HANUKKAH'S FINAL NIGHT

Tonight we celebrate the final night of Hanukkah. Over the past few days I have looked at Hanukkah as in the Bible, from Jesus celebrating it, to Daniel prophesying it. I have looked at the story itself as seen in the pages of the Maccebees. I have learned of the dreidle, and of the reason for it being an eight day celebration. Today, though, I want to share a piece I recently heard from Rabbi Curt Landry

There are eight candles placed on the menorah this final night, excluding the Shamash (servant) candle. But what if instead of looking at these candles as candles, we look a little deeper into a potential meaning of them all.
Candle 1 - This candle represents God. In Duet 6:4 we read, "Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one." Giving God the first place, be it in the menorah, or more importantly in our lives, is a good place to start.
Candle 2 - This candle represents Jesus. John 5:19 states that Jesus did only what He saw the Father do. We would be wise to walk in this same example and do only as we see Jesus doing, knowing that He mirrored His Father.
Candle 3 - The candle represents the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:1 reminds us that the Holy Spirit fell when the disciples were all in one accord. While the disciples had to be in one accord, so also the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all had to be in one accord. This is the same concept behind the wording that the "...LORD is one." In Hebrew it would be ACHAD - the merging of many into one.
Candle 4 - Four is the new of Creation. Putting this in a practical sense, if I want to be a new creation, I have to be linked into the ACHAD, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Candle 5 - Five is the number of Grace. I need the grace of God filling my life and making me into the new creation I want to be in the ACHAD.
Candle 6 - Six is the number of man. I am a man, sinful at best, but who finds the grace of God washing over me, transforming me from a sinful nature to the nature of the new man of whom I can only be when I am in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Candle 7 - Seven is the number of perfection. I cannot be made perfect until first I forego my sinful, fleshly man nature, allowing God's grace to wash me and transform me into the new creation He wants me to be. And how is this possible? By being in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Candle 8 - Eight is the new of New Beginnings. I want to find myself at a place of new beginnings. Is this possible? Yes. How? I find new beginnings when I allow God to perfect me, stripping off my sinful man, bathing me in His grace, and transforming me into the new creation He has destined for me. This, however, can only happen when I am founded, not wavering but founded, in the ACHAD.

So how about you? Are you wanting to experience a new beginning? Then this season of miracles is for you. Allow yourself to come in order like the candles, allowing God to light a new one each night. It begins with being founded in God, but it ends with Him giving you a brand new beginning.

VAYESHEV

“But she kept pressing him, day after day. Nevertheless, he didn’t listen to her; he refused to sleep with her or even be with her”
Genesis 39:10

The account of Joseph begins with the giving of a coat, the jealousy of brothers, and the eventual selling of him to a caravan of Ishmaelites. The account continues in Genesis 39, where we find in verse 2 and following that the LORD blessed Joseph. So blessed was he that “…[Potifar] left all his possessions in Yosef’s care; and because he had him, he paid no attention to his affairs, except for the food he ate” (Gen 39:6a). While Potiphar was not paying attention, knowing he could trust Joseph, Potiphar’s wife was paying attention, and not in the right way. Potifar’s wife saw him as a well built desire, and a possession to be had. When Potifar’s wife confronted him and gave her offer of a one night fling, he refused (Gen 39:7-8). She, however, was resilient. Day after day she kept coming to Joseph with her offer, and day after day he kept saying no. The desire and lust for what she could not have continued to grow toward Joseph. But it was this lust that continued also to feed. “But she kept pressing him, day after day. Nevertheless, he didn’t listen to her; he refused to sleep with her or even be with her” (Gen 39:10).
What Potifar’s wife most wanted to hear was “Yes”, but what she kept hearing from Joseph was “No”. Seeing she was constantly being denied, she tried another more forceful approach. With the house fully empty, she waited for Joseph. Catching him in her trap, and catching him by the cloak, she offered again, “Come to bed with me.” No matter how many times she approached him, his answer was always the same. Leaving his cloak behind, he left her once again.
Think about it this way. A leech makes a special type of saliva which allows them to drink quickly and painlessly. As they spread this saliva over the area where they will feast, they also spread an anesthetic which stops any pain. This anesthetic then keeps the host from feeling the bite. It is common for leeches to be connected to a person for hours before they are ever noticed or realized. But a second agent is also found in the saliva, one called anticoagulant. This agent prevents the blood from clotting, which in turn becomes like a flowing waterfall of blood for the leech to drink freely from. Once filled, the leech will drop off and be filled for months.
When I think of this portion of Joseph’s life where daily he was hounded by Potiphar’s wife, I think of how she was in essence, a leech. She came to him with her saliva of anesthesia working to convince him that no one would ever know. She also came to him with her anticoagulant in the offering more and more and more, just like the waterfall of blood. But Joseph came with one item she was not expecting. He came with God on His side. In one of her attempts prior, Joseph had even replied to her advance saying, “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against Adonai?” (Gen 39:9)
On this final advance made on Joseph by Potiphar’s wife, Joseph stood his ground, said “No!,” and ran out. He didn’t care about his cloak, he only cared about getting out. When Potiphar returned home, she lied to her husband and Joseph was placed in prison. But even with all that had happened already, from the bitterness of his brothers, to his being sold into slavery, to now being placed in prison for additional lies against him, Joseph saw God’s hand.
I question of us, do we have this same passion to obey? Do we have the urgency to get out? Are we too concerned with our coat instead of being concerned with getting out? Joseph could have had one night of fun, but what more would that have cost him? What is it costing us?

