In this sermon, the speaker shares a powerful testimony of a man named Dave who was saved during the breaking of bread. Dave's emotional response to the bread being passed led him to stand up and speak, expressing his gratitude for the prayers of the congregation and his wife. The speaker emphasizes the mysterious ways in which God works and the importance of the breaking of bread as a moment of salvation. The sermon also highlights the idea that heaven will be a place where God's dealings with his people will be unveiled, and where the wonders of the spiritual world will be revealed.

Please remember to pray for Tim, would you? Eighteen years old. He'll be in good hands out there with the Saints at Eshavuma, but he'll still be very much in need of the prayers of God's people. Would you turn in your Bibles tonight to 2 Corinthians 5, and I'd just like to go over a little portion of this with you. It's kind of a quiet Bible study. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 1, For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, I'm reading from the New King James Version, quite interesting, we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, that is in the tent, for in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven. If indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith and not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. As I was praying this afternoon about what to speak on tonight, I had little idea that one of the announcements would be the home call of one of the saints of God. So I would like to feel that the Spirit of God has directed our attention to these verses tonight, because they describe what happens at the time of death, don't they? I like the way Paul begins. He says, Paul, we know. That is something that the Old Testament saints couldn't say. The Old Testament saints had very dim and indistinct views about death and the life hereafter. You don't go to the Old Testament to get clear views as to what happens to the believer when he dies. There were glimpses of light in the Old Testament. Job knew that his Redeemer lived and that he would see him in the latter days. And even though worms destroyed his flesh, yet in his flesh he would see God. He knew that. It was a flash of light. David, you have certain flashes in the Psalms, but it was only with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ that believers got clear views of what happened at the time of death and the hereafter. Christ brought life and immortality to light by the gospel, and we don't know how fortunate we are tonight, how much preferred we are over the saints of the Old Testament period, and how we can sing at the grave of blood when our earthen vessels break. The world itself grows old, but Christ, this precious dust, will take and freshly mold. He'll change these bodies vile. He'll fashion like his own. He'll bid the whole creation smile, and hush, it's grown. It's wonderful, isn't it? We know that if our earthly house, this tent, this is referring to the body, isn't it? It's referring to our human body. This earthly house, this tent. You know, that's a very expressive word to use of our bodies, and that's what they are. They're a tent. The tent is the badge of a pilgrim. It's not a permanent structure at all, is it? It's something that's pitched and something that's taken down. That's exactly what our body is. Pitched at birth and taken down at the time of death. What do you know, Paul? We know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed at death. Destroyed at the time of death. Destroyed doesn't mean the cessation of being. There's no annihilation in the universe. The Bible, when it speaks of things being destroyed, it means for the use to which they were made. We know that if the earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God. Now, when you first read that verse, you'd think that you were going to get this building right away, but you're not. There's a space of time between destroyed and we have a building from God. The building from God that's spoken of here is the glorified body. And from our vantage point here on earth, it looks as if there's a space of time between death and the glorified body. But what we have to remember is God doesn't live in a sphere of time, does he? And when our loved ones die, they no longer live in a sphere of time. They're with Christ in eternity. And so from their standpoint, there's no lapse of time between death and the rapture. It's only from our standpoint. We stand there at the open grave, and we see the precious body lowered into the grave, and we look forward to the rapture future. They're already in eternity, and there's no time in eternity. It's hard for our minds to take that in, isn't it? It's hard for my mind to take it in, but I know it's true. Just the same. So just remember in verse 1 that between the word destroyed and we have a building, there's a space of time there between the death of a believer and the rapture. Because it's at the rapture you receive a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Now that's an interesting expression, isn't it? A house not made with hands. You