This is true. It was on the evening news. Did you see that? And they interviewed her there with her little brood of kids, all kind of bedraggled dressed. And she said, well, I just think that these kids have a right to their education and everything. And we didn't win the lottery, so I'm suing the lottery. And the follow-up story, by the way, was that she had spent $150,000 in 10 years buying lottery tickets. You know, there's a couple of courts low up there or something, but it was, to the credit of the legal profession, no one would take her case. Just think if she'd have won. Talk about a whole new flood of litigation. You see, the world doesn't owe us any victories, folks. And can I say, as Christians, it's much the same in many circles. Do you know that 20 years ago, there was this theology called King's Kids? Now, don't put your hand up, but some of you kind of, you bought that. Like, well, I'm a King's Kid, and I deserve God's best no matter what, and I'm gonna take it, nothing less. And it was sort of like, no matter what, this is what I, God owes me this. Now, is it true that we have an inheritance? It sure is. But God doesn't owe it to us without struggle. In the 80s, there was a theology called the Prosperity Doctrine. And that just said that, hey, if I claim it, I receive it, and every blessing out there is mine in Christ, and I'm just gonna take it, and I don't have to pay any price for it. And folks, all of that just led a lot of people, including many big-name people, down the wrong path. Some have since recanted of that theology, including James Baker, or Jim Baker, to many of you, who said, I had it all wrong. Because he learned, what I believe the Bible teaches, and you might wanna write this down, it's a very important, powerful truth of Scripture. The great paradox of the Christian life is that true victory only comes through suffering. True victory only comes by way of a cross. You don't get it any other way. It doesn't just get laid down at your feet just because you call yourself a king's kid. Paul said in Romans 8, 17, we are children of God. We are joint heirs with Christ if we share in his sufferings. And church, we don't wanna hear it, but God has ordained it to be that way so that our character would grow, so that our trust and dependence would grow. It's God's plan to make you mature and lovely in his sight. So what do we do when life seems hard? Those of you who wanna give up today, what do you do to hold on? Let me just give you three specific helps. They may not be much for you. They may help some of you a lot. Three things I've discovered about hanging on when I wanna quit. And by the way, when it comes to quitting, I don't think any of us here today would just wake up one morning and say, God, I quit. It's 11, it's 12 o'clock just about on Sunday morning, 27th of March, I quit today. How do we quit? We drift away, don't we? We just kind of slowly back away. It's kind of like the guy I talked to whose business had failed not too long ago. I called him up, I said, you know, I haven't seen you at worship for a few months. He said, well, Jay, the truth is, I've been working on my family room deck and remodeling my family room. And it's Sunday's my only real day off. So that's what I've been doing. I said, I see. Well, what about your home group? Well, you know, my home group meets Sunday night and I'm so tired from working on my family room that I just, I can't get out Sunday night. I said, well, are you spending time with the Lord? Well, you know, and he finally said, Jay, let me get to the point. He said this, and I wanna quote, he said, Jay, it just isn't working for me. He drifted away. So what can we do? Let me just share these three things. Number one, walk with the Lord one day at a time. As much of a cliche as that is, folks, it's very important that your attitude be today, Lord, just today, I'm gonna hang on to you, just for today. Take your blue notes and read that scripture with me under Roman numeral one. Jesus said this in Matthew 6, 34. Read it with me. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Now, is that practical or what? How many of you find that to be true? Yeah, I got plenty of problems just for today. That's Jesus saying that. Many organizations, powerful support groups like AA have discovered this principle. You see, AA doesn't tell alcoholics, you gotta get sober for the rest of your life. It doesn't tell them, you gotta stop today drinking forever. You know what it tells them? It says, you have to stop drinking today. You have to abstain from alcohol today, just today, and then tomorrow the same. And those dear ones here in this auditorium, and there are more than you really probably know there are, church, recovering from alcoholism or drug addictions. I just wanna say to you courageous people, you're halfway through another day. You're gonna make it through today, and then you're gonna wake up tomorrow and thank God that for just tomorrow you'll make it again. And I have found that when you can live life that way with your struggles, one day trusting the Lord at a time, one day you can make it. Because victories begin to mount and God begins to give abundant grace. Some of you are struggling with your physical makeup. You're thinking, how long am I gonna beat this? I mean, am I gonna have to diet and exercise for the rest of my life? No, just today. And then you can wake up tomorrow, and by God's grace, you can say, Lord, just for today, give me the grace to take care of my body and do what I should do. You know, I have to do these messages every week and sometimes two a week. I projected ahead another 25 years or however long the Lord gives me. I don't know what it comes out to, but somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 messages. I look at that and I say, oh my gosh, I'll never do that. That's impossible. But I've discovered, much to the consternation of the staff, that I work best just doing one message at a time, one week at a time. I just work on this week's message. I just have it in front of me just for this week. And it works. And now that big mountain is just one shovel full at a time. I just dismantle it. It was kind of funny just a little while ago, a well-dressed guy came up to me after a Sunday morning services in the old building. He said, you know, you do, I've been coming around here a few weeks and you do a great job giving those messages. Do you have a job during the week? I said, come on, dad. You've been over this before, I would