"Do Not Be Afraid" -Jesus

“Do Not Be Afraid” – Jesus

(Matthew 14:27)

by Jonathan

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)

“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Matthew 10:30) 

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.  I and My Father are one.” (John 10:27-30)

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.  For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.  Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.  And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith,” (Philippians 1:21-25).

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

On Saturday, January 17, dozens of churches were burned throughout Niger.  In almost every major city, there were targeted attacks aimed at the church properties.  Several of the pastors that we know lost their homes and churches, just escaping with their lives and the clothes on their backs.  At our main church compound (where our Bible school is located), one pastor and seven youth held the front gate against a mob of hundreds trying to burn the church and Bible school down.  For over eight hours, they literally held the front and back doors to the compound shut against a crazy mob trying to get in.  They did not even have time to get a drink of water or eat anything all day, but stood firm and held the gate of the compound until the police arrived and helped to control the mob.  It is a miracle and a great answer to prayer that these eight men were able to hold the front door even as they were being hit by stones thrown from outside the compound and the gate was set on fire.  If the pastor and youth had not stood fast, we are certain that the Bible school and main church would have been destroyed, and the mob would most likely have attacked the next church on their list.  This is the kind of amazing faith that we are seeing as the Nigerien Christians standing fast for Christ even at the risk of their own lives. 

Another great testimony came out of this wave of persecution last week when pastors met with the government leaders in our city.  The leaders (Muslims) apologized on behalf of the ones who had carried out the attacks against the church.  Because of the way that the pastors came to the meeting in a spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation, the leaders were in awe of them.  They said, “Is this really what Christians are like?” and, “We have never seen or known anyone like the Christians.”  The church has great favor with the local authorities right now and even many of the media and radio channels have been talking about this.

The security situation in Niger continues to be high.  Last weekend, the government of Niger (along with Benin, Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria) decided that they needed to set up a regional task force to fight B-ko Har-m in Northeastern Nigeria.  As a result of this decision, B.H. has started to attack most of these countries, including Niger.  Since last weekend, there have been numerous attacks by B.H. in the Diffa region of Niger.  We have several pastor friends and know many Christians who live in that area.  Most of them have fled, some of them coming to our city which is about a day’s drive away.  We have also seen within Niger this last week several suicide bombers, a car bomb, and other terrorist activities.  Even in our city, several caches of bombs and guns brought in by B.H. have been found by the local authorities and confiscated. 

How is the church responding to all of these things?  This last Sunday, the Sunday school children did a skit in the morning service explaining how to stand fast during persecution.  The children are between six and twelve years old.  They started by splitting into two groups.  One group represented the church where the “pastor” (an eight year old) was speaking about persecution to his people.  The other group represented the “terrorists” attacking the church.  As the “pastor” was preaching to his little group of followers and encouraging them to stand fast in the Lord, the other group (representing terrorists) came in and “executed” him.  Then they “killed” the rest of the Christians except for one.  As the terrorists questioned this last Christian, the Christian forgave them and began to preach to them saying, “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.”  The terrorists were “convicted” and repented.  The skit ended with the group of terrorists choosing to follow Jesus.  Wow.  That is the season the church is in right now in Niger. 

After the children’s skit, the pastor then launched into his message about how it is necessary for Christians living today to have a solid Biblical perspective towards persecution.  He read the Scriptures above and then made one comment that really impacted us.  He asked the question “Why are we afraid to die?  The one who is afraid of death is the one whose treasure is on this earth and he is afraid that he will lose it.”  The pastor went on to say, “Paul considered it better to be with the Lord, death was only gain.  But even though he knew that to be with the Lord was better, he chose to stay to encourage the believers.  In Paul’s mind, however, being home with the Lord was better than being on this earth.  The Christian’s perspective of death should be gain, not loss.  Our treasure is with Jesus in heaven, not on this earth.”   

