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And y 'all welcome back to the semi seminary

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the podcast that takes theology out of the clouds

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and Sits it right down on the gravel where we

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real folks walk we talk Doctrine without the

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dogma scripture without the scowl and sometimes

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well just sometimes We find Jesus in the course

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of a red dirt country song today. We're doing

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just that we're diving deep like Augustine meets

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Galatians meets Apostle Paul deep into Jason

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Boland's Dark and Dirty Mile. This isn't just

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a country tune. It's a piece of pastoral theology

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disguised in steel guitar and worn out boots.

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So settle in. It's going to be a long walk, but

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that's kind of the point. So here's the map.

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We're going to walk through Dark and Dirty Mile

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verse by verse, but not as music critics. We're

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going to walk as theologians. Systematic theology

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gives us categories like harmatology and anthropology

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and sotirology and eschatology, and we're going

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to use them like lenses to read the dusty poetic

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scripture of this song. But first, let's define

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the mile. This isn't just a literal It's the

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existential pilgrimage of a broken human soul.

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In Bowen's song, the road is a symbol of inherited

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fallenness, human limitation, and just, I mean

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just barely, enduring hope. Think Pilgrim's Progress

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meets Roman's Seven. So the song opens with the

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lines, I refuse to spend the rest of my days

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trying to get away from all of the things I did

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when I knew not. what I had done. This is a confession,

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and not the weak mumbled kind. This is liturgical.

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It's psalm. It's raw. It's the voice of someone

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who's lived in the shadow of guilt and is just

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done pretending it's not there. Theologically,

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this introduces armatology, the doctrine of sin.

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Not just sin as action, but sin as ignorance,

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and as a condition. Augustine would call this

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concupescence, the internal inclination towards

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sin, even when we don't know the name of what

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we're doing. Paul echoes in Acts 17 and 30 in

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the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but

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now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

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There's a grace in realizing what we've done.

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because that's where the repentance actually

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begins. Big part of the human experience, shame.

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Verse 2 says, because we'll all be dust a few

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short years from now. This verse delivers one

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of the song's most potent cultural critiques.

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A theology of the body under tension, Boland

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names the confusion sown by a world that oscillates

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between condemning and commodifying the body.

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Theologically, this aligns with the doctrine

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of anthropology. What it means to be human, embodied,

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fallen, and then redeemed. The body is to be

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feared, echoing purity culture's legacy of associating

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flesh with shame. Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 reminds

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us, the body is a temple, not a trap. But here,

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cultural messaging has reduced it to a liability.

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In fact, it's the path to mortal sin. Then, The

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same time it's to be wanted and not in the sacred

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song of songs kind of way but in a Panic nihilistic

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sense the idea that we should somehow grasp pleasure

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now because will all be dust is the worldview

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of Ecclesiastes 8 and 15 eat drink be merry for

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tomorrow we die It's Augustine's disordered love

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at full volume misdirected desires in a body

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we neither understand nor honor. This theology

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is doing business with shame and mortality and

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hope, the doctrine of what it means to be human.

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And here, the human is a creature of desire,

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but also of exhaustion. and of rebellion. Boland

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continues with the words, it's a broken hearted

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world we inherit. All we're told to do is sin

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and bear it for a little while on the dark and

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dirty mile. Now we've hit the chorus, the theological

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gold mine. And at the center of that mine, that

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middle line, all we're told to do is sin and

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bear it. This lyric strikes the heart. of our

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modern malaise and our ancient curse of sin.

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It is not a call to hedonism, rather it's a recognition

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of resignation, a world in which sin is assumed,

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and where virtue feels optional or irrelevant,

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and ultimately we're suffering simply the price

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of existence. Theologically, this is the doctrine

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of total depravity made lyrical. Not that every

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person is as bad as they could be, but that every

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part of the world is touched by the fall. This

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is Romans 3 and 10. There is no one righteous,

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not even one. And to bear it is not passivity.

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No, it's not. It's endurance. It evokes James

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1 and 12. Sid is the one who perseveres under

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trial. It also echoes the first letter of Peter

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5 and 10. 10. And after you have suffered a little

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while, the God of all grace will himself restore

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firm strength and establish you. This lyric names

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are groaning, but it doesn't erase hope. The

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phrase, for a little while, is profoundly eschatological.