think. Listen, if you're here today and you're tempted to quit, if you're a salesman and you think, I can't make one more call. I'm tired of people hanging up on me. I'm tired of them slamming the door in my face, not showing up for their appointments. I want to quit this job. Just have grace for tomorrow. Just say, Lord, just this, just one day, give me grace to hang in there today. If you're a mom and you just, you know, the little, what are they called? Ankle biters are everywhere. And if you think I can't change another diaper, I don't want to get another mush meal thrown on the floor. I just can't deal with this. Just one more day, mom. One more day of grace. If you're here today and you're in the midst of physical pain, if there is pain in your body of arthritis or some problem, I want to say to you, I can identify with that. I know what that's like. And I want to say, I get to the end of every single day of my life right now. And I lay my head in that pillow and I say, Lord, thank you for the grace you gave me today to get through my pain and to celebrate your goodness. And I know tomorrow morning when I awake and your grace will be there sufficient for me again. Just for that day. So number one, walk one day at a time. Number two, choose praise, not pity. You've got to doggedly refuse to yield to those voices that tempt you to self-pity and they'll always be there. Have you heard those voices? Just when it's getting really tough, you'll hear that little whisper from the enemy. He'll say, woe is me. And if you buy that, then you'll hear his second voice, his second whisper, which is, woe, woe is me. And if you buy that one, he'll put the big one on you. And that's the third one. Listen to this twist. He says, woe, woe is only me. And he'll lie to you to make you think that God has singled you out for a unique dose of trial and struggle and difficulty in your life. What makes people who want to hang on just cash it in? What's the straw that breaks the camel's back for many people? Why do some just quit when they get in the middle of things? Because they accept the lie that God has singled them out, unlike anybody else, to go through something they just can't bear. That they're somehow the Job of 1994. God's scapegoat. God's angry at him. Why bother fighting God? Dear ones, can I tell you that every believer that I've ever met has gone through significant trials? I could take you into the offices of many leaders in the body of Christ here in Pittsburgh, name that you would know, people that you've heard, people who said, oh, aren't they wonderful? And they would tell you story after story of their own gut-wrenching trials, marriages that have been on the verge of breakup, kids that have walked out of the house, illness that won't go away, depression that lingers on. I mean, you see these people and say, oh, if I could just be like that pro athlete and make all that money and have that great testimony and have my beautiful kids, and I could take you to pro athletes who didn't wanna get out of bed in the morning because of depression, because of the struggle they've been through about their own self-image. Christians. We all go through it. So take some comfort in the fact, don't let yourself fall into this pity thing. There's nothing productive about pity. It doesn't help at all. Every believer shares with you in some time the extreme pressure and agony and disappointment and frustration that you may be going through. And don't listen to that little voice that's saying, only me, I'm the only one that's going through this tough, tough time. Folks, when you start reading the New Testament, it's kind of scary. There's a lot of illustration of people going through it. And none of us, I don't believe, have gone through what the writer of Hebrews talked about. Hebrews 11, you know, the hall of faith. Here's what it says. Some face jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned, they were sawn in two. They were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destituted, persecuted, and mistreated. They wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground, yet the world was not worthy of them. Don't listen to the lie that says, whoa, whoa, it's only me. I did not too long ago, I reluctantly share this, but the Lord impressed me that I should. About 18 months ago, we were in the midst of the fundraising part of building a new sanctuary and a new worship facility. Opening our doors. Those of you who are new or maybe don't know a lot about opening our doors, but it was a marvelous demonstration of the unity of this church to come together to support this project. And in the middle of that, I had committed, I'm not sure how wisely so, to meet with people for six consecutive weeks, nearly every morning at Denny's and Wexford for breakfast. Some of you were part of those little breakfasts. Sometimes it'd be five people, sometimes 25 or 30, but I just wanted to personally kind of share with you what the vision was. And I remember one night, we had a late elders meeting. I know we got home at like midnight or so, and I wasn't feeling all that well. I had this kind of crud stuff coming on. And I had a breakfast the next morning. It started at seven o'clock, so about a quarter to six. I mean, I'm waking up feeling terrible. And the last thing I'm thinking about is a grand slam breakfast at Denny's. And I'm getting dressed, and I bumped into something, and I hurt my, the shower came on cold, and I'm just muttering and complaining about this, and I'm thinking, whoa, it was me. And I get in my car, and it's barely getting to be light out there, and I look down, and Scott's still, his car's still there, he's still sleeping, quarter to six, whatever it was. Imagine that, I mean, what a slacker, it's quarter to six in the morning. And I had this thought, whoa, whoa, is only me. I'm the only one that's really caring about this project. I'm the only one that's out there really meeting with people. And I had this first-class black-tie pity party for myself, from my house over to Denny's, about an eight-minute ride. And I showed up there, and I don't think anyone wanted to be around me. I wouldn't have blamed them. I was complaining to myself, muttering. And I'll never forget, we sat down in that group, and some of you might recall this, and we were just sharing a little bit. It wasn't that big of a group. And one person said, well, you know, I just need to share that two days ago, I lost my job of 10 years. No announcement, no