We are learning from our Nigerien brothers and sisters that as Christians we must learn to renounce the fear of death in any shape and form that can paralyze us and hinder us from serving and fulfilling the will of the Lord on our lives.  We have been saved from having to live in fear.  Fear itself was nailed to the cross.  Each believer has the ability through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to overcome fear and to influence the world around them by walking in peace, joy and faith.  In the end times there will be paranoia in the media, news, nations, and even our own cities and towns, but we must realize that Jesus is King and He reigns above these situations.  As the Church, we are called to live above our situations and circumstances and to point to the only One who can give hope and salvation, Jesus Christ.  Our responsibility is to look unto Jesus and to lead those He brings our way to Him as well.  But if we let fear take hold of our hearts, we will not be able to influence or to lead others to Christ.  This would be a great tragedy in the church today if Christians in the last days, the only ones who have any real lasting hope in this life, look at outward circumstances and “hide” their light because of the fear and cares of this world.   

Let us remember that this world is not our home.  Our home is with Jesus and nothing can take away the place that He has prepared for us with Himself forever.  Let us live with the reality that we belong to Jesus and our future is in His hands.  Jesus is our past, He is our present, and He is our future.  Let us run the race looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith!  Let us not allow fear to disqualify us from running the race that Jesus has set before us.  We have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.  Let us instead be of the mind like the apostle Paul, who said, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  Let us boldly shine for Jesus today!  He is worthy! 

In His Grace,

Jonathan and Dani Bowden

Meet TD

With a squeal of delight, I am happy to announce that 

I HAVE A NEW WASHER!  

This is a very BIG deal to me, as it makes a HUGE difference in my everyday life.  Last year, I wrote about my old DW (Dear Washer) and some of the laundry predicaments I would find myself in as the seasons in Niger changed.  You can read about it here if you'd like to catch up to speed: In Every Season, There Is Laundry!

For our 11th wedding anniversary, Jonathan surprised me by scouring the city of Maradi for a new washing machine that would suit our family's needs.  He ended up taking a picture of DW and showing it to his "large-appliances-guy" in the market.  Large-Appliance-Guy, in turn, sent his guys down to Nigeria, one of our neighboring countries, where they scoured their sources high and low to find what we were looking for.  The result, my new, amazing washer!  I think I'll call it The Dream.  TD.  How's that?

TD does all the work for me.  I push a few buttons, and off it whirrs, or purrs, either term will do.  I don't have to do anything else until the cycle finishes about a half-hour later. Then, I ever so joyfully remove the so-well-spun-they're-almost-dry clothes, and hang them up to dry.  Seriously, every load is like Christmas.  Since they're so-well-spun-they're-almost-dry, I can take them off the line again in less than an hour if I want to.  Ahhh...  It's a beautiful thing!

I am so thankful!

A portion of our ability to purchase TD was made possible by the special gift of a dear friend ...you know who you are... Thank you!  :)

This month, we celebrated one of our most joyous events of the year, the graduation of our Discipleship Bible School and Leadership School students. We are so proud of these individuals who have worked hard all year long, many through difficult circumstances and persecution from unbelieving relatives and friends. The graduation ceremony was filled with stirring moments like the processional, in which the students came to the front of the church singing in unison,

“We have overcome! Thanks be to Jesus who has given us the victory!”

We were excited to be able to upload a video clip of this so you could partake in the joy of the moment.

 

The Graduating Class of 2014

Front: Discipleship Bible School Students

Middle: Leadership Students

Rear: Instructors

Singing a song they had prepared for the ceremony.

Congratulating the students as they received their diplomas.

  

Wahoo!

We are so blessed to be able to be part of special moments like these!

Please pray for us and for the new students as preparations begin to start a new year of Bible School in the second half of January.  

Thank you!

Tortoise Tots

 We got two new pets today, and, boy, are they cute!  They are African Spurred Tortoises.  We thought they were turtles at first, but after doing some research, we found that they are, in fact, tortoises.  Am I ever thankful for spell-check.  When's the last time you tried to spell tortoise?!  Turtle is much easier than tortoise to spell.

