Facing Evaluations
How can I survive this with my fear of layoffs? It takes a lot of courage, to put things in God’s hands,To give ourselves completely, our lives, our hopes, our plans.To follow where God leads us and make His will our own.But all it takes is foolishness, to go the way alone! (Betsey Kline, “Trusting God”) Many of you have been or will be evaluated by someone. You feel anxious. You work to prepare a report that accurately reflects what you do. On the day of the meeting you pay more attention to the way you dress in order to look professional. You may even practice saying several of your statements out loud. For most, your fears were greatly exaggerated. The evaluation went well. For a few, your fears were accurate and there are disappointments to be faced and dealt with. Being evaluated can be a genuinely frightening experience. I know because I am evaluated regularly. My supervisor is kind and gracious but she has high expectations for me and the churches I serve. But truthfully, the real evaluation doesn’t come at work. The real evaluation comes within our relationship and our service to God. All of us answer to God. How are we doing? Paul wrote a letter to a young minister named Timothy and in the midst of the letter provided evaluation standards to be measured by: If you explain these things to the brothers and sisters, Timothy, you will be a worthy servant of Christ Jesus, one who is nourished by the message of faith and the good teaching you have followed. Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it. This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers. Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them. Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. Until I get there, focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers, and teaching them (1 Timothy 4:6-13 nlt). Paul gives Timothy nine standards worthy of evaluation: Explain these things to the brothers and sisters. Be a worthy servant of Christ who is nourished by the message of faith and the good teaching you have followed. Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas. Train yourself to be godly. Work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God. Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them. Don’t let anyone think less of you. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. Focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers, and teaching them. I don’t know about you but measured by those standards, I definitely come up short. Here is the lesson though. Paul did not write to point out our shortcomings. Paul illustrated the standards we are to strive for and to point out, we are not alone in our journey. God is with us in the midst successes, failures, good evaluations and not so good evaluations. A few years ago, I copied the following poem: It takes a lot of courage, to put things in God’s hands,To give ourselves completely, our lives, our hopes, our plans.To follow where God leads us and make His will our own.But all it takes is foolishness, to go the way alone! You already demonstrate great courage by putting your life in God’s hands. In so many ways, you give yourself completely: your life, your hopes, your plans. Good evaluation or bad, you are called to follow where God leads and make His will your own. Finally … You are not foolish because you are never, ever alone. There are many who love you, pray for you and support you. There are others who are greatly impacted by your life and ministry. There are more in the future who will be impacted by you. Finally, God called you, continues to strengthen and encourage you, and always walks with you. To give ourselves completely, our lives, our hopes, our plans. To follow where God leads us and make His will our own. But all it takes is foolishness, to go the way alone! After writing this, I confess to still feeling anxious about evaluations. After knowing God’s standards, feeling God’s grace and receiving God’s promise to always be walking beside me, I am no longer afraid. About the author: Larry Davies is a used-car salesman turned preacher. He serves at Timberlake UMC, and is the author of several books and the online devotional site Sowing Seeds of Faith.
Today’s Verse – Psalm 59:16
I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. —Psalm 59:16 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… So many things in our lives can be stolen away by natural disasters, aging, greedy people, addictive appetites, our own laziness, many distractions, and untimely death. These subtle temptations lead me to believe the evil one could be appropriately called “The Thief of Always.”* God, however, is immovable, and what he offers us is unstealable! We can invest ourselves in him and know our futures are secure in his care. God is our fortress and our refuge. We can run to our Father in heaven, find his grace and protection from the evil one, and build our lives on his solid promises and find that our future is secure with Jesus (Colossians 3:1-4). * This name is borrowed from Clive Barker’s dark fantasy tale of that same title, a classic tale of temptation, consequences, and the battle for one’s soul. My Prayer… O Great Rock of my salvation, thank you for being unchangeable and faithful. Thank you for being the source of my security, the assurance of a future in days of chaos and change. Thank you for being God. You are my God, and in you I place my life, my hopes, my dreams, my value, and my future. So, dear Father, I conclude with the prayer of your servant David as my heart’s desire: May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer (Psalm 19:14). In the name of Jesus. Amen.All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Let Me Decide!