say, well this house we have now, the body we have now, is not made with hands. Well that's true, isn't it? So you say, well what does that mean, a house not made with hands? Well I think it's explained in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11. If you'll just turn to Hebrews 9 verse 11, you'll find that expression again, not made with hands. It says, but Christ came as high priest of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. You see the expression not made with hands is a figurative expression, isn't it? And it means not of this creation. And that's what it means over here in 2nd Corinthians 5. It means a building from God, not of this creation. In other words, the body that we have now is really adapted to life on earth, but it's not adapted to life anywhere else. When men go into outer space, they have to carry their own atmosphere with them, don't they? When men fly to the moon, this body isn't good for living on the moon unless you carry the atmosphere of earth with you to the moon, the conditions of earth. And so this body that we're in now just isn't adapted to life in heaven, not made with hands, not of this creation, eternal in the heaven. But the glorified body is perfectly adapted to life in eternity, isn't it? That's the building from God, not made with hands, eternal in the heaven. Some people interpret verse 1 to refer to an intermediate body. They think that when the believer dies, he receives an intermediate body, and then he gets the glorified body after that. But I think that's answered right in the verse, isn't it? It says eternal in the heaven. The body it's speaking about, the glorified body it's speaking about in verse 1, is the eternal body. It's not one you're going to get just for a part of eternity. It's for all eternity. Now, in the verses to follow, Paul explains that a Christian can exist in any one of three conditions. He's in the body, that's what we are here tonight, all of us here tonight are in the body. The second condition is the one that takes place at the time of death, disembodied. He uses the word unclothed, kind of a delicate word. He also uses the word naked. You see, right now we're spirit, soul, and body, complete in that sense. When we die, our body goes into the grave, our spirit and soul go to be with the Lord Jesus. There's a separation of spirit and soul from the body. That's the second condition we can be in. The third condition, of course, in this portion, is clothed upon. That's the glorified position, the glorified condition. That's what all my friends are hoping I'll be in, you know, glorified condition. I don't know why they say that, do you? Paul says the first is good. The present condition is good. The second, the disembodied state, is better. Better to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. The third condition is best of all. I'm going to go over that again, because I think it's very important. As we go through the portion, we'll see this, we'll see these three conditions that a believer can exist in. He can exist in the body, and we all know that very well. We are in that condition today, spirit, soul, and body united at the present time. That's good. It's a wonderful privilege, isn't it, to be here, saved by the grace of God, and worshiping the Lamb of God, and serving him to the utmost of our powers. It's wonderful. But there's something better than that. That's absence from the body, at home with the Lord. That's the disembodied state, the unclosed state, the naked state, where the body is in the grave, and the spirit and soul are in the presence of the Lord, consciously enjoying the glories of heaven, and the glories of the Lamb. That's the second condition. It's better. And the third state is the state that takes place at the rapture, where the Lord Jesus comes back, and the graves are opened, those bodies are raised in a glorified form, reunited with the spirits and souls, to be with Christ and like him for all eternity, and the best of all. That's what Paul is setting forth in this passage of Scripture. So he says in verse 2, for in this we groan. That is, in this present condition we groan. It's true, isn't it? Anybody here have arthritis? Well, that's what he's talking about. He's talking about arthritis, rheumatism, you know, all the pains and aches of life, of the sorrows and the tragedies of life. Sure, in this we groan. Earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven. That's the state. It's easy to think that the greatest blessing is long life on earth. It isn't long life on earth. That's not the greatest. Anybody here want to live to be a hundred under present condition? Well, maybe a lot, but I don't think it's anything to greatly look forward to. I certainly wouldn't want to live to be 125, would you? I mean, would the way our bodies deteriorate? That would be horrible. It's better to be with the Lord. Long life on earth isn't the greatest blessing. That's what Paul is saying here. In this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation from heaven. It won't be a tent any longer. It'll be a house. It won't be a temporary structure. It'll be a