Latest / Why I Believe / Elzie Flendard: Things Happen For Me, Not To Me

Transcript

Elzie Flendard: Things Happen For Me, Not To Me · Why I Believe

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome back to Why I Believe.
• 0:03
  I'm your host, Michelle VanRooten.
• 0:05
  And today I have with me, LZ Flannard.
• 0:08
  How are you doing today?
• 0:10
  I am amazingly fantastic, how are you?
• 0:13
  I'm doing well.
• 0:14
  Thank you for asking.
• 0:15
  Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself?
• 0:19
  Yeah, so I am a podcaster at heart actually this year.
• 0:23
  I don't know how long it'll be before this publishes, but by the time you see this, hear this, it would have been 10 years as a podcaster.
• 0:31
  So I'm a podcaster's podcaster.
• 0:32
  uh I'm also a founder CEO, uh a faith driven entrepreneur, uh author, husband, father, believer, all the good stuff.
• 0:43
  all the good stuff.
• 0:44
  Yeah.
• 0:45
  Well, you wrap that up pretty quick.
• 0:47
  yeah.
• 0:51
  I love it.
• 0:51
  I love it.
• 0:52
  We have a lot to get into today.
• 0:53
  So, you know, one of the things that when you and I chatted before, you didn't have a big, bold, momentous story like so many of my guests have had in the past.
• 1:04
  But you have a lot of little ones that just kept you walking in faith.
• 1:08
  Do you want to tell me about your faith journey?
• 1:10
  Like, did it start as a child or when did you really start believing?
• 1:15
  Yeah.
• 1:15
  So the thing about me, Michelle, is the way I see life is a little bit different.
• 1:22
  Or maybe it's the same.
• 1:22
  I don't know.
• 1:23
  Maybe, you know, I just think I'm different, but I'm not.
• 1:27
  I don't...
• 1:28
  I'll give you an example, right?
• 1:30
  I was extremely, extremely close to my grandmother growing up.
• 1:35
  I mean, this little lady, she was five foot tall, uh 90 pounds, soaking wet with boots with water filled oh in them.
• 1:44
  And I could tell my grandmother, grandma, I'm going to build a rocket ship and go to the moon tomorrow.
• 1:50
  And she believed in me so much.
• 1:52
  She would be on her front stoop with her purse, ready to go like that close to her.
• 1:59
  And when she died, it was devastating.
• 2:04
  But it wasn't like a big moment where I questioned God or anything, because I understood she was a believer that
• 2:12
  she's in a better place now.
• 2:14
  She doesn't have to suffer anymore.
• 2:15
  I miss her.
• 2:16
  I miss her even to this day, right?
• 2:18
  But it wasn't like this shattering thing that happened.
• 2:21
  And that is my life.
• 2:24
  Like things happened to me for me.
• 2:27
  I just, I just always have looked at it as God's hand in my life.
• 2:32
  You know, when my mom and dad got divorced and we moved to Southern Illinois and I didn't know anybody.
• 2:38
  And here I am this city kid who's
• 2:40
  used to going outside and now that's all you do in the country is go outside and so now I have to reinvent myself as a six-year-old in this new place, this new school.
• 2:50
  Dad's not in the picture.
• 2:51
  He's, you know, not calling, not sitting, like don't see him.
• 2:55
  He's not there.
• 2:56
  God has always had his hand in my life, right?
• 2:58
  He's always kind of guided me and been that small whisper in my ear that I've got you.
• 3:06
  It's not ideal.
• 3:07
  It hurts.
• 3:08
  Sometimes it sucks.
• 3:10
  But I got you.
• 3:11
  And that's the story of my life.
• 3:13
  Even as a young man, I'll never forget.
• 3:17
  My wife and I got married when we were, I was 19.
• 3:20
  I was just turned 19.
• 3:22
  She was 19.
• 3:25
  And we moved from Southern Illinois all the way to Appleton, Wisconsin.
• 3:29
  I didn't even have a job.
• 3:31
  I had a temporary position, right?