VAYISHLACH

“’Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.’ And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.”
Genesis 33:11

The day had finally come when the two camps would reunite. Jacob was moments away from seeing his brother again after an estimated twenty years. But the deceitful man that Esau may have remembered was no more. God had worked in Jacob to change him. In some places the change had had time to set in, but in others the change was recent. In fact, it was only hours before that Jacob wrestled with the man. So moving forward, he stepped with a limp. “Ya’akov raised his eyes and looked out; and there was Esav coming, and four hundred men with him. So Ya’akov divided the children between Le’ah, Rachel and the two slave girls” (Gen 33:1).
It is in this humility and change of character that Jacob marched out to meet his brother Esau, but not before sending a number of gifts to him first.. Following all the presents of livestock, and the parade of wives and children, Jacob approached and prostrated himself on the ground seven times before his brother. A meeting that could have been set in anger seemed to subside with compassion as the brothers embraced one another. Then, Jacob formally introduced his children and himself as ‘your servant’ (Gen 33:5). It is noted by scholars that in addressing himself as ‘your servant’, Jacob made a plea to show a heart of humility.
Jacob told Esau that the livestock that had gone before him was now his, and encouraged his brother to accept. “’Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.’ And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.” Yet within this verse is found a nugget of missed information. The word present, or gift, here in this text is the Hebrew word BERAKAH. The translation goes beyond just the word gift. It translates as ‘blessing’. It was in this act of giving these gifts to Esau that Jacob was in some form trying to give Esau back the blessing that he had once stolen. Unable to change the past, he was able to at least share a portion of the blessing God had given him.
As the meeting lingered, Esau felt the move to continue with his brother on to Seir. However, after an already long trip, a night spent wrestling, and perhaps the emotional and physical toils of the stress of meeting his brother now being relaxed, Jacob and his caravan needed a rest. Watching Esau in the distance headed for Seir, Jacob headed toward Sukkot. It was here that he pitched tents and made shelters for his animals. It is here that we see the first use of Sukkot, which is where we derive the background for what we now understand is wrapped up in one of the High Holy days.
Still moving forward, Jacob landed at Padan-Aram before finally settling within sight of Shechem. It was at Shechem that Jacob put up an altar and named it El-Elohei-Yisra’el. The translation of this is “God, the God of Israel” or” mighty is the God of Israel”. In questioning as to why he may have named it this, I think on what all he had been through. Maybe the obvious is his recent name change. Just a few nights back he had wrestled and been renamed Israel. But this man had also truly seen God’s might. He had been protected by God’s hand from his angry brother. He had been blessed by God’s hand in the brown, spotted, and speckled livestock he possessed. And he had been kept in God’s hand despite the trickery that once defined him. Jacob had lived to know God’s might, and for that God was the God of Jacob.