permanent structure. The glorified body. We'll be saying more about that later. If indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. That is, when we're clothed with the glorified body, when the spirit and soul are reunited with the glorified body, we're no longer in the disembodied state. Although the disembodied state is better than the state we're in tonight. Those of our loved ones who depart to be with the Lord are better off than we are. They're not more secure than we are. They're better off than we are. Forever free from sickness, sadness, sorrow, sin, death. Wonderful. For we who are in this tent groan, back again to the present condition we're in, this temporary structure, this tent that we're living in, at the present time, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed. I mean, the disembodied state isn't the one we most eagerly look forward to, but further clothed that mortality might be swallowed up like that. It's a glorified state. That's what we really look forward to. I suppose that all of us have a measure of trepidation when we look forward to death, if that's the way the Lord's going to take us. I think of that old brother who said, I don't mind the Lord taking down my tent, but I just hope he takes it down gently. And I often think of that. I hope he takes it. If that's the way I'm chosen to go, I hope he takes it down gently. But isn't that a lovely expression that mortality might be swallowed up by life. Mortality refers to our present condition subject to death. That's what mortality is. A person who's mortal is subject to death. But when we receive our glorified body, it's as if all that mortality is just swallowed up by life. Now, verse 5, the first part of the verse really strikes me. Now, he who has prepared us for this very thing is God. What is this very thing in that verse? It's the glorified body, isn't it? It's the redeemed body. Isn't that wonderful? God has prepared us for this very thing. When he saved you so many years ago, whatever it was, you know, he had this in mind. He was going to have you in heaven in a glorified body, worshiping the Lamb of God for all eternity. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God. It makes my heart leak when I read something like that. Who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. When you and I were saved by the wonderful grace of God, we received the Holy Spirit. He came and he indwelt us. And he was given to us as an earnest. An earnest? It's like an engagement ring, isn't it? When a fellow gives a girl an engagement ring, it says something. It says something else is going to follow. What's going to follow? Marriage is going to follow. That's what it's saying. The engagement ring is the guarantee of the coming marriage. Well, God didn't give us an engagement ring. He gave us one of the members of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit of God. And just as sure as you have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling you, so surely will you receive the glorified body. I think that's wonderful. There's no doubt about it. It's absolutely perfect, absolutely certain we're going to have that glorified body. Therefore, we're always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. This is it. This is our present condition. Now, it's not a bad condition. Paul's not saying anything against it. He's saying it's a good condition. We're at home in the body. We're absent from the Lord. Ah, but there's something better. First of all, he says the proof of that, that we're absent from the Lord, is we walk by faith, but not by sight. In fact, we walk by faith means we're absent from the Lord. We go to the Word of God, we read the promises of the Word of God, we believe them, they become real to us. It's still faith based upon the Word of God. But when we're with the Lord, faith will give place to sight. All the promises will have been fulfilled, and we will be with Him forever. We're confident, yes, well-pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. What will it be to be present with the Lord? At noon today, we were listening to a recording down in Harrisburg of a lovely, lovely hymn. It says, Jesus will be what makes it heaven to be. And you know that's true, isn't it? I mean, if that's all that heaven were, the song said that if the streets weren't made of gold, and if people grew old in heaven still, if Jesus were there, it would be heaven for us, wouldn't it? Just think what that'll mean to, I often think of that, what it'll mean to see Him for the first time. We've never seen Him with these eyes of flesh, and I suppose every one of us tonight has a different image of Him. Just imagine what it'll be that first moment, not merely one glance, but forever. At home with Him ever to be, at home in the mansion celestial, where glimmers the crystal sea. But there, even there in such glory, will anything ever efface that rapturous moment of moments, my first, first look at His face. Be wonderful, won't it? My first, first look at His face. The man of Calvary, comfort of all my earthly ways, Jesus, I'll meet Thee some sweet day. But that will be a sweet day, when