It's been a while since my last blog post. June was pride month, and I was contemplating what I might focus on next. While I was doing so, my Facebook newsfeed was full of people worrying about "the LGBT+ ideology" taking over their schools and localities. There was a general fear of, "It's coming for our children!" A fear of boys and girls not knowing what it means to be boys and girls and creepers waltzing into locker rooms and bathrooms under the guise of "being trans". Many of these people profess belief in Christ.
I have quite a few friends who are either on the fence of being affirming, friends who are non-affirming but treat the issue more as one of Christian liberty, and friends who are non-affirming and struggle with how to come alongside their LGBT+ brothers and sisters.
I also have friends who are LGBT+ affirming and part of the LGBT+ community themselves. Both Christian and not. People who have been treated cruelly by family, friends, and the church. To my dear friends who are of these camps, I want to recognize that reading this post may be painful because it feels like this shouldn't even be a problem. Because there's something odd about a bunch of people talking about, "How should we deal with this?" when they're talking about you. Because it's hard to hear about how someone thinks your desires are shameful, wrong, and evil.
My hope with this post is to explore how the church can better love our LGBT+ neighbors. I truly hope that this doesn't fall short or flat in a way that I think many Christian books and posts do on the matter.
These are things I've thought about after much contemplation and pondering the things I've learned from my LGBT+ acquaintances and friends.
How Christian Literature Has Tried to "Come Alongside"
Typically Christian books on this subject spend too much time trying to dismantle the "LGBT+ ideology". You get a mix of, "We absolutely are to be compassionate, but we absolutely cannot tolerate this ideology." This can play out with authors advising to be "loving" but "stand firm in the truth", and to speak the truth in love ("I think this is wrong and can't stand for it, but I love you").
Nancy Pearcey's book Love Thy Body was one of the most highly recommended books to me as one that graciously and thoughtfully engaged with "LGBT+ issues". Her book begins:
Human life and sexuality have become the watershed moral issues of our age. Every day, the twenty-four-hour news cycle chronicles the advance of a secular moral revolution in areas such as sexuality, abortion, assisted suicide, homosexuality, and transgenderism. The new secular orthodoxy is being imposed through virtually all the major social institutions: academia, media, public schools, Hollywood, private corporations, and the law.
Here she describes the goal of the book:
In Love Thy Body, we will move beyond click-bait headlines and trendy slogans to uncover the worldview that drives the secular ethic. By learning the core principles of this worldview, you will be able to engage intelligently and compassionately on all of today’s most controversial moral challenges.
What is her proposed "solution"? How can we address "the problem"?
Christians ought to weep for people so confused about their identity—people who have absorbed a Darwinian view of nature as having no purpose or moral significance; who think their body is just a piece of matter that gives no clues about who they are as persons; who think their identity as male or female has no special dignity or meaning; who view their body negatively as a limitation on their authentic identity. By contrast, how can we present the biblical view as anything but radically positive and affirming? Christianity gives the basis for a high and humane view of the person as an integrated whole... A teleological view of nature gives a basis for accepting the goodness of nature and affirming the value and dignity of the created order.
All throughout Pearcey's book, the solution is one of selecting the correct worldview. The cure is a better philosophical framework. Most of her arguments are very much philosophical in nature, drawing upon wisdom from Plato and Aristotle, as well as looking at some principles she sees in Scripture. Still, the vast majority of the legwork is done by her analyzing philosophical frameworks and proposing her own in contrast.
Her argument is that secular philosophy devalues the body, and that is why we are so confused.
Her book doesn't provide much guidance in terms of what to do about your relationship with your child, friend, parent, acquaintance, spouse, etc who identifies as part of the LGBT+ community.
In a way, her book seems to imply that perhaps there wouldn't be any gay or trans people if we just got our philosophy and theology right. Or maybe there would, but this biblical mental shift is what will help provide clarity and healing into people's broken messy lives.
This is a trend I find in so much Christian thought on this matter.
I find books like this to be supremely unhelpful, and I imagine a Christian who is gay or trans and is even themself non-affirming who reads this book would feel incredibly misunderstood, misrepresented, and isolated.
Again, I find some of this problem stems from treating this as some ideological issue, rather than as a question of, "How can I love my LGBT+ neighbor?"