• 3:34
  God's hand has always been on my life.
• 3:36
  And so I don't mean to say that I've always been saved because that's not the case.
• 3:41
  Done some crazy things and things that like, like I won't share on this podcast, but God has always been faithful.
• 3:48
  He's always had his, his hand and he would give me people in my life in different seasons to guide me.
• 3:56
  And so while you know, the perspective is well, Ozzy doesn't have this big moment.
• 4:01
  It's just been a series of, of, of
• 4:03
  perspective and seeing God move throughout the disappointments and the people that I love passing on and betrayals and all the stuff that's happened in my life, I just look at it
• 4:16
  as this is God's way of teaching me a lesson.
• 4:20
  And even when the things that happen to me, for me that don't make sense, I've always known that God has me in his hand.
• 4:28
  And so to answer your question,
• 4:30
  No, there wasn't this big moment where I was sitting in my car with the 44 on my lap getting ready to go.
• 4:36
  Like, I don't have that, right?
• 4:38
  For me, it's just been always knowing that God is in my life.
• 4:44
  Even when I was crazy knucklehead, His patience and His grace and His mercy to be with me and to the point where I finally get it, right?
• 4:53
  And He continues to do that to this day.
• 4:57
  Yeah, that's amazing.
• 4:58
  And that's one of the things that I loved when we talked about it is that you didn't have that because I think so many times we think that, okay, well, it just sits in the
• 5:07
  background, right?
• 5:08
  And if I don't have this crazy thing, my faith doesn't need to be brought to the forefront.
• 5:13
  But you live and breathe it and walk it every day.
• 5:16
  Right?
• 5:17
  Perfectly imperfect, I would assume, like so many of us.
• 5:20
  yeah, yeah.
• 5:21
  I even, what's funny, Michelle, is I used to be in the olden days an artist and I have an album that's called Fallible Perfection uh to that point where uh I am the furthest thing
• 5:35
  from perfect.
• 5:36
  Like, you knew, would be like, dude, you can't, you're not ready to be on this podcast.
• 5:44
  But in my imperfection, right,
• 5:46
  That's where God shows himself strong because there's no way I should be where I am.
• 5:51
  There's no way I should be talking to you right now.
• 5:54
  Like I'm from a small poor town in Southern Illinois that most kids didn't even have a computer, let alone a microphone or a way to talk to people from other places outside of
• 6:07
  our small little space.
• 6:09
  Like there's no way that I'm, you know, I have a beautiful family and like,
• 6:13
  It's just so unlikely.
• 6:15
  It's improbable, right?
• 6:17
  There's no other explanation other than the hand of God and the grace of God.
• 6:23
  And so I don't look at myself as a person who has it all together.
• 6:27
  In fact, I don't know what I'm doing.
• 6:29
  This is my first time around.
• 6:31
  I'm just making it up as I go.
• 6:33
  I follow him and he tells me the next step and I do my best to be obedient and taking that next step.
• 6:40
  Yeah, and that's really what it is, right?
• 6:42
  Is being obedient and all we have to do when we wake up is follow him.
• 6:46
  Right?
• 6:46
  Follow him, listen and be obedient.
• 6:49
  So I gotta ask, how well do you listen?
• 6:50
  You listen pretty well, I take it.
• 6:53
  Well, I mean, that's debatable.
• 6:56
  would say, would ask him how well I listen.
• 6:59
  I like to think that I'm okay, right?
• 7:02
  um I've been making a practice the last, uh I had the opportunity to interview the gentleman who do the Lord's Prayer book, film, and TV series.
• 7:14
  And they inspired me to say the Lord's Prayer every day.
• 7:19
  And that, it reframed it for me in a lot of ways.
• 7:22
  It's like,
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  This is how Jesus told us to pray, like directly.
• 7:26
  These are His words, right?
• 7:28
  And the structure of the prayer itself, it hits all the points.
• 7:32
  It acknowledges God for who He is.