the Lord Jesus will have us there with Himself. See of the fruit of the travel of a soul, and be satisfied. Going to be a meeting in the air, isn't there? What a meeting it will be, the Lord Jesus will be there. Will we see God? Yeah, we'll see God too. I'll never forget, years ago I was at Lake Geneva Youth Camp, and I was teaching a group of children, and one of the boys said to me, will we see God when we get to heaven? And I went through quite an involved theological discussion of how God is spirit, and spirit is invisible, and with these eyes of flesh, we can't see what's invisible. And I could tell he wasn't satisfied at all. And he said, well, will we see God when we get to heaven? And so I went back over this theological discussion of God, and I said, with these eyes that we have now, we can't see what's invisible. And he said, well, maybe we'll have bigger eyes in heaven. And I don't work with children anymore, they're too clever for me. But you know, I was reading a verse today that says we will see God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for what? They shall see God. You know, kids are better than we are, aren't they? They can clear away all the debris and just have that wonderful, wonderful, wonderful faith. The angelic host will be there. Hard for us to visualize what that will be like. Thousand times ten thousand, thousands of thousands, the angelic host there in heaven, waiting upon the Lord. And as I said, we'll receive that glorified body. I'll tell you, we do groan for that glorified body, and it's going to be wonderful. It'll be a body like the Lord Jesus in resurrection. I'm glad that we have his life here on earth in resurrection to tell us something about what the body will be like. Body no longer limited by time and space. I think that's the way it'll be in heaven. I think the thought will produce transportation. Here we have five senses. Who's to say we won't have 50 senses in heaven? A glorified body like the body of the Lord Jesus. A body that could eat. He could eat. Peter Pell was sure we would eat in heaven. He said it's such a pleasure on earth. I don't know how theologically sound that is, but anyway, it's a nice thought. But it'll be wonderful, won't it? Belonging to the glorified body. I am. Dr. Bittler's going to be out of work in those days, and Bible teachers will, too, because every man will sit under his own tree and they shall be all taught of God. The Old Testament saints will be. That's thrilling, isn't it? And you know, I'm just a simple believer when it comes to this. I really believe we're going to be there and fellowshipping with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, don't you? Talking with them. And prepare for it. Start studying about them so you'll talk intelligently to them when you meet them. And Obadiah. And Zephaniah. You're going to meet them and talk to them. I believe that. There won't be time. There won't be any time. It'll be all eternity. And the New Testament saints will be there. And I'm going to ask Paul a few questions. I really am. Seriously. Really remarkable. And the gospel writers, too. I'd like to ask some. What did you mean when you wrote, now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him? If God be glorified in him, God shall glorify him in himself and shall straightway glorify him. You know? It'll be wonderful. I'm going to get a lot of answers. I have a lot of questions. The New Testament saints will be there. Our loved ones will be there. That's wonderful. Those loved ones who've died in Christ. It wasn't goodbye. It was goodnight, wasn't it? I think that's wonderful. And I have quite a few over there. I'm looking forward to reunion with the upcoming event. I'll certain people I'm really anxious to talk to. I'm really anxious to talk to Jim Elliott. Some of you knew Jim Elliott, didn't you? I don't know if he ever was here at Greenwood. We had him at Emmaus speaking. And Ed Bacali and some of those fellows who died down in Ecuador. I really would like to talk to him. I'd like to talk to Eric Little. You know? Chariots of Fire. A fellow that wouldn't run on the Lord's day. Won the Olympics. Set a world record in an event that wasn't his own. I'd like to talk to Eric Little. There are many, many others. I'm looking forward to that time of reunion with him. Heaven is real to me because we learn about it in the Word of God. I look forward to heaven because some of the mysteries of life are going to be solved. Jesus said to Peter, what I do you don't know now, but you will know hereafter. I think that's nice. And part of heaven will be the Lord Jesus explains things that seemed so wrong to us. Things that happened at the wrong time for us. Things that were tragedies from our standpoint. Not till the loom and silence and the shuttle cease to fly will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why the dark threads were as needful in the weaver's skillful hands as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern he had planned. It's going to be wonderful, isn't it? I mean we see some of it down here. Some of the pattern is revealed down here. It's all going to be