Most people want guidance on how to approach their relationships with people, not on how best to defend one's ideology in the face of their neighbor's. That is the question I want to pose: how can I love my LGBT+ neighbor, whether they are Christian or not, whether they are affirming or not?
To answer that question, I want to take a deep dive into the book of Job.
The Narrative of Job
The book of Job gives people mixed feelings. It brings up a lot of questions for people. Like why is God playing with this guy? Why does God seem to rebuke Job? Why does God allow suffering? What is with Elihu? Why does God seem to dodge the question? Or if you have been following my blog posts, what does this have to do with loving my LGBT+ neighbors? (We'll get there.)
Some of those mixed feelings stem from how we're looking at Job through our modern glasses and aren't meditating on it as being wisdom literature. Job, like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs, is considered wisdom literature. It is meant to be pondered and contemplated at length. It's supposed to make you ask questions. It invites the reader into seeking out the wisdom of God in the midst of confusion and chaos.
There's a lot of rich wisdom to be gleaned from Job if we can set aside our modern glasses. There is a reason the author of Job frames things as they do.
I. Job's Intro: The Heavenly Court Scene
The book of Job starts with an odd scene. After being told who Job is, we're given this heavenly court scene and see this back and forth between God and a mysterious figure called the Adversary (sometimes translated as Satan).
Actually, quite a bit of Job plays out like a court scene. We start with a court scene in heaven, and then we will descend to a courtlike scene on earth.
The Adversary accuses Job of only being faithful to God because God blesses him.
The Adversary answered the Lord, "Does Job revere God for nothing? Haven't you fenced him in - his house and all he has - and blessed the work of his hands so that his possessions extend throughout the earth? But stretch out your hand and strike all he has. He will certainly curse you to your face." - Job 1:9-11 (CEB).
So God allows the Adversary to inflict deep suffering on Job. He loses all of his possessions, his children, his property, and he breaks out into painful sores.
From the very beginning, we know Job is righteous and that God is indeed pleased with him. The reader, from the beginning, has a bird's eye view of the whole picture.
As for Job and his friends, though, they are in the dark. And that is important.
II. Job's Response and The Reaction of Job's Wife and Friends
Job took a piece of broken pottery to scratch himself and sat down on a mound of ashes. Job's wife said to him, "Are you still clinging to your integrity? Curse God, and die." Job said to her, "You're talking like a foolish woman. Will we receive good from God but not also receive bad?" - 2:8-10
In the face of his suffering, Job's wife encourages him to curse God, knowing that if Job curses God he will be struck dead. It's here we learn something interesting. Job chooses to accept the suffering God has inflicted on him instead of cursing God and thus ending the suffering.
Then Job's friends find him, and upon seeing him they weep, tear their garments, and sit with Job "... for they saw he was in excruciating pain."
III. Job's Friends Accuse Him of Sin
Just as the book of Job began with a heavenly court scene that had an accuser (the Adversary), now we have another court-like scene on earth. Job's friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar accuse Job of sin and tell him to repent so that God may again bless him.
This is the part of Job that many people skip or skim or just forget about because it is long, confusing, and seemingly repetitive. However, it plays a very important part in the narrative. His friends each will bring an accusation against Job, one by one, three times. And each time, Job will respond. This is a significant symbolic number in Hebrew. When you see something three times, it's a sign to pay attention.
I want to highlight here some of the things Job's friends say and how Job responds.
If one tries to answer you, will you be annoyed? But who can hold words back? ... Think! What innocent person has ever perished? When have those who do the right thing been destroyed? As I've observed, those who plow sin and sow trouble will harvest it... Look, happy is the person whom God corrects; so don't reject the Almighty's instruction. He injures, but he binds up; he strikes but his hands heal... Look, we've searched this out, and so it is; listen and find out for yourself. - Job 4:2-3, 7-8 & 5:17-18, 27.
Eliphaz here is essentially saying that suffering is the result of sin and that if Job repents then God will give him back his fortune.
Bildad takes it even further, saying:
Does God pervert justice, or does the Almighty distort what is right? If your children sinned against him, then he delivered them into the power of their rebellion. If you will search eagerly for God, plead with the Almighty. If you are pure and do the right thing, then surely he will become active on your behalf and reward your innocent dwelling. Although your former state was ordinary, your future will be extraordinary. - 8:3-7
Bildad says that God would not "pervert justice" by inflicting suffering on Job, but that this is God's just judgment against something sinful Job has done. He even goes for the low blow by saying that since Job's children died, they must have sinned against God as well!