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It's the soul reminding itself that pain is not

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eternal, and that even exile has an expiration

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date. It's a broken -hearted world. Hey, that's

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Genesis 3. The world we inherit isn't Eden, it's

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exile. This chorus is the 90th Psalm with a pedal

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steel, a reminder that our days are numbered

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and fleeting. Psalm 90 and 10 says the years

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of our lives are 70 or by reason of strength

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80, yet their span is but toil and trouble. They're

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sooner gone and we all fly away. It's lament

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and longing in equal measure. All we're told

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to do is sin and bear it. This isn't theological

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prescription, it's cultural diagnosis. Bolan

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here isn't saying that it's right, he's saying

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that it's real. It's a commentary on systematic

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fallenness. That's Romans 8 and 20, for the creation

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was subjected to frustration, but in hope, but

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only for a little while. That's where the eschatology

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of this song sneaks in, because time is finite

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and the mile does in. Now, let's look to some

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of the wisdom of the song. The next verse, It

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took a while at least for me to live enough till

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I believed none of what I heard and less than

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half of what I saw. That, friends, is a verse

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of Ecclesiastes with a southern drawl. It's not

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just mistrust. It's the wisdom that comes after

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disillusionment, blind critiques, untested faith,

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or borrowed beliefs. It demands an incarnate

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theology, not ideas, but lived. individual suffered

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truth market days have come and gone some were

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lost and some are on their way back home to figure

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out a place to place it all this is the theology

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of restlessness the market days are missed opportunities

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maybe parables of the talons left buried but

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there's movement on their way back home that's

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That's repentance. That's Luke 15. That's the

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story of the prodigal son who squandered his

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inheritance and came to himself amongst the pigs

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only to find a father waiting for him with open

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arms. That's hope. Finally, Jason says, finally,

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I realized That knowledge better make you wise

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or all the nots you've learned believe you in

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a ball. Again, this is Proverbs theology. The

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biblical claim that knowledge without the fear

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of the Lord is useless. James 3, 15 through 17

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calls out such wisdom. It says, such wisdom does

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not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual

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and demonic. Wisdom in this verse is not information.

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It's transformation. It's not knowing that we

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live, it's knowing how to live. Otherwise, the

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same knowledge that promises freedom ends up

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tying us up in despair. Jason continues, helpless

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as when we were born, threadbare and wholly worn,

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worn out, shivering as summer gives way to early

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fall. The final image is one of decline. aging

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and mortality. This is Psalm 103. As for man

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and woman, their days are like grass. The wind

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passes over it and it is gone. This is the theology

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of frailty, of return, of ashes to ashes. It's

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the final stanza. It's the final verse before

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salvation. The song ends where it began. It's

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a broken -hearted world that we inherit. But

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now we've seen the depth of that brokenness,

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the shape of that inheritance, and the hope that

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while subtle, still sings to us between the lines.

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The dark and dirty mile is a long obedience in

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the same direction. It's sanctification. It's

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exile with a compass. And in this, we see homotology,

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sin named and felt, anthropology, humanity, and

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motion and limitation. Sotirology hinted rescue

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through confession and wisdom, and eschatology,

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again, a mile that eventually ends and where

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glory begins. Jason didn't write a systematic

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theological textbook. No, no, no. He wrote something

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much more honest. A soundtrack for weary saints.

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And maybe that's what we need. less perfect doctrine,

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more dirt under the fingernails truth, songs

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that let us walk our own dark and dirty miles

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with perhaps a little more courage because in

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the end the only theology that matters most is

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the kind that walks with us. Hey, thanks for

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walking along with me today on the semi seminary.

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It's old pastor Jim here listen if this episode

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helped Maybe you see a little more gospel in

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your gravel. Do me a favor share it with a friend

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and as always remember Man theology isn't just

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for classrooms or church rooms. Sometimes it's

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for long roads Sore feet and a song that seems

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to tell the truth I'll see you next time you