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I see the horizons ahead and they loom large,
Surpassing and transcending, who can fathom?
Clouded is the future and we see dimly,
As in a dark mirror.

Still I will not fear even though the shadows come.
For I can still see the horizons behind me.
I remember standing with my father and gazing in wonder,
From the top of Garibaldi looking to the edge of the world.

Mount Copeland held horizons of challenge for a youth,
With large machines and work fit for men.
Still my father stood tall and larger than my fears,
I would work out and go on to drill and blast.

Marriage stretched out uncertain and tenuous,
And who can grasp the length and breadth of it?
Though many lose their way and fail to finish,
There I saw my father steady and true in love.

Where in the world do I belong?
I have seen my father on his knees,
And I remember that it is not this world,
But the next, beyond the horizons.

By faith I am not afraid of this journey.
Faith that springs from sureness of times past.
For I have seen my father held sure and secure,
All these years by the Father of the fathers.

I love you Dad you're the best!

_________________________________________

Footprints

One night I dreamed a dream.
I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene,
I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and
One to my Lord.

When the last scene of my life shot before me
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
There was only one set of footprints.
I realized that this was at the lowest
And saddest times of my life.
This always bothered me
And I questioned the Lord
about my dilemma.

"Lord, You told me when i decided to follow You,
You would walk and talk with me all the way.
But i'm aware that during the most troublesome
Times of my life there is only one set of footprints.
I just don't understand why, when I need You most,
You leave me."

He whispered, "My precious child,
I love you and will never leave you,
never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you say only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."

By Margaret Fishback Powers - Coquitlam

Copyright © 2000 Damien Ryan. Last updated February 28th, 2000.

_________________________________________

Life -by Josh (13 years old)

"If only, if only".
The rich man sings.
"Treasure could cause delight".
But it is only a temporary thing,
When money and power seem right.

But if you search for the meaning of life,
True happiness can be found!
And we see it can end with a swish of a knife.
So you look forward, and not to the ground.

You come to a neighbourhood where lives have been changed,
By drugs, violence and sex,
And you decide that is not the path for you.
So you move on to the next.

And when you have lived your life and completed your goal,
And there is no where left to roam,
You look up through those old wrinkled eyes,
And say, "It is time to go Home!"

__________________________________

Chemo - Why me?