  

A missionary friend had two baby tortoises that she'd been saving for our family.  She has adult tortoises that have a new batch of babies every now and then, and we had told her we'd love to have some if there were ever any available.  On Thanksgiving Day, we hosted a group of almost a dozen other friends and missionary colleagues in our home.  She was there, and told us about these wee tortoise-tots she was saving for us.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, by the way!  Over dinner, the stories were flying!  ...from turtle tales to catching and eating bush rat, then on to why missionaries should always bring their own sheets and pillows when staying in any African "hotel" while traveling.  I just love sitting around a table full of missionaries and listening to their stories.  There is nothing like it!

But I digress... back to our new pets.  We picked them up today, and here they are!  They're about 6 months old.

We haven't chosen names for them yet, but we'll let you know when we do.

 In Isaiah's hand...

We'll keep them in this rubber tote for now, and eventually build a cage for them outside until they're big enough to fend for themselves.  They're only about 3-4 inches long now, so they could easily get lost or fall prey to cats, rats, or owls.  Yes, very cool for us, but not so cool for baby turtles, we have owls that live in the trees behind our house!

I loved snagging this photo with my new camera a few weeks ago.  I was surprised to see this huge guy just chilling in our backyard eucalyptus trees in broad daylight, and was thankful for my cameras great zoom.  Without it, I wouldn't have been able to take this picture, because he was pretty high up.

Our baby turtles, uh, tortoises, came in perfect time.  Just yesterday, our cat Flicker died unexpectedly.  She was due to give birth to a new littler of kittens any day, and I think something went wrong with the delivery.  We've had Flicker since we first moved to Niger.  She was a wonderful, friendly cat who was the mother of many sweet kittens.  She will be missed!  I was so happy to see the children's joy as they welcomed their new little charges, our tortoises, especially since I had literally just wiped away the tears from Flicker's death.  God is so good, and His timing is always perfect!

For more cool facts on our type of tortoise, you can check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_spurred_tortoise

On Bugs and Blogging

We are back in Niger, which means I have every intention of getting back to writing!  So many of you encouraged me while we were in the States this summer, and you are the reason I’m getting my act together, getting out my laptop, and starting to write again.  Thank you for encouraging me! 

 

I'm back at my desk and ready to get back to writing.  I'm also wearing my Africa necklace (a gift from Jonathan) to commemorate our first day back in Niger. 

It’s been over 15 months since I wrote last.  This is one of the sweet, adorable reasons why it's been so long…  

 

We now have four!  Welcome, Micaela Joy, born June 8^th, 2014.

Coming home after being gone for 6 months felt wonderful.  We reveled in the fact that we could get back into a good routine, the children could play safely within the confines of our compound  wall, we could get Micaela settled into life in Niger, and that we could see our Nigerien friends whom we have been missing during our time away.  The children were so excited to have their bedrooms and toys back and I was happy to have my kitchen back.  

But, wait…  It seems that while we were gone, someone ELSE had decided to try to take over MY kitchen.  Roaches.  I shudder to even type the word.  It is in moments such as those, that moment when I realized I would have to wage war to take my kitchen back, that we say 'one must either laugh or cry', and since crying really does no good in such situations, and laughing seemed utterly impossible, I just decided not to think about it at all.  Well, that lasted for one day.  Then I couldn’t think about anything BUT reclaiming MY kitchen from MY new rival.  Or shall I say rivals.  Because, you see, there were hundreds of them. 

I know that roaches come with the territory when one lives in Niger, or in any warm climate, for that matter.  I also know I am not alone in my battle, no matter where I live in the world, because when I google, “How to get rid of roaches”, thousands of articles come up giving “expert” advice on getting rid of the little pests.  Not only do the many articles come up, but thousands of comments and forums with distraught homeowners lamenting their "little" problem.  Ahhh... sweet comfort.  Misery loves company.

I have lived in Niger long enough to learn a thing or two about roaches and how to eradicate them.  So I armed myself with boiling water, cleaning supplies, my shop-vac (Thank you, Dad!), boric-acid-roach-zapping-concoctions, and a strong sense of resolve that I would KILL THEM ALL!  Well, I’m not too sure how well I’m doing at killing them ALL, but I will proudly admit that I believe I AM winning!  And if I’m not, well, I refuse to even consider that as a possibility.  Sometimes ignorance truly is bliss.   