Note from Jesus Dear Precious Disciple, Satan uses a very effective form of temptation on many of you who are My followers. He gets you to avoid looking at your own personal weaknesses and tempts you to focus on other people’s faults. Before long, you find others you don’t think measure up and aren’t as fruitful as you think they should be. You can grow angry because you are discouraged by those who claim to follow Me and yet live showing no loyalty to Me at all in their lifestyles. You are frustrated because unbelievers point to the hypocrites in My churches and use them to bolster their claim that Christianity doesn’t really matter. There can be times when you wish someone would just run out all the “fake followers” so there wouldn’t be so much spiritual drag on your worship, mission, and influence. Please remember that I warned you in several of My parables that many would claim to be My followers while their lives revealed something very different. Some among you are new disciples and don’t fully know My way and need time to mature. Others are weak and succumb to temptation easily, but they truly love Me and need help to grow stronger and have someone walk alongside them. Even some hypocrites have good hearts; they just haven’t surrendered all of that heart to My lordship and need to be challenged to love Me with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Please hear the two-part warning in the parable below. First, My church, My people, My spiritual family on earth does not exist in a vacuum. Satan and his demonic forces wage war against Me, My people, and My church. My enemy plants fake believers in the middle of true believers. He does so to drag you down and discourage you so that he can diminish your spiritual passion. The evil one longs to give ammunition to your critics and discourage those trying to decide whether or not to follow Me. Don’t let this situation discourage you. Instead, use this knowledge to help those who are not faithfully following Me to come to full faith in Me and to follow Me as their Lord and Savior. Second, you should not try to decide who is a true disciple and who is a fake disciple. It’s My job to expose what is false and what is genuine. Please don’t destroy My church by ripping up someone who is precious to Me. Let Me handle discerning between good fruit and bad fruit. Most of this I will do at the end of time. I will do this with My angels — the heavenly messengers. In the meantime, let’s work together on you. Let’s be honest about where you are in your spiritual journey. Are you fully following Me? Do you struggle being a new disciple? Do you have periods when you are weak? Do you catch yourself being hypocritical in what you say you believe and what you actually live? Do you find yourself being cynical about the faithfulness of other believers? Whatever is holding you back, please, let’s work on it together as we journey through the New Testament this year! Remember, I long to help you “shine like the sun in the Father’s Kingdom”! Verses to Live In this parable, faithful disciples are described as “good seeds,” and the unfaithful are “weeds.” You — and everyone else — get to decide what you will be — weeds or seeds. As you undoubtedly know, the initial decision to be faithful frequently is not enough. Most people need frequent recommitment and the help and encouragement of others. Don’t automatically categorize others who are not completely faithful to Me as being among the “weeds.” Rather, you may be able to provide just the help and encouragement that they need, while at the same time being careful not to become one of the weeds yourself. Jesus told them another parable. Jesus: The kingdom of heaven is like this: Once there was a farmer who sowed good seeds in his field. While the farmer’s workers were sleeping, his enemy crept into the field and sowed weeds among all the wheat seeds. Then he snuck away again. Eventually the crops grew — wheat, but also weeds. So the farmer’s workers said to him, “Sir, why didn’t you sow good seeds in your field? Where did these weeds come from?” “My enemy must have done this,” replied the farmer. “Should we go pull up all the weeds?” asked his workers. “No,” said the farmer. “It’s too risky. As you pull up the weeds, you would probably pull up some wheat as well. We’ll let them both grow until harvest time. I will tell the harvesters to collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, and only then to harvest the wheat and bring it to my barn. … Then Jesus left the crowds and returned to … [the] house. His disciples followed Him. Disciples: Explain to us the story You told about the weeds. Jesus: The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed represents the children of the Kingdom. The weeds— who do you think the weeds are? They are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who threw the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the workers are God’s heavenly messengers. In the parable, I told you the weeds would be pulled up and burned — well, that is how it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send His messengers out into the world, and they will root out from His kingdom everything that is poisonous, ugly, and malicious, and everyone who does evil. They will throw all that wickedness into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. And the righteous will
03 Feb 2026
The one sure way we can live for God is by dependence on Him. There is no other way. We have flesh and it desires one thing that is contrary to what the Spirit of God desires. And we operate in the world with all its challenges. So Galatians 5:16 is the solution to living for God. That life gives us freedom and causes us to live lives that glorify God. May the Lord keep pouring out His Spirit and may we desire to be filled by Him. Romans 5:13-23.