VAYETZE

“…What kind of thing is this that you‘ve done to me? Didn’t I work for you for Rachel? Why have you deceived me?" (Gen 29:25).

The old saying that what comes around goes around may not be too far from the truth. I would venture to say, though, that God says it a little different. You reap what you sew. Yet still, maybe an even better way to put it is be sure your sins will find you out. With the same trickery that Jacob had once played on Esau, now Jacob was getting played. Originally Laban had agreed that if Jacob worked in his field for seven years, he could have the prize of his daughter Rachel. So smitten with Rachel was he, that he worked for those seven years. To him the Torah records they felt like only a few days. When it came time to collect the wages for his tarry, Jacob asked for Rachel’s hand in marriage.
When the agreement between Laban and Jacob was made, I am guessing the small print wasn’t read. The small print stated that within the area of Laban’s clan, the youngest could not marry before the oldest. That would have been good to know beforehand. But maybe it was read and just excused, after all he was smitten. Nonetheless, Jacob married and took his bride into the marriage chamber. In the morning he realized it was Leah he had wed and became upset with Laban, asking, “…What kind of thing is this that you‘ve done to me? Didn’t I work for you for Rachel? Why have you deceived me? (Gen 29:25).” Laban worked to explain the details of their culture, the fine print so to say, and in the end Jacob agreed to finish the wedding week with Leah and then marry Rachel the following week in exchange for another seven years of toil.
It didn’t seem to end there, though. The Torah records that Leah had weak eyes. Let us not read that wrong. The Hebrew word here is RAK. I have been taught this description of weak eyes means she wasn’t cute. But the true term here is ‘tender’. While Rachel had a sparkle in her eyes, Leah had gentleness in hers. But Jacob’s heart was for Rachel. Seeing that Leah was unloved, lacking sparkle in Jacob’s eyes, God opened Leah’s womb and hindered that of Rachel. Could we again be seeing the deceiver becoming the deceived? Was he just doing the marital duties with Leah to fulfill an agreement only, and not out of love? If so, it seems as though God was aware of this and closed the womb of the one Jacob truly loved. Yet, the battle for Jacob’s love and devotion which was proved through the birth of sons was underway.
In time the nation of Israel was being birthed just as God had promised, as not only did Leah and Rachel engage in the child war, but they brought their maidservants into the battle as well. In just a short time Jacob was father to a number of sons. Let us briefly look at these sons and learn a little about them.

REUBEN - Re’uven – birthed of Leah. His name means “See a son!” Leah believed that with a son, that she would be loved finally, or at least a little less than she was compared to Rachel. She also believed that the LORD had seen her affliction and had had mercy on her.
SIMEON - Shim’on – birthed of Leah. His name means “The LORD has heard”. Still knowing she was not as loved as Rachel, she believed the LORD had again heard her cry, and this time had had pity on her in giving another son.
LEVI – Leivi – birthed of Leah. His name means “joined”. With now three sons, Leah hoped that she would now be joined with her husband, Jacob.
JUDAH - Y’hudah – birthed of Leah. His name means “praise,” saying that with the birth of this son, praise would be given to the LORD.
DAN - Dan – birthed to Bilhah (Rachel’s maidservant). His name means “God has vindicated”. Rachel felt that since she was unable to have children, she too would have them through her servant, and in this she would be honored as a mother.
NAPHTALI – Naftali – birthed to Bilhah. His name means “wrestling”. This name stems from the wrestling over Jacob’s love between Leah and Rachel.
GAD – Gad – birthed to Zilpah (Leah’s maidservant). His name means “fortunate”. Once Leah stopped having children, she used Zilpah to continue her family, declaring how fortunate she was to continue her sons through her servant.
ASHER – Asher – birthed to Zilpah. His name means “happy”. In naming him Asher, her thought was that women would see her as blessed.
ISSACHAR – Yissakhar – birthed to Leah when traded with Rachel for mandrakes, believed by many to be an aphrodisiac and fertility drug. His name means “God has given me my wages”.
ZEBULUN – Z’vulun – birthed to Leah. His name means “dwell, living together”. In this meaning, Leah felt that Jacob would now want to dwell with her.