revealed up there. You know what we'll do? We'll bless the hand that guided and we'll bless the heart that planned when thrones were glory dwelleth in Emmanuel. We'll say my Jesus has done all things well. We sing it now and we'll say it with greater depth of meaning in that coming day. Heaven is going to be a perpetual unveiling of God's dealings with his people in grace. You know everyone in the room tonight saved by the grace of God has a wonderful story. Did you know that? Every one of you has a testimony that would be interesting to read. Pretty marvelous when you start to think about it. Some of us have been saved from life's of sin. Some of us weren't. We were brought up in Christian families. But the way the Lord tracked down people, you know, the way they're pursued by the hound of heaven as it were, and pretty soon they're doing things they never planned to do, and they're saying things they never planned to say in their wildest imagination. Because the Spirit of God is working in their lives. And the links that go in the chain of salvation. It's really wonderful when you start to think about it, isn't it? It's all going to be told in that day. It's going to be glorifying to God in that day when we see that the God now seems to be silent. He wasn't silent at all. He was working his wonderful purposes in ways past planning. I want to tell you this, an interesting testimony here. I don't suppose you gave your testimony the other night, Jim, but it's fascinating. Really fascinating. I love to tell a story. Some of my friends are tired of hearing me say it, but we have a new little assembly out there in California called San Lorenzo. So three years ago, a Marine started coming from the Naval Air Station in Alameda. I happened to be the speaker. This had nothing to do with it. I just happened to be the speaker. The first Sunday he came in, and Rick kept coming in, kept coming in, kept coming in. And the more he came, the more we could see he was coming under conviction of sin. But you know, Marines are macho. They don't need to be saved. Oh, I tell you, God was really breaking Rick. But none of us was pressuring him. None of us was button-holing him. We wanted the Spirit of God to have his perfect work in Rick's life. His wife was a Christian. And last July 22, I was leaving for South America, and Rick was leaving for Hawaii. And I thought, I may never see this fellow again. And I don't like button-holing people, but I said to Rick, could we just sit down on the porch and have a talk? We walked to the porch, and we just got to sit down. And he said to me, Bill, I trusted Christ. And I tell you, I didn't need the airline to take me to South America. I was blind. Well, he got another Marine to come named Dave Strickland. And Dave's wife was a Christian. And Dave started attending our meetings. And once again, the same story. Dave, a Marine. He's a sergeant in the Marines sometimes. He kept coming and coming. One night, one of our brothers, the police officer, Tom Rodriguez, said, Dave, why don't you come to the breaking of bread? See, our young people aren't very well taught. We were all taught, never bring unsafe people to the breaking of bread. That's for Christians only. But our young people don't know that. So they bring them to the breaking of bread. They tell them, don't participate now. You know, don't take the bread in the cup, but come anyway. Well, dear Dave came to the breaking of bread, and he saw Calvary enacted there. He couldn't stand it anymore. And when the bread was passed, Dave jumped to his feet. An unsafe person speaking in the breaking of bread. Well, this is very shocking, dear friend. I hope it happens in your assembly someday. And Dave said, now I know that you dear people have been praying for me. And his voice was just going like this, you know. He said, and I know that my wife has been praying for me. God bless her soul. And then he said, God moves in mysterious ways. And he burst out bawling. Marines don't cry. But Dave just burst out bawling. And when he regained his composure, he said, praise the Lord. He sat down. He was saved right there. He was the third man we've seen saved at the breaking of bread. Not children, man. The third we've seen saved at the breaking of bread. And I wish you could hear his testimony when he was baptized. I tell you, if you couldn't keep the tears back listening to Dave's testimony. Heaven's going to be like that. You're going to hear it all in him. Isn't that thrilling? Well, it is. It really is thrilling. And we think, what a wonderful God he was. What a wonderful God he is. God's dealings in grace, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. I think God's going to be showing us all the wonders of the spiritual world. You know, they're all contained here in the Bible in germ form, but we haven't scratched the surface yet, have we? And heaven's going to be a school, and this book is going to be the textbook, and God's going to be revealing us the treasures of his wonderful word for all eternity. And I believe he's going to be revealing the wonders of the natural world, too. You say, well, it's very unspiritual. I don't