Groundhog Day
Is it Groundhog Day again? “That’s right, woodchuck-chuckers – it’s … Groundhog Day!” You may or may not recognize that line from the Bill Murray movie “Groundhog Day.” And if you don’t live in the United States, you may not even know that February 2 is Groundhog Day, the day when the superstitious look to a small mammal to determine how soon spring will arrive. In the movie, Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is trapped in a 24-hour time period that seems to repeat itself endlessly. Nothing he does allows him to move forward with his life. Once Connors realizes what is going on, he gives himself over to pleasure: gratuitous sex, crime, and selfishly trying to woo Andie MacDowell’s character. Eventually he learns that all of this leaves him empty inside, and Murray begins to find ways to better himself and serve others. This being Hollywood, Connors eventually ends up with the girl, and they set off to live happily ever after, beyond Groundhog Day. Phil Connors’ quest reminds me of one we find in the Bible, in the book of Ecclesiastes. This writer, a king, tells of some of the things in which he sought fulfillment: a quest for knowledge dedication to pleasure possessions commitment to work rivalry with others political power unrivaled riches children long life food and drink In the end, he admits that none of these brought lasting pleasure. It was all, in his words, “a chasing after the wind.” He only found one thing that could give him the sense of meaning that he sought: “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Some of us feel like Phil Connors, trapped in an endless routine. All of our attempts to find purpose and meaning in life leave us right back where we started. In the end, most of us learn what he learned on Groundhog Day: happiness begins with looking outside ourselves. But I want you to know that your journey isn’t complete until you learn what the writer of Ecclesiastes learned, all those centuries ago: only by basing our lives on God and His teachings can we be truly fulfilled. So this Groundhog Day, don’t let your life continue to be a series of meaningless days. Look to God, and let Him fill your life with a sense of purpose. To find out more about how that works, contact me at tarcher@heraldoftruth.org or visit our www.hopeforlife.org web site. (Expressed written consent must be obtained prior to republishing, retransmitting or otherwise reusing the content of this article. Contact us at info@hopeforlife.org) About the author: Tim Archer is the author of Church Inside Out and leads a seminar by the same name on behalf of Hope For Life, a Herald of Truth ministry.
Neighboring
Who is my neighbor? “So just who is my neighbor?” This question was launched by an expert on the Old Testament law to test Jesus. While it may seem innocent enough at first glance, underneath it was the push to find out just what is needed to qualify for eternal life (Luke 10:25). To put it crassly, “What’s my minimum requirement on being neighborly?” Jesus addressed the question in three powerful ways, never letting the “expert in the law” off the hook . Jesus was going to make sure this expert had to “own” his answer. Jesus asked the man to state his understanding of God’s truth twice, rather than Jesus giving the “expert” an answer (Luke 10:26; Luke 10:36). First, Jesus made clear the issue is about “neighboring”: intention and emotion are important, but godly compassion always involves action (James 2:14-17; 1 John 3:16-17). Jesus made this powerfully clear by answering the question by telling the story of “the good Samaritan” (Luke 10:30-35). The question is not, “Who is my neighbor [who I must serve]?” Instead, the question is, “Who needs neighboring: who needs my help and support?” And Jesus frames the story by the emphasis on “doing compassion” by framing the story with these two phrases: (1) “Do this and live” (Luke 10:28 TNIV), and (2) “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:35). Second, Jesus demonstrated what it means to “love your neighbor as yourself.” A simple scan of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – the books in the Bible that tell the story of Jesus – help us understand just what “neighboring” means. We meet men and women, religious and non-religious, leaders and powerless, rich and poor, able-bodied and those who are sick, dying, and dead. Jesus simply ignored the categories we so easily force people to fit. He broke social barriers, gender barriers, and religious stereotypes. He did not meet someone who was not his neighbor and he calls us to live the same way. Third, Jesus always kept the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” connected to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27). We become like the One we love! We cannot love God and not love others (1 John 4:7-21). So what’s the point of all of this? Simple: it’s not about figuring out who is our neighbor, but about neighboring those around us in need! Make a list of all the different kinds of people Jesus served – take a quick scan of the gospels to remind yourself of all the different kinds of people Jesus’ life touched in a redemptive way (Matthew 8:1-38; Mark 9:1-50; Mark 3:1-64; Luke 7:1-50 are a good start). What do you think the message is for you and how you are to “neighbor” others based on Jesus’ example? How would you describe what “neighboring” others means in your daily life? What leads you to keep from “neighboring” those who need our help? What makes it hard “neighboring” others you may not know? What makes it hard “neighboring” those you do know? About the author: Phil Ware has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including VerseoftheDay.com, read by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with Interim Ministry Partners and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of VerseoftheDay.com, God’s Holy Fire (on the Holy Spirit), and aYearwithJesus.com. Phil has also authored four books, daily devotionals on each of the four gospels.