Job has many great replies to his friends. Job knows he is not suffering because of something he did, and indeed, we as the readers know this too.
Job says of his friends:
My companions are treacherous like a stream in the desert, like channels that overrun their streambeds, like those darkened by thawing ice, in which snow is obscured but that stop flowing in dry times and vanish from their channels in heat. Caravans turn aside from their paths; they go up into untamed areas and perish. Caravans from Tema look; merchants from Sheba hope for it. They are ashamed that they trusted; they arrive and are dismayed. That's what you are like; you see something awful and are afraid. - 6:15-21.
He also wisely responds to their logic by pointing out that God "destroys the blameless and the sinners". He asks who can be innocent before God and throughout the dialoguing back and forth asks for a mediator or arbiter that could advocate for him before God (more court imagery). Job also rightfully points out:
Why do the wicked live, grow old, and even become strong? Their children are always with them, their offspring in their sight, their houses safe from dread, God's punishing stick not upon them... They say to God, "Turn away from is; we take no pleasure in knowing your ways; who is the Almighty that we should serve him?" ... Someone dies in wonderful health, completely comfortable and well, their buckets full of milk, their bones marrow-filled and sound. Another dies in bitter spirit, never having tasted the good things. They lie together in the dust and worms cover them. - 21: 7-9, 14, 23-26
Job ponders the fact that sometimes God does not punish the wicked, and that both the wicked and the righteous "lie together in the dust" - they both ultimately die.
This whole time that his friends are accusing him of sin, we see Job not only responding to his friends but also questioning God as to why he is suffering. He wrestles back and forth, trying to discern why God allows human suffering and what the character of such a God must be.
Remember, only the readers know the heavenly court scene from the beginning. Job and his friends have no way of knowing why he is suffering.
In a way, both Job and God are "on trial". Job is suffering, and his friends say it is because he must have done something to deserve it.
Job begs and asks God why God's hand is so heavy upon him, and he asks for God to show up and give his case against him. Throughout the book of Job, we are invited to ask alongside Job whether God is just and cares about his creation.
God is not a man like me - someone I could answer - so that we could come together in court. Oh that there were a mediator between us; he would lay his hand on both of us, remove his rod from me, so his fury wouldn't frighten me. - 9:32-24
IV. The Author Interrupts
Right in the middle, after Job's friends have all accused him three times over and Job has responded, we get chapter 28. Chapter 28 reads as an interlude all about wisdom and how precious it is.
There is a sure source of silver, a place where gold is refined... But wisdom, where can it be found; where is the place of understanding? - 28:1, 12
At this point, Job and his friends have gone back and forth in circles, and all the arguments up to this point have been spent. Each of the arguments attempts to discover why Job is suffering in order to understand God's character, whether he is just and fair. But there is no way any of them could know the reason for Job's suffering, so they do not arrive at the truth.
Hence, we are at a turning point in the book.
We as readers are wondering about the right conclusion ourselves. We too wonder, "But wisdom, where can it be found?"
The author tells us:
She's hidden from the eyes of all the living, concealed from the birds of the sky. Destruction and Death have said, "We've heard a report of her." God understands her way; he knows her place; for he looks to the ends of the earth and surveys everything beneath the heavens. In order to weigh the wind, to prepare a measure for waters, when he made a decree for the rain, a path for thunderbolts, then he observed it, spoke of it, established it, searched it out, and said to humankind, "Look, the fear of the Lord is wisdom; turning from evil is understanding." - 28:21-28
The point here is that only God knows the way and place of wisdom. This should remind us as readers that we have a bird's eye view of what's going on in the story. Job and his friends are well and truly stumbling in the dark. There is no way any of them could know why Job is suffering.
The author is stating that the ways of God are higher than our ways; they are mysterious to us. Thus having awe and respect (fear) of the Lord is how humanity can learn wisdom.
V. Job Gives a Final Speech
At this point, we go back into the narrative, and Job gives a final speech. He speaks of how great his suffering is, and how God has forsaken him.