Thank you for keeping up with me in fellowship, in mail and in
prayer. Please forgive me if I do not get to acknowledge every mail
I receive immediately, but everyone is read and appreciated and
brightens my day.
Praise God, I am keeping well under the circumstances. The
cumulative effect of the chemo treatment as expected is beginning to
take it's toll on my body and my blood count crashed at the
beginning of my third cycle about 2 weeks back. But it did climb
back up enough for the full dose of chemo to be administered on Day
one of Cycle 3, which means there is so far no disruption to the
program. My energy level is also much lower but it perks up a
little after 2 or 3 days. I suffered a swollen esophagus and throat
at the end of the second week of the last cycle and am praying that
it will not happen again as it made it rather difficult to eat
without choking for a few days. But we managed to overcome the
problem, and would you believe it I actually put on a kilo since the
last cycle!
I have been concerned, praying and thinking about some friends who
are hurting for me and perhaps also for themselves wondering why God
does not seem to do many instant miracles anymore and asking why God
seems so unfair at times. I do so appreciate your love and concern
for me.
We live in this fallen world and both believers and non -believers
are really subject to the same elements in our environment. We all
face the same kind of physical end. Life is often unfair, but let us
not mix up what this fallen world order throws at us, with God.
Believers have Hope in the Salvation we have received through Christ
Jesus. We have also been given a Comforter, an Advocate, a Guide who
will lead us into all truth. We have the armour of God. We have
Scripture. We have one another in the Body of Christ. This life is
but a transition, and God has equipped us to ride the trials and
tribulations we have to face before we complete our journey and
transformation process. (Romans 12:1-2, James 1) We have so much
more than non -believers that's why we need to share the Gospel.
The message of the wealth and health gospels certainly does not help
us. There is biblical and theological distortion in what they put
forth. They insist that God wills perfect health and complete
healing for every believer here and now, and that God has obligated
Himself to heal every sickness for those who have faith. Integral to
this theology is the insistence that we can claim such healing from
God, and that any failure to be healed is not the fault of God but
of the one who has not had enough faith. But Scripture tells us that
we only need faith the size of a mustard seed and we can move
mountains if we ask according to His will.
Gordon Fee, Prof. at Regent College writes that - The mystery of
Faith is that there is a wonderful relationship between our asking
and trusting, and what goes on about us. God doesn't have to answer
prayer but He does. God doesn't have to heal, but He graciously
does. Healing therefore is not a divine obligation; it is a divine
gift. And precisely because it is a gift, we can make no demands.
But we trust Him to do all things well!
I believe My God can do any of the following: He can heal me
miraculously or He can heal me through medical science or He can
call me home. He is Sovereign. I truly am not afraid of death as I
believe that it is indeed gain as Paul said, but I am also not ready
to go as yet for my children and husband need me still, and further
there is so much more of the Lord's work to be done. So I ask as
Scripture has taught, and do ask for healing and for more time here,
but ultimately I will also do what Christ taught us in the Lord's
prayer and also add - Not my will but yours Lord and trust
implicitly in His unfailing Love that He will work out His purpose
for my life. So I am very much at peace knowing that Christ is in
this boat with me. If He would have me ride this storm in my life, I
shall trust Him to bring me to shore in His good time, be it a
heavenly or earthly shore. I know He has my best interest.
Instant healing is not ours to claim as of right or to receive by
any repeated ritual but all things are given by the Grace of God.
God is not a heavenly ATM (Miracle Machine) for us to punch the
right button to name and claim if we work up enough faith in
ourselves to will it. Our faith should be in God our creator, to
will and to work according to His purpose. He does answer prayer and
He will heal miraculously, but not in every instance and certainly
not through repeated rituals or arm twisting prayers. We need to let
God be the Sovereign God that He is, and not reduce Him to our size
only to do our bidding.
I do not have all the answers to many of our questions especially
about pain/suffering and evil, but the God I know in my heart I
trust. If you think about it, if there were certainty about all
things, then we do not really need faith. We need faith because
there are things our finite minds simply cannot be certain of. There
is a natural tension between certainty/knowledge, and faith. So from
the little that I do know, I choose to trust God and the Truths
which Scripture reveals to us. I pray that you will also share that
trust with me.
Again, thank you for keeping up with me. It means so much to me to
have you all journey with me, but should you feel that you do not
want to continue receiving updates, it is also alright with me.
Please just let me know. I would still keep you in my prayers.

God Bless, and may Christ always be the Light to your path,
Lots of Love,
Sarah

____________________________

There is such an amazing sense of Peace that flows from Sarah's testimony!
This is a poem I can almost remember that comes to mind ...

Dark Threads

Not until the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas and show the reasons why,
The dark threads are as needful in the Master's skillful hands,
As the threads of gold and scarlet in His vast eternal plan.

Author: ???

____________________________

I'm Done Here

I climb onto His lap: a child.
Slowly,
I take out my heart
and lay it in His hand.
I take out my brain,
with all its thoughts and concerns,
and add it to my heart,
in His hand.
I unzip my body,
peel it off,
and add it to the pile.
I take the cord
that holds my spirit
and tie it to His finger.
He closes His hand gently,
all safe.
Empty, I climb into His shirt.
He covers me;
buttons me in. I can't be seen.
I am hiding in His Love.
I lay my head on His chest
and listen to His heart beat.
I hear the rumble of His deep voice:
no words, just rumbles and heartbeat.
I rest and wait and
see what He will do.
Patricia
____________________________

Dr. Seuss Explains Why Computers Sometimes Crash
(Read this aloud, if you can!)

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,

and the bus is interrupted at a very last resort,
and the access of the memory makes your floppy
disk abort, then the socket packet pocket has an error
to report.

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
and the double-clicking icon puts your window in

the trash, and your data is corrupted cause the index
doesn't hash, then your situation''s hopeless and your
system's gonna crash!!