Living Beyond the Formula
Jesus > You + X (all your dos) + Y (all your dont’s)! Dear Church People, I used to be a math teacher. You might think, based on this whole writing gig, I would have been an English or Reading teacher… neh eh. I just cannot grade all those essays with all those words. Me? I really like a clear formula. I like a DEFINITE right or wrong answer, no wondering, no questioning. I like that 2+2=4 and will always equal 4. I will never have to ponder if it’s right or wrong. It’s black and white. Objective. You can’t argue it. I grew up in a faith that loved itself a clear formula. I grew up knowing all the rights and all the wrongs, all the dos and all the don’ts, all the get-into-heavens and all the heading-straight-for-hells. Don’t dance. (You’ll get pregnant.) Don’t drink a DROP of alcohol. (You’ll get pregnant again.) Don’t cuss. Don’t have sex. (For obvious aforementioned reasons.) But seriously, don’t touch boys. And I get it. It was a formula. It was a simple, easy-to-follow, surefire way to determine an outcome. X (all the dos) > Y (all the don’ts) = Z (eternity in heaven) It’s simple. Easy to understand. No gray areas. So I grew up tallying marks for and against, learning blacks and whites, and always worrying whether my X > Y. Now, I totally get how this happens. We humans love control. We crave to feel in control of everything. We plan and rationalize because that makes us feel safe and protected, in control of our lives and our destinies. We don’t want to ACTUALLY place something so significant in the hands of something or someone we can’t see or hear or touch. So we construct a formula that makes sense, gives us something concrete to refer back to. But the older I got and the more scripture I read, the more I wondered about the formula. Because the formula seemed to be missing something pretty big. What about Jesus? What about grace? What about my heart? What about the Holy Spirit? (Yikes, the Holy Spirit. Don’t go all willy-nilly.) The problem with formulas (one of them) is that it allows us to take credit for our own salvation (if we do enough and don’t do enough, we win. YAY.) which leads to pride, which leads to judgment, which leads to separation and division, which leads to being Literally The Worst. If you have been following the formula like I did for so long, don’t forget: you need Jesus. Maybe even more than the sinners you’ve been so quick to condemn. Jesus quoted Isaiah when he said to formula-keepers in his day: “‘These people [the Pharisees and teachers of the law] honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men’” (Mattew 15:8-9). Rules taught by men = The Formula. Jesus continued: “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile [that person], but what comes out of [that person’s] mouth, that is what defiles…” (Matthew 15:10-11). – – – – – I have a feeling the formula isn’t working for you. Maybe you can’t figure it out, or the anxiety of it all is pressing down against you, or you feel like you’re buried in Ys and will never be able to stack up enough Xs to climb out, to make you feel like you’re worthy. Or maybe you feel like you’ve mastered the formula but in the meantime have found it hard to connect with people. And your heart feels less full of joy and more full of anger and resentment because the world is going to hell in a handbasket and IF EVERYONE WOULD JUST LIVE THE WAY YOU DID… Jesus is saying that what you do or don’t do, what you DID or DIDN’T DO, isn’t what makes you unclean. It isn’t what sanctifies you, purifies you, or makes you worthy of love or redemption or heaven. It’s your heart. And you know how to make your heart clean? Well, YOU can’t. You cannot cleanse yourself. But if you bind yourself, attach yourself like a vine is connected to a branch, your fruit will be good, your heart will transform. You will produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). If you can’t see the production of those things in your life, it’s time to reattach. If you see a sinner and your initial reaction is fear and condemnation rather than love and compassion, it’s time to reattach. If you feel angry at everyone, it’s time to reattach. And probably detach from social media because this place will not always restore your hope in humanity. And for those of you who still need a formula, here’s a fool-proof one: Jesus > You + X (all your dos) + Y (all your dont’s)! – – – – – [Jesus told his disciples,] “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing [NOTHING!!]. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:5-8). Special thanks for the use of images related to Jesus’ ministry from The Lumo Project and Free Bible Images for use on this week’s post.
Why Won’t They Believe?