I cry to you, and you don't answer. I stand up, but you just look at me. - 30:20.
He cries out for God to answer him and shortly after, his words are complete.
Oh, that I had someone to hear me! Here's my signature; let the Almighty respond, and let my accuser write an indictment. - 31:35.
VI. Elihu Speaks out of Anger: "God will not hear your case."
The next section is interesting because a fourth friend is introduced who we had not met before. Job's three other friends stopped answering because they felt Job was too entrenched in his sin and unwilling to admit his unrighteousness. This, the author tells us, makes Elihu, the youngest, very angry. He felt as though Job was claiming to be more righteous than God.
Elihu claims to speak with a virtuous heart and claims that God's spirit "enlivens him". Job has asked to lay out his case before God. Elihu says, "If you are able, answer me; lay out your case before me and take a stand (33:5)." (Emphasis my own.)
Elihu accuses Job of claiming innocence and says that God is far greater than mere humans.
He accuses Job, saying:
Who is a man like Job? He drinks mockery like water and travels a path with wrongdoers, walking with evil persons. Indeed he said, "No one is rewarded for delighting in God." Therefore, intelligent ones, hear me; far be it from the Almighty to sin, for he repays people based on what they do, paying back everyone according to his ways. Surely God doesn't act wickedly; the Almighty doesn't distort justice. - 34:7-12.
Above all, Elihu tells Job multiple times that God will not answer him.
[God] does not answer when people cry out because of the arrogance of the wicked. Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea; the Almighty pays no attention to it. How much less, then, will he listen to you when you say that you do not see him, and that your case is before him and you must wait for him. - 35:12-14 (NIV)
Elihu claims to have "broad knowledge" and says, "My words are certainly truthful; one with total knowledge is present with you (36:4)."
Elihu ends his speech by again telling Job that there is no way God will answer him, for God is far greater than humanity, much less someone like Job.
As for the Almighty, we can't find him - he is powerful and just, abundantly righteous - he won't respond. Therefore, people fear him; none of the wise can see him. - 37:23-24 (CEB)
VII. God Answers Job
Literally right after Elihu is done saying that God will not answer Job, we read this:
Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. - 38:1
This whole time, Job's friends have been saying that God will not answer him. His friends have accused him of sin, saying that he is justly deserving of suffering and that he cannot stand before God. Elihu accuses Job of being so arrogant as to think that God would answer Job's "deceitful cry" and says Job is claiming to be more righteous than God.
But God answers Job.
Some people get confused when reading this part, as it sounds as though God is rebuking Job. God starts by saying:
Who is this darkening counsel with words lacking knowledge? - 38:2.
However, later on we will read that Job spoke rightly of God. God isn't rebuking Job. He is answering him, although not in a way we might expect. God is also, I believe, calling out everyone for speaking out of ignorance (words lacking knowledge). They did not know why Job was suffering, and it was foolish for them to reason on the assumption that they could always figure out why God does the things he does so as to evaluate whether he is just.
Job's friends have foolishly assumed Job must have sinned, and they have assumed much about the character of God that is wrong.
Job himself wondered about whether God truly cares for his creation and whether God is just. But God is not rebuking Job here. That God is answering him is important, as it is something Job has asked of God repeatedly throughout the narrative. God is trying to teach Job something about himself. We already know from the very beginning that God is pleased with Job.
This is the part in Job that most are likely familiar with.
God asks many questions all designed to show us that God is in control of all things and knows things no one else can possibly know. He "puts wisdom in remote places", he draws out Leviathan with a hook, he binds Pleiades chains. Death's gates are revealed to him, and he has surveyed the earth's expanses. Indeed, he has created it.
God speaks of how it is in such a vast, complex world that he metes out justice.
God never says, "Here is why I let you suffer." He does not say why the wicked sometimes prosper. He essentially says, "I am God, and you cannot understand my ways."
Job responds by saying:
I have indeed spoken about things I didn't understand, wonders beyond my comprehension. You said, "Listen and I will speak; I will question you and you will inform me." My ears had heard about you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I relent and find comfort on dust and ashes. - 42:3-6.
It may seem as though God is dodging the question. But remember, the author is framing everything this way for a reason. There is wisdom we are to glean from God's response.