However, not one of these ten sons came from the woman Jacob had wanted to marry from the start. What we find in the end is that God had compassion on Leah, the one who seemed not to be so loved. But this same God who had compassion of Leah is recorded as having compassion on Rachel as well in Genesis 30:22. “Then God took note of Rachel, heeded her prayer and made her fertile.” Through Rachel would come the final two sons of Jacob.
JOSEPH – Yosef – birthed to Rachel. His name means “may he add”. With the birth of Joseph, Rachel finally felt as though God had taken her disgrace away, and in time would add other sons.
BENJAMIN – Binyamin – birthed to Rachel. His name means “son of my right hand”. As Rachel lay failing in health with the delivery of her final son, she named him Ben-Oni (son of my grief). However, Jacob changed his name to Benjamin (Gen 35:16-20).

What stands out to me in this list of children is that while Jacob did not have children with the wife he longed to have them with till the end, God was still in control. God, putting all the pieces in order, allowed Jacob's line to expand and thus fulfill the promise he had given to Abraham years before. Let this stand as an encouragement to us also that while at times what we are in may be different than we hoped and expected, God is still...and always...in control.

TOLDOT

“Yitz’chak prayed to Adonai on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. Adonai heeded his prayer, and Rivkah became pregnant.”
Genesis 25:21 CJV


I remember well the first miscarriage that I endured. It was in August of 2000. Just a month before I was looking at a pregnancy test handed to me and trying to make sure I was reading it correctly. The idea of being a father was making me happy. But the joys were short lived. Soon she began to have pains and we found ourselves at the doctor’s office only to find that the baby would not be coming after all. The days that followed the miscarriage went from bad to worse as we worked through an array of emotions, even after just a month of expectancy. Since this time I have had the joy of a son, the pain once again of another loss, and the joy again of a daughter, before becoming the step-father to two more sons. I look at all four children, though, and view them as answers to prayer. It was back in college that I began to have a strong desire to be a dad, and after many prayers I have come to walk out the answer to that prayer.
For Isaac and Rebekah, I feel it might have been the same. Instead of dealing with miscarriage, however, they dealt with a barren womb. The two did not have a chance to date and learn about each other’s past. They didn’t have the ability to learn of one another’s medical past. When they were introduced to each other, following the servant bringing Rebekah back from the homeland, they went into the tent and wed. But now, shortly after, they found themselves in a position where children were not coming. So what was the action taken? Isaac prayed.
Isaac had seen the faith of his father, Abraham. He had seen God work His miracles as he himself had been a miracle. So in learning that the two would be unable to have children, Isaac prayed to God on behalf of his wife and asked that her womb be opened. The word for prayer here is a word implying an entreaty being made. It wasn’t a one-time prayer, but a persistent praying, for what some Rabbi’s believe was a twenty year time frame.
And the part I love, God heeded his prayer. This truth is no different from what Jesus taught in Luke 11. The disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. After speaking for them the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus then tells the story of a man who knocks on the neighbor’s door during the night for food. It was not the fact that it was his friend that brought him to the door, but the persistence of the neighbor knocking. Therefore He shares with us that if we ask, seek, and knock, then we will have, find, and see doors open (Lk 11:9). This is the persistence Isaac had in his request for his wife’s womb.
In time, Rebekah became pregnant and gave birth to not one child, but two. But I want you to notice something in this fact. The enemy was at work. Abraham had been promised that he would be the father of many. Abraham had in all eight sons. But only one of those sons was the true promised son. And now the true promised son from whom the promise would continue was faced with the fact that his wife was barren. Right there the promise could have ended, the devil could have won, and God could have been named a liar. But, Isaac prayed.
This speaks to me because there have been times when I have been told a promise and only have seen a small portion of it come to pass, if any part at all. It has created in me doubt at first, but also the desire to continue to pray for the completion of the answer. As God is not one who will go back on His word and be made into a liar, it would serve us to do well to pray for the completion of what He has said. There is power in prayer, so let us not forget to lift a prayer up to Him and see what barren places in our life He will also restore.