• 7:34
  It asks and acknowledges the fact that, Lord, if you don't give me my daily bread, like every day, then I'm lost.
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  I don't know what I want to do.
• 7:45
  I don't want to follow any other path.
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  I want to follow your path.
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  So give me your daily bread every single day.
• 7:51
  give me new grace and new mercy and give the people who offended me, who sinned against me, grace and mercy.
• 7:58
  Like it hits all the points.
• 8:00
  And so I've been saying that every single morning in addition to just trying to stay sensitive to his voice and what he's calling me to do, uh reading and studying, because
• 8:13
  that's not the same thing, uh his word and just again, tuning my ear to hear his voice.
• 8:19
  so
• 8:20
  For me, that if I can get a little bit better every single day, and I do that 365 days, then I get a little bit better and a little bit better.
• 8:31
  And my hope is that through doing that, people will see my life as I live it and see it as an example of what a broken man uh in a fallen world looks like that's just doing his best
• 8:44
  to follow Jesus.
• 8:45
  And uh that's my goal, right?
• 8:47
  My goal isn't to...
• 8:49
  isn't to nail it every time because I know that um I won't.
• 8:53
  My goal is to just do the best that I can oh with what I know and understand and trust that God will guide me when I make a mistake and when I fall short.
• 9:04
  Yeah, that's amazing.
• 9:06
  Yeah.
• 9:06
  And the Lord's Prayer is so good.
• 9:08
  I've even said it on this podcast before or on the Facebook page leading up to the podcast.
• 9:12
  But just so people understand and know what, you know, thy will be done.
• 9:16
  And it's not about us.
• 9:18
  It's about what we can do and how he works through us.
• 9:21
  But I want to talk about real quick, want to pages real quick.
• 9:24
  And you talked about a moment early on in your career where things weren't going good.
• 9:28
  You were living in a trailer park that wasn't very nice and you were you were like at your end.
• 9:35
  Not physically, but like you were at your end and what happened that day?
• 9:38
  You wanted to give us that story?
• 9:40
  Yes, so I could give you the long version or the short version.
• 9:44
  So here's the medium version.
• 9:47
  So I gotta give you the context because that'll help you understand where we were.
• 9:51
  So my wife and I, as I told you, we got married young.
• 9:54
  So uh I had an apartment, but that's about all I had.
• 9:58
  I had an apartment in a car and the TV that my mom gave me to take when I moved out.
• 10:02
  ah I was that kid who was super independent.
• 10:07
  Two weeks after I graduated high school, I was out.
• 10:10
  I was living on my own, doing my own thing.
• 10:13
  And so we had, this was two to three years into our marriage, I had gone to tech school because I didn't want to do all the humanities like speech and English 101 and all that
• 10:24
  stuff.
• 10:25
  Didn't want to do that.
• 10:26
  I wanted to just get to the point and go to tech school.
• 10:29
  Ended up going for electronics.
• 10:32
  And I had graduated, but my wife was still in school at Southern Illinois University.
• 10:37
  I was living, we were living in Paducah, Kentucky.
• 10:41
  So Paducah, Kentucky is about 45 minutes away from Carbondale, Illinois, where Southern Illinois is, is where she was attending.
• 10:49
  So she was going to school.
• 10:50
  I was trying to find a job.
• 10:52
  And this was around the time about a year after 9-11 had happened.
• 10:57
  Nobody was hiring because 9-11 had happened.
• 11:01
  The market was freaking out and nobody could find a job.
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  And so here I was.
• 11:07
  Unemployed wife's going to school have this this apartment.
• 11:11
  So we uh decided to move from Paducah or metropolis to Carbondale.
• 11:18
  We couldn't afford a nice apartment.
• 11:20
  We could only afford what we could afford.
• 11:22
  So there's this trailer park.
• 11:23
  They were like, okay, this is what we got.
• 11:26
  So the trailer Michelle, you couldn't open the windows.
• 11:30
  There was plastic on all of the windows.
• 11:32
  It smelled.