But really, I’M WINNING!

For those of you who have told me you so enjoy living vicariously in Africa through my writing, well, there you have it!  This is one of the aspects of life in Niger that is probably best lived vicariously and not in actuality.  (Grin)

More blogging on a regular basis to come.  I promise!

In Every Season, There Is Laundry!

 

There is one thing that mothers the world around cannot escape: laundry.    As a missionary wife and mother, I find myself no exception to this rule.  Wow-zers!  As we live in the 100-120 degree heat of Niger, we have come to the realization that there is no “let’s-re-wear-this-to-save-on-laundry” option.  You wear, you WASH, baby!  No discussion.  The only possible exception is pajamas that are worn to bed in the AC, but that is only IF the electricity stayed on all night in order for us to have had AC all night.  Jonathan coined a silly song we like to sing in those “you-either-laugh-or-you-cry” moments:  “We are a fraaaaagrant offeeeeeeering,” we croon at the top of our lungs.  I doubt that it ever occurred to us as we sang in devout worship those many years ago in Bible School, offering our lives in complete surrender to the Lord as a fragrant offering, that THIS is how it would turn out to be.  The fact is that if I’m not faithful to do laundry on a daily basis, our “sacrifice of praise” might just get the better of us!    

 

Let me introduce you to DW (Dear Washer). 

 

My laundry room.  Simple, but efficient.  The home of DW.

 

DW and I have a deal.  I do, WHATEVER it says to do, just to try to squeak out a clean load of laundry.  The song-and-dance routine I do has increased over the years.  At first, we worked very well together.  I was the boss.  I told IT what to do, and it would do it.  This lasted for 2 happy years.  In December, DW went on strike, and stopped working.  This meant that I had to HAND-wash the clothing for the entire family for about a month.  Keep in mind that there are 5 of us, 3 of which are very small and very busy and LOVE to play in the sand.  Also, keep in mind that we have NO grass here to shield our clothing from said sand, which also happens to be a very lovely shade of brilliant (PERMANENT!) orange. 



Our sand.  Gotta love it...  Because it's EVERYWHERE!

It really IS beautiful...

 

It was a very LOOOOOONG month, but I must say, I learned a few very valuable lessons.  1.) If you stalk your children relentlessly, you may be able to save yourself from washing a few extra items of clothing.  2.) The kids and I could have some really fun times working together to wash all the dirty clothing.  They were my big helpers!  Not to mention, if they’re helping me inside, that means they’re not outside getting dirty (insert crafty-mommy-Mwuhahaha!).

 

Who need a washer that agitates when you have big helpers like these?!

 

Wow!  This was after the first wash cycle.  We would rinse it twice after this.

 

3.) Next, I learned that I had NO RIGHT to complain for any hardship I had to go through concerning any minor glitch any washing machine might ever give me again.  Whatever is was, it would probably easier living with it than doing everything by hand.   4.) It is no favor to anyone, least especially myself, to let the laundry pile up.    5.) I had to start washing 1-2 “loads” (i.e. bath tubs full) A DAY.  No less.  And I had to do this consistently, because at the rate of washing by hand, if I got behind, there was NO catching up.

 

When we finally received the repair parts for DW, there was MUCH to celebrate.  These came all the way from the States as there are no repair stores or repair parts available here.    Jonathan and I wrestled DW around ourselves and got it fixed.  But, alas, the bliss did not last long.  Shortly thereafter is when DW picked up the idea that it was the boss and I was not.  I, thankfully, had learned that doing it ALL by hand was WORSE, so I have learned to live with what I have to do and be grateful for it.  Here’s what DW requires:  I turn it on.  It fills and agitates.  It then drains, but does not spin out.  It won’t fill again on its own at the next cycle, so I have to turn it BACK to the beginning, let it fill, then agitate and drain again, without spinning.  As a result, I still have to wring the clothing out most of the time.  Or I let them drip-dry…  But that depends on the season – more to come on that.