CHAYEI SARAH

"Before he had finished speaking, Rebecca the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah the wife of Nahor Abraham’s brother, came out with her jug on her shoulder.”
Gen 24:15

In Hebrew, the word for a match between man and woman is called and SHIDDUCH, while the matchmaker is called a SHADKAN. With the events to follow between Isaac and Rebekah, Eliezer played shadkan. Since this was not a chore he was accustomed to, Eliezer found himself praying for success in Genesis 24:12. “He said, ‘ADONAI, God of my master Abraham, please let me succeed today; and show your grace to my master Abraham.’” Sent to find a wife for Isaac, the servant only wanted God’s choice as opposed to just any woman walking by. But in this passage is found one of my favorite verses. "Before he had finished speaking, Rebecca the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah the wife of Nahor Abraham’s brother, came out with her jug on her shoulder” (Gen 24:15). I love this verse because it shows us how involved God is in our future and how active He is in our prayer life. For the servant, all that he had prayed and requested of God, he found Rebekah was and did. Unknowingly, she was the answer to the prayer.
When I read this portion I cannot help but have my eyes opened to just all this provision includes. Abraham's request of the servant, guaranteeing that he had found the right one, was that she would agree to come back with him. The servant had to find a woman, receive both her and her parent's permission for marriage, have her agree to leave her family, have her family agree to let her go, and then do all this on a blind date. Unlike today when we can at least see a picture when on-line dating, the servant had no picture to show Rebekah. But still, God not only provided, but prepared Rebekah and her family.
The message here is simple - God will supply. I can look back and see the many times that God has supplied for me. When my marriage went bad and I was asked to move out, God supplied furniture for me. When my car gave up, God supplied a car for me. When I was lonely, God supplied a friend for me. When I needed a little extra cash, God supplied overtime for me. When I asked for a wife, God brought one to me. I feel bad, because sometimes I take God for granted. But then I see stories like this and am reminded that because He loves me, He takes care of all my needs.
Another point to make here involves the Yiddish word BASHERT. This word means destiny. When the servant was praying, he also asked God that she be the one whom He had appointed for Isaac. He was praying for Isaac’s destiny, his barshert (Gen 24:14).
I am reminded also of Philippians 4:19 which reads, “Moreover, my God will fill every need of yours according to his glorious wealth, in union with the Messiah Yeshua.” This word need, is the Greek word CHREIA, from the root word CHRAOMAI. The meaning encompasses employment, occasions, demands, requirements, businesses, lacks, uses, and wants. In truth, it is the furnishing of all that is needed. God will take care of everything; there is no reason for us to panic. As easily as He answered a prayer that was still in the process of being prayed, so He also can answer our prayers before we finish praying. God loves us enough to care for us. We won't always get what we want, but He will be sure to give us what we need. There is hope in this because this applies to all of life. I have learned to throw away my list of what I want in the future and begin to ask God to supply what I need. In trusting in Him, I will find myself in good hands.
But before we leave this account, I want to look at what happens in the end. When we find Isaac again in Genesis 24:62-63, we find him out in the field. In some translations it states that he was walking in the field, while others say he was meditating in the field. The word in Hebrew is SUWACH, meaning to muse pensively, or to meditate. But have you ever stopped to wonder what he may have been meditating on? With a probable knowledge of why the servant was gone, it serves right to assume that Isaac may have been praying or meditating on what his future wife looked like, should she have chosen to actually come.
It was while he was out there, though, that he saw the camels approaching. And she too saw Isaac. In fact, the Bible records that when she saw Isaac coming to meet her, she covered herself with her veil. As I was reading about this I found an answer to why she did this action. The writing states she covered herself for two reasons. First, it was customary in that time for the woman to cover her face in the presence of her fiancé just prior to her marriage. This amazed me when I read this because being the first recorded blind date in the Bible, Rebekah immediately considered herself engaged to Isaac. The second reason for her covering is stated in saying she wanted her inner beauty to grab Isaac’s attention rather than her outer beauty.
In no time at all the wedding bells rang, and Isaac escorted Rebekah into his mother’s tent where she became his wife. Taking her into his mother’s tent, which had been empty till now, symbolized the addition once more of an eishet chayil, a virtuous wife. The Bible records that just as Sarah had been loved by Abraham, so Genesis 24:67 records that Isaac loved his wife, Rebekah. This can be a lesson to us. Isaac did not marry out of love, but loved because he was married to her. How many of us base marriage on love, instead of love on marriage? How many of us can learn a lesson from Isaac's example? I know I can.