• 11:33
  It was, uh you know,
• 11:36
  under the undercarriage had animals living in it and we would hear them oh at about 730 at night every night doing whatever they were doing on there wrestling around.
• 11:47
  And it was just as a husband.
• 11:52
  I just felt broken to the point that I just I couldn't provide a life for my wife that I wanted to provide and and money's running out.
• 12:03
  And I didn't know what I was going to do.
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  And so I'm sitting there in the middle of the house.
• 12:10
  And again, this wasn't a nice double wide.
• 12:12
  This was the kind that had the rusty sides and the edges.
• 12:16
  like, was that shotgun house, my grandmother called it, because you could see the back from the front.
• 12:24
  And I'm sitting there, I'm laying prostrate, and I'm like, Lord, I can't do this.
• 12:32
  If you don't help me, we're not gonna make it.
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  and the phone rings.
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  I kid you not, it happened just like this.
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  The phone rings.
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  I pick up the phone and on the other line is a job that I applied for to offer me the position.
• 12:51
  So just like that, in that moment of desperation, in that moment of humility, in that moment of brokenness, God showed himself faithful.
• 12:59
  And he's done that time and time and time again.
• 13:03
  In the moment where I was at the end of myself, I'm like, okay,
• 13:06
  I've done everything I know how to do.
• 13:08
  I've applied for all the jobs.
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  um I've got the education.
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  I'm doing everything that I can.
• 13:14
  I don't know what to do anymore." He shows up and he shows himself faithful.
• 13:18
  So that's one of the many times that God has come along in my life when we needed it.
• 13:26
  uh He's Jehovah Jireh.
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  He's a provider.
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  He's always shown himself faithful that way.
• 13:33
  Yeah, that's awesome.
• 13:34
  And I think it truly is a testament to what happens when we surrender to God.
• 13:38
  Right.
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  Like, I can't do this.
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  This is it's got to be you.
• 13:41
  Right.
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  And we make we have that surrender.
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  We have that moment.
• 13:44
  And that's when turning point is going to happen.
• 13:46
  Right.
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  Just like you experienced.
• 13:49
  Yeah.
• 13:55
  There was another time that we were talking about when we chatted where you thought you maybe had like modern miracle divine intervention around you being really sick.
• 14:08
  Do remember what we were talking about?
• 14:11
  Yeah.
• 14:12
  So I've always been uh relatively healthy.
• 14:18
  uh I've had asthma growing up, but uh high school athlete ran cross country.
• 14:24
  uh I like to think that I could have played junior college basketball if I wanted to.
• 14:29
  That's what I tell myself, at least, when I look back.
• 14:32
  uh So I've always been uh a healthy guy.
• 14:37
  And so fast forward, now my wife and I,
• 14:40
  um, you know, uh, kids mortgage, all the stuff.
• 14:45
  And, uh, we're, we're going to church one day and I get out of the car and I'm just like, I feel this, this, this pain that, that just something is off.
• 14:59
  And so I go to the doctor and I had been feeling really, really bad for a while.
• 15:04
  You know, I would go to, to praise team rehearsal and I just, just drained, just
• 15:10
  Muscle sore hips hurting like just literally dragging myself out of bed To do the things that I absolutely love to do right and you know, my pastor would ask me, know, I was a are
• 15:21
  you okay?
• 15:21
  And I would respond I'm you know, I'm tired right and for me that's because usually when you say it elsey How are you?
• 15:30
  I'm always like I'm amazing I'm energetic.
• 15:33
  I'm you know passionate, but I just got to the point where is it was just physically
• 15:39
  dragging myself to do normal things.
• 15:43
  And so I go to the doctor and they can't figure out what's wrong.
• 15:48
  And so long story short, I go into the doctor one day and my primary care physician wasn't available.
• 15:54
  She was out on vacation.
• 15:56
  And so the nurse practitioner saw me and I'm telling her, you what's going on.
• 16:01
  And she says, well, I'm going to, I'm going to do this series of tests and see if we can figure out what's going on with you.