Note from Jesus Dear Disciple, Some of you will be frustrated and hurt because people you know and love will choose not to believe in Me as Savior. Some will talk about intellectual doubts. Others will talk about life’s hurts and will wonder where We — Father, Son, and Spirit — were in the middle of their hurts. Some will say they have a hard time believing something they think the Bible says because they view it as a book of myths and superstitions. Others will see Christians who are weak and stumble, or who are hypocrites, and say they want no part of a religion like that. Some will say they just can’t believe in the miracles and My resurrection that they read about in Scripture. These reactions and feelings that you find frustrating and sometimes heartbreaking are not new. I faced the same thing. As you read about the events below, remember that I had done two “nature altering” miracles — I fed more than 5,000 people with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish as well as walked on the water to the disciples in their boat caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee. Most of the people in the area knew of at least one of these miracles — that’s why they were back trying to get something else from Me. Many of them were also puzzling over the possibility of another miracle: How had I crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to be with My disciples without a boat? But before they would do the one thing I told them truly was “God’s work” — to believe in Me as the One the Father had sent, they wanted another miracle to show I was someone special. In other words, they saw or heard about the great works I had done, but refused to believe until they received the miracle they wanted from Me. My precious disciple, please hear Me: Some people don’t believe because they won’t believe. Another miracle wouldn’t have convinced most of the skeptics in the crowd you read about below. They were there for what they could get for free, not because they saw the sign that I had done and realized that it pointed to My identity as the Son of God. No one wants people saved more than We (Father, Son, and Spirit) do. No one’s heart breaks more than Our heart at the refusal of people to believe. I left the Father to share grace, offer hope, and bring true life to the people of your world. Some, however, refuse to receive that grace. Don’t burn up all your time and energy trying to convince people who refuse to believe. But don’t give up on them. Invite the Spirit to work on their hearts and in their circumstances. Live before them in a way that is good, gracious, and genuine. However, My dear disciple, please realize that you cannot make them believe, and I won’t force them to believe. Faith has to be chosen freely to be faith; do not use force or coercion on anyone, or it is not genuine faith! As much as you want someone to believe, you do not have the power to make it happen. Give that work over to the Spirit. Be ready as you look for the opportunity when the Spirit prompts you to reach out to that person you want to believe. A lot of folks in my day didn’t believe in Me until after My death, burial, and resurrection. Others didn’t believe until their lives came crashing down around them and they realized they needed help bigger than their circumstances. So be a real friend and a genuinely loved one of the people you want to believe. Be faithful and patient in loving them, but not pushing them or annoying them. Look for that moment of grace orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. Then, share your story of grace and let them know about Me. Remember what your “work” truly is. You must truly believe. You must trust that I AM the Son of God, your Savior and Lord, and then live that faith graciously before others. Your faith guarantees that your life is bound up with Me for eternity. It also gives you the best opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those you love. Verses to Live As you read today’s verses, remember what I told people was the true work that God wanted them to do: believe in Me! Please remember, if people you know and love are looking for a sign before they believe in Me — like the people in the verses below — then you and your faithfulness to Me may be the sign that they most need. Then, be patient… faithful… gracious… and ready to share your love and My grace with those you want to see come to faith. The following day [after Jesus had walked on the water] some people gathered on the other side of the sea and saw that only one boat had been there; they were perplexed. They remembered seeing the disciples getting into the boat without Jesus. Other boats were arriving from Tiberias near the grassy area where the Lord offered thanks and passed out bread. When this crowd could not find Him or His disciples, they boarded their small boats and crossed the sea to Capernaum looking for Him. When they found Jesus across the sea, they questioned Him. Crowd: Teacher, when did You arrive at Capernaum? Jesus: I tell you the truth — you are tracking Me down because I fed you, not because you saw signs from God. Don’t spend your life chasing food that spoils and rots. Instead, seek the food that lasts into all the ages and comes from the Son of Man, the One on Whom God the Father has placed His seal. Crowd: What do we have to do to accomplish
02 Feb 2026
Through His death on the cross and the resurrection, Christ set us free from the burden of the law. We were set free, not to do whatever we want, rather we were empowered to live for Him. That can only happen by faith expressed in love. Galatians 5:1-6.
A Walk with Our Shepherd
What does it really mean for us? I’m not sure on what David originally wrote down the famous shepherd psalm. It probably was sung in the field to calm his sheep before it finally made it into written form. Yet this psalm has brought comfort to millions over the years. With the words to the psalm are simple reflections on the meaning of each phrase. No one is quite sure of the origins of these simple reflections. Hopefully the words and the reflections will be a reminder to each of us how much God loves us and longs for us to build our lives around our his grace. The Lord is my Shepherd … — that’s relationship! I shall not want … — that’s provision! He makes me to lie down in green pastures … — that’s rest! He leads me beside the still waters … — that’s refreshment! He restores my soul … — that’s healing! He leads me in the paths of righteousness … — that’s guidance! For His name’s sake … — that’s purpose! Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death … –that’s testing! I will fear no evil … — that’s protection! For You are with me … — that’s companionship! Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me … — that’s security! You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies … — that’s hope! You anoint my head with oil … — that’s consecration! My cup runs over … — that’s abundance! Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me … — that’s blessing! All the days of my life … — that’s faithfulness! And I will dwell in the house of the LORD — that’s home! Forever! — that’s eternity!