The fact is that most of the time we are in this earth, we do not always know why things happen the way they do - particularly suffering. Like Job and his friends, we have no way of knowing the why behind it all. Sometimes we know and can see clearly. Other times we cannot.
Yet throughout all those times, God's hands are surely at work. Even during times of confusion and darkness, it is still good to love God and seek wisdom.
VIII. Epilogue.
At the end of Job, God is angry with Job's friends, saying they didn't speak of him rightly "as my servant Job has". In fact, he even instructs his friends to have Job pray over their burnt offering! We are told that God also blesses Job, and that Job's relatives and friends all come together to comfort him. He regains even more wealth than he had previously and has seven sons and three daughters.
We know that this blessing isn't because of Job doing something to earn it, although we know God is pleased with Job. We know God was pleased with Job also when God allowed the Adversary to inflict suffering upon Job. Instead, we can see it for what it is - a good gift from God.
The Folly of the Church and the Wisdom of Job
When I read the book of Job before, those thirty-nine chapters of dialogue with his friends had always seemed like a waste of space. Now, they became powerfully relevant. I found myself resonating strongly with Job's lament, "A desparing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams... Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid."
My Christian friends, too, had proved to be of no help. My homosexuality was "something dreadful" to them, something they were afraid of, and the only way they knew to handle it was to tell me it would go away if I just trusted God. Nothing I said could convince them otherwise. - From Torn by Justin Lee.
When we look at the church (particularly the non-affirming church) and how it typically tries to come alongside the LGBT+ community, there is something of a defensive posture, and there is a lot of concern around making it very clear this is a sin issue. "Be loving, but make sure we make it known that they are in sin!"
There are scores of back and forths between Christians arguing about whether we call the desire sinful and whether it's okay for someone to call themselves gay. There are conferences and classes and sermons about "the biblical view of sexuality and gender" to get it right.
Justin Lee, an openly gay and now affirming Christian, has written an amazing book, Torn, which I have referenced here before on his experience as a gay kid who grew up in the church.
He describes feeling incredibly isolated, misunderstood, and talked past. Every time he goes to pastors, various ministries, and classes, he hears the same things. He tried out ex-gay ministries, only to realize they sold a lie (be faithful and God will take away these desires... and maybe even make you straight!).
He describes how everyone just seemed to be telling him, "Don't be gay, Justin! Don't be gay!"
But none of his prayers and petitions seemed to be changing that. And he became convinced, especially after trying out ex-gay ministries, that this was something he would likely deal with for his whole life.
Yet the Christians around him were incredibly resistant to such an idea.
Why wouldn't God take away these sinful desires from professing Christians who are dedicated to Christ? I mean, surely he would! Surely, if they were just faithful, put their identity in Christ, and repented of their sin, God would deliver them.
Justin describes speaking to his pastor about his struggles and how "these feelings" weren't going anywhere.
I told him I felt the word "gay" best described my situation, but that I was still celibate and seeking God's guidance on what to do next. I told him that the "ex-gay" thing didn't seem to work... I asked him what advice he could offer me.
Justin's pastor responded by telling Justin he was, of course, welcome to continue worshipping as long as he didn't enter a relationship with another man. If Justin did, he would be asked to leave. His pastor also encouraged him to reconsider ex-gay ministries.
He said more things after that, but I didn't hear them. Suddenly, all I could think about was whether I might someday be kicked out of the church that had been my spiritual home for almost my entire life. Until that moment, I'd never thought of that. Why would I? I wasn't an unrepentant sinner. I was trying my best to live the way God wanted me to, and to be honest about feelings I didn't want or ask for. In my pastor's defense, he was trying to be compassionate...
But I hadn't come to him with concerns about being kicked out of the congregation. I had come to him for understanding, compassion, and advice about what to do. I was scared about the future, not knowing if this meant I'd have to be alone for the rest of my life, and I was worried about what my fellow Christians would think of me. And in that frame of mind, all I heard him say was, "We'll allow you to stay... for now. Just make sure you don't do anything that might change that." That hurt.
He describes trying to share his experience with his Christian friends, only to be told his feelings were sinful and if he just gave his life over to Jesus, he wouldn't feel that way anymore.
It's no wonder Justin found comfort in the book of Job.
Christians don't like hearing members of the LGBT+ community talk about their feelings.