VAYERA

“So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, ‘Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!’ But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.”
Gen 19:14

Let’s take a minute to look at Sodom and Gomorrah. The meaning of the word Sodom is believed to be based in the Semitic language and is related to the word sadama, meaning fasten, fortify, or strengthen. In turn, the word Gomorrah is looked to be based on the root gh-m-r, meaning to be deep with water. To put these two cities together would give us an understanding of a fortified city near a deep body of water. However, further research of the word Sodom (H5467) from the Strong’s shows this word related to a scorched or burnt land, and Gomorrah (H6017) linked to a ruined heap. Was it possible that the outcome of the city was known from the beginning? It is thought also that the word sodomy is related to the word Sodom, based on their illicit sexual sins. It is for these actions also that Jude writes of Sodom and Gomorrah that they indulged in immorality and went after strange flesh (Jude 7). All this makes me wonder how long before of grace runs out. Are we destined to see the same fate as Sodom and Gomorrah?
When the angels arrive at the township, Lot is found sitting at the gate. Immediately he flops down and lays prostrate before them, pleading they come to his house for supper. They came, and a meal is shared, but the Bible records that before they could even go to bed, the men of the city had already surrounded the house, wanting the angelic men to come out and play (Gen 19:4-5). In response, Lot goes out to speak with the men while refusing to give them their desire. Instead, Lot does what any good dad would do, right? Wrong! He offers his daughters to the men of the city. Not a good enough offer, the town begins to turn on Lot until the angels reach out their hands and pull Lot back in. Then, to those at the door, blindness overtakes them as sent on them by the angels.
The family is urged to leave, and asked if there are any others who will go with them. With this questioning, Lot goes to his sons-in-law. “So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, ‘Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!’ But his sons-in-law thought he was joking” (Gen 19:14). I’m not sure if perhaps Lot had a comedy show on TV back then, or made repeated performances at the local comedy club, but this was a bad time to be thinking he may be joking. This joke would end up costing the sons-in-law their lives. Not too funny.
But have you ever stopped to think why they would think this? Compromise is normally looked at as a good thing. In marriage, when both parties cannot agree on the same thing, compromise can be the tool used to ensure that a mutual agreement is made. Webster defines this concept of compromise as a settlement of differences by arbitration or consent. But there is a second definition for the word compromise as well. Webster defines this word also as a concession to something derogatory or prejudicial. This is a definition I have found myself fall into more often than desired. It is in those times when our character or stance is no longer valid and our compromise seems to be the root cause.
In Genesis 19:1 we found Lot sitting at the gateway of the city. In only a few chapters Lot had moved from near Sodom to at Sodom. Gradually over time, Lot began to compromise or give concession. When the men of God came to take Lot away at Abraham’s request, they found him living within the city. And what is more, the evil lifestyle of the people had encompassed around him. Seeing these men, and the offers being given them by the sexual townsfolk, Lot offered his daughters to the city. What kind of person offers his children to be raped and mistreated purposely? The kind who has compromised.
As I consider this and look into it myself, I see the reason he was laughed at. The man Lot had once been was gone. He failed to take his stand against the enemy and now instead was living among the enemy. Perhaps he was laughed at because the sons-in-law had never seen Lot take a true stand for God. Now here was Lot, warning against judgment and they responded as if it was a joke. Lot’s compromise cost him his sons-in-law.
Seeing this revelation, my eyes are opened. What are my children, and others, seeing from me? Am I being looked at as sold out for God, or a guy who has compromised and nothing I say has value? Am I a hypocrite? Lot lost his place as the man of the family when he compromised; I do not want to fall into the same trap. And maybe Lot was worshipping God, but then I question if it was all in secret. One thing I want my children to see in me is that God is not a secret. I want them to see me reading my Bible, praying, worshipping God, and taking a stand for Him. I don’t want it to be a show; I want them to see the real thing.