think it's unspiritual at all. I think everything in the world of nature teaches a spiritual lesson if we only had the eyes to see it, if we only had the ears to take it in. Everything in the world teaches a spiritual lesson. Spiritual is closely related to the natural. That would be wonderful. Some of you are already interested in the things of nature. You don't know anything yet about it. And then unhindered worship in all eternity. I'll tell you, it's wonderful. Christmas time, whenever I can, I go to hear the Messiah sung. It always takes me, what's it going to be like in heaven? It's like this on earth. What's it going to be like in heaven? Of course, I believe we're going to have the Messiah in heaven, you know, even, well, the words are all scriptures, so why shouldn't we have it in heaven? But there, imagine the choir of heaven singing the hallelujah chorus, not a discordant note. Perfect harmony to the one who alone is worthy. If you love good singing down here, I'll tell you, you'll love it in heaven. Really love it, because it's going to be wonderful. And, you know, it's going to be wonderful for all of us, too, because oftentimes down here, worship is so distracted. Do you feel that way? Sometimes you come to the worship meeting, you're distracted by the people around you, you're distracted by the sound of the traffic going by, you're distracted by things that you didn't want to think of at that time. There won't be any of that up there. Try to imagine what it'll be like just to be opening our mouths in praise and worship to the Lord. It'll be all pure. It'll be all pure. And then service. I think a lot of people have very infantile views of heaven. They sometimes picture themselves sitting under a palm tree, strumming a ukulele or something. That kind of a heaven doesn't interest me at all. Not that I have anything against the ukulele, either. I like work. I like service. I do. And heaven is going to be a place of service. His servants shall serve him. And it has been such a joy down here to serve him. The best of masters, what will it be up there to serve him? It's going to be absolutely wonderful. I think one of the crowning joys of heaven for me will be no more sin. The plague of our lives. The plague of our lives. There won't be any more up there. Be forever free from sin. Never grieve his heart again. Wonderful, wonderful Lord Jesus. Let's read the passage in 2 Corinthians once again so that we'll go away with the words ringing in our heart. 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 1. We know that of our earthly house, this tent is destroyed. We have a building from God, house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this body we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven. If indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed that mortality might be swallowed up by life. Now he who has prepared us for this very thing, for all we've been talking about tonight, the God who prepared us for this very thing, he who has prepared us for this very thing, is God who also has given us the spirit as a guarantee. Therefore we're always confident, knowing that while we're at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. We walk by faith, not by sight. We're confident, yes, well pleased, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Blessed God, how can we ever thank you enough for your marvelous grace, not content merely to save us from hell, not content merely to save us from life on this earth, but all you've done has been to prepare us for the glorified state, for the redeemed body, to be in heaven for all eternity. With Christ, morally like Christ, to worship him forever and ever. Lord, we're nothing as far as this world is concerned, but we are the sons of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't appear what we shall be. We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We pray tonight that you will comfort those who mourn. Sustain them, Lord, with the wonderful truth that though weeping may endure for a night, joy comes in the morning. We all look forward to that morning, Lord Jesus. We're listening for the shout, waiting to see you in the air, to be caught up with redeemed, to meet you, to go to the Father's house. Sustain us in this blessed hope, and may it influence all our lives. We ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. I wonder if we could sing that hymn. It happens to be my favorite. When my life work is ended and I cross the swelling tide, that bright and glorious morning I shall see. I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side, and his smile will be the first to welcome me. What number? 432. Thank you very much. Let's sing it with full hearts of gratitude to the Lord. Fanny Crosby wrote it. It's wonderful how many of her hymns speak of seeing the Lord. She was a blind poetess, wasn't she? And this comes along with the joy of seeing the Lord. Number 432. When my life work is ended and I cross the swelling tide, that bright and glorious morning I shall see. I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side, and his smile will be the first to welcome me.