preparation. They just said, we have to let you go. And it was like God took a picture of cold ice water on my pity party, and went poof, and I said, Lord, I'm sorry. Gosh, I believed that lie that it was only me. And here's someone that's way, way farther down right now than I have any reason to be at all. You see, and what you gotta do in those times, Church, is begin to praise God. That's when you need to begin to lift your voice, and say, Lord, I choose to praise you, because I know you're in the midst of this circumstance. I know that though I don't see it the way I wanna see it right now, that you're in control, and my praise invites your kingdom rule to move in in order to the things that need to happen the way I'm praying they will. See, apart from my praise, it won't happen. But Jesus walked into Jerusalem, and he said to the crowds that were gathered there, if you don't praise me, the very rocks are gonna cry out. And the people waved the palm branches, and laid down their robes, and declared, because they had seen his kingship through the years. They'd seen the miracles, they'd seen the healings, the deliverances, they'd seen the demons flee at his command. They saw the dead raised, and they said, this man has an authority we've never seen before. And so they said, Hosanna in the highest, we praise you, because if you could do that, you can certainly take care of my life. By the way, what do you think Jesus meant when he said, if you don't praise me, the very rocks are gonna cry out? How many know that verse, Luke 19, 40, I think it is? What does that mean? You ever think about it? How many of you, honestly now, just be honest. How many of you have this image in your mind, well, that means if the people stop praising, like the rocks, the big ones, and even some of the smaller, they start getting little smiles, kind of like the California raisins. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. How many of you thought that? Yeah, thank you, everyone honest brother here. A lot of you thought that. What probably happened? What does he mean by that? Here's my theory. I looked this up in a lot of different commentaries. It probably, in my estimation, means that if you don't praise God, you are left to your own control. And if you're in control, the best you can hope for is for things to start getting shaken loose. And rock singing is a picture of an earthquake. Have you ever been in an earthquake? I've been in an earthquake. It sounds like, it's a noise. It's almost like the rocks are making a sound. And Jesus is saying, if you don't praise me, you are allowing your own control. And the best you can hope for is things just kind of shaking apart. That's what he's saying. So choose to praise him. Church, this is such an important thing. And I wanna pause right here and risk a little something if you'll stay with me here. This is why I guess it saddens me when this matter of praise comes up. And it's so important to us as a church that we give a lot of time to it. We teach about it. We share together. And it saddens me, you see, when people from the outside come in. And if you read the article in the paper last Monday, I mean, I think that was a well-intended evaluation. I think that person probably liked North Way. But their only frame of reference for our praise and for what we do here, the only thing they could even draw a vague parallel to was a rock concert. And the reason is they had nothing to kind of, they've never seen that before. They've never seen people who are wholeheartedly and with a measure of humility trying to grow in their expression of praise that's acceptable to God according to biblical pattern. And so they just, you know, that's I guess the best they could do is say, well, it looked kind of like a rock concert up there. And you have to know, it's not because I care about how they characterize me because I really don't. But I do care about the people that might read that and say, well, that sounds weird. I don't wanna go to that church. When the very thing that they need to help them is the presence of God that our praise brings. And just pray that God uses all these different means to get the message out. And I'll say just this one last thing about that. I'd rather have a worship service gathered together like this that resembles a rock concert a whole lot more than a funeral service. Amen. So number one, walk with the Lord day by day. Number two, choose praise, not self-pity because self-pity doesn't work. Praise does. Isaiah 43 verse two says, listen to this. Read it with me if you have it. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. So God shapes you through these times. And number three, the third thing I've learned is that you can learn to trust his timing. You see, ultimately everything you're going through has to do with who you're gonna trust. Are you gonna trust your ability to fix your life or are you gonna trust God's ability to see you through what you're facing? That's what it comes down to. And ultimately, many of us feel like, God, you know, in this particular thing, I'm gonna have to do a better job than you're doing. And we believe that because we don't see deliverance coming. We think, hey, God could delay another five, 10, 20 years and it'll never change. And I've discovered something about God. He delights in doing things suddenly. A few years ago, I did a series of messages called a Season of Suddenlies. And we looked at the times in the New Testament when believers weren't really expecting it. And suddenly, after months or years, God intervened. You know, Noah worked on the ark for 119 years. How many believe he was probably just about at the end of his perseverance? Then he had a Pittsburgh winter. And the 120th year, it rained just perpetually for who knows how long. A Season of Suddenlies, Acts chapter two. The apostles are gathered together in the upper room. The Savior's been ascended. They don't know what to do. They're drying up from hope. And the Bible says, suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind. God intervened. You see, you don't know when he's gonna do it. So as you praise him, just say, God, is it gonna be today? Today, are you gonna step in? Paul and Silas are in the prison in Philippi, in chains down in the lower dungeon. If you know anything about the prison system, they were over atop the sewer system. I mean, it was the foulest thing you can imagine. Chained together, and they're praising God and singing psalms and hymns. And the Bib