If the label on the cable on the table at your
house says the network is connected to the button on
your mouse, but your packets want to tunnel to another
protocol, that's repeatedly rejected by the printer
down the hall, and your screen is all distorted by the
side effects of gauss, so your icons in the window are
as wavy as a souse;
then you may as well reboot and go out with a
bang, 'cuz sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna
hang!

When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy in
the disk, and the macro code instructions cause
unnecessary risk, then you'll have to flash the memory
and you'll want to RAM your ROM.
Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell
your Mom!

WELL! That certainly clears things up for ME!!
How about you?????
Author Unknown

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Christian Living, Witness and Service
by James Pike
October 12, 2007

On December 16, 1986 I was born, and on this day I began my journey of growing and learning; a journey I have yet to complete. It was a hospital in Scarborough Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, where I was born. There were complications in the delivery because it was taking too long, and so I was born green and not breathing. Nevertheless the doctors took care of me and that is one of the reasons I why can write this essay today. I was born to Christian parents, Howard and Kathie Pike. We lived in Goodwood for about a year because of dad's work but within that year my parents decided to move back to Vancouver to be close to family. After a year living in Vancouver I had a baby sister named Esther. Although my parents are devout Christians most of my family is not. The only outspoken Christian in my family, other than my parents, would be my mom's brother, Gordie Lovegrove.
Almost immediately after I was born my parents made it a point to get me involved in the church. So they let me help in nursery at a very early age to keep the people there occupied and entertained. As I grew older I went to Sunday School. I can still remember the flannel diagrams and panoramas of Jesus and the story of David and Goliath. Those kinds of stories interested me and I believed them to be true stories, not just nice fairy tales. Since dad had gone through Battalion and was profoundly affected by it he decided that going through CSB (Christian Service Brigade) would be good for me too. When I was old enough dad signed me up for Treeclimbers. I have very fond memories of my time there. It was a joy being there and learning from the Godly men who volunteered their time. I still remember the wooden tree and the wooden forest animals that we would place on it for attendance. The most vivid memory I have is one of having the Treeclimber leaders taking this large role of paper out and unrolling it. Written on it was John 3:16. To this day I can remember that verse because of their ingenuity. As I went through Treeclimbers our church had Promiseland on Sundays. Every week we had to memorize a verse in order to get a Promiseland buck (currency at the Promiseland store). Every week I would consistently memorise the needed verse with the diligent help of my mom and it was because of those verses and the Godly people I saw that God's Truth began to penetrate my heart and become more and more alive in me. It was not until Stockade at the age of 7 and being challenged by my Stockade leader, Phil Johnson, that I accepted Christ into my heart. However, since I grew up in a Christian home I did not feel any different by taking that step of faith. So every once in a while I would ask God into my heart again, just to make sure He was truly in there.
In Elementary school I was a bit of a bully. I fought a lot and sometimes I won and sometimes I lost. But I wanted to be accepted by the kids there because I liked having friends. So, in grade 4 I tried making friends, however, I got into the wrong crowd, trying to be accepted by the world. I tried really hard to be accepted by the world, nevertheless, the ways that I tried to be accepted got me in trouble with my beliefs in Christ and His creation. When I told my 'friends' that I was a Christian and that I believed that dinosaurs and man lived together at the same time and that dinosaurs were still alive my friendship with them was over; the bullying began. Everyday for the next 3 years I was bullied by them and it only stopped when we went to separate middle schools. Nevertheless, I still wanted to be their friend and it was a very difficult time for me.
During this difficult time I turned to Christ as I was trying to find where I belonged. However, this was a long and winding road, mainly due to my poor decisions. In grade 6, I would read my Bible as my silent reading book. I read the Old Testament mainly, Genesis, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, Proverbs, as many war and battle stories as possible, as well as John for Battalion achievement. All of those books interested me and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the battles that took place and how God had saved the Israelites from certain disaster. Because of the bullying during this time I drew away from people at school and this allowed Satan to attack me and lead me astray. Although Satan was tempting me a lot, and I often fell, I still tried my best to live a life for Christ. I knew the Truth and I tried my best to live according to it, however, every time I fell I was wrought with guilt and shame making it harder to stand strong against the temptations, thus, making me feel even worse. I tried to live out my life as God had told me, love others as yourself, be honest, do the right thing, obey your parents, be respectful, be courteous, treat women with kindness, and be a gentleman, open doors for people: etc. Much of this I learned not merely from the Bible, but from the men that I observed, ie. my Treeclimber, Stockade, Battalion leaders and from my dad who was/is a strong Godly man.
Due to the bullying that I experienced in Elementary school my openness with my beliefs was quieted. Not only did my openness of my beliefs stop, my openness in general stopped and I became very shy and timid around the kids in middle school. However, I was open and honest with adults since I did not view them as wanting to hurt me. Nevertheless, if someone asked me about what I believed I told them honestly and openly. Since I did not tell people openly about Jesus, I instead used my actions to express my beliefs. In addition to this I waited for my classmates to first ask me about my beliefs before I told them, this way I knew that what I said was valued by them and that I was not going to be bullied because of it. Thus, I decided that the best way for me to tell people about my beliefs was first to live them out and then wait for them to question me as to why I lived the way I did. I desired my actions to evangelize more than my words since actions speak louder than words. If my actions were empty and without morals then my words about Jesus would be useless. This continued throughout middle school and high school. I was steadfast in living my life as best I could to honour Christ, nevertheless, I still fell a lot even though I knew the right things to do.