 

As for DW’s rather surly attitude, why not call a repair man who can fix this issue?  Unfortunately, that would make things WORSE because washing machines are a new breed of animal around here.  No one knows how to fix them.  They will TELL you that they DO, so you will then let them work on your valuable piece of machinery, but somewhere along the line, something WILL get broken worse than what it was.  It’s just not worth it.  Well, what about Google – there are lots of great fix-it-yourself videos out there.  Yes, that’s true!  One can Google “How to Fix Your Washing Machine” to one’s heart’s content here, and the solution may be miraculously found in a 10-minute YouTube video, but the internet is too slow to watch any video (unless it spools for 2 hours/per 5 video-minutes, and then ooops!  Connection was lost for 1 second, so now it must RESTART the process…. ) ummmm…. just not going to happen any time soon.  Anyhow, what's the use in having a repair man or a great Google-fix if you can't get the parts, anyway?   We have a sneaking suspicion that DW is on it's last legs no matter what TLC we give it.  Too bad there's not a Sears around the corner.  We did find one washing machine for sale in Maradi several months ago.  It was made in China, so who knows how long it would have lasted if we'd purchased it, but the REAL clincher was that we would have done really well to have been able to fit one pair of jeans inside.  Yes, it really was that small - I kid you not.  Just not going to work for this growing family!  Therefore, as far as DW, and what it does or doesn't do, we've decided to just leave well enough alone!

 

One thing that really affects my laundry life here is the time of year.  Let me introduce you to the seasons!  We experience 4 different seasons here in Niger.  The “Cold” Season, the Hot Season, the Rainy Season, and the Mini-Hot Season.  Doesn’t that sound fantastic?!  I have learned that in order to conquer my laundry, I have to use different attack strategies for each season.  This has come by some serious trial and error. 

 

The Cold Season:  This runs from (Dec-Feb) – i.e. Niger’s "perfect weather" season.  Temps run a very dry 70-100 degrees.  It’s very lovely weather.  When I hang laundry on these days, I feel like it’s those perfect summer days when the sun is shining, a breeze is blowing, and the sky is accented with perfect white “Toy Story” clouds.  I have lots of good running water at my disposal, good electricity, and laundry dries in a few hours.  I can get away with not wringing everything out at this time of year.  It is really incredible to hang your dripping laundry out on the line and have it bone-dry several hours later.  Can you say wow?!  I can, and I do, almost every time!  (FYI - We don’t have a dryer – everything has to go on the line.  Dryers do not exist in Niger, at least not to my knowledge.  Possibly because of the 100-120 degree temps that run almost year round…?) 

 

The Hot Season:  (March-June) - i.e. Niger's WORST, hardest season.  The hot season is difficult not just because the daily temperature runs anywhere from a humid  110-120 degrees Fahrenheit outside (95-99 degrees inside), but because all commodities, such as water and electricity, run low at this time of the year.  Water is non-existent during the daylight hours, making things pretty difficult.  We have a 2,000 liter water tank that supplies our house on most days, praise God!  When we have no running water, and we are using our tank's rationed water supply, I can do 1 load of laundry a day.  If I'm conservative in other areas, I might be able to do 2.  On the days that the water is REALLY bad, and the pressure is too low to fill up the tank at night, we have no running water in the house all day.  If I want to get any laundry done, I have to haul water in from outside to fill up the washer.  There may or may not be running (dripping, rather) water outside, so I leave a plastic tote under the facet in hopes that as soon as the town water is turned on, my tote will fill.  We also have large rubber containers that we fill at night when the water comes on.  I can use some of these for laundry, but I have to be conservative because we need to make sure we have enough for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and bathing.  Electricity comes and goes on a regular basis in the hot season (one day, we lost it about 3 dozen times), and when we DO have it, it is often LOW (example: we have a fan turn on high, which on an average good-electricity day would sound like a helicopter it's going so fast.  On a low-electricity day, it will still be on high, but the blades will be swirling lazily around in gentle yawning circles.  Yep.  That's it.  Low electricity.)  Even if I have water there is always a chance I won't have electricity to run DW.  The hot season is my greatest laundry challenge.  Each load is a victory!  Each load is EARNED!  And each load is precious!