• 16:05
  And so she, she gives me a call.
• 16:07
  and she has me go into the uh doctor.
• 16:13
  And the doctor looks at my numbers and she says to me, she says, Elsie, it's amazing that you're sitting here right now.
• 16:23
  I want you to take this prescription.
• 16:26
  I want you to go straight to the pharmacy.
• 16:28
  Like, don't even go home first.
• 16:31
  Like, your numbers are so bad that if...
• 16:35
  you have what they call a thyroid storm, it has a 50-50 chance of survival.
• 16:40
  And she said, go straight to the pharmacy and take the medicine in your car.
• 16:45
  Like, don't even go home.
• 16:46
  It was that bad.
• 16:49
  And so it was one of those things where if that nurse practitioner hadn't figured it out, I probably wouldn't be here because I didn't know what was wrong with me.
• 16:59
  They couldn't figure out what was wrong with me.
• 17:01
  And now I'm just going about life with this thyroid issue.
• 17:04
  And I don't know how uh medically astute your viewers listeners are, but you need that fiber in order for you to function.
• 17:13
  if that doesn't work, it's a bad day, right?
• 17:17
  um And so again, that divine intervention, right?
• 17:22
  Like moving people and making sure that people are where they're supposed to be.
• 17:26
  And that voice that told that nurse practitioner, hey, look at this, look here.
• 17:32
  That saved my life.
• 17:33
  I would not be here had it not been for her, you know, taking the time to look into my symptoms, to see what was going on with me.
• 17:43
  so again, God has always been faithful and he's always had his hand, uh you know, guiding, you know, in making sure that I'm doing and being in position that where I'm supposed to
• 17:58
  be.
• 17:58
  So, uh but yeah, that was.
• 18:00
  probably one of the scarier, you know, seasons of my life because again, oh you got to think my son is looking up to me, my daughter's looking up to me and they're looking at
• 18:13
  their hero that is just really struggling, right?
• 18:18
  That can't play ball with them, that can't, you know, just can't be the normal hero.
• 18:24
  And, oh you know, it breaks my heart even just thinking about not being there.
• 18:30
  uh for them.
• 18:32
  So uh that was scary.
• 18:34
  That was scary, but it's one of those things where God allows you to go through those seasons and those things so that it's a reminder that uh He's the source.
• 18:44
  Yeah, and you were ultimately diagnosed with Graves' disease, correct?
• 18:49
  Which will put you in the grave if you don't get it figured out.
• 18:53
  Yes, yes.
• 18:54
  How?
• 18:54
  ah you know, I'm in remission now and my numbers are normal and stabilized.
• 19:00
  uh yeah, it can be serious if it's not treated.
• 19:04
  But when treated and under control, you know, can live a normal life.
• 19:09
  So uh that's a blessing.
• 19:11
  athletic dad that your kids love.
• 19:14
  Well, don't know about that because this whole thing called age, uh you know, has something to say about all that.
• 19:20
  But, you know, I'm relatively healthy and can do most things for a person my age in this season of life.
• 19:31
  Well, you keep persevering.
• 19:32
  And I think that's one of your words that stood out when we talked is you are always persevering through all the things that you're going through.
• 19:37
  The good, the bad, the ugly.
• 19:39
  How do you keep that positive attitude and that positive mindset that you have?
• 19:45
  Ironically, Michelle, I read the book of Ecclesiastes and it's if you have those of you listening if you haven't read the whole thing I'm gonna warn you it if you're not careful,
• 19:59
  you'll you'll get depressed because his conclusion that he that he came to was Nothing really matters.
• 20:06
  But what he's saying is It's all temporary.
• 20:11
  It's it's it's temporary the bad seasons
• 20:15
  are temporary.
• 20:16
  The good seasons are temporary.
• 20:18
  When you're going through a season of sickness, it's temporary.
• 20:23
  When you're going through a season where you feel lost and that God hasn't made himself known to you or is not speaking to you, it's temporary.
• 20:34
  And so that alone keeps me going.