This did spark questions and in middle school many of my teachers were amazed that I read the Bible as my silent reading book and I was encouraged in school by the Christian teachers that I met, also other students asked me about the Bible. One of my class mates after school asked about the apocalypse so I told him about it, and also creation since I strongly believe in the 6 days of creation and in a young earth. Nevertheless, even doing this brought about persecution from classmates and when I told my teacher this I had a meeting with the Vice Principal. While there he told me that what my classmates had done was wrong and that he was a Christian too, he then encouraged me through God's Word and it was very comforting to me.
Beginning at the age of 13-14 I had a strong desire to be baptised. However, I kept on wrestling with the idea of being baptised. Each time I wanted to be baptised I would forget to ask if I could. This went on for 1-2 years till I was finally able to tell my parents that I wanted to be baptised. I was baptised on August 11th 2002 at the age of 15. I was not baptised at my home church, Calvary Baptist, rather, Friendship Baptist on Vancouver Island by my best friend's dad, Spencer Stadler. It was an important time in my life, being baptised, and I grew a lot spiritually by taking that step of faith.
I am 6' 5'' and have been a tall boy ever since I was in elementary school and for that reason I have been a part of the basketball team for a very long time. I first joined the basketball team in grade 6 and finished playing basketball in grade 12. Playing basketball was a lot of fun at times, mostly in elementary and middle school. However, the environment of high school basketball was not the greatest, in fact it was horrible. In Elementary and Middle school I liked playing. My team mates were my friends, they encouraged me and we were there for one another. But when High school basketball started that all changed because it was competitive. Most of my team mates were self centered; more interested in their game than in the team's. I found this very hard to play in and found myself sitting more and more on the bench as the pressure of competition weighed down on me. However, throughout the locker room talks and being the only practising Christian on the team I continued to try my best to live like Christ. My team mates knew by my actions that I lived to the beat of a different drum. This did spark interest and one of my team mates came to faith through his girl friend (they go to the Chinese service at Calvary Baptist) and I was encouraged by that. Furthermore some of the guys were not as bad as the others and I found refuge with them.
I can remember one particular tournament in Penticton. We were playing a game on my birthday and I had an amazing game, blocking shots, getting baskets, and my team mates named me player of the game. However, in the locker room, instead of taking the praise for myself, I asked the coach if I could say something and he said sure. I told the guys not to give me the glory but God. The day after we had other games but my roommate and I, and many other team members, asked me about what I meant about giving God the glory. I was more than happy to explain my faith to them. Then on our way back from Penticton we ran into a long, thick stretch of fog on the windy Coquihalla. Our driver began to get scared so he asked me to pray silently for safety. A Muslim team mate also prayed for safety. Again the driver asked me to pray but this time out loud, which I did willingly. After I prayed the van full of 15 boys began to ask me all sorts of questions about Jesus, God and Christianity. This discussion went on for about an hour and every question that they asked I had an answer for and it was amazing to be used by God in that way. Although God used me in that time of their lives I did not see a real impact in their lives, however, I learned this year that one of those boys told his younger brother about it and he came to faith because of it (that boy now attends the Stockade group at Calvary Baptist). When I graduated from High school I attended college and am now in my third year.
At my church, Sunday school ran on till the grade 6 and then students went into RUSH. However, after Sunday School I chose to stay in service with my parents rather than attend. I felt that RUSH was too cliquey and that I would feel out of place. Nevertheless, in grade 11 my dad forced me to go to Youth (grades 9 to 12) to meet girls, since in Battalion there were none. Even though I protested and did not want to go he insisted. However, since I went I brought along some of the Battalion boys so I did not feel so alone.
While there I guess dad's plan worked, I met a girl. Her name was Brittany Hansen and we fell in love. It was amazing how God brought her into my life because I was not looking to fall in love, rather, just hang out with friends and learn about God but it happened nonetheless. We did not start dating right away, even though we cared for each other a lot, we remained close friends until we graduated. But before all that, God was using Brittany in my life to draw me closer to Him. He used her to reveal areas in my life that I needed to change and He also gave me a greater passion to stand against temptation and learn more about Him. I had not read the whole Bible through, but when I met Brittany, God used her to encourage me to, unbeknownst to her. She and I were very cautious in starting a relationship. Actually I was probably the most cautious one at first because I did not want to get hurt, or make a mistake. I wanted the first woman that I dated to be the same woman I will marry. For this reason I watched Brittany carefully and made sure that she was a strong Christian before taking a risk and asking her out. Throughout all of that, I was praying to God whether or not she was the one for me. We are still together today and I am very certain that I will marry her, and she is very certain that she will marry me too.