When someone says, "I'm dealing with this, and I don't think it's going to go away," we say, "No. It will, if you just continue in all faithfulness." That's because accepting the experiences of someone who is sincerely trying to serve God and yet suffering greatly seems to us like admitting that God is not just.
Like Job's friends, we feel that we must point out that their suffering must stem from their sin. We feel that we only have two options: either God is just and their suffering comes from their own sin (Job's friends' position), or God allows them to suffer even though they are sincerely trying to serve him.
If we accept the latter it shakes our faith in God's justice, just as it shook Job's. To admit God might not be just is tantamount to renouncing our religion entirely. We minimize the reality of others' suffering and question their sincerity and morals to preserve our narrow idea of what a just God looks like.
Yet the book of Job is telling us there is an alternative and it is one that involves realizing we cannot always know why people are suffering.
In the narrative of Job, no one, not even Job, could possibly have known why he was suffering. And that is precisely the point.
We do not always know why God does things the way he does. We think we know a lot. We treat God like a genie. If you just pray, God will fix this. Didn't God promise he would sanctify you? Didn't God promise he would bless you and your family if you tithed? If you prayed? If you did right in his eyes?
God promises us many things, but it's so very easy to twist those promises and turn them into the gospel of prosperity instead of the gospel of grace.
Concluding Thoughts
I recognize most of this post has been directed mainly towards non-affirming Christians. This is true and on purpose, since the majority of the churches here in the US are non-affirming.
Our LGBT+ brothers and sisters, as well as members of the LGBT+ community who are non-believers all say, "I'm gay/trans/etc, and I don't think that's going to change. I'm isolated from my family, from my friends, and from society, and people hate me for something I cannot control."
Again, while it is my hope that my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ would be affirming as I am, I also know that the non-affirming church can do better than this. We can learn from the wisdom of Job.
At the beginning of Job, before his friends open their mouths to accuse, they weep with Job and sit with him on the ground in the dust and ashes. And God answers Job, saying that his ways are too marvelous to comprehend.
Would it not be better to truly listen to our LGBT+ brothers and sisters when they describe their sufferings and come to us with their burdens? To come alongside by sitting with them in the dust and ashes as they try to discern what God wants their lives to look like?
As for our affirming LGBT+ brothers and sisters in Christ, it would do good to also come alongside them and listen as they speak of their experiences they've had in the church. To come alongside them as they deal with true cruelty and hatred from society, and to be able worship with them as members of the body of Christ. This will do much better than all the conferences, classes, and sermons on matter ever could. It will do much better than crafting statement after statement on sexuality or arguing over what terms LGBT+ folks should use to refer to themselves.
Also, for our LGBT+ neighbors who are outside of the church, I think it would do good to hear the bitterness, hurt, and anger they have towards Christians and Christianity. It would do good to grieve deeply of the way we have sinned against our LGBT+ neighbors. I know of some who probably cannot even read my blog post because to do so is to re-open incredibly deep wounds which the church is responsible for inflicting.
Those wounds, dear readers, go unhealed in part because the church continues in its way: showing disgust and seeing our neighbor as "something dreadful". We inflict wounds by defending a narrow view of God that we have crafted for ourselves in our ignorance and folly which causes us to close our ears and hearts towards those who are suffering.
This is to the church's shame, and I do believe the church pays the real hurt it has dealt to the LGBT+ community with the barest of lip service. For right after we are done saying, "The church has been unloving to the LGBT+ community," generally what follows is akin to the sorts of things said by Job's friends.
It is my hope that the church both acknowledges the weight of the evil it has done and that it becomes a place known for coming alongside those who suffer. That those who hurt will not be sent away and accused, but gathered in and comforted.
It is my hope that the church becomes ever more like Christ, who himself was familiar with suffering and rejection. In Isaiah 53 it says, "Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted." The teachers of the law and those who watched Jesus crucified on the cross thought his suffering was a result of some wrong or crime. The Pharisees thought he deserved it, and people watching on would have assumed he was a criminal. Yet there he was, the son of God, dying for our sins.
May that be ever on the forefront of our minds.
I hope this blog post was helpful or perhaps thought provoking. As always, questions, comments, and concerns are always welcome. Thank you for taking the time to read all of this.