• 20:37
  The fact that I know, number one, that God has his hand on my life.
• 20:43
  I am content in every circumstance.
• 20:46
  I've had a lot of money.
• 20:47
  I've been broke.
• 20:49
  But the only, the one thing that remains is that God's hand is on my life, right?
• 20:55
  And that keeps me hopeful.
• 20:57
  That keeps me positive because I understand that it's temporary.
• 21:01
  And as long as I have God, I have everything I need.
• 21:04
  As long as I have Jesus, I'm good.
• 21:07
  You know, I've had, again, I've had cars that I had to pray.
• 21:11
  that it would get to the destination.
• 21:13
  And I've had really nice cars that talk to me and drive for me.
• 21:17
  But again, the one thing that remains is Jesus.
• 21:19
  And so as long as I got Jesus uh and understanding that whatever circumstance and situation that I'm in is temporary, then I'm good to go.
• 21:28
  can say that I have joy.
• 21:31
  may not always be happy, but I always have joy.
• 21:34
  So that's how I look at it.
• 21:36
  It's like if I wake up tomorrow,
• 21:39
  and um they come and they say, we're gonna repossess all of your cars, we're gonna take your house.
• 21:46
  As long as I got shelter and I can eat and I have my faculties, then there's always something to be grateful for and there's always something to uh look forward to because uh
• 21:59
  God is a good father and he gives good things to his children.
• 22:04
  And so I know that and I hold that in my heart.
• 22:07
  And so I go hard.
• 22:08
  I go hard for Jesus.
• 22:11
  I go hard in business because again, I know that um he has my back and that no matter what, I'm pressing to meet the mark.
• 22:21
  And as long as I got that, then I mean, the worst thing that'll happen is the best thing that'll happen, if that makes sense.
• 22:30
  Yeah, I love that, that's so good.
• 22:32
  I think we sometimes forget that everything is temporary and that we're only here, even here, being here, present on this earth is only temporary.
• 22:39
  Right?
• 22:39
  Our ultimate destination is heaven.
• 22:41
  Right?
• 22:42
  Yeah.
• 22:43
  So if there's anything you want the listeners to take away today, what would that be?
• 22:49
  think the big thing for me is just hold on to the fact that the race is not given to the swift, right?
• 22:57
  It's given to those that endure.
• 22:59
  So whether you're talking about life, or you're talking about relationships, or you're talking about business, it's not a sprint.
• 23:07
  It's a marathon.
• 23:08
  And in a marathon, you have to understand, number one, what the goal is.
• 23:14
  What is the mission?
• 23:16
  And number two,
• 23:18
  You have to understand that there are going to be peaks, are going to be valleys, there are going to be times where you don't understand, there are going to be times when you're
• 23:26
  going to be asked to do things that don't make sense.
• 23:30
  But understand that obedience is better than sacrifice and that run your race and you'll be rewarded for that uh at the end of your journey.
• 23:42
  I love it.
• 23:42
  That's beautiful.
• 23:44
  Well, thank you so much for being here today.
• 23:45
  I truly appreciate your time.
• 23:46
  And before I let you go on with your day, do want to ask you the question I ask everybody, but I forgot to prep you, so I apologize.
• 23:52
  What Bible verse are you living through right now?
• 23:56
  Oh, Proverbs 4 and 23.
• 23:59
  It says, Above all, guard your heart.
• 24:00
  oh And that, for me, as a creative, is extremely important, right?
• 24:09
  Watching what I listen to, what I put in my ear gates, what I put in my eye gates, who I surround myself with, just guarding my heart so that I can focus on the things above and
• 24:20
  not the things uh that are on this earth.
• 24:24
  that.
• 24:25
  Thank you again so much for being here for sharing your story of perseverance and your everyday trials and tribulations and I truly appreciate your time.
• 24:33
  I appreciate you taking the time to have me on the show.
• 24:35
  uh Hopefully you got uh what you needed and it was uh helpful and a blessing to folks who are listening.
• 24:44
  Thank you.