While in Youth, the leaders noticed the leadership skills that I had, because of Battalion, and asked both Brittany and I to talk about a passage from Ephesians. This was kind of awkward because I liked Brittany and I did not know that she liked me to, I thought she looked at me as a friend, however I later agreed to do that with her. Brittany and I were going to split the passage in half, she did one part and I did the other. Nevertheless, Brittany had a lot of school work at that time and the ball was passed to me. After finishing the first half the youth group had a lot of questions for me about the persecution that I had experienced in school and also about the Penticton tournament. I was more than happy to talk to them about those experiences. It was a privilege to speak on Ephesians.
From the age of 11 and a half to now I have been a part of Battalion. I credit my time in Battalion with making me the man that I am today. The challenges that it presented to me stretched me and trained me so that I could be all that I could be. Not only did it present challenges but also sound doctrine and Biblical teachings that were pivotal in my Christian maturity. However, all of that would have been meaningless if not for the Battalion leaders giving up their free time to spend mentoring us. I started out as a Private and graduated as a Master Sergeant. Each new rank that I achieved gave me more responsibility and challenges. Each time more was required of me I matured since I knew that those below me were looking to me to complete the tasks asked of me. My superiors were always there ready to help but never to take away my responsibility, whatever it may be. These opportunities equipped me and trained me into a Christian leader. This training also helped me to stay on the straight and narrow path of Christ, although I fell down a lot and still fall down, I try everyday to live like Christ and to be a witness to those around me. In Stockade, I completed 3 blockhouses and in my first year in Battalion I finished my Observer. I was not very interested in doing achievements since it just meant more work for me and less play. Nevertheless, in my last year as a boy in Battalion, God put a passion and a drive to complete all of my achievements from Explorer to Third Star. I finished my last memory verse literally 2 minutes before the deadline for qualifying for the Herald of Christ passed.
As I passionately and purposefully began to break down the stronghold that Satan had within my heart against Christ, my life began to change substantially. I did better in school, I was able to communicate effectively with people, my pursuit of Brittany was nearing a climax (asking her if I could court her), and my relationship with Christ was closer than ever before. This steadily continued after I graduated and as I tackled the challenges given by the Herald of Christ, one at a time my understanding of Scriptures grew more and more. The men's group needing a young upcoming leader in the church to speak at a Conference, asked me if I would be a speaker. I gladly accepted and enjoyed the challenge of speaking to a large group of men whom I respected very much. They gave me a choice of topics to speak on and I chose 'Principles to Live by.' Talking on this subject was a joy and a privilege for me. In Battalion without my knowledge or conscious attempts, my actions spoke to one of our trouble kids and he accepted Christ because of how I treated him. I was amazed to hear that God used me to change this boys life without me knowing it. With that knowledge I wonder what else God has used me for without my understanding.
After 21 months of waiting and building a friendship with Brittany, and after we both had graduated, we began a courtship. This courtship was not going to be like the world's kind of a courtship, rather, one of purpose and honouring to God. The purpose of my courtship with Brittany is marriage and we know that we not only need to pursue each other, but God as well. We need to pursue Him together because He is our First Love.
Right after high school, I went into Douglas College. At first it was a difficult transition, but after being in Douglas for three years now I finally know how to reach my goal. That goal is to be a teacher. I plan to get my Bachelor of Physical Education and Coaching at Douglas (focusing on Biology and Physical Education) and then getting my teaching certificate at Simon Fraser University. Nonetheless, this will not be the end of my education since I also want to get my Master of Education and also my Master of Divinity. Both of these will take a lot of time and energy, however, I know that God will be there with me in whatever I do. I had originally longed to be a teaching pastor, but now I just want to teach and be used by God that way. I want to teach not just Biology but about God and Creation and His love and purpose for us.
As I have noted throughout this essay, whenever I have an opportunity to evangelize, I do. However, I do not view it as evangelism, rather, sharing my belief in Christ and His Word. I have not made any challenges to people to accept Christ as their Saviour and I have never told people that they are going to a really uncomfortable place if they die without Christ. I view myself as getting people ready for God's Word, telling them that there is a Creator, that He made them special and unique, and letting someone else come along and telling that person that that Creator wants a deep and meaningful relationship with them. I did this in high school, giving Creation video seminars where I showed a Creation video and opened the time after for discussion about the video.
This past summer I was a part of a team to Turkey to evangelize and encourage the believers there. I do not feel like I made much of an impact there. I did not bring anyone to Christ nor did I really speak the Gospel in general, however, I did encourage the believers there and did talk about faith with them. Since I did not know the language, I tried my best to let my actions speak about the faith to which I hold strongly to. I felt that since I was never going to learn the language fast enough to do what we had initially set out to do I could do the next best thing, evangelise with my actions.
Christ has taken me here thus far and where He will lead me in the future I do not know. What I do know is that I will pursue Him and try my best to live a life of service and worship to Him for the rest of my life. I will not cease in my pursuit of Him because I love Him. Although I am a sinner, He has shown me that I can be used by Him for His purposes and I aim to praise Him for that everyday. I do not know where He will take me but I trust Him and love Him no matter what. I will follow Him to the ends of the Earth if He should so choose. For I will always trust in God, to keep me Bright and Keen for Christ, because I love Him, because I want to serve Him, until I see Him face to face. Amen.