 

 

The Rainy Season, where we are now: (June-August) – i.e. Niger’s “a bit cooler, but really humid” season.  The good news about the Rainy Season is that I HAVE WATER!!!  YEAH!!!!!!!  However, the humidity makes drying a drag.  A really drippy drag!  Remember how DW doesn’t spin?  I have to wring out all the clothing really well at this time of year, because if I don’t, they might not dry all day.  And there is NOTHING worse than clothing that has been wet in 100+ degrees all day.  GAG!  (Although, it is possible that the unwashed laundry smell is worse –ha!)  We have to keep an eye out for sudden storms so the precious cargo on the line doesn’t get even wetter if it rains.  All laundry then comes in the house and is spread about wherever possible underneath a fan.  If we’re lucky, it will dry by morning. 

 

The Mini-Hot Season (Sept-Nov):  Still dealing with some humidity, but it’s HOT again, so laundry dries well.  We still have to keep an eye out for the occasional storm, and we may experience water or electricity shortages.  Ultimately, not too many extra challenges here…  At least not that I remember.  Guess I’ll find out if there’s something that I forgot in another couple months.  ;)

 

Washing and drying is just the beginning!  I need help with sorting, folding, ironing, and putting away, too.

 

I have had to come to terms with the fact that this (eh-hem) “friend”, shall we say, of laundry shall always be with me.  There is no complete conquering of it.  The war will never end.  Even if I did conquer it for a day, it would surely be back tomorrow!  And if I give it an inch, it will definitely take a mile.  Therefore, over the past several months I have decided to embrace laundry.  Well, not really, but something has to change lest I go crazy for constantly looking at the mounds of stinky, dirty laundry piling up faster than I could ever keep up with.  I no longer allow the feelings of DESPAIR to crush my heart, soul, and passion for living every time I pass in close proximity of the laundry room… or, rather, the large piles of laundry spilling out FROM the laundry room into the hallway.  The change I implemented was that I now wash AT LEAST one load of laundry a day.  Just one.  That's the minimum.  I can do one.  I have coined a phrase to remind myself why I do this on those days I tempt myself with the idea of skipping today's load:  "A load a day keeps insanity away!"  And it's true!  The first thing I do when I stumble out of my bedroom in the morning is to turn on DW.   On some days, I do two or three loads, but that’s only if there’s enough water and electricity.  I DO take off one day a week as a Sabbath rest, because, if I had to do laundry EVERY day, I might go crazy!  I am happy to say that my load a day policy is paying off splendidly.  It's been months since my laundry room has been overloaded with laundry!

 

I want to change my perspective from feeling irritated that I have “so much laundry” to do “all the time”, to looking at each load of laundry as a gift of service to my family, a way I can show them that I love them. 

 

Note to self:  Enjoy this sight.  It'll only last a day, and then you'll get to wash it all over again! 

 

I am beginning to see the joys that laundry brings me.  Dirty laundry means happy, healthy children who love to play in the dirt.  Dirty laundry means a healthy happy hubby, who is working hard out in the villages, at the Bible School, or around the house.  Dirty diapers mean a happy, healthy baby whose cuddles are well worth any work the diapers take to wash.  The time I spend outside hanging clothing is my time to talk with the Lord, think things through, or spend time with my big helper, Miss Anna Delight.  There are days when I run out and hang the laundry as fast as humanly possible because it’s soooo hot I might get a sunburn in the ten minutes I’m outside.  There are other days when I linger, hanging slowly, breathing in the fragrance of the African air (worth a blog entry all of its own!) and drinking deeply of the beauty of the Sahara sun and sky.  All in all, I’m learning that to everything there is a season, and in every season there is laundry, and as I do my laundry, the Lord can work in me to become more like Him.   

 

 

P.S.  If you ever come here to visit me here in Niger, and I offer to do your laundry, don't you DARE think about this blog entry and politely refuse, hoping to spare me the trouble.  I say this for two reasons:  1.)  Don't rob me of my opportunity to serve and bless you.  It's my gift of hospitality to you.  2.)  If you don't let me, your fragrant offering of worship might just get the better of you!  ;)