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Timeless thoughts in 1978.

The Bird twisted it's uncreased neck to bring yellow eyes to bear mockingly upon me.
Panorama of jagged mountain cliffs and glacier crests placed me isolate and humorous to his gaze.
A Snowy Owl, winter-groomed, he knew well his ability and I his superiority. How complex my survival and how simple his.
The first lesson this wild teaches is humility, the rodent stands towering in his element while I shiver before the fall winds.
In his dust I near blush to meet the owl's stare.
Panting, black tarred mucus in the snow behind me, I surface to the summit and square shoulders proudly
to the blue sky almost beneath me now. Even here there is yet another even higher peak of mountain
to stare at dejectedly and then as though the point hadn't been made, two goats, eyes to the crest running effortlessly.

I resented the exorcize of the way down!

About Oneness

Watch him now he's seen Rodent move.

No cry of wrath, he's nothing to prove.

Without sound or flurry and invisable groove

Brings target to mark, Rodent's lifetime is through. And,

One becomes one, Rodent, Owl and you.

Stare into still water's mirrored ice,

They are one, disparity but nature's vice.

Winter's grip threatens even dice, and

One becomes one with reflection's lost life.

Climb great mountains, square shoulders to blue.

Embarass your self singing vanity's tune,

Until humility offers real scope of the view.

Greg Fothergill - 1978

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